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!
I’m lost here. I like the ingredients this calls for, but how do you mix it? Do you use water, tomatoes, tomato sauce and what quantities?
Mix the seasonings dry and then you can simply add it to any chili recipe or add it to potatoes or vegetables before roasting. It’s just like the dry spice blends you buy at the store. :)
Just made this for supper and it was awesome! I did add a shake of smoked paprika, couple shakes of chipotle chili pepper and about 1\2 TBSP Sondra for thickening. Delicious!!!!! I put it in my recipe book! Thanks for sharing!
I use your blend in my 15-minute Fiesta Lime Chili! It’s amazing. Thank you sharing :-*
Recipe:
http://wifeywithaknifey.com/2016/03/03/15-minute-fiesta-lime-chili/
My husband loves it!! (And he is soooo picky), I usually buy it pre-made from the store and didn’t realize we were out when he started supper. Thanks for sharing your resicpe!
Perfect combination.. this chili is delicious
Thank you for the recipies! In my family we have one that is borderline hypertensive and another that’s allergic to onions. Being able to premix our own seasonings will be great for us. It will save us time trying to find a packet that does not contain onion powder! ( I do not know if they exists for chili seasoning.)
Fantastic! My bf got plain beans instead of my usual cheat Bush’s Chili Beans, so I decided to try this in the chili. I added a healthy shake of paprika and also a few shakes of crushed red pepper for more heat and it was perfect!
Thank you for posting a budget worthy staple! I make chili all the time! Now no more reason to buy that packet. Smells drelish
As usual, your recipes are great. This was an excellent alternative to buying a packet of seasoning. It was delicious with great flavor. Will be using this again and again.
Seriously, it is ridiculous the nit~picking going on about who spells or misspells. I’m look for recipes. I too can read through the lines.
Thanks for the recipe, Beth!
Would this seasoning be good for chicken chili? I usually use McCormick chicken chili seasoning,but looking for a home made recipe. Thanks
Yep, I use it for all types of chili. :)
Going to enter a chili cookoff with this chili seasoning. I normally use Carol Shelby’s chili seasoning but am looking for something a little different
I also like many, usually buy the packages at the grocery store. I am always looking to make dishes completely from scratch. Thanks this chili seasoning was perfect!
I googled this recipe because I ran out of packets and didn’t feel like running to the store. This was great! I will be using your recipe from now on. Thanks for sharing!
Really? How does a chili seasoning website cause so much drama? If you dont like the recipe simply move on to the next site instead of leaving negative remarks simply based on the ingredients listed… Now if you had made it and didnt care for the flavor then your opinion might matter. At the very least your opinion would have been legitimate instead of ignorance. Sheesh