Homemade Spice Mixes

I found this idea on Pinterest of course. I made my own taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, onion soup mix and Italian dressing mix. The first three came from Jamie over at Self-Reliance. The last came from a combination of places (I adjusted it to suit my own needs).

Taco seasoning is used for tacos of course (beef or chicken). The ranch seasoning can be used for ranch dressing, but I mostly use it to make ranch dip. The onion soup mix I use for dips and to flavor my pot roasts. The Italian dressing I use exclusively for seasoning buttered bread on any night we have pasta. This is the only time I use the seasoning but it happens at least once a week. Italian dressing is something I only use for marinade so I prefer the zesty version- not made with this seasoning mix.

I added up the amounts I needed and double-checked the quantities I had on hand in my spice cabinet. I ended up spending about $30 on spices, but I bought the large quantity size so I'm ready to make more mixes when I need it. I filled 2 pint jars each and used the little round canning sticker labels you can buy in the store (about $9 spent on the jars and labels). If I were gifting these then I would have made cuter labels with my Cricut. But for my own pantry, a handwritten sticker will do.

Ranch:

5 tablespoons dried minced onions

7 teaspoons parsley flakes

4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

 

Dry Onion Soup Mix:

2/3 cup dried, minced onion

3 teaspoons parsley flakes

2 teaspoons onion powder

2 teaspoons turmeric

1 teaspoon celery salt

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

 

Taco Seasoning:

1/2 cup chili powder
1/4 cup onion powder
1/8 cup ground cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon sea salt

 

Italian Dressing Mix:

I'll tell you when I find the paper I wrote it down on....
3/4 tsp garlic powder
2 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp onion powder
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp gound oregano
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp parsley
1/4 tsp celery salt
 

And ta-da! Healthy and convenient mixes I can simply spoon out at my pleasure. I keep a jar of each in my spice cabinet with the spare jars in the pantry. I'm about half-way through my first jar of the Italian already, and a third way through my taco. The ranch I've used minimally, but I have some potato recipes I'm going to play around with. The onion soup will get used the most heavily this fall when I'm making roasts again. It's simply too hot this summer for such a heavy meal!
Enjoy!