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.
Here’s how to make your own Homemade Spice Blends, have super fresh taste, and save money as well.
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.
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.
Why Make Your Own Seasoning Blends
I have a whole post written on homemade seasoning blends, 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.
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 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 the 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 Mix | All-Purpose Seasoning
– 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!
The "Best" Basic Chili Powder Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp paprika
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (omit or increase to taste)
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
The images in this post were updated in 2020. Following is one of the previous images for your reference.
Do you make your own seasonings?
How would you use this Homemade Chili Powder Recipe?
Thank you for this recipe. I’m growing an assortment of habanero, scotch Bonnet and super hot pepper varieties and am looking for chilly powder recipes that I can make with them. I think yours will be a good one because the base does not start with heat. I will just just use the powder that I get from my peppers in place of the cayenne but of course will use less of it on account of these peppers being so much hotter. Thanks.
You’re welcome! Hope it works well w/ your peppers!
What amount of cumin seeds should I toast for this recipe?
One tsp will yield about 1 1/4 tsp ground. Hope that helps! You could always toast extra and have it on hand, however.
How do you toast cumin?
A shallow pan works great.
Can you give me instructions on how to toast cumin seeds?
I would toast over medium heat, stirring or swirling constantly until they seem a bit darker and are really aromatic.
I am really happy with the taste of this combo. I retired in Colombia and no stores carry it to my knowledge as well as many other spices that I was accustomed to using stateside for years and years and even more years. In this recipe, I did use whole cumin seeds that I heated up in a skillet until fragrant and whizzed all the ingredients together in a nut/grinder. yum yum. Gives it a little je ne said quoi.
Thanks so much for posting this, turned out great and oh-so-easy!!
I’m sooo glad to hear this! You made my day. We love it too! I love your idea of toasting the cumin–yum!! Adding that to the post!
why do all these chili powder recipes not have chili pepper as the main ingredient?
Hi there – by “all these” which do you mean? There is just one here. I did this on purpose to have it be made from things that people could easily get b/c I found chilis to be a little harder to come by.
Paprika is pepper, but I have found recipes that begin with other mild dried peppers too.
Hi there — yes, it’s a pepper but it’s much more common in people’s pantry than the speciality chili peppers are. Hope you like it!
Tksss, save me a trip to the store….will never buy chili powder again.
You are so welcome!
If you’re going to steal someone else’s recipe, you could at least give them credit:
. (that recipe link has changed and is now here so blog owner replaced it with where the chili powder link is now: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/237172/chili-powder/) aspx
Hey “Unamused”– My recipe was published back in 2013. The earliest comment on that recipe is from 2014. Mine was first. THEY copied off of me. That happens all the time w/ All Recipes. I give credit where credit is due.
Here is the info on the publication: Published on: Jul 26, 2013 @ 17:43 Edit
Side note – just checked and that recipe appears to have been removed. If I remember correctly I commented on it that they had stolen it so hopefully they realized that they had really messed up. Hope that clears things up even more.
Hi again – they did remove it perhaps but it’s back w/ a different link now. Upsetting! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/237172/chili-powder/
Try it with smoked paprika too, if you like a smoky overtone. Otherwise, I like your ratios.
Thanks!
If I didn’t already have two wives I’d ask you to marry me. Good food is my greatest weakness.
Thank you….don’t like buying bottled spices…they have anti caking agents in them. Going to make this tomorrow…I am making chili for my husband.
You are so welcome! Hope you like it (and that he does too!!)
Sounds fabulous. When you talk about oregano in the recipe, do you mean leaves or powdered?
I made this recipe and then used it to make taco seasoning. They are both fabulous, and no salt, and no MSG!!!
Thanks – leaves. The post should have the appropriate link – let me know if it doesn’t. Thanks!
Been cooking all my life but just started making my own spices. Love it. I doubled this because I use a lot of chili powder in some of my cooking. In Texas is a staple.
Okay, I must be dreaming. This is the first chili powder recipe I’ve seen that doesn’t consist of those chili peppers. Would this be considered a “mild” chili powder? If not, do you know how it could? Thanx for your response
I think it’s quite mild. Hope you enjoy it! You can not use the cayenne to make it the most mild.
If you look online for a chili powder recipes, none of them will contain actual chili peppers. This is because chili powder’s name comes from the stew (chili) and not the pepper.
Great combination of Spices and absolutely no Salt . I have been trying to find a Taco Seasoning mix that is salt free and to my surprise people don’t seem to understand that commercial Chili Powers is spiked with Sodium aka Salt. That’s you for posting this and I am using your Taco seasons recipe as well (minus the salt) This is a keeper
Thanks so much – so glad you like it!
I have just finished making your spice recipe for my chilli dish.
It tasted wonderful.
I had all the ingredients on hand and I just loved the idea of having made my own homemade spice recipe.
This is the first time, but it is now going to be my go to for all of my chilli dishes.
Thank you so much for all your time and effort.
Thank you!