Taco Seasoning Mix Recipe

We're getting things ready for tomorrow's Father's Day lunch at my brother-in-law's house. We're doing a taco bar this year. We're bringing the taco shells, tortillas, ground beef, tomatoes, black olives, shredded cheeses and lettuce, taco sauce, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. Normally, I'd make more from scratch, but we won't have time to do that this year.

I went out and picked up 12 or so pounds of choice chuck and trimmed it into 1" or so strips. I removed some of the bigger pieces of fat.


I then ran it through our meat grinder from Northern Tool.

The end result was 6 pounds of ground beef that I'll use for making the tacos, and 6 pounds that I shaped into 8 oz burger patties for ourselves.

I'll fry up the beef with some homemade taco seasoning tomorrow morning just before we hit the road.

1/4 cup dried onions, minced
1/4 cup chili powder
1 tablespoon salt (or less)
4 teaspoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon dried garlic, minced
1 tablespoon cumin, ground
1 tablespoon red pepper flake (or more)
2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. I prefer to then transfer it to a spice grinder and give it a little grind so the resulting mix is a little finer.

To use, add 2-3 tablespoons to every 1 pound of ground beef, along with 1/3-1/2 cups of water.

The mix will keep for up to a year in an airtight container in a pantry or closet.