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!
Found this when I searched for a chili seasoning recipe. Trying to avoid pre-packaged mixes and making this one from scratch was super easy. Added it to my turkey chili – OMG doesn’t begin to describe the family’s reaction. Making a bigger batch – store in a small Ball jar
Thank you!
I was trying to give it five stars but it wasn’t working for my earlier comment. Five stars all the way!
I absolutely love this recipe. It’s my go-to every time I make chili and have passed it on to friends as well. I add a little Ancho Chili Powder because it’s one of our favorite spices and it adds another dimension of flavor BUT this recipe is great as it stands.
Just used it and love the taste,thank you
So delicious and so easy to make.
Very good thank you for sharing this
Great Chili seasoning recipe; however, I added a tad bit more Chili Powder & Cayenne for extra “heat”. Turned out well and will be making again for Superbowl! Thanks for posting the recipe!
This is the best chili flavoring combination I have used. I accidentally added 1.5 tsps. of cumin instead of 1 tsp. so it was noticeable, but okay as I really like cumin. I browned 1 pound of ground beef (85%) and drained the liquid. I added the spice mix coated it well among the beef mix until well coated. I then stirred in 1 medium chopped onion and 4 chopped garlic cloves and cooked all together for about 5 minutes under medium heat. I then added a 28 ounce can of organic diced tomatoes, a 14 ounce can of red kidney beans and a 14 ounce can of black beans (did not drain the liquid on any of these). I added a cup of water and cooked at medium heat until the mixture reached a low boil. I reduced the heat to medium/low and continued to simmer and stir frequently for 1 hour. The liquid was reduced and a thick chili remained. It was delicious
Used this to spice up a rather bland chili recipe – the results were delicious! Definitely will use again.
I use this recipe every. single. time. I make chili. Never bother buying the packets anymore! Though I’m a wimp (and so is our toddler) so I just do a sprinkle of cayenne pepper instead of the whole 1/4 teaspoon.
I add this recipe to 1 pound ground turkey, 2 cans chili/kidney beans, and 2 cans petite diced tomatoes and throw it all in the crock pot. Easy, super inexpensive, and healthy. And delicious! Thanks again!
I love you Miss Beth! I was over there at your cha-cha-ching chili recipe. I never purchase things like “taco seasoning” or “chili seasoning” anymore because you’ve taught me so much better. So when I read that ingredient (after everything else was in the pot…natch!) I thought to myself, “hmmmm, I wonder if my friend has a recipe for chili seasoning…” So yeah, I love you (and so does my family, who now eat much better than we used to thanks to you and BudgetBytes.) Cooking brings me no joy ;-)
I love your website. Thanks for the tips and recipes. I’ll definitely try them, as a working mom of 3, I appreciate new ideas for dinner. THX!
After doing a search for chili seasoning this site popped up. Mom and I tried the spice mix listed here. Our chili was so good! Thanks!
Thanks for this simple recipe. My cabinets are full of spices and I want to start using them. This was much better than prepacked f4om the store. The kids all loved my chili!!!
Thank you so much for posting this. I can’t wait to try it on vegetables!