This homemade Fajita Seasoning is easy to make, packed with flavor, and better than store-bought! Avoid unnecessary fillers and additives by making your own fajita seasoning in just 5 minutes using only 7 spices! It's amazing for chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork fajitas and more! It's tried and true, failproof, and you can easily adjust the spice level.
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Why You'll Love This Fajita Seasoning
So flavorful - Once you start using homemade spice blends, you'll never want to use store-bought again! This seasoning is packed with flavor! It's spicy, savory, and a little smoky. I highly recommend using fresh spices for the best flavor.
Easy and simple - This seasoning takes just 5 minutes to make and you only need 7 spices you most likely already have. You can mix everything in a bowl or right in the jar you'll store it in. It's made with very common spices and it's totally failproof!
Lots of uses - This seasoning can be used for practically anything. It's delicious on chicken, beef, steak, pork, shrimp, or veggie fajitas. You can add it to marinades, use it as a rub for meat, or add it to chili soup or rice dishes. You could even add it to salad dressings, dips, or sides like refried beans!
Better than store-bought - Most store-bought fajita spice packets have various preservatives, fillers, or anticaking agents. They also usually have a lot of added table salt. Fajitas are supposed to have a little bit of tang from lime juice so the store-bought seasoning often contains citric acid to add the same flavor. With homemade seasoning, you'll have to add some freshly squeezed lime juice instead. I promise you it will taste 100 times better!
Ingredients
- Chili powder - This one can't be missing in any fajita seasoning. Be careful not to mistake this for chili pepper powder. American-style chili powder is a spice mix of chili powder mixed with other spices like cumin, oregano, garlic, cloves, coriander, and allspice. Do NOT use the same amount of just plain chili pepper powder, it would be way too spicy. I like this chili powder.
- Cumin - Ground cumin gives this fajita seasoning its distinct earthy flavor.
- Paprika - You'll need both sweet and smoked paprika for this spice. I don't recommend using hot paprika because the chili powder adds enough heat.
- Garlic and onion powder - I like using garlic and onion granules, not the fine powder. Don't confuse this with dried minced garlic and onion you'd use for things like Everything Bagel Seasoning.
- Fine sea salt - This one is optional. If you want more control over the sodium content, you can add salt to your dishes separately. I do include salt in the recipe because it's often in many fajita seasonings and it just makes cooking easier.
- Black pepper - Freshly ground pepper will yield the best flavor. I set my grinder so that the texture is not too coarse but not as fine as store-bought ground pepper.
- Cane sugar - This is optional but a little bit of sugar balances all the flavors and helps to caramelize anything you're cooking.
Variations and Substitutions
- Celery salt - If you want lower sodium content, celery salt is a great substitute for sea salt.
- Dried oregano - This one isn't usually in fajita seasoning but I like to add it sometimes for extra flavor.
- More spice - Fajita seasoning is a little less spicy than taco seasoning. If you want to add more heat, add more chili powder, hot paprika, or cayenne pepper.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add all spices to a small bowl and whisk until well mixed.
- Alternatively, you can also add everything to a jar, close it with a lid, and shake it to mix.
- Transfer the fajita seasoning to a spice jar and store it in your pantry for up to 6-12 months. Keep it away from heat and direct sunlight.
Serving Suggestions
- Shrimp - My favorite kind of fajitas are shrimp fajitas so this is where I use this seasoning most often. It's also delicious on salmon or any other fish.
- Chicken, steak, pork - Use the seasoning for chicken, steak, beef, or pork fajitas. I recommend using 1 tablespoon of the seasoning for every 1-2 chicken breasts or 1lb of meat. You can use the seasoning as a rub or add it to marinades and sauces.
- Veggies, soups, sides - Add it to veggie fajitas, rice dishes, refried beans, salads, or chili soup. You can even use it for sauces, dip, or salad dressings.
- Snacks - Besides actual fajitas, you can use this seasoning on roasted nuts, seeds, homemade chips, or maybe even popcorn!
Storing
You can store the spice mix in an airtight jar at room temperature for up to 6-12 months. Always store it in a cool, dry place, and away from sunlight.
The shelf life will depend on how fresh your spices are when you make it. Use new, fresh spices whenever possible. The fresher they are, the longer it will last. Spices don't really go bad but they do go stale and lose their flavor over time. If your spices have been sitting in your cupboard for a while, the spice mix won't taste as fresh for that long.
FAQs
They're almost the same but taco seasoning often has dried oregano and it's always spicier. Fajitas also have a slight tang from lime juice that taco seasoning doesn't have.
A mix of chili powder, ground cumin, garlic powder, paprika, and sea salt is a great substitute if you don't have all the spices to make this seasoning.
I recommend first washing the meat, drying it with a paper towel, and then tossing it with both cooking oil and the seasoning. If you add the oil straight to the pan and not to the meat first, it splatters much more.
Other Homemade Seasonings
If you want to try other homemade spice mixes, check out any of the four linked below! Once you try making your own spices, you'll never want to use store-bought again! To see all the latest ones, head over to Spice Blends.
📖 Recipe
Fajita Seasoning
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: ⅓ cup 1x
- Category: Seasoning
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This homemade Fajita Seasoning is easy to make, packed with flavor, and better than store-bought! It's amazing for chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork fajitas and more!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp cane sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Add all spices to a small bowl and whisk until well mixed. Alternatively, you can also add everything to a jar, close it with a lid, and shake it to mix.
- Transfer the fajita seasoning to a spice jar and store it in your pantry for up to 6 months. Keep it away from heat and direct sunlight.
Notes
Storing: Spices can last a very long time but this will depend on how they're stored and how fresh each spice was when you made the blend. They don't necessarily go bad after the 6 months but the flavor of each spice and the dried herbs gets weaker and less potent as they sit exposed to air and light.
Veronika Sykorova says
This is one of my favorite spice blends to make at home and I hope you like it as much as I do! Comment below if you tried it, I'd love to hear from you! :)