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 have using this mix of seasoning going on 3 years now and it never fails my chili comes out prefect I notice one comment where they added cilantro I’ll have to try that with my chili tonight. Thank you.
Do you cook the Hamburg with these seasonings before adding to the crockpot or do you cook the Hamburg and add this chili mix to all the ingredients in the crockpot?
This isn’t specifically for crock pot use. You can use this seasoning blend in any recipe where you would normally use a packet of chili seasoning that you’d purchase at the store.
I loved this recipe. I’ve always used packets but I will forever make my own seasoning now! I added sugar and tumeric for our tastes and it was perfect. My family said it was the best chili I’ve ever made. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Best chili powder I have ever tasted. They entire family raved about my chili.
Thank you.
Do you add the spicies to 1b of beef and 1 can of diced tomatoes?
I use this amount of seasoning for a pot of chili that uses 1 pound of beef. Here is a basic chili recipe that might help. :)
I cook the hamburger with onion, sweet peppers, and cilantro then add it to a pot. In the pot I combine the cooked meat mixture with canned diced tomatoes, kidney beans and this chili seasoning recipe. It is delicious!!! If you like more spice you can use the diced tomatoes with green chilis and double the seasoning.
I add a little bit of brown sugar and white pepper (and leave out all but maybe a pinch of Cayenne pepper)…..mmmmmm delicious!
Delicious! I omitted the cayenne and was very pleased with the results.
This was delicious!!!!
Great basic chili blend! My new go-to.
Thank you this worked in a pinch I was out of chili seasoning and had come up with it had all the ingredients everybody loved it thank you
This is the second time I used your chili seasoning. OMG, we love this! Never have been a user of spice packets, looking forward to trying other spice recipes. Thank you!
Store bought chili seasoning gives my whole family terrible indigestion, this recipe is perfect. I’ve been using it for a couple of years now. I never have garlic powder or onion powder on hand so I usually leave those out but it’s good both ways.
I made this and it was perfect. Thank you!
This was a hit and very simple to make. Any suggestions for making this into a bulk seasoning of like 1/2 or more?
I’m not sure I understand what “1/2 or more” means, but you can multiply the ingredients by any amount and it will work the same. :)
So much better than store bought