A Spice Mix That Contains Ingredients You Can Pronounce!
Tacos. Nachos. Taco Salad. Burritos, Quinoa. There are so many lovely dishes that require the presence of sublimely flavored meat, beans, or whatever! Some form of Central-American flavored comestible makes an appearance in our diet on a weekly basis!
That said, quite a few years ago I was in the store and began perusing the ingredients list of all of the taco and southwest seasoning options. The contents of the packages and bottles kind of sent me on a flashback to chemistry class. Now I get it, processed food needs ingredients to prevent caking and to act as flavor enhancers and preserving agents. That said I'm not going to go on a big fight the power rant regarding the evil food empire in this particular post, for there are much more eloquent and/or talent-ranty peeps out there to massage and further that platform.
However, I am a bit on the frugal side. Since I either grow or buy most of my spices in bulk, I already had the required seasonings needed to craft my taco flavor enhancing mouth symphony. This made my cheapskate core glow with only the satisfaction that a few less shekels spent can evoke. Sigh.
Also, I would like to decompose when I expire, be a nice bit of tree feeding compost and all that, so I decided in that moment to craft my own bulk taco seasoning recipe, because less preservatives is more in my book. Over the years I have tweaked it a bit, and there are optional ingredient variations for all manner of cooking philosophies and/or ingredient availability scenarios. I do so hope that you enjoy this time saving, pocketbook contents preserving, homemade taco seasoning mix!
Bulk Homemade Taco Seasoning
1/4 cup dried, minced onions
1/4 cup chili powder
1 Tablespoon salt
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cornstarch (arrowroot or potato starch could probably be subbed here)
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground red pepper flakes (or two if you like more heat)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules (optional, enhances the mix's flavor, but can also add ingredients that might be a bit dodgy to those that prefer a simplistic, whole food lifestyle)Combine all ingredients in a container and mix well.
In an airtight container this mix will last a year, but mine never exists that long.
For every pound of cooked, drained meat add two tablespoons of taco seasoning mix and 1/2 cup of water.
This recipe makes 12 Tablespoons. I double the recipe all of the time, as we really go through this stuff!
And just for fun, lets look at a cost breakdown of this flavoriffic addition composition:
Dried onions: I purchase dried, minced onions in bulk jars from my local restaurant supply store. The canister cost $3.44 and I used 2 ounces, so we're looking at around 20 cents worth of onions.
Chili powder: Same thing as the onions, I buy the spice in bulk and the price is about the same as the onions. I also grow my own chilis and make my own chili powder, so depending on the time of year my cost of this ingredient is either 20 cents-ish or free.
Salt: Even if I use my expensive Pink Himalayan Hipster Salt, I buy it in bulk and the tablespoon I use in the mix costs pennies.
Cornstarch: I buy cornstarch in four pound buckets at the restaurant supply store for a little less than four dollars when it is on sale. So my 1 tablespoon addition is honestly probably less than a penny in cost. There are lots of thickening alternatives out there, and sometimes I will make batches of taco seasoning without the added thickener option at all. This ingredient can be easily adapted or omitted to fit your food philosophy and/or dietary needs.
Garlic Powder: Bulk purchased at the same store or grown, dried, and ground. Pennies or free
Cumin: Restaurant supply store purchase, a little more spendy that the other ingredients, but not much, probably 2 cents worth, ha ha!
Red pepper flakes: Free from last year's supply that I grew, dried, and ground myself
Oregano: Free, from last year's supply that I dried and saved.
Each batch of mix yields enough taco seasoning to flavor 6 pounds of meat or whatever. By my estimation each batch costs between 35-45 cents to make. I know for a fact that those little taco seasoning packets costs far more than 6-8 cents a piece. Plus, I have the piece of mind that sprouts from the knowledge of knowing just exactly what is in my nom noms. Considering that this seasoning mix only takes about 2.6 minutes to whip up, I can't really justify not keeping a container of it on hand for quick food flavor enhancement utilization!
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