With the right taco seasoning mix, you can turn a bland keto meal into a 5-star dish. Just a couple tablespoons can turn your ground beef, steak, chicken, or fish into pure deliciousness.
Unfortunately, taco seasoning packets and DIY recipes often come with unnecessary net carbs from added starches, flours, and/or sugar. This causes the carb counts to climb, making it difficult to fit into your keto lifestyle.
To keep your taco seasoning as keto-friendly as possible, it is best to make it yourself. Not only is it super easy, but all you need is a few simple ingredients (that you may already have in your kitchen).
Is Taco Seasoning Keto?
Most pre-made taco seasoning packets and mixes come with around 6 grams of net carbs per tablespoon. If you look at the ingredients, you’ll find the carb-ridden culprits, which often include sugar, corn starch, and maltodextrin.
It is best to avoid these pre-made products and ingredients on keto, especially when you consider how easy it is to make homemade sugar-free taco seasoning.
How to Make Homemade Keto Taco Seasoning
As you may have already guessed, this recipe is as simple as mixing dried herbs and spices together that are commonly used in Mexican cuisine. The only tricky part of DIY keto taco seasoning is finding the right ratios of ingredients (which why I wanted to share my favorite taco seasoning recipe with you).
The ingredient ratios we use in this recipe will provide you with plenty of savoriness and spice, with a bit of heat and smokiness. We also added a touch of sweetness (from the erythritol) to help balance the flavors, so nothing overpowers your palate.
Feel free to adjust the ratios depending on the spices, herbs, and flavors you enjoy the most with your keto dish. A great addition is some dried chipotle pepper in place of the cayenne pepper.
How Much Keto Taco Seasoning Should You Use In Your Chicken, Beef, or Fish Dish?
Getting the best balance of taco seasoning in your keto meal is surprisingly easy. Simply use one to two tablespoons of keto taco seasoning mix per pound of meat, adjusting as necessary to make it as flavorful as you prefer.
Whether you want taco seasoning for ground beef, steak, chicken, pork, or fish, the amount to use will be the same. Before adding the seasoning just make sure to brown your meat and cook it through. Then, you’ll add two tablespoons of the keto taco seasoning mix.
If there isn’t much liquid in the pan, add 1/4 cup water per pound of meat. Stir thoroughly and let it simmer until most of the water evaporates. If the flavor isn’t coming through as much as you’d like, add some extra salt or taco seasoning to taste.
How to Store Your Keto Taco Seasoning
Store your leftover taco seasoning in the same way as you would dried herbs and spices. To maximize freshness for up to a year, make sure you seal it in an airtight container and keep in a cool, dark, and dry place. A favorite storage method of mine is re-using empty spice jars so you can keep it in your spice cabinet for anytime you want to use this seasoning.
Since your keto taco seasoning will last throughout the year, feel free to scale up the recipe. This way you’ll always have this keto-friendly taco mix at the ready. Plus, this will free up extra time to make low-carb tortillas.
Yields 17 teaspoons of Keto Taco Seasoning
The Preparation
- 2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon erythritol
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
The Execution
1. Prep all ingredients by measuring out each spice.
2. Add all spices into a bowl.
3. Stir together spices well.
4. Store in an air-tight container, or re-fill a used spice jar for future storage/usage.
This makes a total of 17 teaspoons of Keto Taco Seasoning. Each tablespoon comes out to be 12 calories, 0.5g fats, 1.1g net carbs, and 0.5g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 2 tablespoon chili powder | 45 | 2.3 | 8 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 2.2 |
| 1 tablespoon salt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoon cumin | 15 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.7 |
| 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper | 7.8 | 0.1 | 2 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.3 |
| 1 teaspoon smoked paprika | 6.4 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| 1 teaspoon dried oregano | 3.7 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| 1 teaspoon garlic powder | 10 | 0 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.5 |
| 1 teaspoon erythritol | 1.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 teaspoon onion powder | 4 | 0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Totals | 95 | 3.8 | 17.5 | 8.8 | 8.7 | 4.3 |
| Per Serving (/17) | 11.9 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.5 |
Keto Taco Seasoning
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon erythritol
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Prep all ingredients by measuring out each spice.
- Add all spices into a bowl. Stir together spices well.
- Store in an air-tight container, or re-fill a used spice jar for future storage/usage.
