Homemade Taco Seasoning

Not all seasoning packets are created equal, and I can never remember which ones I liked and which ones were so-so. I never know if I should get McCormick, El Paso, Mrs. Dash, or the store brand.

Here's my new solution: make your own! I stumbled across this recipe for taco seasoning, and it is pretty simple. All of the ingredients are already in my spice rack, so when I got a craving for a taco salad the other day, I didn't even bother to dig through my collection of spice mix packages.

With a little chili powder, paprika, ground cumin, onion powder, salt, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper, I had plenty of seasoning for one pound of ground beef and plenty more to store in the spice cabinet for next time I make something that needs taco seasoning (like my salsa chicken burritos). The only change that I made was to use a lot less salt than the original recipe called for, since all the reviewers said that 3 teaspoons was way too much.

To season ground beef with it, simply sauté that beef as you normally would, stirring until it’s no longer pink and then draining the grease. Add 3/4 cup of water and about 3 tablespoons of this mixture (about half of what it makes), and you get something pretty yummy.

What I really wanted was a taco salad. I had seen taco salad bowls, just like you’d get at a restaurant, at the grocery store a few weeks ago. Of course, when I made a special trip just for that, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I ended up grabbing soft flour tortillas, the really small ones, and having soft tacos instead.

I had plenty left over, too, so I put a little glad-ware container full of this seasoning in the spice cabinet for next time. Woo hoo!

Recipe in the TasteBook shortly.

I’m posting this differently than I have in the past. I’m using a Windows program that came with my computer, and I think I’ll stick with it. It’s a lot easier to do the pictures this way, rather than uploading to photobucket and resizing them all individually, and I have a lot more control over the layout than when I do it from blogger directly, online. And the hyperlinks work! I’m not sure why I’m sharing that, but if you see changes that you like or don’t like, I’m open to feedback  

As always, thanks for reading!