DIY Taco Seasoning

Last Updated on February 5, 2023 by Michelle

I figured it was about time I shared my recipe for DIY taco seasoning with you today. Because you don’t need to have a large vegetable garden, or live on a “legit” homestead (whatever that truly is), to take small, doable steps toward living life a little simpler, and a whole lot more nutritiously.

So there we were, a family of 6, moving from suburbia to a 14-acre rural homestead in a little tucked-away corner of New England. We decided to try our best to raise some of our own food and live a life that’s just a little more simplistic.

We started turning over a garden before we even moved in all our furniture. Granted, we had all our furniture pilled in the barn for a few months while we worked hard to refinish our old, wide-planked floors, but still…

We got some chicken, meat rabbits, ducks, and even a dairy cow.We even tapped a few trees. Fast forward 5 years and Sweet Maple (affiliate link) is in bookstores across the country!

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More about our 218-year-old farmhouse… 3 secrets old-house owners don’t often explain.

More about our garden… and gardening tips from 10 experts!

More about our chicken… 10 Fowl Facts you need to know before you get your own.

More about my book, and some delicious maple recipes… Take a peek inside Sweet Maple.

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I still remember our first meal that was made entirely from food we had raised and processed on our own land, with our own hands. That was the most delicious meal I ever ate.

But my pantry was still filled with processed food. In fact, I’m not gonna lie, it still is, in a lot of ways. We do our best to raise and harvest as much as we can for ourselves, but let’s be real; Aldis is great.

Fourteen uphill, rocky, wooded acres are productive for sugarmaking, but they aren’t productive for feeding a family of 6, no matter how hard you try.

Even so, it took me a long time to realize one very simple thing I can do to improve my pantry… to rely less on processed foods… to improve our health… in just one tiny way that doesn’t require a homestead at all. In fact, it doesn’t require a lot of effort either, and it almost always saves me money…

If you’re wondering “What is Michelle rambling about?” Sorry. I’ll cut to the chase.

Replace pantry staples with homemade versions

I recently started, one at a time, replacing some of our most-used pantry staples with our own homemade versions.

Taco seasoning was the very first. It’s so easy and economical to make it in bulk. And maybe the best part? When you make your own staples, you can tailor them exactly how your family likes them.

You see, Bill–my high school sweetheart and my favorite sugar maker–is not too picky about what’s for dinner, but he is most definitely not a spicy kinda guy. For decades I regretted it if I picked up the wrong packet of taco seasoning at the store, because all but one or two brands were too spicy for Bill’s taste. And I would, without fail, forget which one he liked when I was standing there perusing my many choices on the ethnic food aisle.

Which explains why I uncovered not one, not two, but three different brand’s packets of taco seasoning on my pantry shelf last week.

So I thought I’d take a look at exactly what is in one of those packets. I was pretty surprised that there were quite a few ingredients I can’t even pronounce. I seriously assumed the ingredient lists would just include everyday run-of-the-mill spices. But every variety I pulled out of my pantry listed maltodextrin. I googled it. Within just a minute or less I knew this was not something I want to feed my family if I can avoid it. Go here for a long list of reasons why.

Also, it turns our folks should be aware that there are traces of gluten in maltodextrin whenever wheat is the source of the starch. Who’da thought?

So today I’m sharing my family’s favorite taco seasoning recipe with you. I’m hoping it might be one tiny way you can simplify and improve the outlook around your dinner table too.

I quickly learned that it’s time- and cost-effective to mix up a bulk batch and store it in a mason jar. But you’ll want to mix up a single batch until you get the proportions just the way your family likes it. So I list both options below.

 

— DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links. —

 

Make Homemade, DIY Taco Seasoning

Yield: about ¼ cup

Ingredients:

1 TB chili powder 

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp onion powder

¼ tsp. dried oregano

1 ½ tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients well.
2. Add seasoning mix, with about ½ cup of water, to 1 lb cooked ground meat.

Note: This recipe is shelf stable for a very long time. It’s a great one to make in bulk, so you always have some on hand. See the bulk version below.

 

 

Or go for BULK DIY Taco Seasoning

Yield: about 2 cups

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chili powder

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp onion powder

2 tsp. dried oregano (here’s a bulk amount!)

1/4 cup ground cumin

8 tsp. salt

4 tsp. pepper

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients well.
2. Add 4 tablespoons seasoning mix, with about ½ cup of water, to 1 lb cooked ground meat.

 

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I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. Genesis 1:29

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