Homemade Chili Powder Spice Mix
With a pan, a handful of dried whole chilis, and some kind of blender or grinder, you can create a chili spice blend with a complex flavor that packs a punch (or not, your call!). Time to level up that favorite chili recipe with this homemade mix.
Servings: 12
Calories: 11kcal
Equipment
- 1 small pan to toast chili peppers
- 1 spice grinder or coffee grinder, or mortar and pestle
- 1 kitchen gloves to keep chili oils off fingers
- 1 bowl to mix ground spices together
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 2-4 ea dried chiles i.e. Ancho, Guajillo, New Mexico or Arbol
- 1 tbsp chile flakes i.e. Ancho, Jalapeno, red pepper
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 8-10 ea whole cloves
- 1 tbsp Mexican oregano use typical oregano if needed
Instructions
- Consider using kitchen gloves while handling the dried chile peppers. If you do not, be sure not to touch your face while handling them, and wash/scrub your fingers as soon as you are done.
- De-stem and deseed the 2-4 ea dried chiles. You'll need to cut open larger chiles to remove the seeds, but you can simply dump out the seeds from smaller chiles.
- Toast the chile peppers and flakes in a pan over medium heat, watching closely, and tossing regularly, until you can smell them, and the skins begin to blister. Take care, however, not to burn them. They are dark to begin with and you may feel they aren't turning color. The change is subtle. Remove from pan and set aside. It should only take about 5 minutes.
- Add the 2 tbsp cumin seeds to the pan, toast, and set aside. Keep separate from chiles.
- Add the 1 tbsp black peppercorns and 8-10 ea whole cloves to the pan, toast, and set aside. Keep separate from chiles and cumin seeds.
- Allow all the toasted chiles, flakes, and whole spices to cool, then blend them one by one. Keep each separate after grinding. I used my coffee bean grinder, which I first, wiped out thoroughly to remove the coffee bean smell (although a tad of that might actually add to the spice blend!). A high-speed blender should also work. If you are a mortar-and-pestle kind of cook, you could use it but the dried chiles you would need to break/cut up first before attempting to pound them into oblivion. It's worth a shot.
- Finally, create the blend, mixing the 1 tbsp chile flakes, 1 tbsp Mexican oregano and the ground whole spices and chiles together in a bowl, one by one. For the spicy ones, don't add all at once. You will want to dip your finger into the dried chile powder to sense its spice level as you create it and decide whether to add all of the measured ingredients or not.
Nutrition
Calories: 11kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 0.5g | Fat: 0.5g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 15mg | Potassium: 57mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 0.2g | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg | Magnesium: 9mg