This homemade chili powder recipe is easy to make with simple spices, just what you need for the perfect bowl of chili, soups, stews and more. So much better than anything from grocery stores. Create your own signature blend!
The Best Homemade Chili Powder
Chili powder is one of the most important ingredients to any spicy food loving cook. It forms the base of flavor on which to build other flavors as you layer in your ingredients.
Very much like a good curry powder in Indian cuisine, your choice of chili powder can not only define your dish, but it can make or break that dish as well.
A great chili seasoning mix will incorporate different flavors to make your dish truly memorable, with a focus on depth and character, not just heat.
My Homemade Chili Powder spice blend is just what you need to make the best pot of chili.
Featured Reader Comment
"The perfect blend. Didn't change a thing." - Nadia
What is Chili Powder?
Chili Powder is a blend of ground dried chilies that have been ground into a powder and mixed with other ingredients to form a seasoning blend. This is not to be confused with a pure chili powder, which is a singular dried chili pepper type that has been ground to a powder.
An example is "Ancho Powder", made from ground ancho peppers. It is one of my favorites to cook with, but when referring to the American version of chili powder, we're talking about the blend.
You can, of course, purchase your own chili powders online, but making them at home is the best method, primarily because of freshness, and because you can control what goes into your finished chili powder yourself.
Let's talk about how to make chili powder at home.
Chili Powder Ingredients
- Guajillo Powder
- Ancho Powder
- Cayenne
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Cumin
- Salt (if desired)
How to Make Chili Powder - the Recipe Method
Mix together the chili powder with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and cumin. You can add other ingredients as well, such as dried oregano, dried basil or more.
Store in airtight containers and use as desired. Makes about 1/3 cup of chili powder.
Grinding Your Own Peppers to Make Chili Powder
First, choose your chili peppers. For this recipe, I am using dried guajillos, anchos and cayenne peppers. Paprika and smoked paprika are popular choices as well.
Add the dried peppers to a cast iron pan or skillet over medium heat and dry toast them a couple minutes per side, until they just start to puff up and darken in color. You will just able to start to smell them. This helps release their natural oils.
Remove from heat, then remove the stems. Slice them open and remove the seeds.
Add the dried pods to a food processor and process them until a powder forms. You may have some coarse chunks that you can either leave in or strain out.
Store in airtight containers and use as desired. Makes about 1/3 cup of chili powder.
Best Dried Chilies for Homemade Chili Powder
You can make chili powder from any type of chili pepper. There are many, many peppers available to you in the world to do this, and, because of this immense variety, your variations are practically endless.
Most American chili powder blends incorporate Mexican or New Mexican pepper varieties. Favorites include ancho peppers, chipotles, moritas, pasillas, guajillos, and chiles de arbol.
However, you are free to incorporate others. In fact, I grow chili peppers in my home garden every year and I dehydrate them to make my own powders all the time. Perfect for the home cook.
If you're interested in doing this, see my post on How to Dehydrate Chili Peppers to Make Homemade Chili Powders.
You don't have to dehydrate them yourself, though. You can easily purchase store bought dried peppers from your local grocer, usually find in the Mexican section, or look at a local Mexican grocer.
You can also purchase pre-ground chilies and just mix them, which most people do.
Storage Information
Store chili powder in an airtight containers and use as desired. It will keep for 6 months or longer, but will begin to lost potency after about 3 months.
It is best to make smaller batches to be used within that time.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- The Ingredients. You don't need a ton of other ingredients to make a great American chili powder blend for making a great pot of chili. My favorites include cumin, garlic powder, oregano, basil, onion powder, and sometimes a bit of salt and pepper. You can include others to your preference. Feel free to experiment!
Many recipes call for chili powder as a primary seasoning ingredient, but what happens if you don't have any on hand? Check out my post on Chili Powder Substitutes for a longer discussion and other ideas.
Try Some of My Seasonings/Powders Made from Dehydrated Peppers
Try Some of My Favorite Chili Recipes
Mike’s Recommended Products
Try some of these links to Amazon (affiliate links, my friends) to help you get started on making your own homemade chili powders.
- Ancho Chiles
- Guajillo Peppers
- Magic Bullet MBR-1701 17-Piece Express Mixing Set
– For Grinding down the chili peppers for powders.
– For Grinding down the chili peppers for powders.Other Resources
- How to Dehydrate Chili Peppers – Includes a video with a longer discussion on drying chili peppers in general.
- The Spicy Dehydrator Cookbook – by Michael Hultquist (that's me!)
Got any questions? Ask away! I’m happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Don’t forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. I’ll be sure to share! Thanks! — Mike H.
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons guajillo powder
- 2 tablespoons ancho powder
- 1 tablespoon cayenne
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Mix together the chili powders with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt and cumin. You can add other ingredients as well, such as dried oregano, dried basil or more.
- Store in airtight containers for up to 1 year and use as desired.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Toni says
Added chipotle powder and a bit of cocoa powder…awesome!
Mike H. says
Happy to hear it, Toni. Thanks!
zach z says
Hi! love your website and used some good recipes for it but gotta question: i just got a mortar and pestle, can i use that instead of a food processor?
Mike Hultquist says
Thanks, Zach. Yes, you can use the mortar and pestle. Works great, but takes longer. Enjoy!
Kozmo Bates says
Hey Mike, thanks for this. I made this (more or less) several times from whole dried peppers. Flavor is great. I use a lot of it. However the mix tends to cake not shake. I have to loosen it in the shaker jar with a knife before it will flow. I suspect the culprit in the mix is the garlic powder since it tends to cake in its own jar by itself. Do you have that experience? Do you know if there are garlic powders that don't do this or natural ingredients that could be added to keep it loose?
thanks again
Kozmo
Mike Hultquist says
Hey, Kozmo. Caking with powders and blends can happen if there is any moisture at all, even humidity. Be sure to store your powders and blends in airtight containers. You can dehydrate your powders if needed in a dehydrator as well. Some people use anti-caking agents (like brands do). You can also save some of those moisture absorbing gel packs from online purchases to help keep things extra dry.
Shane Keene says
Nice! I ground my own dry peppers--using arbol chilis because they're what I had instead of cayenne--and included a smoky morita. Then followed your recipe verbatim.
Perfect.
Mike H. says
I appreciate it, Shane. Enjoy!
Kathy says
I never even thought about making my own chili powder but seeing as how I love to garden in the Charlotte NC area, I believe I will have a few new peppers growing in my garden next summer with which I will be drying and making your recipe for Chili Powder -- Can't wait to try it!!
Mike Hultquist says
Perfect, Kathy! Happy experimenting!