Tacos are a favorite fast food meal that most cooks make at home at least once a month. Does that describe you? Chances are you periodically shop for a packet of taco mix to create the taco taste in the meat or meat alternative used in your tacos. But what’s available on the market and what’s good for your health or pocketbook, may not mesh with your nutritional goals or budget. Prepackaged blends are often costly, high is sodium, and full of unknown chemicals. So why not make your own?
Benefits of Making Your Own Blend
If you are sodium conscious, this is a great seasoning blend for you. There’s no added salt. If you are tired of the too-salty taste and the too many unknown chemicals of commercially packaged taco seasoning mixes, you won’t find added salt or chemicals in this blend. And finally, if you are seeking a more economical blend of taco spices than the costly ones that come prepackaged, this blend of spices is the perfect recipe.
Ingredient List
1½ t. ground cumin
1½ t. chili powder
¼ t. ground pepper
¼ t. dried oregano
¼ t. crushed red pepper flakes
¼ t. paprika
¼ t. garlic powder
¼ t. onion powder
Directions
Combine your spices and blend well. This recipe amount if perfect for a pound of ground beef or the equivalent of a pound of meat. It can be doubled or halved depending on the servings desired. If you are storing the mix for later use, place your spice blend in a dry, sealed, and labeled container, and store until needed.
Other Seasoning Options
Play around with the spice flavors and increase the spices you would like represented more in the overall taste of your taco blend. And if you want to add salt, start with half a teaspoon, but don’t add more than a full teaspoon–and that will probably be a bit too salty for most people.
For an even spicier kick, consider adding a quarter teaspoon more of black pepper. To cut back on the kick, add only a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Other Seasoning Uses
You will find this blend of taco spices works to flavor several other food options than just tacos. You can use it to flavor taco soup, Mexican bean dishes, enchilada sauce, even Spanish style rice dishes. Once you get the combination down right for your taste, you will have a spice blend with many purposes.
The combination of spices in this spice blend is the blend you will find in most taco seasoning packets, but in those packets, you often find added salt, fillers, chemicals, and preservatives. When you create your own taco spice blend, you don’t get chemicals you don’t want or need. And when you make your own taco seasoning, you can monitor the sodium contribution–something you can’t do with the prepackaged varieties.
