This is my family’s favorite homemade taco seasoning recipe! It’s so much more flavorful than store-bought and works well with chicken, fish, shrimp, pork, beef, and veggies! This simple recipe is a keeper!
If you have seen our homemade chili powder or Cajun seasoning, you know that we love making homemade seasoning blends. Our taco seasoning mostly calls on spices you probably already have in your spice cabinet and an optional special ingredient that makes this mix outrageously flavorful.
Our readers have called this blend “fantastic,” “a keeper,” and “so much better” than store-bought brands. I use this to make our easy pork tacos and have happily sprinkled it over ground beef, chicken, seafood, and vegetables. And if that doesn’t convince you, the blend lasts for months in your spice cabinet (although, I bet once you try it, you’ll use it quickly!).
Key Ingredients
- Chili Powder: We love using our homemade chili powder in this taco seasoning, but feel free to use your favorite. Ancho chili powder is a great store-bought option.
- Pantry Spices: For a rich and flavorful blend, we use ground cumin, smoked paprika, and ground coriander. To add heat, you can include cayenne pepper.
- Cornstarch: This is the trick to guaranteeing the seasoning adheres to your taco ingredients. Store-bought taco seasoning packets often contain thickeners. When cornstarch is combined with liquid and heated, it creates a sauce that helps the seasoning stick to ground meat, vegetables, or other ingredients.
- Salt: You can add salt to this blend for a one-stop seasoning. If you omit it, remember to add salt to your dish as needed.
- Mushroom Powder: Here’s the special ingredient I mentioned earlier. If you’ve ever seen umami blends in the spice aisle, they are made with mushroom powder! We shared this secret years ago and are so happy it’s finally catching on in stores! I make homemade mushroom powder, which I then add to this blend. It’s ridiculously easy to make. Buy dried porcini mushrooms, add them to a blender, and blend into a powder. Done! Then, when added to a seasoning blend like this taco seasoning, it really amps up the flavor and savory deliciousness of whatever you use it with. Trust me on this one!
How to Make Taco Seasoning
This seasoning mix is super simple to make. For everything but the mushroom powder, you’ll measure each spice, add the measured spices to a bowl, and then mix them. As I mentioned above, I bet you already have most of the spices needed!
For the mushrooms, you want to buy a small packet of dried porcini mushrooms and then add them to a blender. Blend until a fine powder, then mix it into your taco seasoning.
You can store any leftover mushroom powder and use it in other dishes. I add it to anything that would benefit from a more savory flavor, like meatloaf, spaghetti meat sauce, and beef chili.
Best Homemade Taco Seasoning
- PREP
- TOTAL
This homemade taco seasoning tastes much better than anything you can buy at the store. Most ingredients are likely already sitting in your spice cabinet. The secret ingredient is mushroom powder. You can make your own or buy it (here’s our homemade mushroom powder). The taco seasoning would still taste great without it, but if you can include it, we highly recommend it. Also, the amount of cayenne pepper is up to you. We call for 1/2 teaspoon, which makes the spice blend a mild to medium heat level.
You Will Need
2 tablespoons chili powder, try homemade chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon fine salt
1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more based on how spicy you want the mix
2 teaspoons mushroom powder, optional, see tips
Directions
1Combine 2 tablespoons chili powder, 1 tablespoon ground cumin, 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika, 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander, 2 teaspoons kosher salt, and 2 teaspoons cornstarch in a small bowl. Whisk until well blended.
2To add heat, whisk in 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (1/2 teaspoon is mild to medium heat). Add more for a spicier seasoning.
3Whisk in 2 teaspoons of mushroom powder (see tips).
4Store in an airtight jar for up to 6 months, and use 1 to 2 tablespoons per pound (450g) of meat or veggies.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Store taco seasoning in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
- How to use: For 1 pound (450g) of meat or veggies, we add 1 to 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning. You will need a little liquid (like water or broth), start with 1/4 cup and increase as needed.
- Mushroom powder: You may find mushroom powder sold in stores, but we make our own (it’s easy). To make it, blend 1 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in a blender until a fine powder, making about 1/4 cup. You can store leftover mushroom powder in a spice jar for up to 6 months and use it whenever a dish needs a bump of savory flavor. For more details, here is our mushroom powder recipe.
- The nutrition facts below are estimates.
This seasoning is fantastic! Made it couple weeks ago for our taco Tuesday thing, including the dried mushroom powder, which I reviewed separately.. this here is a seriously awesome find for me! Certainly using this for my Cinco de Mayo thing tomorrow.. thanks, guys!
This is wonderful, Steve! So happy you found our recipe.
Thanks a lot for sharing such nice recipes.I look forward to many more of your recipes.
You are very welcome!
Made this seasoning tonight for tacos, minus the salt and dried mushroom powder. It was so good! Very similar to the commercial taco seasoning from stores, not as salty. We eat our tacos as salad with salty chips so didn’t notice the lack of salt there, but would if it was part of a recipe or without salty chips or whatever. I have made other homemade taco seasoning mixes and they were a completely different taste, waaaay too spicy and generally disappointing. Keeping this recipe for sure and if I can find dried mushrooms will it with that next time!
What wonderful news, Sami! We do hope that you get the chance to try this with the mushroom powder added. If you loved the recipe without it, we know you will be over the moon after adding it. Happy cooking!
I’d like to try this to get away from the high sodium in packaged taco seasoning. When cooking it with ground turkey do you add a cup of water and let it simmer like the directions on packaged seasoning?
Yes, we do add a little water. I don’t usually need the whole cup, but since we have added the cornstarch to the mix the sauce will thicken just like the packaged seasoning. I’d start with 1/3 cup and add from there as needed.
I have shied away from the packaged seasoning mixes because of the overwhelming sodium. (Salt restricted diet!) This solves THAT problem and it tastes so much better than the commercial variety. Thank you for this!
We completely agree and actually find this homemade blend more flavorful than the packets at the store.
Sounds like a great addition! I will use your recipe the next time I make homemade taco seasoning. I make it in a bigger batch but I will just double this. This reminds me of a trick I learned from a friend’s mother who made homemade chili and always put a jar or can of mushrooms in drained…The texture they impart is great but no flavor. I always include either fresh or jarred mushrooms to my chili. A trick I do for taco meat is I add some cilantro stems at the beginning of cooking and raw spinach leaves in the last minute or so…Thanks for the nice tip!
Love all of your tips, Rhonda. Thank you for sharing them with us and we hope you enjoy the seasoning.