If you’ve never considered making your own taco seasoning before, you should. It’s cheaper to make it yourself, and it’s not hard to make. There’s also a lot you could do with homemade taco seasoning. We love tacos, but we also use taco seasoning to make taco pie, casseroles, taco soup, and even to season chicken for quesadillas or wraps. When you make homemade taco seasoning, you can also customize what’s in it to match your tastes or any dietary restrictions.

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Homemade Taco Seasoning Ingredients

Most, if not all, of the ingredients to make taco seasoning are probably in your pantry already. My recipe includes dried onion flakes, cornstarch, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, beef bouillon powder, oregano, salt, and hot pepper flakes.

If you haven’t done much cooking before, these are seasonings that will help you make a variety of meals. You can use a combination of these spices and seasonings to make a dry rub, season vegetables to roast in the oven, or add flavor to a casserole, soup, or pasta.

Adaptations for Dietary Needs

Vegan or Vegetarian

All ingredients in this taco seasoning are vegetarian/vegan except for the beef bouillon powder. Fortunately, this is an easy ingredient to substitute. You can use your favorite vegetarian/vegan bouillon powder substitute. I like the Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base is certified vegan.

If you don’t have any vegan bouillon powder substitutes on hand, that’s OK. Mix up the taco seasoning mix, but leave out the beef bouillon powder. Then, when you are ready to use the seasoning for taco meat or another recipe, simply mix in a bit of soy sauce and tomato paste with it. It’s not a perfect substitute but it will give your food a good flavor.

Spicy or Mild

When you are making a homemade seasoning mix, it’s easy to make it just the way you like it. We like the 2 tsp of hot pepper flakes for just the right amount of heat in our recipes. If you need a very mild taco seasoning for a family member or a child, you can cut out the hot pepper flakes altogether.

Bland diet

If you’ve ever needed a bland diet due to a gastrointestinal issue, you know that sometimes it’s hard avoiding your favorite foods. Good news: you can still eat tacos on a bland diet if you make a homemade taco seasoning! For the homemade taco seasoning, reduce or eliminate the garlic powder and minced onion. Use paprika in place of chili powder. When making taco meat, use a lean beef. It’s not exactly the same flavor as a store-bought taco seasoning, but it’s still makes a good taco. Believe me, after a year on the bland diet without tacos, we were so excited to realize we could eat tacos again!

No Additives in Homemade Taco Seasoning

Store-bought taco seasonings contain additives, like silicon dioxide, maltodextrin, and flavors. Maltodextrin is a bulking agent and silicon dioxide is an anti-caking agent. While these aren’t necessarily harmful to your health, I still prefer to have homemade versions of foods to avoid additives for my family as much as possible.

Homemade taco seasoning lasts well, and I haven’t had any trouble with clumping or hardening. I like my tilt-down spice rack and 3 oz glass spice jars, and this recipe fits perfectly in a 3 oz spice jar. Of course, if you just want to save a 3 1/4 oz plastic spice container from the store once it’s empty, the taco seasoning will fit perfectly in there too!

Spend Less

Homemade taco seasoning costs about 1/3 the price of a name brand taco seasoning. It’s also cheaper than the generic packets too! And chances are, you won’t even have to buy any ingredient specially for this recipe, as most of these are common spices and seasonings.

If you’re looking for other ways to save on your grocery budget, check out these Money-Saving Recipes

Meals to make with Homemade Taco Seasoning

Tacos are delicious and a big favorite in our family, but there is a lot more that you can do with taco seasoning. Homemade taco seasoning can be used in any recipe that calls for taco seasoning.

Quick meals

Taco seasoning is an ingredient in quite a few of my quick weeknight meals. I like to throw chicken breast, taco seasoning, ranch dressing dry mix, and chicken broth in the slow cooker. Shred it and you can make a great grilled sandwich, or use it in wraps or on a salad. You can also cook chopped chicken breast and taco seasoning in a pan, and then use it to make chicken quesadillas.

If you’ve never tried taco pie, that is another favorite recipe of ours. You can find the recipe here from Betty Crocker. And if you don’t want to spend the money to buy Bisquick, you can also make homemade Bisquick. You can find a review of 8 homemade Bisquick recipes here. Taco seasoning can also be used in a variety of casseroles and soups.

Making Tacos with Homemade Taco Seasoning

To make tacos with homemade taco seasoning, brown your ground beef as normal. After you have drained the fat off your beef, add your homemade taco seasoning mix and water. For each pound of ground beef, add 3 Tbsp of taco seasoning mix and 1/4 cup of water. Mix in and let simmer for a few minutes, and it’s ready to eat!

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Taco Seasoning Mix

Taco seasoning is easy to make on your own at home. It costs about 1/3 of the price of purchasing it in the store, and is free of additives. Easily adjust the ingredients for a spicier taco or adapt to dietary needs including vegan or bland diets. Make a big batch to have on hand for tacos anytime!

Course Main Course

Keyword seasoning, tacos

Prep Time 10

Ingredients

1/4 cup dried onion flakes
4 tsp cornstarch
4 Tbsp chili powder
3 tsp cumin
3 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp beef bouillon powder
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp salt
2 tsp hot pepper flakes optional

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together
Store in an airtight container until ready to use
When making taco meat, add 3 Tbsp of seasoning mix and 1/4 cup water to 1 lb of ground beef

Notes

For vegetarian or vegan diets: substitute a vegan beef bouillon powder for the beef bouillon powder.

For a bland diet: reduce or eliminate garlic powder and minced onion, and substitute paprika in place of chili powder

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