Everyday Spice Blends You Can Make Yourself

Using a spice blend makes everyday cooking so much easier! No more fumbling in the cabinet to pick your herbs, no more wondering if something is missing. Sure, you can buy commercial blends, but where’s the fun in that? Here are five everyday spice blends I use in my kitchen all the time.

Why making your own spice blends makes sense

It’s difficult to resist the siren song of the big jars of spice blends at Sam’s Club. I had my share in the cabinets. And guess what? Whenever it was time for a kitchen purge I’d throw away one or more of the bottles either because they’d lost their potency or I just didn’t use the blend enough to justify giving it cabinet space. I tried making my blends as needed, but that got to be too much hassle, especially when everyone was hungry and waiting to eat.

So I changed my approach. Instead of buying a big bottle, I started making small batches of herb blends from stuff I already had available. It is so much easier to open one jar instead of several, and since the batches are small, I can easily replenish them. I keep the blends near the stove for convenience and the individual herbs and spices in the cabinet.

Pinterest is a great source for mixes. Here’s one pin I’ve saved which lists popular blends. When you find one you like, feel free to tweak it to suit your family’s tastes.

In the lists below I’ve used ratios. I use teaspoons as my base measure for the most part to keep my batch size manageable. After mixing, transfer to sealable jars and label them. Use any jar you like (the 4 or 8 ounce mason jars are perfect).

Garlic Herb Blend

• 2 measures salt
• 4 black pepper
• 1 cayenne pepper
• 1 smoky paprika
• 4 garlic powder
• 2 onion powder
• 2 dried thyme
• 2 dried parsley

This is a “go to” in our house. It’s great on all types of meat and fish, tofu, eggs, popcorn or nuts. Roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes and eggplant all go well with this.

Italian Seasoning

• 3 measures dried basil
• 3 dried oregano
• 3 dried thyme
• 2 dried rosemary
• 2 garlic powder
• 1 onion powder

Delicious in anything with tomatoes. Use on meats, roasted vegetables, in omelets, or flavor a vinaigrette.

Greek Seasoning

• 6 measures dried oregano
• 4 dried thyme
• 2 dried basil
• 2 dried marjoram
• 2 dried mint
• 2 onion powder
• 1 garlic

The emphasis on oregano make a change from the Italian blend. Use on chicken, roasted veggies, tofu, mix into yogurt to make a creamy style dressing. Use when cooking beans (especially white beans).

Taco Seasoning

• 3 measures cumin
• 3 chili powder
• 3 paprika
• 2 garlic powder
• 2 onion powder
• 2 oregano
• 1 salt
• 1 black pepper

This isn’t just for tacos, add to anything you’d like give it a little South of the Border punch. Great over popcorn or stirred into roasted nuts. I love to use it when roasting sweet potatoes and winter squashes where the sweet and savory really work well together.

Moroccan Seasoning

• 4 measures ground ginger
• 4 ground coriander
• 2 white pepper
• 2 ground cinnamon
• 1 cumin
• 1 turmeric

This is distinct from your typical curry powder and especially good on lamb, but also chicken and beef (seriously, try it with beef). White fish and tofu will also work well with the flavors. Sprinkle it on just about any type of vegetable you’d like to roast, especially potatoes, eggplant and cauliflower. It’s also surprisingly good on chopped fruit…just a pinch.

I hope you give one or more of these spice blends a try. Let me know which is your favorite and how you use it in the comments.