After chatting with a young lady I know who was making her own taco seasoning and doing some more research on how unhealthy those little premade packets of taco seasoning are, I decided to try my hand at making my own taco seasoning. I used up the packets I had on hand and picked up the one ingredient that wasn’t already in my spice mix (crushed red peppers).
I used a recipe I found online instead of creating my own. This one is just as good as the packets you can buy and so much healthier for your family.
I used the recipe at Food Renegade. It was almost exactly the right amount for 1 pound of ground beef. Food Renegade, Kristen Michaelis, suggests organic seasoning and special sea salt. It’s up to you how far you want to go with that. Your budget will also dictate what you can and can’t do. I am currently using up the non-organic spices I have and slowly replacing them, and it tasted fine with those. You’ll need to make sure you have the following seasonings on hand:
- Chili powder (I used Ancho)
- Garlic powder (not garlic salt)
- Onion powder
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Dried oregano
- Ground cumin
- Sea salt (I think you could just use regular salt if you don’t have sea salt on hand without changing the taste overly much)
- Black pepper
If you’re like me, you probably already have most of these items in your cupboard. I only had to buy the pepper flakes, so the cost was minimal.
I browned my ground beef, drained it, added the mixture by sprinkling all over the top, added a cup of water, mixed completely and simmered for ten minutes.
It was just as good as any packaged mix I’ve found, but I did expect a little more flavor from a homemade seasoning mix. Thus, I’m going to play around with the recipe. Once I get it perfected, I’m going to mix up a batch of it to have on hand since we typically have taco meat at least a couple of times a month.
