Homemade Taco Seasoning

My husband and I love tacos. Like, we love them so much we could eat them at least once a week. You can imagine how many packets of taco seasoning we go through in this house!

I have always bought the low-sodium version of whatever taco seasoning because I'm a bit health conscious... and for the same reason, we don't use ground beef in our tacos, we use ground chicken or ground turkey (whatever is on sale!). I wanna keep my husband and I healthy so I do a lot of label reading. It's what works for us, but we don't hate on people who choose not to do this :)

I was browsing Pinterest a few weeks ago and came across this recipe for a DIY taco seasoning from Heavenly Homemakers. For whatever reason, I didn't make it at the time. However, just this past week I was thinking about it again and looked at the recipe again. 

UM, HELLO, SARA! It's only the easiest recipe that you've come across this week... WHY haven't you done it yet?!

Seriously. I jumped off the couch and ran to the kitchen. It takes about 3 minutes to make (including the time it took me to find a jar and wash it out) and uses 6 ingredients, all of which are common and you most likely have in your cupboards.

I halfed the recipe that I found on Heavenly Homemakers because I wanted to make sure the mix would agree with our tastes. Next time I'll do the whole shebang! This is what I used:

1/4 cup chili powder
2 Tablespoons minced onion (even though the recipe calls for onion powder, I only had minced on hand)
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 Tablespoon paprika
1/2 Tablespoon sea salt

You just add all of that to a jar, screw on the lid, and shake it up!

When you want to use it, just add about 3 Tablespoons (a little less works just fine) to your browned meat. I also added a bit of water to help it get mixed in but the original recipe doesn't call for it.

It'll last us quite a few Taco Nights - saving us money since we don't have to buy the $0.79 packets anymore - and I also like that I can control what goes into it. If I wanted to make it all organic, I could. If I wanted more garlic than paprika I could do that too! I really, really like that it's not as salty as the store bought mix.

The mix itself should store for months as long as you use spices that aren't about to expire and as long as you store it in a dry place. We have ours with the rest of the spices and so far, so good!

Try it! Let me know what you think! Anything you'd change? Have you made any homemade mixes before? I'm always looking for ways to make things healthier and less expensive in the kitchen!

Linking up to Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday, Foodie Friday, Serenity Now's Weekend Bloggy Reading, Ladybird Lane, Nifty Thrifty Things, Flamingo Toes, Mandy's Recipe Box, You're Talking Too Much, Natasha In Oz, Serendipity and Spice, A Pinch of Joy & It's a Keeper Thursday!