Salt Free Chili powder

When I ran out of chili powder the other day, it got me to wondering if I could make up my own with the spices I had on hand. I did a search for chili powder recipes and found that most of them contained a lot of salt. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't need extra salt in my diet.

I've encountered a similar problem at the grocery store. Most of the chili powder in the spice aisle contains salt as well. I did find one brand at Meijer called Simply Organic that didn't contain salt. Their chili powder tasted every bit as tasty as the saltier versions. The price was comparable per oz to a brand name like McCormick. That was a shock to me as organic usually equals less money left in your wallet. Now, the salt free version was twice as expensive as the store brand generic chili powder. The generic store brand's second ingredient was salt. When it comes to spices I guess you get what you pay for. Salt is a cheap filler ingredient.

In my scouring the interweb I found this recipe on Budget101.com. Blockette loved helping me combine all the spices together. She wanted to smell every jar before I added it to the mix. Blockette would tell you I was a mean mom because I wouldn't let her stir our chili powder concoction. She gets a bit overly enthusiastic when she helps out in the kitchen. Silly me, I wanted to make sure the spice went into the jar and not on the counter, the floor, on the cats and in my hair.

So how does the new chili powder taste? I haven't had the chance to cook with it yet, but it smells delicious. I don't make a lot of chili in the summer as it seems to heat up the whole house. Since I just made the chili burgers I won't be making those for a while either. I'll be sure to post when I do use the new spice blend and let you know how it turned out.

Chili Powder from Budget 101
3 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine dry spices and seal in ziploc or vacuum seal bag (or jar). Measure all into a ziploc bag, seal & shake to combine.