Name: Taco Seasoning
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 3 tbsp chili powder; 1 tbsp cumin; 1 tsp paprika; 1 tsp garlic powder; 1 tsp salt

Jump to Recipe

Tacos are an easy meal for any season. Keep taco seasoning you can trust in your pantry a simple 5-ingredient taco seasoning recipe.

Taco seasoning in glass jar on granite countertop

Store-bought taco seasonings often contain added ingredients like corn starch, which may also be GMO. Organic options are expensive and hard to find. It doesn’t have to be so hard to cook healthy and delicious meals for your family. You can whip up your own taco seasoning mix quickly with just a few basic ingredients.

Where to source organic spices

If you are like me, you want to limit your family’s exposure to chemicals and GMO crops. That includes the spices that make your food taste so great. Finding organic spices at the grocery store isn’t always possible. If yours doesn’t carry them, there are several other options:

Look for a local health food store or co-op – they are much more likely to have (or be willing to special order) organic spices. I purchase organic spices from our local buying club, which sources from Frontier Wholesale Co-op.
Grow your own! Garlic powder is just dried and ground garlic cloves. If you have a dehydrator and a food processor, making your own powdered spices, is also quick and easy. I love this because you KNOW where the food came from if you grow it yourself, dry it yourself, and grind it yourself. (Plus, is there any better feeling of accomplishment than the one you get from doing it all yourself?)
Buy online. In addition to their wholesale store, Frontier has a retail co-op you can use even if you don’t belong to a local co-op. Frontier also sells their bulk spices (chili powder, cumin, paprika, garlic powder) on Amazon.

Frontier Co-op garlic powder — Frontier coop garlic powder in a bag

What kind of salt to use in your taco seasoning?

Did you grow up using table salt, like I did? I had a rude awakening a few years ago when I friend asked if I’d ever looked at the ingredients on my salt. I hadn’t, but I immediately did so, only discover that there were FOUR ingredients listed, including dextrose. According to webmd:

Dextrose is a type of sugar that usually comes from corn or wheat. It is almost identical to glucose, which is the sugar found in the bloodstream. For that reason, it can be quickly used as a source of energy by the human body. Dextrose is often used in foods as an artificial sweetener or a preservative.
webmd.com/diet/what-to-know-dextrose

Dextrose is sugar, and is made from crops that are often GMO or sprayed with round-up. I’ve been using one of three types of salt since that day:

Redmond Real Salt: unrefined seal salt with trace minerals left in tact and no additional ingredients added.
Pink Himalayan Salt: just check the ingredients to ensure nothing else is added.

Even though mixing this up takes just five minutes, future you may appreciate if you mix up enough for several meals. Instructions for 8 servings are listed in the recipe notes. Use 5 tbsp mixed in about 3/4 cup of water per 1 lb of ground beef.

Taco Seasoning

Easily make your own authentic taco seasoning from basic spices with this quick recipe.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt

Instructions

Add all five ingredients to a bowl and mix well.
To use, combine with ¾ cup of water; seasons 1 lb of ground beef or other meat.

Notes

Measurements listed are the equivalent of one store-bought packet of seasoning.
To make in bulk, 8 servings are comprised of 1.5 c chili powder, 0.5 c cumin, and 8 tsp each of garlic powder, paprika and salt. Use 5 tbsp of the seasoning per 1 lb of meat.
Store in glass air-tight jar in a dark place for up to a year.