Homemade Blackening Seasoning
This Homemade Blackening Seasoning is so, so good! We love making our own seasoning. It allows us to control the amounts of each spice that we add and make sure that we include some of our favorites (big fans of black pepper and smoked paprika over here!).
This spice blend will be pretty bold and concentrated in flavor on its own, but once you add it to your favorite proteins (we love to use it on our Blackened Salmon), the flavors spread out and soften beautifully.
What is Blackening Seasoning?
Blackening seasoning is a mixture of chile pepper powders, dried herbs, and spices that is often associated with Cajun or Creole cuisine. Typical blackening seasoning includes paprika, hotter chile pepper powder, dried thyme and oregano, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, and salt. We are a little untraditional and like to add a little brown sugar to give the overall blend a hint of sweetness. It also helps the spice blend blacken in a skillet.
Why is it called Blackening Seasoning?
The name refers to the color of the seasoning once cooked. The dry seasoning itself will be reddish in color and won’t blacken or darken in color until it’s added to something like a protein (typically fish, shrimp, or chicken) and cooked in butter in a hot skillet. Cast iron is the most traditional, but any super hot skillet will work fine.
Variations
There are many different ways to make this spice blend, so feel free to change this up according to your likes and dislikes. If you don’t want sweetness in your blackening seasoning, you can leave it out or reduce it. You can also increase or decrease the chile pepper powders in this if you want your seasoning to be more or less smoky and spicy. The same goes for the amount of salt in the spice blend.
Ingredients in Our Homemade Blackening Seasoning
We know that every cook has specific flavor preferences, but we typically like big, bold flavor in our dishes. This seasoning delivers just that. It’s savory, smoky, herby, spicy, and a little sweet, and it enhances everything it touches.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Smoked paprika – this is one of those spices that we always, always have on hand. It adds a smoky, almost sweet flavor to dishes, and it’s such a brilliant red color! If you don’t have smoked paprika, you can use regular paprika, but you will be missing that smoky flavor that you can only get from this.
- Brown sugar –the brown sugar adds almost a molasses-y flavor to the blend, and it also helps the seasoning to brown and caramelize. If you’re watching your sugar intake, you can reduce the amount, but this recipe uses 2 tsp for the whole spice blend. This isn’t too much when you divide it individual servings.
- Dried thyme and oregano – herbs are key in this seasoning, and these add so much depth of flavor and help balance out the richer spices.
- Onion and garlic powder – if you love garlic or onions, feel free to add a little more! Just be careful not to add too much or it may overwhelm the other flavors.
- Cayenne – this may seem like a lot of cayenne, but it’s really good in this. It adds just the right amount of warm heat to the seasoning without being overwhelmingly hot.
- Salt and pepper – we’re not afraid of salt here; we like our dishes seasoned. Salt is one of those things that can be polarizing, though, so if you want less salt, go for it. black pepper is one of those must-use ingredients for us. Use it. Don’t skimp. It’s definitely necessary in this blackening seasoning.
How to Make this Spice Blend
This Homemade Blackening Seasoning couldn’t be easier to make. After you measure everything out, just add it to a bowl or a jar and mix it all together. If you store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place, this spice blend should stay good for a few months.
Homemade Blackening Seasoning
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp cayenne
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Mix all of the spices and herbs together in a small bowl or jar until combined.
- Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
