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Curry Powder is widely used across Asian cooking. You can buy it at the store, but trust me, making it yourself is so easy and will taste better than anything you’ll find at the store!
What is Curry Powder Made of?▼
“Curry powder” is commonly associated with Indian recipes. However, it’s not really Indian. Take it from me, you don’t find a “curry powder” in India! The “curry powder” spice blend actually comes from the British colonizers. When they were returning home, they took the essence of some of their favorite Indian flavors. The term curry is again a Western concept, referring to a dish with a spiced gravy. In India, the spiced gravy is referred to as a “masala.”
With that being said, there’s no one curry powder recipe. It’ll depend on what you’re looking for and what cuisine you’re going for, since I’ve seen Thai recipes that also call for “curry powder.” Curry powder is a very ambiguous term!
My Curry Powder Spice Blend will be Indian-inspired, as you’ll see in the ingredients list below!
What Goes into This Indian Curry Powder Recipe?
This curry spice mix is made of a blend of spices consisting of:
- Ground coriander
- Ground cumin
- Ground turmeric
- Ground ginger
- Garlic powder
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground fennel
- Cayenne pepper or Kashmiri mirch
- Ground clove
Why Make Your Own Curry Powder Spice Mix!
- Easy! We’re using only ground spices for this spice blend, so all you need to do is measure out and combine all your spices together!
- Customizable! Adjust the quantities of the spices based on your preference!
- Economical! This recipe will make a fairly large batch, and it’ll cost a lot less than for a jar at the store. Plus, I think it’ll taste a lot better!
- Long-lasting! This homemade curry powder will stay fresh for three months, but you can stretch out this lifetime if you store it properly.
Can I Use Whole Spices For This Curry Spice Recipe?▼
Sure thing! Your final product will certainly be even more aromatic and flavorful. However, this is meant to be a quick recipe, which is why I’m using pre-ground spices. If you want to roast and grind the spices yourself, then by all means go for it and let me know the results in the comments! I may give that a try!
Tools Needed
How to Make Indian-inspired Diy Curry Powder
To make homemade Curry Powder, simply mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl or plate. Transfer to an airtight glass jar or mason jar.
Storing Homemade Curry Powder
Store homemade curry powder in an airtight container or jar. This curry powder will be at its optimal freshness for 3 months, and I wouldn’t recommend keeping it for longer than 6 months. This Homemade Curry Powder is so versatile that you can use it in so many ways, so to be honest I don’t think you have to worry about it going bad! I think you’ll finish this in no time, and you’ll be needing to make another batch in the near future!
How Would You Recommend I Use curry powder?▼
This spice blend is so versatile! You can use it for marinades, in your curries, or just to season some vegetables! The possibilities don’t end! Here are some ideas to incorporate your freshly made spice blend into your every day cooking!
Other Homemade Spice Blends!
- Easy & Bold Blackening Spice
- Greatest Homemade Italian Seasoning
- Excellent Quick & Easy Homemade Taco Seasoning
- Perfect DIY Pumpkin Spice Recipe
- Amazing Homemade Cajun Seasoning
This Is a Ground-Spice Blend, Not a Toasted One
Worth being clear about what this curry spice blend is not. There are no whole spices in it anywhere — every one of the nine goes in already ground, straight from the pantry. That means no mortar and pestle, nothing spread in a dry pan on the stove over low heat to toast, and no cumin seed to crack. The whole thing is a five-minute job of measuring and stirring, and that convenience is the entire point of the recipe.
The trade-off is honest: toasting whole spices and grinding them yourself does give a deeper, rounder flavour. If you would rather go that route, toast whole coriander and cumin seed until fragrant and grind them before measuring. As written, though, nothing here sees any heat at all. It is also why storage matters — pre-ground spices give up their potency faster than whole ones, which is exactly why this blend is at its best within three months.
Curry Powder vs Garam Masala
These two get treated as interchangeable and they are not. This blend has no green cardamom, no black pepper and no nutmeg — the warm, sweet-leaning spices that give garam masala its character. What it has instead is turmeric as the backbone, which is where the yellow comes from and which garam masala barely uses. There is also no mustard in it, and no dried herbs of any kind: this is a spice blend, not a herb blend.
The practical difference is when you add them. A curry seasoning like this goes in early, cooked into the oil or the onions so the ground spices bloom. Garam masala is a finishing blend, stirred in at the end so the aromatics stay bright. Knowing which is which will fix more curry dishes than any single ingredient swap.
How to Use This Homemade Curry Powder Recipe
This is a savory blend, so it goes wherever you want that warm, earthy, gently hot note. Stir a teaspoon or two into a tomato-based sauce before it simmers. Season soups with it — lentil and squash soups in particular take it well. Toss it with oil over roasted veggies such as cauliflower, potatoes or carrots before they go in the oven. Fold it through plain rice with a little ghee. And it is the fastest way to build a vegetarian dish out of a tin of chickpeas.
It is close to free, nutritionally speaking: a teaspoon is about 4 calories and 1 gram of carbohydrates, so it is all flavour for your taste buds and effectively nothing else. Once you have made it once you will probably have a favorite curry recipe you keep reaching for it with.
The Measurements, and Making a Larger Batch
The proportions are worth reading carefully, because this recipe mixes units. Ground coriander, ground cumin and cayenne pepper each go in by the tablespoon. Ground turmeric is half a tablespoon. Ground ginger, garlic powder and ground cinnamon are a teaspoon each. Ground fennel is half a teaspoon. Ground cloves are the outlier at just an eighth of a teaspoon — cloves are ferociously strong and will take over the jar if you are generous with them.
The cayenne is the other one to think about. A full tablespoon of ground red pepper makes this a properly warm blend, so if you are cooking for people who are heat-shy, halve it or swap in Kashmiri mirch, which gives you the colour without much of the burn. Scaling up to a larger batch is straightforward precisely because nothing is cooked — double or triple every quantity, mix in a bowl, and jar it. The only limit is how fast you will get through it before the potency fades.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Make your own Indian-inspired curry powder at home with this easy spice mix recipe. Fresh, fragrant, and ready in minutes — far better than anything from a store shelf.
No-cook
4.7 · 3 ratings
5 min
Prep
5 min
Total
1
batches
easy
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
Instructions
- 1
In a spice jar, combine all ingredients. Keep sealed in a cool, dry place.
In a spice jar, combine all ingredients. Keep sealed in a cool, dry place.
Nutrition per batch
4
Calories
0g
Protein
1g
Carbs
0g
Fat
0g
Fiber
0g
Sugar
1mg
Sodium
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
Filed under
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