Cajun Spice Mix© Denzil Green
Cajun Spice Mix is a reddish spice mixture, usually bought already mixed in bottles.
What’s in it, and in what proportions, will depend on the brand, or if you’re mixed it up yourself, the recipe.
Though thought of as “spicy”, the hottest ingredient in it tends to be just cayenne pepper or chili powder.
Some brands may include some sugar, and may include some silicon dioxide (aka silica) to prevent the mixture from clumping to keep it free-flowing.
Below are the results of a survey [1] CooksInfo.com did of ingredients used in 10 random recipes to be found in books and on the Internet, including two used by commercial blends, all purporting to be “Cajun Spice Mix.”
The results are listed in order of how many recipes called for a particular ingredient. They show that really the only common ingredients are cayenne pepper, black pepper and paprika. This would be what gives all the various mixes their common reddish colour. 90% of recipes also call for garlic powder and onion powder; 80% also called for salt.
| Cayenne |  |
10 | |
Thyme (dried) | |
7 |
| Black Pepper | |
10 | |
Basil (dried) | |
5 |
| Paprika | |
10 | |
Celery seed | |
2 |
| Garlic Powder | |
9 | |
Chili powder | |
2 |
| Onion Powder | |
9 | |
Mustard (dry) | |
2 |
| Oregano (dried) | |
8 | |
Rosemary | |
2 |
| Salt | |
8 | |
Sugar | |
2 |
| White Pepper | |
7 | |
|
|
|
The following ingredients were called for in only 1 out of 10 instances: Allspice, Bay leaf (ground), Caraway, Cardamon, Chives, Cloves (ground), Coriander (ground), Crushed Red Pepper, Cumin, Dill, Mace, Marjoram, Turmeric.
The majority of mixes contain salt, so you will want to reduce or eliminate salt elsewhere in the dish to avoid oversalting.
Recipes usually assume that you want to mix up enough to store it and have it on hand.
Commercial brands include Tony Chachere, Paul Prudhomme, and Penzey’s.
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[1] The survey was completely random; just “as found.”
Cooking Tips
Based on the survey above, this mixture seems to contain the ingredients that were called for 50% of the time or more:
1 tablespoon Paprika
2 ½ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (increase to taste)
¾ teaspoon white pepper
¾ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried basil
Storage Hints
Store homemade mixes at room temperature in an airtight container or sealed jar in a dark place; use up within 3 months.