Name: Homemade Blackened Seasoning
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons paprika; 2 teaspoons onion powder; 1 ⅓ teaspoon kosher salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; 1 teaspoon garlic powder; 1 teaspoon oregano; 1 teaspoon thyme; ¼-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Recipe Table of Contents

4.28 from 22 votes

This homemade blackened seasoning mix is perfect with fish, chicken, or any place you want a great spicy taste. Adjust it to your tastes and needs; no need to buy an expensive mix.

The spices for Homemade Blackened Seasoning.

Table of Contents

👨‍🍳Cajun, Creole, and Blackened Seasonings
🧂Ingredients
🥣Uses
📖Other Spice Mixes
📖Recipe
💬 Comments

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Introduction

Made with pantry staples, this is a great basic blend of spice that will add tons of flavor to your delicious meals.

Blacken Fish has always been a great go-to dinner, but mixing all those spices every time is too much. And I don't want the "commercial" blend that plays to the lowest common taste and adds fillers.

I love my blackened tilapia based on an Aaron MaCorgo Jr (Food Networks “Big Daddy”) recipe, which is the basis for this everyday blackened seasoning I will be keeping on hand for other recipes.

My Rating

A very nice spice mix.

👨‍🍳Cajun, Creole, and Blackened Seasonings

These are a bit confusing and have a lot of overlap in the usage of the terms. Here are a few generalities.

Cajan is usually the spiciest of the three. To make this seasoning Cajan, crank up the cayenne to the upper end of the range.

Creole is usually the mildest and may have various herbs mixed in, like oregano, basil, and thyme.

And blackening seasoning hangs in the middle. So a very spicy blackening seasoning can properly be called Cajan, and a mild spiced one will cross over into Creole territory, especially if it has more herbs.

🧂Ingredients

The ingredients are commons pantry items. Paprika, garlic and onion powder, and a few other things with cayenne pepper. And, of course, salt and pepper.

Variations

The main variable is the cayenne pepper. I offer a suggested range of ¼ to 1 teaspoon. My estimate it ¼ teaspoon is about 2/10. Will ½ teaspoon will be about 5/10. A full teaspoon will be 7-8/10. I generally use ½ teaspoon.

By doing this yourself, you get to make the adjustments you want. Use smoked paprika, more garlic, more pepper, or white pepper; increase the heat with more cayenne. Don't like oregano or thyme—take them out.

I put mine in a shaker from Penzeys Spices. Be sure to seal tight.

🥣Uses

The most common uses are chicken, fish, and vegetables. But it can also be used on beef, like steak.

baked Blackened Tilapia — Oven-Baked Blackened Tilapia

📖Other Spice Mixes

All Purpose Seasoning - 7:2:1 and 7:2:2

Chipotle Seasoning

Marlowe's Black Magic Seasoning

8:3:1:1 Dry Rub

📖Recipe

Homemade Blackened Seasoning

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

This homemade blackened seasoning mix is perfect with fish, chicken, or any place you want a great spicy taste. Adjust it to your tastes and needs, no need to buy an expensive mix.

Tap to leave a Rating

4.28 from 22 votes

Print Collection

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 0 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 18 teaspoons

Ingredients

US Customary - Convert to Metric

Instructions

Mix two tablespoons paprika, two teaspoon onion powder, 1 ½ teaspoons of kosher salt, and one teaspoon each of garlic powder, thyme, oregano, and black pepper. The range for cayenne pepper is ¼ to 1 teaspoon.
Store in an airtight container.

See the step-by-step photos in the post. Some recipes have an option to display the photos here with a switch above these instructions but the photos DO NOT print.

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Recipe Notes

Pro Tips

Great for fish, chicken, or vegetables. Can be used any place you want an nice spicy taste.
By doing this yourself, you get to make the adjustments you want. Use smoked paprika, more garlic, or white pepper. Don't like oregano or thyme, take them out.
The main variable is the cayenne pepper. I offer a suggested range of ¼ to 1 teaspoon. My estimate is ¼ teaspoon is about 2/10 heat. While ½ teaspoon will be about 4-5/10. A full teaspoon will be 7-8/10. I generally use ½ teaspoon.
I put mine in an airtight shaker from Penzeys Spices. Be sure to seal tight.
It should be good if sealed well for months like normal spices.

To adjust the recipe size:

You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.

Nutrition Estimate

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course : American

Cuisine : American

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Editor's Note: Originally Published May 18, 2016. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.