This Mexican seasoning blend is quick to throw together and livens up any Mexican recipe. Use it to season tacos, fajitas, and enchiladas. This spice mix is free from salt and sugar giving you more flexibility when preparing your meals.
Whenever I’m cooking a Mexican-inspired dish, I always add in some of this homemade Mexican seasoning and it transforms my meals from bland to seriously delicious.
Video Demonstration
If you’d like to see how easy it is to throw all this together, check out my video where I walk you through the recipe step by step.
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Benefits
- Saves you a lot of time when you’re cooking. Avoids having to get out 10 different spices for each recipe.
- Saves you a lot of money. It is so much cheaper to make your own seasonings than to buy ready-made seasoning mixes.
- Salt-free. I don’t think it’s a good idea to use a spice blend that contains salt because the salt isn’t usually a good quality salt such as sea salt. If the salt is already added it usually won’t be in the correct proportions for the recipe meaning you might end up adding too much salt.
- Sugar-free. For the same reasons, it’s not great to use a seasoning blend that contains sugar because the type of sugar won’t be good quality. I prefer to add a more natural sweetener to my dishes such as maple syrup. But sometimes you don’t want to add any sweetener at all, and you won’t be able to avoid it if there is already sugar in your spice blend. If you increase the spiciness of the dish, you’ll always be increasing the sweetness if you use a spice blend that contains sugar.
- Vegan. Some seasonings contain milk powder, so it’s far better to make your own and be in control of all of the ingredients. This recipe, and all of the recipes on my website are vegan and plant-based.
- Gluten-free. Some spice mixes contain a lot of fillers such as flour containing gluten, so it’s always better to make your own so you can avoid any ingredients you don’t want to eat. This recipe and all of the recipes on my website are gluten-free.
- Make a larger quantity. When you buy seasoning from the store it usually comes in a very small jar, whereas when you make your own seasoning you can make as much as you like. For the seasonings that you use a lot, you can make a big jar of them. That means they’ll last months if not a year before you have to make the seasoning recipe again.
The Structure Of A Plant Based Plate
Each of the recipes I create fits into my Plant Plate System. This system incorporates 5 food groups into every meal.
The 5 food groups are 1) Plant Protein, 2), Leaves, Fruit, And Veg, 3) Aesthetic Additions, 4) Nutrient Packed Carbohydrates, and 5) Taste
This recipe adds flavor to any dish. It falls under the “Taste” category on the Plant Based Plate and is not a complete meal.
The diagram below helps you visually see how this element features on a Plant-Based Plate.
Click here to discover more about my Plant Plate System and some of the benefits of eating this way.
Ways To Use This Recipe
Here are some of my favorite ways to use my Mexican Seasoning:
- Fajitas
- Tacos
- Burritos
- Enchiladas
- Salad dressings
- Mexican beans
- Mexican rice
Ingredients And Substitutions
Here are the main ingredients in this recipe and substitutions you can use if you want to replace something:
- Chili powder. This is an essential ingredient to give the recipe a spicy kick. You can use any type of chili powder you like for this recipe. I love to use chipotle chili powder for an added smoky flavor. If you don’t like recipes too hot and spicy, you can always substitute some paprika for some of the chili powder.
- Ground paprika. Paprika gives the recipe a smoky sweet taste. If you don’t have any and you don’t mind the recipe being extra spicy, you could always use more chili powder to replace the paprika.
- Onion powder. Onion powder gives the recipe a deep umami flavor. If you don’t have this you can add more garlic powder or paprika.
- Garlic powder. Garlic powder gives a recipe a delicious sweet flavor. If you don’t have garlic powder, add more onion powder or paprika.
- Ground cumin. Cumin provides a particular flavor to certain Mexican dishes. But cumin is not a traditional Mexican spice, so it’s fine to leave it out if you prefer. If you would like to grind your own spices for a more flavorful spice blend, you could use the same quantity of whole cumin seeds and grind them.
- Oregano. Oregano provides some extra spice and a balanced taste. If you don’t have dried oregano, you can either leave it out, or use dried cilantro/coriander, or dried basil.
- Black pepper. Black pepper adds even more heat to the seasoning blend. If you don’t want to use it, leave it out and add more chili powder or paprika.
Equipment
The equipment that you’ll need for this recipe is:
- Jars. The size of jars that I used was 200ml/ 6 oz. If you have a different size jar that you want to use, see below for my instructions on changing the quantity of the recipe.
- Measuring Spoons. It is much faster to use measuring spoons than to weigh small quantities of spice. Measuring spoons are very cheap and as most recipes use them, it’s a good investment to make.
- Chalkboard Labels. I like to use chalkboard labels for my jars so that I can change the label if I change the contents of the jar. To remove the chalk from the label, just use soap and give them a little scrub with a cloth.
- Chalk Pens. I use chalk pens to write the name of my spice blends on the jar. Once you shake up the jars, the contents will be unrecognizable, so it’s important that you label each jar.
- Food Clips. When you are making your own spice mixes, you’ll end up with unused ingredients in bags. I like to clip these closed with a food clip.
- Coffee & Spice Grinder. Although I didn’t use a coffee grinder for this recipe, you may like to replace some of the ground ingredients with whole spices and grind them. Your spice blends will be much more flavorful if you grind your spices yourself. I just didn’t take the time to do this myself. However, I did use a coffee grinder to grind my onion and garlic powder that had solidified in the jars. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, you could also use a high-speed blender, a mini chopper, or a small food processor.
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients straight into your jar.
- Shake your jar until combined. Or you can use a mini whisk or fork to stir the contents inside the jar.
Serving Sizes
The best way to make this recipe is to use a jar that you already have.
Here’s how to calculate changing the quantity of the individual ingredients for the size of your jar.
Here’s the calculation you’ll need to use.
Measurement of ingredient / 200 X size of your jar in ml.
For example, if you have a 150ml jar and you are trying to change the quantity of 2 tablespoons of spice, the calculation would be as follows:
2 divided by 200 multiplied by 150 = 1.5.
That would mean that you would need to use 1.5 tablespoons instead of 2 tablespoons of a particular ingredient if you were using a 150ml jar.
How Much Seasoning To Add To A Recipe
I would start by adding 1 tablespoon to a recipe that served 4 and then increase the quantity to suit your own tastebuds.
If you are making a recipe that serves 1, start by adding just less than 1 teaspoon of seasoning to your recipe.
How To Make A Single Serving Of This Recipe
If you’re not ready to make a big batch of this seasoning mix, and you want to make enough spice blend for just 1 recipe that serves 4, here are the quantities you’ll need to use:
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- pinch black pepper
Storage
Ground spices start to lose their potency after 6 months. However, when you buy ground spices, you don’t know how long they’ve already been on the shelves.
Personally, I would keep these spices as long as they still looked and smelled OK to me.
Recipe
Homemade Mexican Spice Blend Recipe (No Salt)
Equipment
- Jars
- Measuring Spoons
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp Chilli Powder
- 2 tbsp Ground Paprika
- 1 tbsp Onion Powder
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tbsp Ground Cumin
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a 200ml spice jar.
- Shake the jar to combine or stir using a fork.
Video
Notes
How Much Seasoning To Add To A Recipe
I would start by adding 1 tablespoon to a recipe that served 4 and then increase the quantity to suit your own tastebuds. If you are making a recipe that serves 1, start by adding just less than 1 teaspoon of seasoning to your recipe.How To Make A Single Serving Of This Recipe
If you’re not ready to make a big batch of this seasoning mix, and you want to make enough spice blend for just 1 recipe that serves 4, here are the quantities you’ll need to use:- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon ground paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon oregano
- pinch black pepper
Other Homemade Seasoning Recipes
Here are some more of my favorite homemade seasoning recipes:
- Italian Seasoning Recipe (2 Minutes, No Salt, No Sugar, Vegan, Gluten Free)
- BBQ Seasoning Recipe (2 Minutes, No Salt, No Sugar, Vegan, Gluten Free)
- Chili Seasoning Recipe (2 Minutes, No Salt, No Sugar, Vegan, Gluten Free)
- Mixed Spice Recipe For Cake (2 Minutes, No Sugar, Vegan, Gluten Free)
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