Southwest Spice Blend
A good Southwest spice blend can transform dishes by bringing the flavors of the Southwest alive.
The flavors in this Southwest seasoning blend highlight the region’s slightly smoky, deeply flavored food. This spice blend is ideal for meat and veggies from the grill, as the base for chili or stews, and almost anything from the smoker.
What makes this recipe stand out is our focus on using chilis, spices, and herbs from the Southwest that give the region its unique flavors.
What is southwest seasoning
Southwest seasoning is a blend of spices and herbs, highlighting the flavors of the American Southwest.
Southwestern Cuisine is a regional cuisine that melds traditional European techniques with the ingredients and cooking traditions from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and parts of California. Many of the flavors, ingredients, and cooking methods have been adapted from traditional Mexican cooking. Interested in learning more, read Patricia Sharpe’s classic And They Said “Let There Be Cilantro.”
A good Southwestern Seasoning is one of the best ways to highlight the flavors that make the region’s cuisine unique.
How to make a homemade southwest seasoning mix
There are many reasons to make your own homemade Southwest spice blend. Making your own spice blends allows you to add a little more or less heat, make it a little more herb forward, or dial it back a bit. It also means you know exactly what’s going into the blend, ensuring it is all flavor, with no strange fillers or anti-caking agents.
This mix is simple to make and makes enough that it can be made once and used for months.
A tip if you just want to make a small batch is to convert the tablespoon amounts to teaspoons, which will make enough for one or two meals while keeping the proportions consistent.
- Smoked Chicken Rub is a simple seasoning for smoking chicken packed with delicious flavors and has crispy skin on the outside.
- All-Star Pork Rub has the perfect balance between sweetness and heat, bringing out the deep, smokey barbeque flavor that makes pork taste delicious.
What’s In Southwest Seasoning
The foundation of any homemade Southwest seasoning mix is using ground chilis as the base. Most blends also include cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.
We intentionally use ancho chili powder as the base instead of regular chili powder to avoid using a mix inside of a mix. Using a blend within a blend can muddle flavors, making it hard to tailor the seasoning to your taste and making it hard to duplicate with a different base blend.
Ingredients in our southwest seasoning recipe include:
Ancho Chili Powder – With a rich, slightly smoky flavor profile, ground ancho chilis are a staple of Southwestern and Mexican cuisine. It is made by drying and then grinding ripe poblano peppers.
Ground Chipotle – We use ground Chipotle in many of our dry rubs because it has the perfect combination of heat and smokiness. This allows us to adjust the heat up or down simply by adding or subtracting the chipotle 1/4 tsp at a time. If you don’t have any chipotle available, substitute cayenne pepper.
Cumin – Ground cumin has the ability to add bite to a dish while also brightening its overall flavor profile. It’s one of the few spices that can make a dish pop while staying in the background. It is especially potent when freshly ground.
Coriander – Adding a touch of coriander lightens up a dish by adding bright, almost citrus notes.
Mexican Oregano – We prefer Mexican oregano to Turkish or Greek for this recipe because we like its floral and citrus notes and because the plant is native to Mexico.
Garlic Powder – The best way to add garlic flavor to dry rubs is to use granulated garlic powder. It delivers a nice garlic flavor and won’t burn like fresh garlic can when subjected to the intense heat of the grill or a long cook time in the smoker.
Granulated Onion – Granulated onion, which is often overlooked, provides seasoning mixes used in the smoker or grill with some of the aromatic qualities of onions without the danger of being scorched or burnt.
Black Pepper – Using a good quality black pepper rounds out the flavors in a dry rub.
Kosher Salt – The large flakes in kosher salt help the spices penetrate whatever is being cooked while adding enough salt to bring out its flavors.
Here are a few simple ways to adjust the heat and flavor in this seasoning blend to fit your taste.
- Sweeter – Add a 1/2 tsp of brown sugar
- Hotter – Add a 1/2 tsp of ground cayenne or chipotle
- Smokier – Add a 1/2 tsp of ground chipotle
- Smokier and Hotter – Add a 1/2 tsp of ground chipotle
What to cook with a Southwest spice blend
Southwest seasoning is a versatile blend that can be used in tons of different dishes. Here are a few of our favorite ways to cook with it.
Southwestern Grilled Chicken Thighs – Make a marinade using a tablespoon of the seasoning along with some lime juice and olive oil. Marinate the boneless skinless chicken thighs for at least 30 minutes before grilling them over a medium high fire.
The grilled chicken is fantastic as the base for quesadillas, burritos, and nachos. We often slice the thighs fairly thin and use them to make sandwiches topped with pepper jack cheese and fresh guacamole or as the centerpiece to a flavor packed summer salad.
Smoked Chuck Roast – Use it as a dry rub when you’re smoking a chuck roast gives the beef a deep, smokey flavor and tender texture that is ideal when it’s shredded for making delicious rice bowls, tacos, or burritos.
Smoked Whole Chicken – Making a smoked whole chicken with southwestern flavors is a simple way to make chicken that is delicious as main course, fantastic as leftovers, and amazing as an ingredient in a plethora of other dishes.
Tacos – This seasoning works great as a homemade taco seasoning. We regularly use it as the base when making ground beef or ground turkey tacos.
Grilled Vegetables – During the summer we like to sprinkle some of the seasoning onto fresh vegetables lightly coated with olive oil and lemon juice. This works particularly well with summer squash and zucchini cut in half or big slices of bell peppers.
Homemade spice blends will hold their flavors for at least six months if stored in an airtight container outside direct sunlight.
Southwest Spice Blend
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ancho chili powder
- 1 tbsp cumin, ground
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- ½ tbsp coriander, ground
- ½ tbsp Mexican oregano
- ½ tbsp black pepper
- 1 tsp chipotle, ground
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the spices and herbs in a small bowl with the salt and pepper. Stir until they are thoroughly combined.2 tbsp ancho chili powder, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp kosher salt, ½ tbsp coriander, ½ tbsp Mexican oregano, ½ tbsp black pepper, 1 tsp chipotle, 1 tsp garlic powder, ½ tsp onion powder
- Store in an airtight container.
Mark is an experienced food writer, recipe developer, and photographer who is also Umami’s publisher and CEO. A passionate cook who loves to cook for friends, he can often be found in the kitchen or by the grill testing new recipes.
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Ingredients:
- Ancho Chili Powder
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- Black Pepper
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- Chipolte
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- Coriander
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- Cumin
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- Garlic
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- Kosher Salt
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- Oregano
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- Poblano Peppers
Cuisines:
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