Okay, so I was looking into making my own seasoning mixes lately, and I kept seeing this “Tony Chachere’s” stuff pop up. Everyone’s saying it’s amazing on everything, so I got curious. What is actually in this stuff? Is it even good for you?
I found the ingredient list online. It looks like it’s got your basic stuff: salt, red pepper, black pepper, chili powder, and garlic. Sounds pretty simple, right?
Then I went down this rabbit hole about whether it’s vegan or gluten-free. Apparently, a lot of people care about that. I don’t really have any dietary restrictions, but I figured it’s good to know. According to my research online, it seems like Tony Chachere’s is indeed vegan, which is cool. And, it’s gluten-free too! Even though it’s not “officially” certified gluten-free, it doesn’t have any ingredients that contain gluten.
I also dug into how to make it at home. There are tons of recipes out there, but they’re all pretty similar. One I found said to mix:
- 1/4 cup fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 5 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- 5 teaspoons garlic salt
- 4 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon seasoned chili powder
- 2 1/2 teaspoons celery salt
- 2 teaspoons ground mustard
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground basil
…and some other spices. You just combine them in a container and shake it up.
I tried a couple of different recipes I found. Some had more of this, less of that. It’s pretty fun to play around with the ratios to get it just right. I ended up settling on one that’s a bit spicier than the original, ’cause that’s how I like it. It’s still not exactly the same as the real Tony Chachere’s, but it’s pretty darn close. I’ve been putting it on everything lately – eggs, chicken, veggies, even popcorn! It’s definitely a nice alternative to just plain old salt and pepper.
So yeah, that’s my little adventure with Tony Chachere’s seasoning. I started off just wanting to know what’s in it, and ended up making my own version. Pretty cool, huh?
