Best Homemade Taco Seasoning Recipe

This is my family’s favorite homemade taco seasoning recipe! It’s so much more flavorful than store-bought and works well with chicken, fish, shrimp, pork, beef, and veggies! This simple recipe is a keeper!

If you have seen our homemade chili powder or Cajun seasoning, you know that we love making homemade seasoning blends. Our taco seasoning mostly calls on spices you probably already have in your spice cabinet and an optional special ingredient that makes this mix outrageously flavorful.

Our readers have called this blend “fantastic,” “a keeper,” and “so much better” than store-bought brands. I use this to make our easy pork tacos and have happily sprinkled it over ground beef, chicken, seafood, and vegetables. And if that doesn’t convince you, the blend lasts for months in your spice cabinet (although, I bet once you try it, you’ll use it quickly!).

Key Ingredients

• Chili Powder: We love using our homemade chili powder in this taco seasoning, but feel free to use your favorite. Ancho chili powder is a great store-bought option.
• Pantry Spices: For a rich and flavorful blend, we use ground cumin, smoked paprika, and ground coriander. To add heat, you can include cayenne pepper.
• Cornstarch: This is the trick to guaranteeing the seasoning adheres to your taco ingredients. Store-bought taco seasoning packets often contain thickeners. When cornstarch is combined with liquid and heated, it creates a sauce that helps the seasoning stick to ground meat, vegetables, or other ingredients.
• Salt: You can add salt to this blend for a one-stop seasoning. If you omit it, remember to add salt to your dish as needed.
• Mushroom Powder: Here’s the special ingredient I mentioned earlier. If you’ve ever seen umami blends in the spice aisle, they are made with mushroom powder! We shared this secret years ago and are so happy it’s finally catching on in stores! I make homemade mushroom powder, which I then add to this blend. It’s ridiculously easy to make. Buy dried porcini mushrooms, add them to a blender, and blend into a powder. Done! Then, when added to a seasoning blend like this taco seasoning, it really amps up the flavor and savory deliciousness of whatever you use it with. Trust me on this one!

How to Make Taco Seasoning

This seasoning mix is super simple to make. For everything but the mushroom powder, you’ll measure each spice, add the measured spices to a bowl, and then mix them. As I mentioned above, I bet you already have most of the spices needed!

For the mushrooms, you want to buy a small packet of dried porcini mushrooms and then add them to a blender. Blend until a fine powder, then mix it into your taco seasoning.

You can store any leftover mushroom powder and use it in other dishes. I add it to anything that would benefit from a more savory flavor, like meatloaf, spaghetti meat sauce, and beef chili.