Homemade Taco Seasoning with recipe

20ish years ago, our family started eating tacos, taco salad or nachos every Saturday for supper. Our sons were 11 and 13 and just getting into watching hockey on tv. We had one channel, CBC, and this was the only time hockey was on. We had agreed to letting them eat supper in the basement, where the tv was, and needed something easily transportable, thus began our tradition … Hockey Night in Canada with Tacos.

When our oldest got married and moved out, the younger almost begged me to make something different on Saturdays, which I did for a month until he asked me to go back to tacos. When he moved out of home the next year, I decided that was it for tacos. No one was watching hockey now so we could eat whatever we wanted. Just a couple weeks went by before my hubby asked for taco Saturday to come back and it still happens.

After both sons were gone, hubby took an interest in cooking and decided he would create a seasoning, which we’ve been using for 10 years now.

1/2 cup chili powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (less if you don’t like spicy)
1 1/2 tsp oregano
2 1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup ground cumin
1 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
1 1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper

We usually make a double batch and store it in an airtight container. For our liking, we use 3 Tbsp per pound.

I can still hear our sons footsteps on the stairs as they came racing up to grab more food during commercial breaks :smiley:

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Such a taco gourmet, to make and use your own spice blend! Sounds like you have a lot of experience with the tacos, too.
:taco:

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What a happy memory you created for you and your family! Do your sons do Taco Saturday in their homes now as well?

We usually do Taco Tuesday and vary the types (fish tacos, crab tacos, shrimp tacos, etc.). The commercial mixes are way too salty for my taste. I’ll have to give this a try. Looks like it would work with enchiladas and even nachos!

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Way to personalize and upgrade a classic mix!

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Awesome! I am a sucker for those taco seasoning packets. I will have to try your family recipe. Thanks for sharing!

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Let me know if you do. Our oldest had only had this version when visiting because it came after he moved out. Last year he asked for the recipe, then said they’d never buy another package mix.

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Yay for home-made mixes. I make fajita, jerk, oh and now jamaican curry mixes.

But, what is a cup in measurements, I just don’t understand.

I know, I can search but why do we have to be so crazy different in our measuring???

I’m a bit of a wing it* with dinners cooking so accuracy is not all important to me, but I don’t understand cups measuring at all.

*I cannot bake cakes because of this approach

A cup is 8 fluid ounces, or 16 tablespoons, or 237 mL.

Thanks for sharing your recipe, @Cindy !

The conversion chart I found says 1 cup equals 250 UK ml

Do you usually measure ingredients by weight? I could easily add the weights if that helps.

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You’re in Canada, I’m in the US. US measurements are slightly different than Imperial, apparently (just found that out). But, here, a tablespoon (3 teaspoons) is just shy of (or usually rounded to) 15mL. So, a cup (US) is just shy of 240 mL. As a chemist, I really wish we just used metric in the US, since it’s the same wherever you are! Too much uncertainty in recipes! It doesn’t matter so much in cooking, but baking?! Yikes!

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Hahaha…so funny. That’s how I feel when I use a UK recipe. How the heck do I know how much X mLs of an ingredient is?! I do see the bakers using a scale on GBBO…

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We use weight for dry ingredients and ml for liquid

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That’s what my hubby does when he’s making rubs for the smoker, we have never changed this recipe though and now I wonder why.

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I make a lot of my own mixes too. So I can cut way back on the salt! This looks close to the one I make!

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