The Best Basic Chili Powder Recipe

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Are you looking for a great Chili Powder Recipe that doesn’t use a lot of fancy ingredients? I’ve got one for you right here.

It tastes amazing, doesn’t require you to have specialty peppers on hand, and is something you’ll definitely want to have on hand all the time.

homemade chili powder in a glass jar with a spoon on the side on white table top

Today I’m sharing one of our favorite recipes–a fantastic Basic Homemade Chili Powder Recipe.

I love making my own homemade seasonings.  In fact, if it’s a seasoning blend, you had better be sure that I will try to make it–I just have a thing about “DIY”s and saving money, and all of the good things that go along with it.

Chili powder is no exception.

For the past year or so I’ve been on the hunt for a great chili recipe.

We’re tried tons of recipes, and so you can imagine I’ve gone through a ton of chili powder.

(Well-maybe about 2 pounds is more like it :).)

I’ve always made my own Homemade Chili Powder and the recipe has served us well, but this week I decided to experiment with a bunch of recipes and do some taste tests so I could recommend a recipe for you all.

The chili powder recipe that we were using called for a base of chili peppers.  And while we like it a lot, the chilis are a little hard to come by, and they are a little pricey, so I wanted to find a recipe with a base of paprika–a spice that is in almost everyone’s kitchen.

homemade chili powder ingredients

I hope to share my original at some point, but for now, this one should keep you pretty happy.

One other chili powder came in a close second, but it needs a bit more work before I share that one.

After literally making and trying about 15 different recipes, we have a winner (and I now have a bunch of “non winners” that I’ll blend together to put in a corporate chili powder container so nothing goes to waste.)

First of all, just to share a bit about me if you haven’t been around my blog for a long time, I LOVE making my own just-about-everything.

Partially because I am cheap frugal, but also because I think it’s a fun challenge.

I also do it to avoid icky ingredients in things.

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Why Make Your Own Seasoning Blends

homemade chili powder in a jar with spoon

I have a whole post written on how to make your own spice mixes, but here’s a brief synopsis:

1.  Save Money – It’s a lot cheaper to make your own seasoning blends–you’re basically paying “the other guy” to do the measuring and blending.

2.  Adaptable for Taste – You can play around with the ingredients to find a mixture that you like best.

3.  Adaptable for Special Diets – You can adapt to special diets easily.  (Some spice mixes have gluten, dairy, or other ingredients in them that folks with those allergies need to avoid.

4.  Avoid Toxins – Many spice blends have chemical nasties in them (like silicon dioxide) to make them free-flowing.  Personally, I’d rather break up a few lumps in my spices than eat silicon dioxide, thank you very much.

5.  Enjoyment – It’s fun to experiment in the kitchen :)!

How to Use this Homemade Chili Powder

1.  Chili – Of course, use it in chili.  (I’m pretty clever, huh?)

2.  Sides – Sprinkle it on rice and beans, or even on veggies.

3.  Salads – Sprinkle on salads with a drizzle of olive oil and salt for a makeshift dressing.

4.  Eggs – Sprinkle on eggs.

5.  Pepper Substitute – As a substitute for pepper in a recipe.  Just add a bit more chili powder than pepper.

6.  Desserts – On Desserts – really?  Yes, it’s true.  Try some on chocolate ice cream, in brownies, etc.

7.  On Fruit – try sprinkling chili powder on fruit for a fun twist.

chili powder in a jar and in a spoon


I hope you like this as much as we do.

Chili Powder is very similar to other seasoning blends, like taco seasoning and fajita seasoning, but these blends have obvious differences.  Chili powder is made mostly of chilis, and taco seasoning often has chili powder as one of its ingredients.  Since they are similar, they are interchangeable to a point, but each has its special flavor.

It’s great on so many things — we taste-tested these mixtures on popcorn and brown rice, veggies, and salads.  While we were working on finding “the winner”, my boys and my husband had a great time sampling the options while we were moving a “new to us” trundle bed into our boys’ room.

It went like this — move the mattress in–taste rice–move bed piece in–taste rice.  You get the picture.

You should have seen my kitchen after doing all of these taste tests –little containers of rice with chili powder on top and popcorn is just about everywhere :).  I had my sons help me with the blending and measuring so things are a bit more messy than usual.

It’s hard not to have a mess in a whole food kitchen, isn’t it?

And in case you are wondering where I buy my spices, right now I buy a lot from this company in bulk (I think they have superior flavor and fragrance) but check my Resources Page for more options.

So now you have another great homemade seasoning blend to add to your frugal pantry arsenal.

And now I get to go back to working on a really great chili recipe to share with you all.

Other Homemade Seasoning Blends:

Taco Seasoning
The “Best” Cinnamon Sugar – Made Healthier
Mild Curry Powder
Vegetable Broth Powder – makes everything taste better–including popcorn!
Celery Salt and How to Use It
Pumpkin Pie Spice

Recipe Notes

I recommend toasting cumin seeds first and then adding the ground seeds to this recipe. One of my readers said that it makes this recipe extra special!

homemade chili powder with pinterest text overlay
chili powder in a jar and in a spoon

The “Best” Basic Chili Powder Recipe

Looking for a Great Chili Powder Recipe that doesn’t use a lot of fancy ingredients? This is it! Make your own Homemade Spice Blends and save money!
4.63 from 29 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dressings, Seasonings, etc.
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Keto, Low-Carb, Paleo, THM:S, Vegan, whole30
Keyword: Chili Powder Recipe
Servings: 4
Calories: 21kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients in a bowl.
  • Blend thoroughly.
  • Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Paprika is a pepper and should be refrigerated for maximum shelf life and potency.

Notes

Use 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder per pound of meat, or to taste.
I recommend toasting cumin seeds first and then adding the ground seeds to this recipe. One of my readers said that it makes this recipe extra special!

Nutrition

Serving: 1tablespoon | Calories: 21kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 128mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1854IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg | Net Carbs: 2g

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.

The images in this post were updated in 2020. Following is one of the earlier images for your reference.

Homemade Chili Powder - made simple. We did a taste test of tons of homemade recipes and this one came out on top. It's super easy to make and has none of the chemical nasties that store-bought spice mixes often have. Enjoy!

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178 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I have been making my dry mixes for awhile. I love this recipe and I always double it. We use chili powder a lot here in Texas so now I always have it on hand. And I know what it has in it.

    1. Hi Nancy – I’m so glad to hear this! We love it too and really I used to have it on hand all the time as well. Do you mostly use it for chili? P.S. I’ve always wanted to visit Texas and my youngest feels the same!

  2. 5 stars
    Most people seem to think that Chili powder is a single spice…instead of a spice blend…

    I didn’t have this recipe when I made your Taco Seasoning last night, so I did a store bought one, THEN found this recipe!…..

    I am a fair cook, but all of my recipes seem to have the same flavor profile, and I’m desperately trying to get away from that by making my own spice mixes.
    (I have several of yours!)

    I’m not too fond of the very hot, spicy ones, so making my own is good as I can modify the hot-ness.
    Morroccan, Italian, Cajun (why? I don’t like hot!!! LOL), Greek, Chinese 5 Spice,Taco and Fajita, and now Chili Powder for some of those other spice recipes.

    Looking forward to trying this out.
    Shameful about AllRecipes!!! I am going to leave a comment about it being a copied recipe from you.

    1. Hi Carol! I agree – I probably thought chili powder was a single spice myself at one time! Pretty certain I thought that about curry! I hope you like it! And sadly that’s going on a lot with All Recipes and other bloggers / companies as well–not good. #ihavestories. Thanks for the encouragement and support!