This homemade chicken taco seasoning is perfect for quick weeknight meals. We throw it on cubed chicken breast and use it for tacos, burrito bowls, fajitas, and more. It's super versatile and can be used for whatever you want!
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Why We Love This Chicken Taco Seasoning
- It's quick: It only takes a few minutes to throw this chicken taco seasoning together, and it makes enough to use several times. You can store it for up to 3 months.
- It's versatile: This seasoning is great on chicken, but it's also good on steak, ground beef, shrimp, or fish. You can use it for tacos, burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls, skewers, or anything else you can think of.
- It's inexpensive: Making your own taco seasoning is super cost-effective. We buy our spices in bulk and combine them to make our own super inexpensive mixes.
Looking for recipes that would work well with this chicken taco seasoning? Try our chicken fajita taco salad, air fryer shrimp tacos, Traeger flank steak, or air fryer frozen shrimp.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Chili powder: This serves as kind of the base of the seasoning.
Cumin: Cumin is commonly used in Latin American (and other!) cuisines and adds great flavor to this taco seasoning. Don't skip it!
Red pepper flakes: You can omit these or reduce them if you don't like spicy food.
Ground cayenne: Cayenne has some heat, so you can also omit this if you don't like spicy food.
Garlic powder: If you don't have garlic powder, you can use garlic salt, but remember to reduce the amount of salt you use later.
Onion powder: Onion flakes would work as well.
Oregano: Marjoram is a good substitute for oregano. If you don't have either, an Italian seasoning blend that contains oregano would work.
Paprika: We use sweet paprika. If you prefer the flavor of smoked paprika, go for it—just keep in mind that it has a much stronger, distinct flavor.
Brown sugar: Coconut sugar is a good alternative.
Salt and pepper
See recipe card for full ingredient list and amounts.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Combine all of the spices in a small mixing bowl. Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
Step 2: Use on chicken, shrimp, steak, fish, pork, or anything else you can imagine!
How to Use This Seasoning on Chicken
To use this chicken taco seasoning for tacos, we do the following:
Step 1: Add 1.5 pounds of chicken breast (cut into cubes), a tablespoon of oil, and 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning to a large mixing bowl and mix to combine.
Step 2: Cook the chicken in a large pan over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 8-10 minutes, or until cooked through.
Step 3: Add the chicken to a taco shell or rice bowl with your favorite taco toppings. Enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
This recipe makes about 2 ounces of taco seasoning.
Store this taco seasoning in an air-tight container for up to 3 months. We use glass baby food containers to store ours.
We use 2 tablespoons of seasoning per 1.5 pounds of chicken (or other types of meat).
📖 Recipe
Homemade Chicken Taco Seasoning
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 ounces 1x
Description
This homemade chicken taco seasoning is perfect for quick weeknight meals. We throw it on cubed chicken breast and use it for tacos, burrito bowls, fajitas, and more. It's super versatile and can be used for whatever you want!
Ingredients
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (see note 1)
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne (see note 2)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon brown sugar or coconut sugar
Instructions
- Combine all of the spices in a small mixing bowl. Store in an air-tight container for up to 3 months.
- Use on chicken, shrimp, steak, fish, pork, or anything else you can imagine!
Notes
- You can omit the red pepper flakes or reduce them if you don't like spicy food.
- Cayenne has some heat, so you can omit it if you don't like spicy food.
- We use 2 tablespoons of seasoning per 1.5 pounds of chicken (or other types of meat).
- See "How to Use Seasoning on Chicken" above for an optional cooking method.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Seasonings
Michael says
This Taco seasoning was great!
Michael says
Loved this seasoning!