excellent!! i browned ground beef, drained the fat, used 3 Tbsp per pound of meat and i added 1/2 Tbsp flour to the seasoning and mixed thoroughly before dusting the meat with it. i added 2/3 cup of water, mixed it up with the ground beef and let it simmer down. would be great with shredded beef or chicken too.it is def hotter than the packaged stuff, so if you don't like hot, would reccommend cutting the red pepper flakes. it is salty too. don't substitute sea salt for table salt. it is not an even swap. i did cut the sea salt down slightly...i am making a huge batch of this, sealing it in mason jars with my foodsaver and giving as gifts for christmas. thanks for sharing. i will never go back to packaged mix!!
This is a fantastic seasoning recipe! Like others have mentioned, no more seasoning packets for me. The flavor was so much richer. I didn't tell anyone of the change (I cook for a family of 10) and got lots of excellent compliments. I did receive one complaint about the dish I made, but it came from from a very picky young man who thinks that Taco Bell is authentic Mexican food. :-) After the first time I used this recipe, I made up a large batch of seasoning to have on hand. It was so easy since I had all of the spices in my pantry anyway. I found that 2 *very* heaping tablespoons of the seasoning equals about one regular seasoning packet. My family likes things a little spicy though, so two regular tablespoons would probably be sufficient.
I substituted 1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper for the red pepper flakes, and my VERY PICKY 12 year old daughter loved it in our homemade taco dip & taco's as well! (I would however suggest maybe just the 1 tsp. of cumin). We figured out that 21/2 - 3 tablespoons = one 1.25 oz. packet, which I will NEVER go back to! Thanks so much Bill!
Of course, I tweaked it to up the garlic and onion to double. I'm a garlic/onion lover, and sometimes I substitute out those for the fresh version instead. I added 1 tsp of cornstarch (or 2 tsp of flour will work) to the mix which allows the spices to cling more readily to the meat as a thickened sauce. The spice mixture is great, but sometime was missing. I looked around at a few other recipes and found one mentioning a beef bullion cube. I have Better than Bullion paste (beef or chicken) and add a tsp while cooking the beef. What a difference! It really gives the meaty flavor that was lacking (hard to believe more meatiness is needed in a pound of ground beef, but it's true). Whichever recipe you use, try adding some meat stock paste or equivalent (but do consider the added salt from bullion if you like it not too salty). Also this recipe doesn't mention it, but adding a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water towards the end after browning the meat with the seasoning allows the flavor to really mingle and absorb as you heat and reduce the sauce down a bit (that's where the cornstatch cling really shines). The water addition is just the basic instruction from the old packets I used to buy and it's not a step I'd ever skip.
This is excellent. It definitely tastes like the packet I usually used (will use this from now on). We mixed 1 lb. of browned-and-drained ground beef, this seasoning mix, plus a mixture of 2 tsp. of cornstarch and 2/3 cup of cold water. Then, we left it on low until all of it was warm.
This recipe was a life-saver!! After already mixing ingrediants for "seven layer taco dip," I realized that I was out of taco seasoning. Frantic, I ran to the computer and found this! YEAH!! I mixed it in with some cream cheese and sour cream to taste it first and it was great. Worked even better in the dip!! If I'd had known how easy this was, I would have been making my own taco seasoning for a while now!! The only thing I changed was reduced the chili powder to 1/2 TBLS. Very good and will make again!! Thanks Bill for posting this!
Very quick. No reason to buy pre-packaged Taco Seasoning. I followed recipe except slightly decreased amt of red pepper flakes and omitted onion powder (didn't have any). I cooked 1 & 1/4 lb. low fat ground beef with fresh garlic; poured off fat. Added Taco seasoning + 1/2 c. fresh, chopped onions + 1 cup water. Brought to boil and simmered for about 15 min. Next time I would decrease water to 2/3 or 3/4 cup (I had a little too much liquid, but not a problem). Very good. DH loved these tacos!
used regular salt. seems to be very good. 3 tbs. equals one packet.
This is absolutely delicious!! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will NEVER go back to buying pre-packaged taco seasoning!! I love that I can make this recipe organically and especially love the fact that it is MSG FREE!! I found that if you add approximately 2/3 cup water to 3 tablespoons seasoning per pound of meat it makes the best flavor. I also prefer to add 1 Tablespoon flour to the recipe as this allows the seasoning to "stick" to the meat.
