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How to Make Chili Powder - A Step-by-Step
Tutorial For Great Tasting Food

Once you know how to make chili powder you'll soon be rustling up your own concoctions in just minutes. And the beauty of it is you get to choose the heat that you prefer. Like it mild? Use mild peppers. Prefer it hotter? Hot, fiery chilis are called for. For this recipe I used birds eye peppers which are certainly fiery! (See the bottom of the page for links to more of my recipes)

What You'll Need: (makes about 9-10 tablespoons)

Half a cup of dried peppers (hot or mild)
OR 5 tbsp chili flakes (see note below)
2 tbsp cumin seeds 
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp black peppercorns
2 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp salt (see note 2 below)
1 tsp cloves

tbsp = tablespoon
tsp = teaspoon

Directions:

• If you used whole peppers, remove the stems and chop into smallish pieces

• Finely grind these pieces (or flakes) with the peppercorns, cloves, cumin and salt

• Once ground, sieve into a bowl

• Stir in the garlic and mustard powders

• Finally, crumble in the dried oregano and combine thoroughly
  

Store out of direct sunlight in an airtight jar. Use within 3 months.

Note: If you really want to make your blend stand out, you could dry toast the cumin, cloves and peppercorns before grinding. This is easy to do and recommended. Click to read more about this. (Link opens in new window)

Note 2: I recommend using a quality rock/sea/kosher salt but you could use regular table salt if that's all you have available.

Chili Note: If you don't have whole peppers or flakes just use 3-4 tablespoons of powder and combine with the other ingredients.

Ingredient Note: When making my chili powders, I tend to use whole ingredients where I can. However, you may not have them all. If not, simply use their pre-ground versions instead and cut down on the amounts the recipe says by half. So, if it says 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds you use 1 tablespoon of pre-ground cumin. Reduce any other ingredients you don't have whole by half as well and stir in with the other ingredients when making.

Now You Know How to Make Chili Powder, Why Not Try These?

A Stronger Chili Seasoning
For Your Meatier Dishes

Use Whole Peppers or
Flakes For a Simple,
Yet Tasty Chili Mix

Spice Mix Collection For 
Everyday Home Cooking

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