19 Homemade Seasoning Blends That Beat Anything From the Store

You control the spice, the heat, and the freshness.

By
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara Bir
Sara is a chef, culinary educator, and author of three cookbooks, The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, Tasting Ohio and The Fruit Forager's Companion. The latter won a 2019 IACP Cookbook Award.
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Published October 30, 2023
Sara Bir
A jar of Cajun seasoning with a spoon in it

Simply Recipes / Sharee Hill

Sure, you can buy seasoning blends at the store, but you're often getting more of exactly what you don't want—salt. Plus anti-caking agents, and a questionable level of freshness.

That's why I love making my own seasoning blends. I reach for them all of the time, knowing exactly what they contain because I'm the one who mixed them in the first place. When you make the blends themselves, there's the fun of opening jars of spices and reveling in their aromas and colors. Hot tip: when making blends with ground hot peppers, don't inhale deeply! In fact, wear one of the pandemic masks you have tucked away. It'll prevent lots of sneezes. Take it from a gal who learned the hard way.

  • Homemade Taco Seasoning

    Taco Seasoning in Jar Surrounded by Taco Ingredients

    Simply Recipes / Marta A Rivera Diaz

    Ever since I switched to this homemade blend, my taco soup, taco salad, and burrito casserole have been on a whole other level of flavor. I'm never switching back. This blend is so easy, too. It's a fine started blend for DIYers.

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  • Burger Seasoning

    Hamburger Seasoning outside in a glass jar.
    Mike Lang

    If you've been grilling burgers as-is, this burger seasoning puts a whole new dimension of burger-dom at your fingertips. It's now a required tool in my burger arsenal. Try it and the difference between seasoned and unseasoned burgers will wow you.

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  • Homemade Old Bay

    Bowl of Old Bay Seasoning With a a Spoon, Sitting on a White Kitchen Towel Next to Lemon Leaves and Lemon Wedges

    Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell

    Old Bay evokes crab boils and seafood, but it's also at home in potato salad and fried chicken breading. This homemade blend allows you to use it more liberally and get more of the herbs and spices with less of the salt.

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  • Steak Seasoning

    Jar of Steak Seasoning Next to a Spoonful on the Counter

    Simply Recipes / Jen Causey

    If you're a steak lover, steak seasoning lets you be lazy and still cut into a slab of lovely, flavorful meat. This particular seasoning is somewhere between Montreal-style and Chicago-style. Coarse salt stands up to well-marbled cuts.

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    Continue to 5 of 19 below.

  • The Best Dry Rub for Steaks

    A jar of steak rub, open

    Simply Recipes / Irvin Lin

    As opposed to steak seasoning, which is largely salt with a few spices, this steak dry rub is intended to be applied liberally. It'll give you color, an appealing charred crust, and a library of flavors from smoked paprika to oregano to cumin to cayenne. For something unexpected, mix it into meatloaf.

    The Best Dry Rub for Steak
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  • Pumpkin Pie Spice

    Homemade pumpkin pie spice blend in a jar on a wooden cutting board.
    Cambrea Gordon

    Pumpkin pie spice is a one-stop spice shop for all of your fall baking needs. Besides pumpkin pie, add it to delights like pumpkin spice blondies, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, and pumpkin snickerdoodles.

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  • Garam Masala

    Jar of Garam Masala Next to a Spoon and Jar Lid

    Simply Recipes / Karishma Pradhan

    We're conditioned to adding spices early on in the cooking process, but garam masala is most often added at the end of a recipe so its warming top notes stay intact. Peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom are fixtures in this blend, but it changes from household to household all throughout South Asia and the Caribbean. Our version is contributor Karishma Pradhan's go-to.

    Customize This Homemade Garam Masala Just How You Like
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  • Jerk Seasoning

    Jar of Jerk Seasoning With a Label Reading "Jerk Spice", and in the Surroundings, a Kitchen Linen and a Bowl With Whole Allspice and Cinnamon Sticks

    Simply Recipes / Alica Ramkirpal-Senhouse

    With a bottle of this rub in your cupboard, Jamaican jerk flavor is ready in a flash for chicken, shrimp, and even tofu. This is a dry rub, stable on a shelf for months, as opposed to the wet jerk seasoning sold in jars, which needs to be refrigerated.

    This Homemade Jerk Seasoning Is Grilling Magic in a Bottle
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    Continue to 9 of 19 below.

  • Poultry Seasoning

    Jar of Poultry Seasoning With a Spoonful of Seasoning Next to a Navy Blue Table Napkin

    Simply Recipes / Jen Causey

    An herb-forward blend that's often associated with Thanksgiving stuffing, poultry seasoning has potential far beyond its typical repertoire. Add it to sausage gravy or bake up our reader favorite, 1970s-style chicken and rice casserole.

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  • Fajita Seasoning

    Bowl of Fajita Seasoning With Some in a Spoon Resting on the Bowl, and on the Counter, a Kitchen Towel

    Simply Recipes / Jen Causey

    Chicken, shrimp, steak—a quick seasoning and searing makes your favorite Mexican restaurant order a sizzling reality, ready to stuff into warm tortillas for an easy dinner.

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  • Everything Bagel Seasoning

    Bowl of Everything Bagel Seasoning With a Wooden Spoon and Next to a Black and White Stripped Kitchen Towel

    Simply Recipes / Jen Causey

    Toasting the onion flakes and dried minced garlic is the key to this best-ever everything bagel seasoning. Make it and you'll be bagel-izing your favorite dishes left and right.

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  • Adobo Seasoning

    Homemade adobo seasoning in clear jar

    Marisel Salazar / Simply Recipes

    Used in Latin American and Caribbean cuisines, adobo seasoning add the savory notes of garlic and onion in one simple shake. This additive-free recipe gives more flavor teaspoon per teaspoon than the shakers you'd find at the store.

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    Continue to 13 of 19 below.

  • Italian Seasoning

    Italian Seasoning in a Jar Sitting on a Cutting Board

    Simply Recipes / Lori Rice

    Add a spoonful of this versatile seasoning and meatballs, sauces, and Italian dressing to instantly get that flavor we associate with good pizzerias and neighborhood Italian eateries. I made mine at the end of the growing season with herb garden excess that I dried using this trick.

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  • Pork Chop Seasoning

    Jar of Pork Chop Seasoning with Pork Chops in Background

    Simply Recipes / Lori Rice

    Whether you're firing up the grill or heating your favorite skillet on the burner, this pork chop seasoning is the key to lightening-fast weeknight dinners.

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  • Dukkah

    Overhead view of Dukkah spice blend in a glass container.

    Simply Recipes / Prerna Singh

    This Egyptian seasoning has been around for ages, but a few years ago there was a trend in Western cooking to use it with all sorts of things, from deviled eggs to brownies. It's a textured blend with plenty of finely ground toasted nuts, plus sesame seeds and some coriander, cumin, and fennel. Perhaps the best way to enjoy it is the most traditional: with fresh bread and good olive oil for dipping.

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  • Dry Rub for Ribs

    Memphis-Style Pork Ribs Seasoned with Dry Rub Spices

    Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek

    A big jar of rib rub makes barbecuing a rack of ribs a simple matter of smearing them with mustard, the best glue for rubs that a rib lover could ask for. This is also great on brisket or pork butt.

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    Continue to 17 of 19 below.

  • Homemade Sazón Seasoning

    Spoon Pouring Homemade Sazón Mix into a Jar with Shaker in Background

    Marisel Salazar / Simply Recipes

    That brilliant orange color is from annatto seeds (achiote), which you toast and grind with cumin and coriander seeds. Add black pepper plus garlic and onion powder and you're ready to make numerous favorites from Latin America and the Caribbean (like Puerto Rican asopao de gandules) that just won't look and taste the same without it.

    Sazón Seasoning
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  • Za'atar

    Grind Za’atar

    Alison Bickel / Simply Recipes

    Middle Eastern dishes come alive with a generous finish of za'atar. It's bright and tart from ground sumac berries, toasted sesame seeds, and dried za'atar, an oregano-like herb in the thyme family. In fact, if you can't find that herb, you can sub equal parts dried thyme and dried oregano, with a few pinches of cumin thrown it. I love this over fried eggs on hummus-spread pita.

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  • Fish and Seafood Rub

    All Purpose Spice Rub for Fish and Seafood - labeled glass jar with spice rub
    Irvin Lin

    If you love seafood but always come up short on what to do with it, this jar will be your saving grace. This run plus a simple finish of lemon juice is all you need for winning salmon, shrimp, and more.

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