Taco Seasoning

My husband made guac several days ago, and to eat guac, one uses tortilla chips. Well, now we are left with half a bag of tortilla chips. What is a person to do? The first thing I thought of was taco salad. I haven't had it in a while, but the parts list is pretty simple and flexible. We used tortilla chips, kidney beans, romaine lettuce, a mexican salad dressing, sauteed onions and bell peppers, sour cream and of course, ground beef.
The ground beef needed to be seasoned, that much was certain. So while scouring the internet yesterday for taco salad recipes to see if there were any parts I missed, I noticed several used taco seasoning packets. After making my own ranch dressing mix, I knew there had to be a homemade version that would be both delicious and wallet friendly.
I finally found one with superb ratings here. Let me just say right here that I really like Food.com (formerly recipezaar.com) partially because of ratings that other people like me post. Lots of people will post about any changes they made, or if the recipe was just all around horrible. I know not everybody has the same tastes, but when 20 people all comment saying they added one thing, you have to go with it. :)
I took my taco seasoning recipe to the kitchen and scaled it down to 1/4 of the original. I left all of the ratios the same except using 2 teaspoons of cumin because I was far too lazy to figure out what a quarter of 3 tablespoons was, and try to measure it with standard measuring spoons. It was still delicious, I assure you.
So, if you are one of those people that uses a lot of taco seasoning, feel free to make the whole recipe. I didn't want to use the last of the paprika in the house, so I scaled it down. Either way, it's tasty.
I feel that how much you add to ground meat is up to you too, I did about a teaspoon to almost a pound of ground beef and it was just perfect for us. You may like it kicked up a bit more. Whatever makes you happy.

3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon     4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup

Taco Seasoning
recipe from food.com

1/2 tbl. paprika
1/2 tbl. dried onion flakes (ground down in a mortar and pestel
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tbl. (about 3/4 tsp) garlic powder
1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
heaping 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/8 tsp. coriander

Combine all of the ingredients and add as much or as little as prefered to the ground meat of your choice.


I linked this recipe up at:

• Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
• Tuesday Night Supper Club at Fudge Ripple
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Hearth and Soul Hop #16 at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy