Thursday, April 29, 2010

Homemade Taco Seasoning

Big ups to Mark Woodall for having me over for dinner and making taco salad a few weeks ago. I had pretty much stopped buying ground beef on account that I stopped eating pasta :( and didn't know what else to make with them other than burgers.

After doing a little google action I found a pretty damn good taco seasoning recipe, if I say so myself. Check it.

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper


tips - I have been buying grass fed beef at Whole Foods and the only option is 85/15. If you are trying to cut calories a little bit or are concerned about the fat in your meat (especially if it is conventional stuff) I would recommend cooking the beef almost entirely, draining the fat, then adding the season with a shotglass of water. Mix around the seasoning with the beef and water and finish cooking as you boil off the water. The first time I made it I added the season in the beginning and watched as all the beautiful flavors got deposited with the fat into my fat jar.

3 tbsp of this stuff is perfect for 1lb of ground beef (the recipe above makes 3 tbsp)

If I were you, I'd make enough for 4 or 5 batches and store it in a mason jar. You can get a dozen mason jars at Wal-Mart for like $5 and they work perfect. Click on the link to allrecipes and change it from 10 servings to 40 or 50. I have a few more dry rubs I'll be sharing and I've done that will all of them. It saves soooo much time in the long run.

pairings - beans, cheese, guac, sour cream, jalapeƱos, anything mexican. serve over a bed of mixed greens or hard/soft tortillas.