Homemade Taco Seasoning For Full GAPS

A small jar of homemade taco seasoning gives you chili, earthy cumin, and a little cayenne heat without opening a seasoning packet. This five-ingredient blend takes about two minutes to measure and mix. Keep it dry in the cupboard, then spoon it into the food you are cooking.

The chili powder supplies most of the color and flavor. Cumin brings that familiar savory taco aroma, while black pepper and a smaller measure of cayenne round out the heat. The finished mixture is a loose, reddish-brown powder. It seasons food; it does not contain starch to thicken a sauce.

I work second shift and homeschool before work, with six children in our family. Little preparation jobs need to earn their place in the day. Measuring a small jar of seasoning ahead is the kind of pantry task that can make the cooking part simpler, without turning it into another afternoon project.

GAPS Stage

This is a Full GAPS seasoning made with pure spices and mineral salt. Choose chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and cayenne without added starch, sugar, or other additives. Read the chili-powder ingredients especially carefully: the name on the front does not tell you everything in the jar.

Keep this dried-spice blend for Full GAPS. GAPS Introduction Stage 2 uses salt and fresh herbs for stews rather than a mix like this. Keep those earlier meals simply seasoned, and use this recipe when its spices are part of your Full GAPS meals.

The dry blend contains no dairy, eggs, nuts, or sweetener. That makes it useful with different Full GAPS meals without adding a dairy ingredient to everyone’s portion. It still contains plant spices, including chili peppers; a nightshade-free recipe needs a different seasoning.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons pure chili powder
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons mineral salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Chili powder: Use a powder made only from plain spices. Some jars contain ground dried chili alone, while others combine chili with other spices. Those products can taste different even when both have simple ingredient lists. Check the ingredients and choose the flavor and heat you want before measuring the two tablespoons.

Cumin: This recipe uses ground cumin, which mixes evenly with the other powders. Whole cumin seeds would leave a very different texture and distribution in the jar. Measure a level tablespoon of the ground spice.

Salt: Salt is already part of the blend. Remember that when you add it to a dish that also contains salted meat stock, cheese, or another salted ingredient. Taste the cooked dish before reaching for more salt.

Black pepper and cayenne: These are separate ingredients with separate measurements. The black pepper is one-quarter teaspoon; the cayenne is one-eighth teaspoon. Cayenne is concentrated heat, so use the small measuring spoon rather than estimating a pinch. The two tablespoons of chili powder are not two tablespoons of cayenne.

Yield: One small batch. The individual spoon measures add up to 11 3/8 teaspoons, just under four tablespoons. Mixing and settling can change how that powder sits in the jar, so treat that figure as a guide for choosing a container.

Instructions

1. Measure all five ingredients into a small, clean, completely dry glass jar. Stir until the color is even and no pockets of salt or cumin remain, then close the lid. Store in a dry cupboard and use as needed.

Before you begin, check the inside of the jar and the measuring spoons. A freshly washed jar needs to be dry all the way down to its base. This is a dry pantry mixture, so you are combining the powders as they are rather than making a paste.

Level each spoonful instead of packing the spices down or leaving a mound on top. Scrape the measured spices into the jar, including the small amounts of black pepper and cayenne. A jar with a little room above the powder is easier to stir than one filled right to the rim.

As you stir, the darker cumin and red chili should become one mottled reddish-brown mixture. Look down the sides and across the bottom for pale salt pockets. Bring those back through the powder with the spoon. The cumin aroma should be noticeable when you open the jar; the blend stays dry and loose.

Close the lid once everything is mixed. Label the jar “Taco Seasoning” so it is easy to distinguish from plain chili powder. If the spices settle between uses, stir the dry mixture again before measuring a portion.

How To Use It

For a pound of ground meat, two tablespoons is a useful starting amount. Stir it through the meat as you cook so the seasoning reaches the whole pan. Taste the cooked meat, then decide whether it needs more. The chili powder you chose and the other ingredients in the meal affect how strong and salty it tastes.

Fresh crushed garlic can go into the meat when you cook it. Keep that fresh garlic out of the stored seasoning jar. It belongs in the meal, while the jar holds only the five dry ingredients listed above.

This blend does not replace a packet’s thickening ingredients. If your usual packet creates a thick sauce after you add water, expect a different result here. Use the liquid and cooking directions for the actual dish rather than adding water solely because a seasoning packet used to call for it.

It also helps to keep separate recipes separate. If a soup already lists its own measured cumin, salt, chili, and other spices, follow that recipe’s amounts. A spoonful of this jar is not automatically the same blend or the same salt level.

Storage

Keep the closed jar in a dry cupboard, away from stove steam. Use a clean, dry spoon whenever you take some out. Spoon the seasoning into a small dish or your measuring spoon before approaching a steaming pan, then close the jar again.

The powders should remain loose enough to stir. If a little settling occurs, mix again before measuring. A jar that has become wet is no longer the dry blend described in this recipe.

Make a modest amount from spices that smell fresh when opened. Keep their original labels so you can check the ingredients and best-before dates. Mixing the spices does not renew their freshness, so start with the ones you would want to cook with today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Chili Powder The Same As Cayenne?

No. Chili powder can be a ground chili or a blend of spices, with a range of heat levels. Cayenne is the separately measured hot pepper in this recipe. Read both labels and keep the two measurements distinct.

Can I Use Fresh Garlic?

Yes, add crushed fresh garlic to the meat or other food you are cooking. Keep the storage jar dry. You do not need to turn fresh garlic into another ingredient in the pantry blend.

Does This Make One Packet Of Seasoning?

No. This makes one small batch, while packet sizes and seasoning strength vary. Begin with two tablespoons for a pound of ground meat, then taste the cooked dish instead of assuming the whole jar belongs in one pan.

Can I Double The Batch?

Yes. Use the recipe card’s 2× control to double all five amounts together. Choose a larger dry jar with room to stir. Keeping the proportions together matters more than filling a particular jar size.

Can I Use It During Intro?

Keep this blend for Full GAPS. For earlier Introduction Diet meals, follow the seasoning directions for that stage and that recipe. Removing one hot pepper does not turn the complete blend into an Intro seasoning.

Recommended Equipment

You need measuring spoons, a small glass jar with a lid, and a spoon that reaches the bottom. A one-eighth-teaspoon measure is useful for the cayenne. There is no appliance or cooking pan involved in making the dry blend.

Related Recipes

Soft cheddar taco shells give you a separate Full GAPS shell recipe for serving a seasoned filling after cheddar has been introduced. Their soft cheese shells wrap around a filling without a flour tortilla.

If you want taco flavors in a bowl, creamy taco soup uses chicken meat stock, beef, tomatoes, and cultured dairy. It has its own measured spice blend, so keep those soup measurements rather than replacing them with an assumed amount from this jar.

More Homemade Pantry Basics

For more homemade additions to everyday meals, look for my upcoming Sauces, Dressings & Condiments Cookbook through the WFLI shop. It brings the recipes for those finishing touches into one place, so you can plan what to make alongside the main meal.