This homemade taco seasoning is the perfect addition to ground beef for tacos! Make your own taco mix using chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and more.
Every Wednesday, our church shares a meal together with a theme. Without a doubt, ‘taco night’ is a favorite. You can have tacos with just about any diet out there. Our family usually brings a big bowl of seasoned venison to the meal and we often get compliments – not for the type of meat but for the homemade taco seasoning!
If you’re on the fence about making your own, just try it! You will not regret it.
Why I Make My Own Taco Seasoning
- Homemade taco seasoning can be made in the same amount of time as it takes to dig out and rip open a package of store bought.
- It does not have processed ingredients like maltodextrin, yeast extract and silicon dioxide (!)
- The 8 all natural spices are completely customizable to my family’s tastes.
What Is In taco Seasoning
Coriander and Hungarian paprika are key ingredients to taco mix recipes. Coriander will add a hint of lime-like flavor and the Hungarian Paprika offers a rich, sweeter red pepper taste than your typical Spanish paprika (the one you sprinkle on deviled eggs). There are several homemade taco seasoning recipes out there, but this one is our favorite.
If you can’t find Hungarian in your local grocery store, you can go online to purchase it or find it at most bulk food stores. We use Hungarian paprika to flavor so many foods in our home like our vegetables soups, chicken paprikash and this taco seasoning.
What Goes Into Taco Seasoning
For each one pound of meat, you will combine:
- chili powder
- cumin
- Hungarian paprika
- oregano
- garlic powder
- salt
- coriander
- black pepper
Once you’ve made this a few times, you’ll find that you can customize it to your family’s tastes. Do they want it more spicy? Add more chili powder. Less spicy? Add more chili powder.
How Do You Make Homemade Taco Seasoning
Honestly, I will often dump the individual spices into my meat while it’s cooking if I don’t have any seasoning mix already made up. It takes very little time to do this, especially when you have easy to open bulk containers.
However, if you decide to make your own bulk seasoning mix for the months ahead, multiply the recipe above as many times as you want and pour it into a glass container with a tight fitting lid.
Next time you have ‘taco night’ coming up or a craving for good Mexican food (which can be a lot!), add 2 Tablespoons of the homemade taco mix you made to one pound of ground meat. Prepare the tacos as you normally would and get ready to enjoy the flavors. It’s simple, natural, and to our family, an absolute no brainer.
Enjoy!
More Homemade Recipes
Homemade Taco Seasoning
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon Hungarian paprika
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients and add to 1 lb of fully cooked ground beef.
- Add 1/4 cup of water and bring to simmer.
- When water has evaporated, your taco meat is ready!
- If making homemade taco seasoning in bulk, for every one pound of meat, add 2 Tablespoons of taco mix.
Notes
1/3 cup chili powder
2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons cumin
4 teaspoon Hungarian paprika
4 teaspoons oregano
4 teaspoon garlic powder
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons black pepper
For bulk seasoning mix, multiply the recipe as many times as you want and pour it into a glass container with a tight fitting lid. Above is the recipe multiplied eight times. When you're ready to add it to ground beef, add 2 tablespoon of homemade taco seasoning to 1 lb of meat.
Comments & Reviews
As a substitute for Hungarian Paprika, you can use regular paprika with a dash of red cayenne pepper. I have used the substitute in multiple recipes many times with no change in taste.
Thanks for the tip Carrie!