• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • About
  • Cookbooks
  • Shop

Chili Pepper Madness logo

  • Recipe Index
  • RECIPES BY TYPE
    • BBQ/Grilled
    • Burgers
    • Chicken Wings
    • Chili
    • Curry
    • Dehydrator
    • Game Day
    • Hot Sauce Recipes
    • Jalapeno Poppers
    • Marinades
    • Pickling
    • Preserving
    • Quick and Easy
    • Salsas
    • Sauces
    • Seasonings
    • Stuffed Peppers
    • Tacos
  • COOKING TIPS
  • Pepper Info
    • Chili Pepper Types
    • The Scoville Scale
    • Hottest Peppers in the World
    • Growing Chili Peppers
    • Preserving
    • Health Benefits
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Buy Plants & Seeds
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipe Index
  • All Recipes
  • Pepper Info
  • Chili Pepper Types
  • The Scoville Scale
  • Growing Chili Peppers
  • Preserving
  • Chili Pepper Health Benefits
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Cooking Tips
  • Cookbooks
  • Shop
  • About Us
×

Home » Recipes » Homemade Chili Powder Recipe

Homemade Chili Powder Recipe

by Mike Hultquist · May 29, 2019 · 35 Comments

Jump to Recipe Save Saved!
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe

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!

Homemade Chili Powder in a bowl, ready for making chili

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)
Homemade Chili Powder ingredients listed around a photo of the spices needed

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.

Mixing together Homemade Chili Powder ingredients in a bowl

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.

Toasting dried chilies in a pan to make Red Enchilada Sauce

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

  • Homemade Spicy Chili Powder
  • Chipotle Powder
  • Roasted Red Jalapeno Powder
  • Steak Seasoning Mix
  • Homemade Rib Rub
  • Homemade Cajun Seasoning
  • How to Make Chili Flakes

Try Some of My Favorite Chili Recipes

  • Classic Chili Recipe
  • Chili con Carne
  • Texas Chili
  • White Chicken Chili
  • Turkey Chili
  • Short Rib and Chorizo Chili
  • See all of my 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.

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!)
Mike holding a small spice jar of Homemade Chili Powder

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
Print

Homemade Chili Powder Recipe

This homemade chili powder recipe is easy to make with simple spices, just what you need for the perfect bowl of chili. So much better than store bought.
Save Recipe Saved!
Course: Main Course, Seasonings
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chili powder, spicy
Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Calories: 7kcal
Author: Mike Hultquist
Servings: 24 teaspoons
Tap or hover to scale
5 from 10 votes
Leave a Review

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

Heat Factor: Mild, but this particular blend is big on flavor. You can easily adjust the heat factor by choosing different peppers. You can also easily add more or less of the other ingredients to your personal tastes.
This makes about 1/2 cup total.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 7kcal   Carbohydrates: 1g   Protein: 1g   Fat: 1g   Saturated Fat: 1g   Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g   Monounsaturated Fat: 1g   Sodium: 71mg   Potassium: 37mg   Fiber: 1g   Sugar: 1g   Vitamin A: 482IU   Vitamin C: 1mg   Calcium: 6mg   Iron: 1mg
Homemade Chili Powder Recipe
Did You Enjoy This Recipe?I love hearing how you like it and how you made it your own. Leave a comment below and tag @ChiliPepperMadness on social media.

Reader Interactions

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




  1. Toni says

    December 12, 2024 at 8:43 pm

    5 stars
    Added chipotle powder and a bit of cocoa powder…awesome!

    Reply
    • Mike H. says

      December 13, 2024 at 6:21 am

      Happy to hear it, Toni. Thanks!

      Reply
  2. zach z says

    November 05, 2024 at 8:09 am

    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?

    Reply
    • Mike Hultquist says

      November 05, 2024 at 8:40 am

      Thanks, Zach. Yes, you can use the mortar and pestle. Works great, but takes longer. Enjoy!

      Reply
  3. Kozmo Bates says

    June 05, 2024 at 7:57 am

    5 stars
    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

    Reply
    • Mike Hultquist says

      June 05, 2024 at 11:18 am

      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.

      Reply
  4. Shane Keene says

    September 25, 2023 at 12:46 am

    5 stars
    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.

    Reply
    • Mike H. says

      September 25, 2023 at 3:21 am

      I appreciate it, Shane. Enjoy!

      Reply
  5. Kathy says

    August 28, 2022 at 6:59 pm

    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!!

    Reply
    • Mike Hultquist says

      August 29, 2022 at 10:55 am

      Perfect, Kathy! Happy experimenting!

      Reply
« Older Comments

Primary Sidebar

ALL. SPICY. RECIPES. Hi, I’m Mike and I LOVE Spicy Food! Say goodbye to bland and boring food with my easy-to-follow recipes. Let’s get cooking!

More about me →

Mexican Cajun Sauces Seasonings
Order The Spicy Food Lovers' Cookbook by Mike Hultquist

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / INDIEBOUND / BOOKS A MILLION

Order The Spicy Dehydrator Cookbook by Mike Hultquist

AMAZON / BARNES & NOBLE / INDIEBOUND

Footer

NEVER MISS A RECIPE

Receive my "5 Essentials for Spicy Cooking" email series & new recipes

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

↑ back to top

About | Contact | Travel-Food | Ingredients | Stories | Privacy | Disclaimer | © 2024 Chili Pepper Madness

EXCLUSIVE MEMBER OF MEDIAVINE FOOD