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Homemade fajita seasoning perfect for chicken, steak, shrimp or veggie fajitas. You can use this as a dry-rub or marinade. You can easily make this with ingredients you already have on hand. Plus, there’s no extra ingredients like the store-bought seasonings.
To be honest, I did not realize how much Mexican food we ate until we moved to the Netherlands. I love making things like my chicken tortilla soup or quickly cooking up some chicken fajitas for dinner. While it’s not too hard to find the ingredients you need, the seasoning mixes are very different. I believe it has some sort of curry seasoning in it, because the first time I used it, it turned my chicken fajitas completely orange – no bueno.
Why Make Homemade Fajita Seasoning?
Next time you are at the supermarket, do me a favor, flip over the taco seasoning packet. Can you pronounce all of those ingredients?
Ingredients: Corn starch, maltodextrin, salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate, spice, chili pepper. Contains less than 2% of: partially hydrogenated soybean oil, citric acid, natural flavor, silicon dioxide (anticaking agent), natural smoke flavor, yeast extract, ethoxyquin (preservative).
Nope. Can’t pronounce all of those.
It’s so easy to make your own homemade fajita seasoning. You can make it in a large batch and keep using it. No need for all those fake ingredients.
If you want to learn more about tips on how to cut out processed foods, I highly suggest you check out the 100 Days of Real Food. It is a great resource for healthy eating without all the junk and without the crazy dieting.
Is American Chili Powder Different?
So true story. My friend who also moved to the Netherlands from America was complaining about the taco/fajita seasoning. I had been making fajita seasoning back home so I whipped them up a batch of my fajita seasoning and brought them some. I used the seasoning mix that night and whoa was it spicy. What happened? What was different?
In most other countries, chile powder is simply ground hot red chiles, usually just one cultivar, but occasionally more, and it is much hotter than American chili powder. Chili powder is an American spice blend made with ground chile peppers and other herbs and spices, and curry powder is also a blend of spices.
To learn more, click here.
So I’ve added some instructions in the recipe for the different use, depending on where you are. I guess you learn something new every day!
Homemade Fajita Seasoning
Ingredients
For the Fajita Seasoning:
- 1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of chili powder American - If using "true" chili powder, only add a pinch to 1/4 tsp.
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons of cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
For the Marinade
- Fajita Seasoning
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1/4 cup of water
- Juice from one lime
Instructions
To make the fajita seasoning:
- Combine all the ingredients together and mix well.
To use it as a marinade:
- In a large ziplock, add 2 tablespoons of the fajita seasoning
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil
- Add juice from one lime
- Add meat of choice
- Marinate for at least 30 minutes
Beth Mitchell
Great idea and better clean eating. Will try it. Thanks