I’ve seen recipes like this floating around the blog world, most recently on Brown Eyed Baker, but there was a glaring problem with them.  They had no salt!  Tell me you’d eat taco meat that had no salt in it.  So I made my own mix that included salt and it came out perfect–almost exactly like the packaged mix but with no scary ingredients.  I used the meat from my first batch to make that wonderful white trash taco salad stuff with Doritos & a whole bottle of French dressing in it, but the meat can obviously be used in tacos, nachos, or whatever else your creative little mind desires.

Homemade Taco Seasoning Mix

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

¼ cup chili powder
¼ cup paprika
3 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl.

Over medium heat, brown 1 lb ground beef and drain. Stir in 2 ½ tablespoons taco mix & ½ cup water. Continue cooking over medium heat until the sauce thickens and coats the meat and there is not much liquid left. Store remaining seasoning mix in an airtight container at room temperature.