Recipe: Homemade Chili Powder

Stocking the Pantry with Homemade Seasonings

Aside from Culinary School - I realized I've never really made a point to make my own spice "blends." I just throw things in a pan and taste as I go to get the perfect combo. But a friend messaged me after one of my recent recipes on Instagram ( @angeliesood ) and suggested I make my own blends instead of using the ones from the store.

It was a great idea and he definitely inspired me to go out and buy what I was missing to make a couple of staple spice blends for my pantry.



The motivation to do this was two-fold; I love a good kitchen diy and also it is a much cleaner and healthier alternative, as I can control which ingredients make it into my seasoning.

Bonus: If you have kids who are home for the summer, this is the perfect project to get those little hands working in the kitchen. Learning to prepare food is so empowering for young children and can start so many conversations - where our food comes from, healthy eating habits, it can inspire future cooking projects and provides some beautiful opportunities for learning (sensory exploration, measurement) and bonding as a family.



The first seasoning I wanted to tackle was homemade chili powder.

I use this so much in my cooking whether I'm making Mexican rice, veggie or turkey chili, stuffed peppers, taco filling - there's lots of applications, so this was the first seasoning I needed to prep in advance and keep on hand.



I decided to use a 250 mL Mason Jars for this project and was able to buy about a dozen for $8.99 at Canadian Tire.


This recipe is super simple once you gather all the ingredients, though if you are teaching young children how to do this you can take it a step further by roasting and grinding your own spices too.

Chili Seasoning at Home

Preparation Time: 10 minutes



Ingredients

air tight jar or glass container
1/8 cup of sweet paprika
1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin powder



Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight container. That's it!

This was a super simple project that I really enjoyed. The simple act of measuring and mixing things together was so cathartic - it kept me so focused that it almost felt like a little meditation session. Try it! Super relaxing and of course you end up with an awesome finished product to use in your cooking or add a little label and some twine and give this as a hostess gift to a friend.