Tajín Substitutes: A Homemade Chili-Lime Salt and What Else Works

Out of Tajín? Mix your own chili-lime salt from mild ground chile, table salt and a pinch of citric acid or lime zest. Tajín Clásico’s short label tells you what to aim for: it’s salty, at 190 mg of sodium per 1/4-teaspoon serving. Its sourness comes mostly from citric acid, since the label puts the dehydrated lime juice at “0.5% or less.” And its chile is mild.¹

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

Every Computed figure here is about salt only, worked out from sodium on Nutrition Facts labels and USDA data.

If it is on fresh fruit or vegetables

TODAY calls Tajín’s classic use a sprinkle on fruit like mango and watermelon.² Here the salt and sour matter as much as the chile.

Homemade chili-lime salt

Salt (Computed): A teaspoon of Tajín is four servings, about 760 mg of sodium.¹ Morton table salt lists 590 mg per 1/4 teaspoon,³ so about 1/3 teaspoon of table salt carries the same.

Chile and acid: Make up the rest of the teaspoon, about 2/3 teaspoon, with a mild, pure ground chile (not a chili powder blend), plus a small pinch of citric acid or 1/4 teaspoon of finely grated lime zest. Tajín’s label doesn’t name its chiles, and TODAY reports that the blend varies by product.¹² Taste the mix on a slice of fruit and adjust the sour first. PepperScale, which also points out that Tajín’s label doesn’t say which chiles it uses,⁴ suggests pure chile powders like paprika, ancho, pasilla or chipotle for its own chili-lime blend (below).⁵

Citric acid gets you closest, since it’s what Tajín itself relies on.¹ Fresh lime zest gives a more aromatic, less sharply sour result. Fresh lime juice will turn the powder into a paste, so only use it if you’re seasoning the fruit right away.

A published chili-lime blend, for savory food

PepperScale publishes a chili-lime seasoning that it says isn’t a Tajín copycat and has a lot more going on: 1 tablespoon pure chile powder, 1 teaspoon lime zest, 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, 1/4 teaspoon each garlic powder, onion powder, ground coriander and salt, 1/8 teaspoon sugar, and an optional 1/8 teaspoon cayenne.⁵ The cumin, garlic and onion make it more of a savory seasoning than a fruit sprinkle, and the whole batch has less salt than the roughly 1/3 teaspoon worked out above for a single teaspoon of Tajín. Add salt if you’re putting it on fruit.

Ratio (Method): Start one for one and adjust the salt and lime to taste.

If it is on a margarita or michelada rim

TODAY notes Tajín’s use on margarita and michelada rims.² The homemade mix above works. So does a simpler rim of coarse salt with finely grated lime zest and a pinch of chile.

Ratio (Method): On a rim, texture matters more than an exact match. Keep the salt coarse enough to stick, and add chile a pinch at a time.

If it is seasoning chicken, fish or corn

Lemon pepper

McCormick describes its lemon pepper as black pepper, lemon oil, salt and a touch of onion and garlic.⁶ It shares Tajín’s salt and citrus, but its heat comes from black pepper, not chile, and it lists FD&C Yellow No. 5 Lake, so it turns food yellow instead of red.⁶ It suits savory food better than fruit.

Ratio (Computed, salt only): McCormick’s lemon pepper lists 170 mg of sodium per 1/4 teaspoon,⁶ about 89 percent of Tajín’s 190 mg.¹ Use it 1:1.

If it is in a savory dish and you have chili powder and za’atar

Chili powder plus za’atar

Chile from one jar, sour from the other. The USDA’s purchasing specification lists ground chili pepper, cumin, oregano, salt and garlic powder for chili powder,⁷ so you’ll taste the cumin and oregano. Za’atar brings the sour. UC Cooperative Extension Master Food Preservers describe it at its most basic as sumac, thyme, oregano and sesame seeds.⁸ The herbs and sesame take it a long way from Tajín, so save it for grilled meat or roasted vegetables, not fruit.

Ratio (Computed for the salt): Start with 1/2 teaspoon of each per teaspoon of Tajín. USDA data put chili powder’s sodium at 2,870 mg per 100 g, with 2.7 g in a teaspoon,⁹ which is only about 77 mg a teaspoon. Za’atar recipes may or may not include salt. Half a teaspoon of chili powder adds under 40 mg, so unless your za’atar is salted, add about 1/3 teaspoon of table salt to match Tajín’s sodium (by our math from the labels).¹³⁹

If it is in a wet dish

Cholula and lime juice

Cholula Original lists water, árbol and piquín peppers, salt, vinegar, garlic powder, spices and xanthan gum.¹⁰ It brings chile, salt and acid, but as a liquid, with vinegar standing in for citrus and some garlic along for the ride. Use it in a marinade, a ceviche-style dressing or a michelada itself, not as a sprinkle.

Ratio (Method): The listing we read gave no sodium figure. Add a few dashes, then a squeeze of lime, and taste before salting.

Loomi (dried lime), for the sour only

Loomi is made from ripe limes boiled in salt water and dried in the sun until the inside turns dark, and it’s sold whole or powdered.¹¹ Saveur describes it as sour and musky at once.¹² Powdered loomi can add sourness to a homemade chili-lime mix, but its musky, fermented note isn’t Tajín’s clean citric tang.

Ratio (Method): Use it in place of the citric acid in the homemade mix above, starting with about 1/4 teaspoon per teaspoon of mix, and taste for salt.

What isn’t known

• Tajín doesn’t publish which chiles it uses or in what proportions, so there’s no way to show that a homemade mix matches it.

• You’ll often read that Tajín is made from guajillo, chile de árbol and pasilla. The label doesn’t say so, and we found no source that confirms it.

• The Cholula listing we read had no sodium figure, so we couldn’t work out its salt.

Related

• Tajín seasoning
• Chili powder, chili powder substitutes, chile de árbol powder, guajillo powder, ancho powder, chipotle powder
• Lemon pepper and lemon pepper substitutes
• Loomi and loomi substitutes, sumac, za’atar
• Sea salt, good Mexican spices for chicken