Taco Seasoning Substitutes: What a Packet Contains and How to Replace It

Taco seasoning is a convenience blend sold by the packet for seasoning a pound of ground meat. McCormick’s Original packet calls for 1 pound of ground beef and 3/4 cup of water,¹² and the historian Jeffrey Pilcher describes the American taco’s use of hamburger instead of offal.³ There is no federal definition of taco seasoning: the USDA’s purchasing specification for spice blends does not list it,⁴ and brands differ. McCormick’s Original label lists spices (including chili pepper, paprika and oregano), cornstarch, salt, onion and garlic.¹ Old El Paso’s gluten-free Original lists cornstarch first, then chili pepper, maltodextrin, salt, spice and onion powder.²

So a packet does four jobs at once: chile and spice flavor, salt, a little body to the sauce, and convenience. The best substitute depends on which of those you are missing.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship, with the source named.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. We show each one and do not average them.
• Method: we found no published ratio. We give a direction and a cautious starting point, and say so.

How big is a packet?

The labels give enough to work it out. These are calculations from two named products, not from every brand.

The FDA’s Daily Value for sodium is less than 2,300 mg a day,⁵ so one McCormick packet carries close to a full day’s sodium for the whole pound of meat.

If you need the whole job done: make your own

This is the closest substitute, because you control every element of the packet.

Cook’s Country’s homemade taco seasoning, by Matthew Fairman, was “designed and tested to replace one store-bought packet of taco seasoning.”⁶ It makes 1/4 cup from:⁶

The cornstarch is there on purpose: the recipe says a bit of it “added saucy body to the juices in a skillet of ground beef.”⁶ Leave it out and the meat will be looser.

Ratio (Attributed): Cook’s Country: use the 1/4-cup batch in place of one packet.⁶ It does not give a per-pound figure beyond that.

If you need the chile and cumin flavor

1. Chili powder plus cumin

Chili powder is the base of the homemade blend above, and it is itself a blend. The USDA’s purchasing specification says chili powder should include ground chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder,⁴ and Saveur says the chile is usually ancho.⁷ So chili powder already brings most of what a taco packet has, minus the thickener and much of the salt.

Why it works: the aroma of cumin comes mainly from cuminaldehyde, which makes up 20 to 72 percent of cumin’s essential oil,⁸ and the aroma of oregano mainly from carvacrol and thymol, which together make up about 78 to 85 percent of oregano oil.⁹ Chili powder carries both spices,⁴ so it carries those compounds too. The USDA specification is a minimum, not a recipe, so how much of each a jar contains depends on the brand.⁴

Chili powder is a Texas product of the 1890s. Its origin is disputed: William Gebhardt registered the Eagle Brand Chili Powder trademark in 1896,¹⁰ while D Magazine reports that Pendery, a Fort Worth merchant, was already marketing a chili blend called Chiltomaline in local newspapers by 1890.¹¹

PepperScale likewise says you can make do with chili powder and cumin alone, though it gives no amounts.¹²

Ratio (Method): No published ratio for replacing a packet with chili powder alone was found. Following the Cook’s Country proportions,⁶ use about 2 tablespoons chili powder and 2 teaspoons cumin per packet, then add salt (below) and, if you have it, 2 teaspoons cornstarch.

2. Chili powder alone

If chili powder is all you have, it will still season the meat. PepperScale lists it as a substitute on its own and notes that it gives the most heat potential of its options.¹² In our judgment it tastes a little less cumin-forward than a taco blend, and the dish will need salt.

Ratio (Method): Start with about 2 tablespoons per pound of meat, salt to taste, and add more chili powder only after tasting.

If you need the salt

Packet taco seasoning is salt-heavy, and most homemade substitutes are not. You can match the salt by arithmetic.

Ratio (Computed): Morton table salt carries 590 mg of sodium per 1/4 teaspoon.¹³ A McCormick Original packet carries about 2,280 mg (the table above), which is just under 4 quarter-teaspoons: about 1 teaspoon of table salt.¹¹³ An Old El Paso Gluten Free Original packet, at about 1,400 mg, matches a little over 1/2 teaspoon.²¹³ Cook’s Country’s recipe also uses 1 teaspoon of table salt.⁶ This covers salt only, for these named products. If you use kosher or another coarse salt, a teaspoon is not equivalent; see kosher salt substitutes for the conversion.

If you need body in the sauce

Both packets read for this page contain cornstarch, and Old El Paso’s lists it first.¹² It thickens the water added to the meat into a sauce.

Ratio (Attributed): Cook’s Country uses 2 teaspoons cornstarch in its packet replacement.⁶

If you have a different packet: fajita seasoning

Fajitas began as grilled skirt steak on the ranches of South and West Texas, according to The Austin Chronicle, which glosses them as “fajitas/arracheras (grilled skirt steak).”¹⁴ Fajita seasoning shares taco seasoning’s core. The USDA’s fajita specification lists salt, black pepper, cumin, oregano, garlic, onion, red pepper and natural lime flavor,⁴ and McCormick’s fajita mix lists chili pepper, cumin and paprika among its spices.¹⁵

The difference is sourness. McCormick’s fajita mix contains citric acid and lime juice concentrate,¹⁵ and the USDA specification includes lime flavor,⁴ while McCormick’s Original taco label lists no acid.¹ Expect a tangier pan of meat.

Ratio (Method): No published ratio was found. The salt is similar packet for packet: McCormick’s 1.12-ounce fajita packet carries about 2,000 mg of sodium (250 mg per 1½-teaspoon serving),¹⁶ against about 2,280 mg in the taco packet.¹ Use one packet for one packet, and skip any lime or vinegar the recipe adds.

What isn’t known

• Neither packet label read for this page names cumin specifically; it falls under “spices” at most.¹² How much cumin a commercial taco seasoning contains is not published.
• Some say commercial taco seasonings contain tomato powder for acidity and color. Neither label read here lists tomato.¹²
• The share of each spice in a typical chili powder is not published; the USDA specification gives ingredients, not amounts.⁴

Related

• Taco seasoning, spices for taco meat, fajita vs. taco seasoning
• Chili powder and chili powder substitutes
• Fajita seasoning and fajita seasoning substitutes
• Cumin, oregano, Mexican oregano, garlic powder, onion powder
• Good Mexican spices for chicken

Footnotes

1. McCormick Original Taco Seasoning Mix, 1 oz, label as listed by Giant Food Stores. giantfoodstores.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

2. Old El Paso Gluten Free Original Taco Seasoning Mix, 1 oz, label as listed by Giant Food Stores. giantfoodstores.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

3. Friesen, Where Did the Taco Come From? (interview with Jeffrey M. Pilcher), Smithsonian Magazine, 2012. smithsonianmag.com · Publication ↩

4. Commercial Item Description A-A-20001C, Spices and Spice Blends, USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, 2023. ams.usda.gov · Regulator ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

5. Sodium in Your Diet, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩

6. Fairman, Homemade Taco Seasoning, Cook’s Country (America’s Test Kitchen), 2023. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

7. Chili Powder, Saveur, 2009. saveur.com · Publication ↩

8. Jansen, Cuminum cyminum, PROSEA, via Pl@ntUse. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩

9. Lombrea et al., Origanum vulgare L. Essential Oil, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 2020. mdpi.com · Peer-reviewed ↩

10. Mexican Foods Company Collection (Gebhardt), UTSA Libraries Special Collections. lib.utsa.edu · Reference work ↩

11. Wise, The Man Who Invented Chili Powder, D Magazine, 2018. dmagazine.com · Publication ↩

12. Matt Bray, “What’s A Good Substitute For Taco Seasoning?”, PepperScale, 2024. pepperscale.com · Publication · PepperScale is also owned by Matt Bray, the editor of this site. ↩ ↩²

13. Morton Iodized Table Salt, Morton Salt. mortonsalt.com · Merchant ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. Wood, Fajita History, The Austin Chronicle, 2005. austinchronicle.com · Publication ↩

15. McCormick Fajita Seasoning Mix, McCormick. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩ ↩²

16. McCormick Fajita Seasoning Mix, 1.12 oz, label as listed by ShopRite. shoprite.com · Merchant ↩