I made a pot of my basic chili a few weeks ago, which uses my homemade chili seasoning, so I wanted to post the homemade chili seasoning blend by itself to highlight the fact that it can be used for so much more than just chili.
How to Make Homemade Chili Seasoning
How to Use Homemade Chili Seasoning:
This homemade chili seasoning is equivalent to one store bought chili seasoning packet. This homemade chili seasoning will be enough to season one 6 serving batch of chili, or a batch of chili that uses one pound of ground beef or ground turkey.
Brown the ground beef or ground turkey first, drain the excess fat if needed, then add the homemade chili seasoning. Continue to sauté the seasoning with the beef for about a minute more, which will toast the spices and make them a bit more pronounced. Continue making your chili by adding diced tomatoes, beans, or whatever else you prefer (see my Easy Chili Recipe).
In addition to making a big pot of warm and comforting homemade chili, you can add this chili seasoning to vegetables, meat, or fish before roasting or grilling (check out my Chili Roasted Potatoes), or even sprinkle a little into your mac and cheese. I mean, what can’t you do with chili seasoning?!
Homemade Chili Seasoning
Servings 1 recipeIngredients
- 1 Tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp approximately freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and stir to combine. Store in an air-tight container, away from heat and moisture for up to six months.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
What is “chili powder”?
Chili powder is a blend of spices used to season chili, which is commonly sold pre-mixed in the United States. So, in effect, you could use just that alone to season your pot of chili, but my homemade chili seasoning takes it up a few notches.
Chili powder can vary in heat from brand to brand, so make sure to give yours a taste before making your chili. If the chili powder you are using is spicy, you can reduce or eliminate the cayenne pepper from this recipe.
The chili powder pictured above (Kroger brand) is spicy, as the label indicates, but not every brand is nice enough to let you know ahead of time if their blend is spicy. If you’re looking for a mild, not-spicy blend, check out McCormick’s chili powder. They also make a “hot Mexican” chili powder, which is quite spicy.
Can You Use Taco Seasoning for Chili?
They’re quite similar, but not exactly the same. For my Homemade Taco Seasoning, I use a slightly smokier blend of spices and add a little oregano. I do think you could use them interchangeably in a pinch, if needed, but prefer this slightly more simple blend for chili.
What is the Best Secret Ingredient for Chili?
The answer to this is subjective, of course, but in addition to your basic homemade chili seasoning you can add some fun “secret ingredients’ to your chili. Here are some fun secret ingredients for chili:
- Cocoa powder or dark chocolate, which gives an earthy flavor
- Beer: light Mexican or dark beer, like Guinness
- Brown sugar or molasses (sweet makes a great contrast to spicy!)
- Cinnamon, goes nicely with savory flavors as well as sweet!
- Red wine (for beef chili)
- Coffee or espresso (similar to cocoa, this provides a deep earthiness)
What are your favorite chili seasonings? Share in the comments below!
2841 mg sodium per serving. How did you get that Extremely High Number with your list of ingredients ? It’s pretty much impossible to do ?
That translates to roughly 1tsp of salt, which the recipe calls for…Great recipe btw :-)
Used this recipe because I forgot to by the packet of chili mix. Never again will I buy the store brand packets at $1.99 this was way better. Use 1/2 the recipe for 1lb ground turkey chili and saved the rest for next time. The money wasted when all of the spices were in my cabinet.
Needed a chili packet – turns out we didn’t have one in the pantry – but this recipe saved the day! As I sat down to add it to my collection I thought I’d take a minute first to say thanks for sharing. It will be our go-to from now on!
I also suggest 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (especially if you want to take the cayenne out). Love the chili I can make this with one.
Love this!! Will never buy the packet again. I get SO many compliments on my chili!!
This is so good! I used it in place of a chili packet for a vegetarian chili. The chili tastes so much better using this blend! Thank you!
I love this recipe and added some of the suggestions ❤️
Love this recipe… thank you! love that it is also Gluten free, So many store bought packets are not. My kids say this is so much better than the packets we used to buy. I always add cinnamon to my chili and this is the perfect blend of spices with it.
I don’t have any chili powder, which is why I looked up how to make it homemade 🤔
Hi Paula, this is a recipe for a chili seasoning blend, not chili powder. I hope you found what you were looking for!
You can’t make chili without chili powder!
This is great! I did add a pinch of red pepper flakes as we like it a little hot. I’ll never buy the packets again. Thank you!
Loved this recipe. I used dark chili powder, and I did add smoked paprika and chipotle powder.
I always add beer, cocoa, and a bit of peanut butter to my chili with beans.
I may add some instant espresso next time.
Thank you for the recipe!
I went to the cupboard to get my
McCormicks. But to my wondering eye I had none. Didn’t feel like going out so I called in Google. And the recipe was the first up I have to say I may never buy store bought again
Followed it exactly and it was perfect! Doesn’t need paprika because it has the Cayenne. I would say if you don’t like as much spice you could substitute the Cayenne with paprika. But seriously try it exactly as described first because this is a great alternative to getting those chili seasoning packets that have unnatural ingredients.
This recipe is missing paprika (I prefer smoked), and coriander (ground or whole seeds). Optional, cornstarch or arrowroot if you need a thickener.