Homemade Chili Powder Recipe (Easy + No Special Ingredients)
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Homemade chili powder is easy to make, and the freshness can't be beat, but not all blends are created equal. My family taste-tested a lot of blends in our kitchen, and this recipe came out on top. So that's why I'm calling it the BEST Homemade Chili Powder.
It’s rich, aromatic, and easy to make using affordable pantry spices—no specialty chiles needed.
Not all homemade chili powder recipes require dried chiles and extra steps. This version is made with simple pantry spices you likely already have—and it tastes fresher and more customizable than store-bought blends.
Why This Is the Best Chili Powder
I get it. People say that their recipe is the best all the time. I've done it myself. But in this case, we did a bunch of taste testing of homemade chili powders, and this blend was actually the best out of all of the ones we tested.
I've made chili powder for a long time, but I decided to experiment with a bunch of recipes so I could recommend the best one for my family and for you as well.
Our testing was quite a sight to see. We tested chili powder:
- straight
- on popcorn
- on salad
- on beef
- and on pasta.
There were little bowls of chili powder-tasting dishes all over the kitchen, so it was messy, but totally worth it. Because we now have a winner, and not only does it taste great, but it's inexpensive to make, and you likely have all the ingredients needed in your pantry.
Fun Fact
Chili powder is very similar to other seasoning blends, like taco seasoning and quesadilla seasoning, but these blends have obvious differences.
Chili powder is typically made of chilis, while taco seasoning and quesadilla seasoning often have chili powder as one of their ingredients. They are interchangeable to a point, but each has its special flavor.
Why Make Your Own Seasoning Blends
There are loads of reasons to make your own spice mixes.
- 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.
- Adaptable for Taste — You can play around with the ingredients to find a mixture that you like best.
- 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.
- 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.
- Enjoyment — It's simply fun to experiment in the kitchen!
How to Use this Homemade Chili Powder
- Chili — Of course, use it in chili. Pretty clever, huh? Use about 1-2 tablespoons for each pound of meat or chicken.
- Sides — Sprinkle it on rice and beans, or even on veggies.
- Salads — Sprinkle on salads with a drizzle of olive oil and salt for a makeshift salad dressing.
- Eggs — Sprinkle on eggs.
- Pepper Substitute — As a substitute for pepper in a recipe. Just add a bit more chili powder than the amount of pepper that's called for.
- Desserts — Yes, it's true. Try some on chocolate ice cream, in brownies, on chocolate bark, etc.
- On Fruit — Sprinkling chili powder on fruit is really a thing. Try it and you'll see!
Recipe Notes
- I recommend toasting cumin seeds first and then adding the ground seeds to this recipe. This makes the recipe extra special!
- You can substitute ancho pepper for the paprika if you'd like. I love ancho peppers, but I made this recipe with paprika to keep the cost down since that's oh so important, especially these days.
Other Homemade Seasoning Blends
Here are some more homemade seasonings that I think you'll like as well.
- The “Best” Cinnamon Sugar – Made Healthier – we tested a bunch and we were surprised about the one that won!
- Mild Curry Powder – just enough heat, but you can turn it up or down as you like.
- Vegetable Broth Powder – makes everything taste better, including popcorn!
- Celery Salt
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Quesadilla Seasoning – great for so many more things than just quesadillas
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe (Easy Pantry Spice Blend)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon 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
- Use 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder per pound of meat, or to taste.
- Toasting the cumin seeds first before grinding will make this chili powder extra special!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
The images in this post were updated in 2020. Following is one of the earlier images for your reference.
Do you make your own seasonings? Which ones?
I am making chili for a crowd at my wedding.. in your opinion would this be a good base if I am making a large quantity? Also is this a spicey recipe?
I think so. It isn’t very spicy at all. I’d try a small batch first to see how you like it. I prefer my aleppo based recipe but this is much less expensive.
I was out of chili powder for my homemade taco seasoning mix. I added the basic chili powder recipe and it had a better flavor than the same mix using bought chili powder.
Yea!!! Glad to hear it!
I’ve always used mixes for chili seasoning but in the interest of eliminating mystery ingredients from my diet I decided to try chili from scratch. I didn’t even Google for a recipe because I just knew you’d have chili seasoning covered. Bingo! Thanks much. 🙂
You are a riot. So much more is “covered” that I haven’t posted. And so much more is “I want to do that” but haven’t yet. Sighola. Blessings, Kathryn!
This is a great recipe that I plan on using. Now you said it must be refrigerated. For those of us who sometimes we forget we have these things, because their in the refrigerator and not the cabinet, what is the shelf life?
Well- from what I just read it’s for best color retention. I would think it would increase longevity as well. Once it smells bad it’s bad.
Thanks for this recipe–I am almost out of store bought chili powder and am totally going to make this. I guess I am ignorant about these sorts of things–I always though chili powder was a one-ingredient spice/seasoning, and never considered that it would have a blend of stuff that contained yuckies! So I am glad to find this out, and replace what I’ve been buying with something much better!
Regarding the paprika needing refrigeration, I was wondering if other peppers, or any other spices/seasonings need to be refrigerated as well? I keep my garlic and onion powders in the freezer, as well as my homemade garlic and onion salts, because it keeps them from clumping and/or getting hard chunks in them (this may have been your suggestion as well–can’t remember ;)) But I am always interested in prolonging the life of my spices and seasonings, so I would love to know what else needs cold storage. Thanks SO much!!
I keep all of my peppers in the fridge since I heard that it important. I didn’t know that about the onion and garlic – interesting. Why does that help? My onion granules don’t have that problem but sometimes the powders do. Thanks!
Thanks for your reply! I will definitely put my peppers in the fridge. I am not sure why freezing the others helps, but it does! I can’t remember where I read that, but I was having an awful time with clumps beforehand. Maybe it has something to do with the moisture content in the air being frozen and not being able to affect the powders in the same way. Crazy! I appreciate all your hard work and suggestions–love reading your posts!
TY!
OK, this is where I confess my utter love of French’s Chili-O chili seasoning for my chili. I use two packets for 2 lbs of ground beef, then augment with spicy chili powder, cumin, real onion, and granulated garlic. I have attempted to make chili without the Chili-O, but it was missing something, and I don’t know what. My husband went many years without his sensitivity to corn causing migraines, but no more. Chili-O has lots of corn. Any wise ideas of how to get a full flavored chili without it? Everything I have tried from scratch to mixes without corn doesn’t have the full flavor I’m looking for.
I have another chili powder recipe I hope to share but what are the ingredients?
wheat flour, chili pepper, “other spices”, salt, maltodextrin, sugar, paprika, onion powder, red pepper, garlic powder, less than 2% silicon dioxide Based on taste, I’d say those “other spices” do not include cumin. Otherwise, I’m at a loss at to what it is I’m missing. I’m looking forward to trying your recipes for mixes because I am interested in moving to a more “whole foods” idea. Cooking from scratch is generally so much cheaper….if only it were also faster!
I have a basic chili powder that I use w/ aleppo peppers and I like it better. You could take my recipe and add some sweetener and flour to it and see how that goes? Look fwd to seeing you around again. I am hoping to try a vegan cheese sprinkle soon as well!
I tried your recipe tonight. It was good, but still not quite right. Since I had some chili-o seasoning, I did a taste test. Added about 1 T flour, 1 T sugar, 1 tsp of salt and so far it’s close enough(haven’t cooked the chili yet!) I wonder if I had some of my friend’s fresh ground whole wheat flour if that would add to the flavor, and maybe brown sugar (and a smaller amount) instead of white granulated. Even so, this is definitely the closest I’ve ever been able to get to the nostalgic flavor I was looking for!! Thanks!!
If you don’t want to make your own the best chili powder I have ever had is Pedro Lopez Brand from a little family owned artisan company out of Topeka Ks. It sells for $12 for a 16 Oz jar and is a complex blend of 18 ingredients. It has been around since the early 1900s but has never been marketed extensively.
when you say paprika, do you mean the hot paprika or the sweet paprika (like for goulash)?
I use regular sweet but you could go hot for a spicy blend :).
The oregano and cumin… are they in powdered form?
Yes :).
I have several chili recipes that we like. Just depends on our mood. One is a poached chicken breast chili, with a chicken broth and tomato base with black beans. Another one is a pretty basic hamburger with pinto beans but uses cocoa as a flavoring in addition to the chili powder, gives it a depth of flavor. I’ll dig out these two recipes.
We also like chili powder on slow roasted chicken.
I will try your recipe for chili powder, your recipe is similar to mine, and I tried to replicate it from the Frontier Herbs no salt blend. A suggestion for your chili powder is to use hot paprika, or smoked paprika, or hot, smoked paprika. Hot paprika now is pretty widely available. Penzeys has high quality herbs and spices and they carry it. The hot paprika has a different flavor than the cayenne, and I sometimes will use both in a recipe.
Just a suggestion for the future because we really have become addicted to hot and or smoked paprika.
Joanne
Hi Joanne. We actually have Frontier’s smoked paprika in our home as well. My husband LOVES it. And one of the other blends I tried had cocoa in it. I LOVE cocoa in chili. I would love to see your recipes – thanks!
Adrienne – we also have Frontier’s smoked paprika. You should get your hands on their smoked chipotle powder too. In chili, I use their medium-roasted chili pepper powder. Wow!
I just got their regular chipotle – thanks :).