Homemade Taco Seasoning

Where does the time go? I seem to have time to try new recipes, but no time to tell you about them. We need to get to those Greek nachos I shared on Instagram, and the perfect chocolatey sea salted-caramelly cookies we just made for a school bake sale, not to mention I’ve found the perfect meatloaf, something I never thought I’d even attempt after suffering through my sister Emily’s favourite birthday dinner of mushroom meatloaf with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes about 9 too many times.

But in this long list of food catch up we need to do, I’m starting with taco seasoning. Maybe not as exciting or beautiful as vegetarian pita nachos, but a pantry staple that should be part of all of our lives.

Tacos are trendy for a reason, friends, and that reason is their perfect messy deliciousness (not to mention the fun punnable sound of the word). When Carl and I had our 12.5 year anniversary awhile back, he arranged with my sister for a surprise party. Apparently this is a thing you do if you aren’t sure you’ll make it to 25 years but don’t want to miss out on a chance to party?

Not sure what this says about his plans for our future, but hey, there were tacos! Piles of tacos, and mounds of cheese, beef, chicken, fish, salsa and all the tiny diced veggies. I only wish I’d saved more room for the cookie dough-stuffed cupcakes that followed.

They know me well…at least when it comes to food, not as much when it comes to my feelings about crowds and surprises. Although all I got was this one grainy picture the next day when we went back to clean up, so I guess that’s a good sign that it wasn’t so bad to find myself unexpectedly in a room of wonderful people :)

Taco seasoning may mean different things to different people. We were in Palm Springs last month (what even!), and we went to a Mexican restaurant. This restaurant was a highlight of the trip in terms of atmosphere, incredible service, outside seating, live music of a perfect jive and volume, great company. But the food was mediocre at best, and I have come to the conclusion that I do not like all taco seasoning, particularly what is likely the most authentic. I don’t love cilantro and lime seems to bother me somehow, and too much cumin is simply….too much.

This, then, is the taco seasoning I use pretty much weekly, whether on actual tacos or in tortilla soup, taco chili, taco pizza, taco rice…you get the picture.

I bought taco seasoning for years because I had no idea how easy and cheap it is to make myself, or how great it would be to have exactly what I wanted in a taco seasoning. Those days are over. This takes 5 minutes to throw together, and you can make lots and store it for months in an airtight container. A little mason jar fits nicely in my spice drawer.

I’ve had a sticky note with my measurements floating around in my spice drawer for too long and was afraid I would lose it, so now it’s added to the archives. If tacos or any of their relatives are a regular part of your life, you’ll want to keep this handy at all times.