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.
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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!
Awesome very good no need to buy just perfect
Been making this for forever so I should rate it.
I always double everything but the salt and add.salt to taste at the end. It’s the best.
Cook your dried beans in an instant pot (I use about two pounds of kidney beans, we make a lot.at once). Brown a pound of ground beef with a couple of onions and sometimes a bell pepper if I have one. Add cooked beans, tomatoes (fresh or.canned), the seasoning, and enough liquid from the beans to cover. Simmer for awhile. I’ve done from 30 mins to two hours. Add salt to taste. Easy peasy dinner that everyone loves.
Tried your chili seasoning and it was the best chili we’ve had in a long time! THANKS!
This is my go to recipe when I make chili. Such a good balance. First time I tried it, I only used 1/2 a teaspoon rather than 1 teaspoon of salt. I found myself grabbing for the salt shaker while eating it. The next time, I used the full teaspoon. Much better! Thank you!
I use chili powder, a dash of cumin, dash of cayenne pepper, dash of ground Thyme leaves, garlic powder, onion powder, Himalayan salt, 1 roll of ground turkey, 1 can of stewed fire roasted garlic tomatoes, 1 small can of tomato paste, black and kidney beans, sweet mixed peppers and a jar of marinara. I let this brew in the slow cooker for a long time till all ingredients blend together. I add more chili powder and other seasonings to taste. This makes for a wonderful, flavorful thick chili that my husband loves with baked corn bred.
Nice basic chill seasoning. Not obnoxiously spicy, keeps the dish edible.
If your chili just isn’t what you were looking for, add a bit if mango. Mango enhances the spicy side and brings the flavors forward.
Thank you so very much for this recipe! 5 stars! I’ve used McCormick’s chili seasoning packs for years. I ran out so I found this recipe. I’ve been using this recipe now for a while and we love it. I double all but the salt and cayenne. I brown my meat with lots of onions and bell peppers. I then drain the meat mixture and add all the spices and stir it around. It toasts the spices and tastes so good. I add in whole mashed tomatoes and our favorite beans (kidney and pinto). I toss in more chopped bell peppers and let the pot simmer for at least 30 minutes or longer. This chili seasoning mix tastes like old fashioned school chili to us. Yummy!
I used this recipe for chili seasoning tonight and my husband said it was the best chili I had ever made. It’s definitely a keeper.
Thank you for a site that jumps to recipe and thank you for a good recipe. It’s bubbling on my stovetop now.
Excellent recipe!!
Thanks for the chili season mix recipe. We really enjoyed it. Nice to know this recipe produces one pack of chili seasoning so you can whip it up fresh every time you make chili.
It is a great recipe. I made chili using exact recipe. It was perfect. My family loved it.
Thanks for the great seasoning recipe. I have been making Chili for awhile. The seasonings here took it up a notch. It’s a keeper.
SO this is my go to from now on. I will be making a BIG batch to keep on hand no more store bought for me. I love that I can add as much as I want with the salt I know that it says to add salt but i was able to adjust it and that was the great part for me.
For those who can’t find commercial chili powder (I’m not American), which is the base ingredient in this recipe, what would you suggest? Also, it is not correct to label this mix as “homemade chili powder” when you need store bought chili powder as the main ingredient. “Enhanced store bought chili powder” is more accurate. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not the same thing as a chili powder made from scratch which I need to make myself because I have no storebought chili powders in sight.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple one-ingredient swap for the chili powder in the recipe, I’d need to reformulate the seasoning mix using pure ground red chiles (you’d probably want to choose one that is not too spicy). But you could probably just increase the amounts of the other spices and do pretty well. This recipe is called “homemade chili seasoning” not “homemade chili powder”. Chili powder is just one ingredient in the seasoning mix.
Need the amount per lb of beef or whatever and those saying chili powder is main ingredient so it’s not homemade remember chili is a pepper literally it’s a preordered chili some people think this is what makes chili sit it is not it’s the flavor basis I guess they wanted a recipe that you grow the pepper dri it out yourself grind it and add it to your chili mix come on now lol
Thank you! I have always used the seasoning packets (i am 64) but as I am browning and can opening I realized I didn’t have a package of seasoning! Googled, got this recipe, threw it together with all ingredients I had in my season cabinet and wow! Its delicious! Even my husband asked what I had done different as he loved it. Only thing….if you have used the package ingredients, I followed this one to the T and it was quite a bit spicier. I think the cayenne pepper. I like spicy but just FYI.