Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Fragrant and mildly spicy, homemade curry powder transforms any dish. Make your own special blend of ten spices for delicious curries, soups, salads, and more.
How long it takes: 5 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: measuring spoons, small jar
Servings: makes ⅔ cup
I have to confess, the first time I made this curry powder, it was out of necessity. I was developing a copycat Panera squash soup recipe (a favorite of mine!), and discovered that my pantry was devoid of curry powder.
I quickly did a little research and decided that I could make my own curry powder blend using the ground spices that I did have in my cabinet. I was able to make my squash soup with my own homemade spice blend.
DIY Curry Powder
My own special blend. I don’t pretend to be an expert on curries or curry powder. What I do know is that I like curry powder, particularly this blend. I’ve worked hard on getting the right balance of spices and it tastes great!
No “unknown” ingredients. I love to make my own seasoning because I don’t have to worry about additives or unknown “natural flavors”. This is especially important in my family because my children have pretty severe food allergies. One of my favorites is homemade taco seasoning. I use it on practically everything. Since then, I’ve come up with several more seasoning/spice mixes. You’ll find links for them later on in this post.
So many uses. I’ve found that curry powder is a wonderful blend to have on hand. The spices enliven soups, salads, roasted vegetables, vinaigrettes, marinades, and more. It’s great for making curries, too, of course.
Ingredient Notes
These are the spices that I use for my curry powder with a description of each so you’ll know exactly what each spice is and what it tastes like.
- Coriander: This spice is the foundation of this curry powder blend. Coriander is described as having a lemony floral flavor. It’s the seed of the coriander plant, the leaves of which are cilantro but they do not taste like each other at all.
- Cumin: Often paired with coriander, ground cumin seeds are used in many cuisines. It’s earthy, warm flavored, and a little peppery.
- Turmeric: This bright yellow spice is common in curries and has many health benefits. It will color whatever you add it to.
- Ground Ginger: Warm and spicy, this spice is used both for sweet and savory dishes. Ground ginger is milder than ginger root.
- Dry Mustard: Round yellow mustard seeds are ground to a pale yellow powder. It doesn’t have any flavor until it’s added to liquid.
- Fenugreek Powder (Ground Fenugreek Seeds): The seeds can be very bitter but when combined with other spices and cooked, fenugreek has a bittersweet burnt sugar flavor.
- Ground Black Pepper: Everyone is familiar with this spice made from black peppercorns. It’s warm and spicy.
- Ground Cinnamon: Again, this is a very familiar spice used in both sweet and savory dishes. Cinnamon is made from the inner bark of trees and is produced mainly in Indonesia and China.
- Ground Cloves: Dark brown in color, ground cloves are very potent and distinctive in flavor. Cloves are used in both sweet and savory recipes.
- Ground Cardamom: You can buy this spice in seed or pod form as well as ground and you’ll find it in Indian, Arabic, and Middle Eastern cuisines.
How To Make Curry Powder
It’s pretty easy to make a spice blend. Line up all the spices you’ll be using. Find your measuring spoons and get ready to measure.
Tip!
It’s easy to become distracted and forget where you are on the list.You don’t want to get mixed up when you’re going down this long list of ten spices. This tip will help. Arrange all the spices on your left. After you measure each one into your bowl, replace the cover and put it on your right.You can mix the spices in a small bowl or a glass jar. Recycled jars with a tight-fitting lid are perfect. Just make sure they are clean and completely dry.
How To Use Curry Powder
- Make a curry. Try red lentil curry, vegetarian curry with cauliflower and chickpeas, or butternut squash curry.
- Add it to soups. It’s particularly good in squash or carrot soup, such as pumpkin curry soup, Copycat Panera squash soup, mulligatawny soup, or creamy carrot soup.
- Go Moroccan. Often Moroccan dishes are seasoned with spices that are similar to curry. Add this curry spice blend to recipes such as slow cooker Moroccan chicken thighs (omit the spices listed on the recipe card and substitute curry) or Moroccan stew with butternut squash and chickpeas.
- Make chicken salad. Every loves this curry chicken salad. The addition of curry powder takes chicken salad up a notch.
- Add it to vinaigrettes and marinades. Add curry powder to homemade white wine vinaigrette. It will make your salads really sing! Curry powder can really add a lot of flavor to marinades, too. Add it to honey mustard marinade or Asian chicken marinade.
- Take roasted vegetables up a notch. Add a dash of curry powder to roasted vegetables. It goes particularly well with sweet potatoes, carrots, or cauliflower.
More About Curry Powder
Curry powder is a British invention and is not used widely in Indian cooking. It relies on coriander, cumin, fenugreek, and turmeric, which gives it the bright yellow tint. There are many curry powder blends. Some curry powders are mild and some are very spicy. There are many brands and individual cooks, and each will have their own special blend.
Not all “curries” have curry powder. Curries are a dish with a sauce that may or may not be flavored with curry powder. Often, Indian curries are seasoned with curry leaves which don’t have any resemblance at all to curry powder. Thai curries may be seasoned with curry paste which tends to be hotter than most curry powders.
Recipe Variations
Consider this blend of ten spices as a starting point. Once you’ve tried it, you may want to make some changes (or maybe not!).
- Make it spicier. This is a mild curry powder. If you enjoy hot curry powder, Madras curry powder, or garam masala, add ground red pepper (cayenne), to taste.
- Add garlic. Add a teaspoon (or more) of garlic powder to the blend, if you like. I prefer to leave garlic out of the curry, and add garlic to the dish I’m preparing.
- Missing one of the spices? I wouldn’t recommend leaving out the coriander, cumin, turmeric, or fenugreek because they are the base of the curry blend. You could fudge it a little with the other spices, particularly the cloves and cardamom. Red pepper could be substituted for the black pepper but it will make your curry hotter.
- Add your own touch. If I’ve omitted a spice that you can’t live without in your curry, feel free to add it or substitute it for another spice on the list. Fennel seeds and caraway seeds are commonly added to curry powder, especially the recipes which begin with whole spices.
Store your curry powder in tightly closed jar. It will keep for a few years. It’s best if it’s stored in a cupboard or pantry, not on the countertop or by your stove.
More Seasoning Recipes
Homemade Curry Powder
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons ground coriander
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 2 teaspoons ground fenugreek seeds (fenugreek powder)
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container until ready to use.
Notes
- Storage: Store in a tightly sealed container in a cool dark location for up to 3 years. I like to use a clean recycled jar with a tight-fitting lid. A pantry or cupboard is fine; avoid storing on the counter.
- Make it spicier (hotter). This is a mild curry powder. If you like hotter curry, substitute ground red pepper (chili or cayenne) for the black pepper, to taste.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
This is now my go-to. Love the nod to garam masala — adds a “sweet” note that balances the sharper & earthier spices.
Thanks!
So glad you like it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
Hello
I recently developed a serious mustard allergy. :(
Do you think it would change the curry too much to remove the mustard? Would you suggest adding more of another to offset??
I’m so sorry to hear about your allergies. Our family manages food allergies too, so I can empathize. I would just leave the mustard out of this, I think it will still have great flavor without it.
How to make Chinese curry powder for a change
I can add that to my list of recipe ideas!
I like a hot curry which ingredient should I add more of or add to the list to gain some heat?
Add more ginger and black pepper. You could also add some red pepper flakes.
Sounds like a great recipe!
Is the 1/2 teaspoon of ground Cardamom just the seeds or the whole pods?
Just ground cardamom seeds. :)
This is the curry powder I’ve been looking for! Flavorful, but not too spicy! I’m a wimp when it comes to heat. I’ve bought several jars of different brands and tossed them because they didn’t taste good to me. Thank you for this recipe!!
Oh good! I’m so happy to hear that! I love it too. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
I love this recipe but now I can’t access it. I see a bracket with recipe in the center but no link.
Hi Jessica,
We’re having some technical issues right now – working nonstop to get them fixed, but in the meantime, I copied the recipe for you here in the comments. Thanks for your patience!
5 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
2 tablespoons ground cumin seeds
1 tablespoon ground turmeric
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons ground fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container until ready to use.
must disclose–not a huge curry fan. but, I’d be willing to give this a try!
Can I replace the fenugreek with fennel? I will making this for sure!!! Thanks for the recipe.
It will change the taste slightly, but it should work okay.
Um, I think you gave me your unused jar of curry. Sorry about that but now you got to be creative and make your own. I’m anticipating your version of this totally addictive soup, I know we talked about skinnying it up.