Homemade Paleo Taco Seasoning

Tacos are always a favorite meal in our house. My homemade taco seasoning is Paleo, Gluten-Free, Keto, and Sugar-Free. It provides just the right level of flavor and spice for any taco dinner.

One of my favorite “guilty pleasure” foods is flavorful ground taco meat, served with just about anything. Taco salad, actual tacos, tortilla chips with taco meat, and melted cheese… I used to love those crunchy tacos that came from a box as a kid.

🥘 Ingredients Needed

• Cumin
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Garlic Powder
• Oregano
• Ground Black Pepper
• Kosher Salt
• Paprika (smoked or sweet)
• Onion Powder
• Chili Powder
• Arrowroot Powder – I love using arrowroot in my taco and fajita seasonings because it gives your meat a thick and saucy texture.

🥣 How to Make It

Taco seasoning is really easy to make – add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix everything together. Use immediately or store in an airtight container for later use.

• If you are not following a Paleo diet, you can substitute corn starch for arrowroot powder.
• If you are following a keto diet, you can leave out the arrowroot. The meat won’t be as thick, but it will reduce the amount of carbohydrates.

🍳 Serving Suggestions & Uses

You can use this taco seasoning for:

• ground beef, chicken, or turkey
• chicken breast
• sliced steak

Instant Pot Taco Chicken

One of our favorite things to make with this seasoning is Taco Chicken in an Instant Pot. To make this, liberally coat 1 – 2 pounds of chicken breast with olive oil and taco seasoning. (Picture 1) Let this sit for about 15 minutes.

Then heat your Instant Pot using the saute function. Add a little olive oil let it heat up. (Picture 2)

Then sear your chicken for a minute or two on each side. You don’t want to cook the chicken, just get a little crust on the outside. (Picture 3) I like to slice chicken breasts in half to make them thinner – they cook much faster this way. (You can see how to do this in my Instant Pot Chili Lime Chicken Recipe.)

Then, we like to add peppers and onions. I put the peppers on a steamer basket (with a trivet underneath) above the chicken. If you cook the vegetables in the juices with the chicken, they get really mushy and soggy. This keeps them crisp. (Picture 4) I like to use the trivet that came with my Mealthy CrispLid – here is a link to the same one without the crisplid. I also use the basket that came with it because it is short enough to sit on top of the trivet.

Cook the chicken for 7 minutes if thinly sliced or 14 if you are leaving the breasts whole. (If you are cooking veggies also, I highly recommend slicing the chicken thin so that you don’t have to cook it as long and the vegetables stay crisp.)

Let the pressure release naturally, then you can slice the chicken, shred it, or serve it whole. (Picture 5)

Taco Ground Beef

You can also use your taco seasoning to make ground beef. It is really easy to make:

Cook your ground beef until it is no longer pink, then drain off any excess fat and discard it. Add one whole serving of this taco seasoning and 1/2 a cup of water. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and the sauce will thicken up. I like to add diced peppers and onions to my ground beef when it is cooking.

What Can You Use Taco Meat For?

This taco seasoning is free of additives, sugar, gluten, and grains, so it is great for almost every diet. You can serve your taco meat in a taco shell (just like the traditional Ortega or Taco Bell “crunchy” tacos), on a salad, over plantain chips, over tortilla chips – whatever your heart desires.
Some of our favorite variations are:

• stuffed Mexican sweet potatoes
• taco salads with plantain chips
• served over Spanish rice
• in a sweet potato/ground beef casserole
• over chips with some melted cheese on top (cafeteria lunch style)

🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating

Taco seasoning stored in an airtight container will last a really long time, but ideally, you want to use it within a year as the quality will start to deteriorate over time.

You Might Also Like These Other Paleo Seasoning Recipes

• Everything Bagel Seasoning
• Raising Cane’s Sauce
• Whole30 Smoky Barbecue Sauce
• Bayou Blast Cajun Seasoning