There are recipes in the archive that include Cajun seasoning among the ingredients. In most of them, how to make your own Cajun spice mix is included. Still, I thought it useful to publish a stand-alone post to make it easier — for me especially — to refer to it in all Cajun-style dishes that I intend to publish in the coming days. Yes, there will be quite a number of them.

As you may have guessed, I am smitten with Cajun-style cooking. If there is anything that amazes me about American cuisine, it is the food associated with the South. I don’t care much for oversized burgers and deep-dish pizzas, but I love fried chicken and dirty rice and jambalaya when seasoned and cooked well.

I am aware that, although both were born in the South, there are disctinctions between Creole and Cajun cuisines. One is often mistaken for the other, but they are not really the same. I won’t go all academic about what makes one different from the other (I’m no expert and I won’t pretend to be one) but I’ll say this much — it is the West African influence in the food of the American South that really interests me.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I recommend High On The Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America on Netflix which is based on the non-fiction book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America by Jessica B. Harris. It was from the show that I learned that mac ‘n’ cheese did not originate in the United States.

But that’s an aside. This is about Cajun seasoning and let me just tell you that every cook has his or her own formula. This is the formula that we often use at home. By “often” I mean we do vary the amount of individual ingredients occasionally. The heat of cayenne powder varies from source to source, for instance, and that warrants modification.

Homemade Cajun seasoning

The proportion of ingredients is not set in stone. You may vary the amount of the herbs and spices depending on which flavor you prefer to be more pronounced.

Prep: 2

Total: 2

Servings: 1 cup

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Label: Cajun seasoning

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Ingredients

1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoons onion powder
4 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
4 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
6 teaspoons garlic powder
4 ½ teaspoons cayenne powder (chili powder may be substituted)
4 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
9 teaspoons sea salt or 4 ½ teaspoons refined salt

Instructions

Stir everything together. And that’s it.
If, however, you want a Cajun spice mix powder, dump all the ingredients into a food processor and process until the desired texture is achieved.
Keep the Cajun spice mix in a tightly covered jar. Store in a cool, dry place away from sunlight. It should keep for a month or so.

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