I'm a spice whore, I admit it.
I love me some spicy (insert anything here.) So here is my concoction for a kick ass salt free taco seasoning. If there are any calories in this, it's negligible so I'm not even bothering to so do a nutritional work up. This will lightly season 3 lbs of beef, moderately season 2 lbs of beef or kill you dead for 1 pound of beef. You can also use it on chicken or pork or add it to make some spicy Spanish rice/quinoa. If you want to make it saucy, brown beef, drain the fat and rinse it off, add 1/3 to 1/2 of the mixture and mix it in. Put 1 tbsp of cornstarch in about 2 tbsp of cold water and stir to make a slurry then add to the beef. It'll be the perfect consistency perfect for tacos. The cornstarch will add about 30 calories so look up that info if you're tracking. If you need a little sweet to balance the spicy, add some honey (adds calories) or even some stevia to the slurry. Remember the idea is to reduce the salt so if you're going to add any, be very sparing.
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1- 1 tbsp chili powder
2- 1 tsp garlic powder
3- 1 tsp minced onions
4- 1 tsp paprika
5- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
6- 1 tsp ground cumin
7- 1/2 tsp basil
8- 1/2 tsp orange peel
9- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
10- 1/2 tsp ancho chili pepper
Obviously you can tweak to your spice tolerance and/or preference. Have fun!
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I love replicating prepackaged spices! I only ever use the packaged taco seasoning when I run out of chili powder or one of the other spices (but mainly chili powder).
ReplyDeleteI never thought of orange peel though, I'm going to try that next time.
Where do you get your orange peel? I checked Target the other day, but didn't come up with any. Maybe a standard grocery store would do the trick?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, we went to so many places to try to find it I don't remember which one ended up being the jackpot but I want to say it was just a plain ol' grocery store.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't find it, you can always zest an orange or two and dry it out. It'd probably taste better that way! :)
I have another similar recipe in my "to try" file. I like the idea of a little citrus-y kick from the orange peel. I found a low sodium mix one time that was really good, but of course it was in a clearance bin and I could never find it again.
ReplyDeleteI love using fresh zest for anything needing orange peel but I keep on hand (in case I don't have any oranges)orange peel from Penzey's. You can buy both orange and lemon peel from them on-line, it's dehydrated but they give you directions for re-hydrating. It's not as good as fresh but I've used it in baking before with no problems. For those who enjoy spice varieties, they can be a fun place to shop. We recently had one of their stores open and it's a real treat to go in and be able to smell the differences in the different cinnamon's (for example) or chili's. Mrs, from your blog to my recipe book, this looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds great. I need to get the orange zest and ancho chili powder (I assume it is a little different from 'regular') but I have all the rest in my pantry. I am not good at figuring out the right proportions - thanks for doing it for us and sharing!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to mix up a small jar of this! THANKS!
ReplyDeleteI love this! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOoh, I make my own taco seasoning but the orange peel sounds like a delightful addition that mine doesn't have--thanks!!!
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