Garam Masala: Homemade Spice Mix

This easy homemade garam masala is an easy-to-make spice blend ready to use in your favorite Indian and Pakistani curries.

Garam Masala is a basic spice blend that we use in Indian and Pakistani cooking. It is made with lots of different spices and usually includes, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, mace, and nutmeg.

Easy Homemade Garam Masala

Garam masala is an essential spice blend used in many Indian and Pakistani recipes.

While you can buy store-made garam masala in a pinch, we highly recommend you try making your own, for a fresh and flavorful spice blend.

Making your own homemade garam masala is an easy way to elevate your cooking since you can use the best quality of fresh spices.

This blend of spices makes it easy to whip up your favorite curries, without having to assemble a slew of spices.

Spices in Homemade Garam Masala

There are different variations of garam masala. Even with store-bought, ready-made spice blends, there can be variations to the ingredients used in garam masala.

We encourage you to try this recipe and tweak to it your preferences.

This garam masala recipe can be made with ground spices. However, it is difficult to find some of these spices already ground, and roasting whole spices results in a more flavorful garam masala spice blend.

Here are the whole spices we use in our recipe:

• Black Cardamom – this is an essential spice in this blend and has a warm and smoky flavor.
• Black peppercorns – a popular spice, with a spicy flavor.
• Bay leaves – this spice is a fragrant leaf from the laurel tree, used whole or ground.
• Nutmeg – has a warm, spicy, and sweet aroma.
• Mace – this is a yellowish-brown spice that comes from the dried coating of the nutmeg seed. The flavor while similar to nutmeg is a little more delicate.
• Cloves – a warm and earthy spice with a very potent aroma.
• Green cardamom – this spice is warm and herby, and has more floral notes than black cardamom.
• Anise seed flower / Star Anise – this spice has a strong, distinct flavor that is warm, sweet, and spicy.
• Cinnamon – this is a popular spice used in a variety of variety of sweet & savoury dishes.

How to make Garam Masala at Home?

To a dry skillet on low heat, add all the spices. Roast until fragrant (2-3 minutes), making sure they do not burn.

Once roasted, remove from the pan and cool completely.

Cool the spices completely. Once cool add the whole spices to a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder. Grind until the spices are evenly ground into a powder.

Transfer and store your homemade garam masala powder in an airtight container to use in your favorite curry recipes.

This garam masala mix stays fresh for up to 6 months.

Tips for Homemade Garam Masala

• Use good quality, whole spices for best results.
• This garam masala recipe can be made with ground spices. However, roasting whole spices results in a more flavorful garam masala spice blend. While optional, it is best to roast the spices in a dry skillet. This helps make a more flavorful garam masala powder and removes any moisture from the spice so your homemade mix will last longer.
• When roasting the whole spices, make sure to transfer them out of the skillet as soon as they are done, so they do not get burnt.
• Make sure to store your homemade garam masala powder in an airtight container.
• This garam masala mix stays fresh for up to 6 months.

How to use Garam Masala Powder?

Garam masala is an essential spice mix in an Indian or Pakistani pantry. It is used to flavor many different curries and rice dishes.

Here are some of our favorite recipes that use garam masala:

• Karahi Chicken: Chicken in Spicy Tomato Sauce
• Chicken Jalfrezi: Stir-Fry with Chicken and Bell Peppers
• Palak Chicken: Chicken and Spinach Curry
• Ground Beef Cutlets: Spiced Pakistani Beef Burgers/Kababs

If you give this recipe a try, we’d love to see it! Tag us on Instagram @thespicemess