3 Delicious Substitutes For Tajín Seasoning

Synonymous with michelada cocktails and street corn, Tajín is a smoky, sweet, and slightly tangy seasoning blend that's as culturally iconic as the foods it gets added to. In fact, without Tajín, street cart mangos would really just be mangos, esquites just corn, and micheladas just beer. While there is no true substitute that could stand near to filling Tajín's shoes in that sense, there are a few delicious substitutions that can be used in its place.

Tajín is made from a blend of different types of chile peppers — namely dried árboles, guajillos, and pasillas — dehydrated lime powder, sea salt, and citric acid. This seasoning blend has a spicy depth that isn't quite so simple to emulate, making true substitutions very hard to come by. Knowing this, one must adjust their expectations when working with alternative seasonings. Nothing will taste exactly like the real thing, but you can learn to appreciate them for what they are.

Dupes, like the chile lime seasoning from Trader Joe's, homemade blends of citrus salt and dried chile powders, and the various brands of dried Sriracha seasonings sold in stores are just a few different examples of substitutes that can be used in place of Tajín. They are each delicious in their own right and can be used in very similar and delicious ways. Here are our top three suggested swaps.

Kirkland Signature's new sriracha seasoning might not be every customers' favorite, but when it comes to delicious substitutes for Tajín, you really can't get much better. Authentic sriraja panich is made from aged red goat peppers, giving it a similar depth of heat. The peppers are also mixed with ingredients like garlic, sugar, vinegar, and sea salt, which means it gets a comparatively sweet and sour flavor layered in too. Obviously, no dehydrated seasoning blend is going to taste exactly like the Thai original, but just like with Tajín substitutes, you can appreciate them for their differences.

You can choose from sriracha spice blends from names like Kirkland Signature, Trader Joe's, McCormick, and even the iconic Huy Fong — each delivering a sweet, spicy, and slightly tangy flavor similar to that of Tajín without the usual saucy consistency of standard sriracha. In so, they function in a lot of the same ways. Just like Tajín, sriracha seasoning can be used to season fresh fruit like mango and cucumbers or to delicately coat the rim of your cocktail glass for a bit of a kick.

It can also be used to inspire new flavors in your foods. Sriracha seasoning makes a great addition to your birria ramen, mac and cheese, and French fries. You can add it to your frying batter, or mix it in with your Thai smashed cucumber salad for something familiar yet new to Tajín.

Being so iconic, Tajín hasn't been without its copy cats — and sitting right there next to the ketchup, everything but the bagel, and everything but the elote flavored seasoning blends from Trader Joe's is something that the brand calls the Trader Joe's chile and lime seasoning blend. This mix of sea salt, chili pepper, red bell pepper and lime juice powder is about as close to a store-bought Tajín dupe as you can get. While it does lack the pepper variety, and the inherent spice depth it'd bring, some people actually appreciate that it's not quite as high on the Scoville scale.

While not so much a dupe as it is a respectable competitor, Trechas (available on Amazon) is another iconic Mexican brand that makes a similar chile powder. It hasn't taken off quite as wildly in the U.S. as Tajín, but it's certainly a popular choice in its own right. Made from sugar, salt, citric acid, and red peppers, it is certainly similar. You can purchase Trechas at stores like HEB and Albertsons, your local Mexican food store, or online, and like Trader Joe's chile and lime seasoning, it can be used in all the same ways. From fresh fruits and corn to micheladas and margaritas, most of the Tajín dupes on the market work seamlessly as substitutes. If, for some reason, Tajín disappears from store shelves completely, these alternatives are sure to come in handy.

If you're really in a pinch and none of the Tajín dupes or sriracha seasoning blends are an option, you can experiment with making your own, but you're going to need a few things: citrus zest or lime powder, citrus salt or regular salt, and some dried cayenne, chipotle, or chili powder. Homemade Tajín can be as simple as combining these ingredients until it tastes good to you, opting for fresh citrus zest whenever it's on hand or reaching for a citrus salt (in which case you can skip the regular salt). Or you can get really experimental and mix in different dried chile powders for spice depth, or use a store-bought blend.

The obvious advantage to making a homemade Tajín as opposed to buying it in store is that you can personalize the flavor to suit your own preferences. For instance, you can add more or less peppers to adjust the spice, and more citrus (or another citrus entirely) for a more pronounced taste — just be sure that, if you do use fresh zest, you store your blend in the fridge. The freedom to customize your homemade Tajín makes it perfect for all of the uses you'd use the store-bought version for and more. Adjusting the spice level or substituting the citrus, you can find all kinds of ways to incorporate this blend that go way beyond your cocktail glass.