Homemade Chai Spice Mix

A versatile spice blend inspired by an Indian tea variety, this homemade chai spice mix can also be used on toast, in baked goods, or as a unique meat rub.

Chai tea is one of those things I never tried until I started blogging. That particular list of foods is a long one, but chai was honestly never something I felt like I was missing out on.

I’ve never been very fond of Indian food (working on it,) but after getting my first taste of cardamom, I was suddenly really curious how to use it.

As it turns out, cardamom is one of the main ingredients in what has become my favorite tea blend – chai. I still haven’t been able to find a brand with a chai tea that I really love, though, so I make my own chai syrup to go with this chai spice mix that I find myself using more and more instead of allspice (my former go-to.)

The spices in my chai blend just scream fall & winter.

Warm cinnamon, spicy ginger, peppery…pepper. You get the idea.

Imagine a cool autumn morning: the windows are cracked open, and the house is filled with fresh breezes and the scent of your favorite candle burning in the kitchen.

You’ve just poured yourself a cup of steaming coffee, and you sit down at the table to slices of pumpkin-flavored French toast, your favorite warmed maple syrup, and a log of homemade chai butter, freshly made the night before.

You run your knife through the soft, hand-molded butter, the flecks of chai spice turning the normally pale yellow butter a shade of mahogany. It spreads over the toast, still warm from the oven, and quickly leaves a shiny trail of spice flecks across the orange-tinted bread. The smells bring a smile to your face as the rest of your hungry family joins you at the table.

Fancy prose aside, that could be your morning in the near future. Hungry for chai, yet?

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground cardamom
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

How to make homemade chai spice mix

Grab a small mason jar or emptied spice container. Combine all the spices together inside, then close the lid and shake it up.

Simple as that, and you’ve got a homemade chai spice mix ready to use in all your fall baking! Try it in my chai pumpkin cupcakes, chai-spiced apple blondies, or a big batch of dirty chai earthquake cookies. Or enjoy it in a more summer-forward pistachio chai baked Alaska or chai-spiced banana zucchini cake!

Now that you have the basic formula – get baking! This chai spice will be the star of any fall recipe!

Yes – it will even work in a chai espresso martini, if that’s your idea of “baking”.

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