Favorite Taco Seasoning

alaskanassasin

 For years I have been using Old El Paso taco seasoning on hamburger tacos and more recently I have been flirting with Ortega.

A few years ago I posed this question in the form of Fajita seasoning preference and the extensive brain trust here pointed me to H-E-B chicken fajita seasoning as well as Bolner's Fiesta Brand salt free seasoning, both of which are now favorites.

 So I ask of you, what is your favorite Taco seasoning?

TEXASBGE2018

When I don't use old El Paso I make my own. This is enough for about 1lb-1 1/2lbs of meat.

Taco Seasoning

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

RRP

No joke...mine AND my dog's favorite also is Old El Paso Original!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

we love all the Fiesta stuff. I have gone to making my own taco seasoning. I don't measure but: sweat a bunch of onions and celery in butter or EVOO (this is the secret ingredient to Tex Mex Picadillo/taco meat). add 2lbs ground beef and lightly brown. add (in order of magnitude) chili powder (2-3TBS for 2lbs of meat?) , paprika (1TBSP?) , Ground Cumin (1TBSP) garlic powder (TSP), Salt (TSP), Pepper (tsp)   Mexican oregano (TSP) and a can of crushed tomatoes. let that simmer down until all the water is out and the texture is wet but not runny. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust any of the other flavors up if needed. Do not over season before reducing the liquid! it will all concentrate right at the end. We add black beans sometimes (at the end just to warm them up- make sure to drain them) as well to bulk it up and add some good nutrients/fiber to it. 

This is basically the homemade version of McCormick's taco seasoning but adding tomato and celery (theirs has onion powder, I use whole onion) . 

Don't underestimate the sweated onions and celery. It totally disappears in the mix but it is the secret ingredient for sure. Took me years to figure that out and I finally asked my local joint "what that flavor was" and they told me it was celery and onions. They were not lying ha ha. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Dried coriander is another very common spice in taco mix but I rarely use it. Play around with a TSP and see if you like it

The Cen-Tex Smoker

adding the liquid from the tomatoes is my version of adding water to the packaged seasonings like you mentioned using. It gives you that same flavor and texture but with all real ingredients. 

fishlessman

something i need to improve on. mccormics and el paso are so easy to use but i regret it being too salty everytime.

SGH

Lawrys (of season salt fame) also makes a pretty good taco seasoning. 

saluki2007

Make my own. I don’t measure but these are the ingredients:
Cumin
Coriander
Chili Powder
Ancho Chili Powder
Garlic powder
onion powder
smoked paprika

EggObsessed

We have yet to meet a Bolner's Fiesta seasoning we don't really love. I used to make one batch of taco meat at a time, with DOUBLE the recommended Fiesta Taco Seasoning. Now, I make 6# of taco meat at a time (to freeze in 16 oz containers) and I use Fiesta Taco Seasoning as my BASE, reducing the recommended amount, then add other seasonings to it, such as Goya Adobo, Fiesta Garlic Pepper, etc.

Acn

We only use the Frontera ones.  They have several, we haven't had one that wasn't fantastic.  Also recommend any of their salsas and (back when going to the office was a thing) we had a couple of their frozen burrito bowls in the office freezer if we needed an emergency lunch.

Rick Bayless for the win on anything Mexican.

Griffin

Years ago we stumbled on a puffy taco recipe from Southern Living. We've never actually made the puffy tacos (Someday we will) but the taco meat is great. Now its on MyRecipes. For the beer, we use Negro Modelo. 

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/san-antonio-beef-puffy-tacos

alaskanassasin

You all are the best, great ideas here thanks!

TechsasJim

Couple that we cycle through:   Hardcore Carnivore and HEB (I know most don’t have HEB).   

lkapigian

Adobo Paste for all things Chili- Esque 

TEXASBGE2018

Also if you make your own, I highly recommend Mexene Chili Powder. It's been my go to for 20 years.

ColbyLang

TEXASBGE2018 said:

Also if you make your own, I highly recommend Mexene Chili Powder. It's been my go to for 20 years.

The chili recipe, not chili con carne, on the back of this jar is great. Only modification I make is adding beans

HogFather

I prefer the strawberry 

loco_engr

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

RRP

TEXASBGE2018 said:

Also if you make your own, I highly recommend Mexene Chili Powder. It's been my go to for 20 years.

I’ve used and loved Mexene for probably longer than you have been alive! I even have a recipe for chili dog sauce using Mexene that I loved that my aunt used to make when I was only 6 years old! (72 years ago…)

Acn

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

Those are the ones I mentioned above.  Way better than the packets you mix with water

Florida Grillin Girl

Alton Brown's recipe...  I mix it up and keep it in a ziploc bag in the freezer~ sodium levels on the packaged stuff is off the charts, so I can control it this way...

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/taco-potion-19-recipe-2115513

RyanStl

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

we love all the Fiesta stuff. I have gone to making my own taco seasoning. I don't measure but: sweat a bunch of onions and celery in butter or EVOO (this is the secret ingredient to Tex Mex Picadillo/taco meat). add 2lbs ground beef and lightly brown. add (in order of magnitude) chili powder (2-3TBS for 2lbs of meat?) , paprika (1TBSP?) , Ground Cumin (1TBSP) garlic powder (TSP), Salt (TSP), Pepper (tsp)   Mexican oregano (TSP) and a can of crushed tomatoes. let that simmer down until all the water is out and the texture is wet but not runny. Add salt and pepper to taste and adjust any of the other flavors up if needed. Do not over season before reducing the liquid! it will all concentrate right at the end. We add black beans sometimes (at the end just to warm them up- make sure to drain them) as well to bulk it up and add some good nutrients/fiber to it. 

This is basically the homemade version of McCormick's taco seasoning but adding tomato and celery (theirs has onion powder, I use whole onion) . 

Don't underestimate the sweated onions and celery. It totally disappears in the mix but it is the secret ingredient for sure. Took me years to figure that out and I finally asked my local joint "what that flavor was" and they told me it was celery and onions. They were not lying ha ha. 

Had to look up sweating onions, never heard of that. Turns out this is very similar to what I do, but never used celery. I'll have to try the celery, which is an ingredient I'm starting to like more and more.

alaskanassasin

Florida Grillin Girl said:

Alton Brown's recipe...  I mix it up and keep it in a ziploc bag in the freezer~ sodium levels on the packaged stuff is off the charts, so I can control it this way...

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/taco-potion-19-recipe-2115513

 I reheated some taco meat the other day and it seemed like it was distilled down to salt and hamburger.

alaskanassasin

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

alaskanassasin said:

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

I'll send you some if you can't find it. We have it at HEB

Acn

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

alaskanassasin said:

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

I'll send you some if you can't find it. We have it at HEB

Their website (Buy Now | Frontera (fronterafoods.com)) is showing Target, Safeway, and Walmart as likely to have it in my area (although I always get it at our Wegmans, so that list isn't exhaustive), so you can always check those sites too to see if it is in your neighborhood.

alaskanassasin

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

alaskanassasin said:

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

I'll send you some if you can't find it. We have it at HEB

You sonofagun and your HEB lol

alaskanassasin

Thanks @Acn

saluki2007

Acn said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

alaskanassasin said:

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

I'll send you some if you can't find it. We have it at HEB

Their website (Buy Now | Frontera (fronterafoods.com)) is showing Target, Safeway, and Walmart as likely to have it in my area (although I always get it at our Wegmans, so that list isn't exhaustive), so you can always check those sites too to see if it is in your neighborhood.

My local Aldi does not carry their seasoning but does have their salsas and they are good too. 

RyanStl

alaskanassasin said:

loco_engr said:

Just got this and haven't tried it yet

I will try and source some locally, amazon wanted $8 a packet.

It's crazy how expensive certain things are on Amazon.