DIY Homemade Cajun Seasoning

This DIY Cajun seasoning uses a blend of spices and herbs to strike the perfect balance of heat, salt, and floral notes. Packing tons of flavor, this simple 8-igredient homemade spice blend brings bold taste to any meal.

Making your seasoning from scratch means you can tailor the salt and spice level to your own taste and use high quality ingredients to really bring the flavor! You’ll catch me making my own Old Bay Seasoning and Pumpkin Pie Spice for these reasons!

As a champion of eco-friendly practices, I love to make my own sauces and spice blends.

Pre-made spice blends often contain extra preservatives and anti-caking agents. Food preservatives, like pesticides, negatively impact the environment as they contain toxins that are harmful to plants, animals, and soil.

Plus, making your own blends means you can avoid those single use packets that are often not recyclable. These plastics often end up in landfills or make their way into the environment and become microplastics.

Green tip: Making your own spice blends is a great way to avoid extra plastic packaging that eventually ends up in landfills or makes its way into the environment and becomes microplastics

Cajun Vs. Creole Seasoning

Cajun and Creole cuisine are often confused, as they have similar influences and origins. However, there are a couple of key differences.

Cajun and creole cuisine use slightly different ingredients and techniques. Most notably, the seasonings differ slightly.

Cajun seasoning tends to be spicier (heavier on the pepper) while creole seasoning tends to be more herbaceous (heavier on the herbs).

Cajun Seasoning Ingredients

---

Substitutes for Cajun Seasoning

If you’re just looking for a quick and easy substitute for Cajun seasoning, and don’t want to get out all 8 ingredients to whip up this homemade version, you can get away with a simple 3-ingredient blend as a substitute.

Simply mix together paprika, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. Depending on how much seasoning you need for your recipe, and how much heat you want, you can tailor this rough and ready seasoning blend to your taste.

As far as the ratios go, you can use an even amount of paprika and onion powder, then add as much cayenne pepper as you’d like.

Tips for the Best Homemade Cajun Seasoning

---

Tailor the Seasoning to Your Taste

One of the biggest advantages to making your own seasoning blends is that you have the ability to adjust things like the salt and spice levels to your own taste.

The ratios in the recipe provided will get you a standard Cajun seasoning blend with a moderate spice level and minimum amount of salt.

For less spice, reduce the amount of black pepper or cayenne pepper. For more heat, add more! And if you know you like your seasoning a little heavy on the salt, add more.

Storing Your Homemade Seasoning Blend

You can store your homemade Cajun Seasoning in any sealed jar or airtight container. I love to keep mine in a labeled glass spice jar (as pictured) that matches my other herbs and spices.

The most important thing is to keep it sealed so you can keep moisture out. Keeping your spice blend dry will make it last longer and keep it from forming any clumps.

Your seasoning should be kept at room temperature in a dry environment. Under these conditions, it will last up to 2 years (depending on the age of each individual spice you use to make your blend).

If you’re a fan of Slap Ya Mama Cajun seasoning, you’ll definitely want to add extra salt and cayenned pepper.

How to Use Cajun Seasoning

Cajun seasoning strikes a beautiful balance of salty, spicy, and herbaceous. It adds a punch of flavor to any dish!

While you can just add Cajun seasoning to any meat or vegetable and get a tasty dish, there are some iconic dishes that are nothing without it! Here are some of my favorites:

• 30-Minute Cajun Shrimp and Grits
• 20-Minute Cajun Mahi-Mahi Sandwich
• Creamy Cajun Salmon and Grits