Tuscan Heat Spice Blend Recipe

Spice up any meal with this Tuscan Heat spice blend! It’s a flavorful seasoning you can make in just 5 minutes.

In fact, HelloFresh is so popular that they have over one million customers! And this Tuscan Heat spice blend is one of their many secrets to delicious meals.

HelloFresh took their inspiration for this mix from the cuisine of Tuscany, Italy. Therefore, it’s similar to regular Italian seasoning but has its own flavor profile.

In this blend, the herbs oregano, basil, marjoram, and rosemary mix beautifully with the punchy flavors of cayenne pepper, garlic, and fennel seeds.

The best part about this tuscan heat spice recipe is that all you need to do is mix the spices! So you have an incredible flavor booster in just a couple of minutes, and it’s easy to store.

I love to use this Tuscan Heat spice seasoning as a dry rub for meat or in a marinade for veggie kabobs. But you can add it to just about any recipe!

All About the Tuscan Heat Spice Blend Ingredients

Herbs

Basil

Basil is an aromatic plant with dark green, glossy leaves. While it has a pungent flavor, it’s also a little sweet.

And when you taste it, you get hints of pepper, anise, and mint. This makes sense because basil is a member of the mint family.

Rosemary

Rosemary plants look a little like evergreen trees: their leaves look like needles, and the stems are quite woody.

In fact, the flavor is a little reminiscent of evergreens, too.

Oregano

In Greek, the name “oregano” means “joy of the mountain.” And its flavor does bring joy to your mouth!

Like basil, it also tastes a little peppery and a little sweet.

Garlic Powder

To make garlic powder, manufacturers dehydrate and grind up fresh garlic cloves. This seasoning is a great addition to any spice pantry because it adds a huge boost of flavor to many recipes.

One of the benefits of garlic powder is that it has a very long shelf life. Plus, you get a lot of flavor without needing to peel and chop individual garlic cloves.

Cayenne Pepper

True cayenne peppers are red chiles that are fairly spicy. In general, they measure about 30,000 to 50,000 units on the Scoville scale.

Cooks use cayenne pepper either fresh or dried in curries, stews, sauces, meat dishes, egg dishes, and seafood recipes. Really, you can use cayenne pepper in any dish that needs to be spicier.

In this Tuscan Heat spice blend recipe, this is the ingredient that brings the heat!

Ground Fennel

Fennel seeds taste similar to anise seeds, but don’t worry! Your Tuscan seasoning recipe won’t taste like licorice.

Since fennel also has notes of celery and parsley, it tastes much fresher and more savory than licorice. Actually, it’s one of the most popular spices in cuisines around the world.

It’s a great spice to use in everything from breads to sauces to soups. But one of my favorite ways to cook with it is in a root veggie rub with salt and cardamom.

Method

1. Mix
   

   First, place all of the seasoning ingredients in your mixing bowl. Next, whisk everything together until the mix is uniform.
   

2. Enjoy and Store
   

   Then, spice up your food! Or store Tuscan Heat spice blend in an airtight container for later.
   

Swaps and Substitutions

• For a slightly milder blend, use marjoram instead of the dried oregano. Marjoram is a common herb in Tuscan cuisine and other traditional Italian dishes, and it doesn’t taste as sharp as oregano.


• If you’re serving people with sensitive taste buds, you might want to take the heat level down a notch. So, instead of the cayenne, you could use sweet or smoked paprika, or just leave the cayenne out.


• But if you’re one of those people that wants something extra spicy, you can add a tablespoon of ground black pepper. It won’t blow your head off, but it will add some delicious warmth.


• One of my favorite tricks with this blend is to add some ground lemon peel. This mix is especially delicious on fish!


• Also, some also add pungent spices like red pepper flakes or garlic powder.

Storage Instructions

While a seasoning blend won’t go bad or mold like other food, it tastes much better fresh! As time passes, this Tuscan Heat mix will lose its flavor, aroma, and color.

After a while, you’ll just have a tasteless grey powder!

However, if you store the Tuscan seasoning spice blend properly, it will stay good for a long time. In fact, it will last for about 2 to 3 years.

Also, if you buy whole spices, they’ll last even longer! Then, whenever you want to use your Tuscan Heat spice blend, simply process everything to a spice grinder or coffee grinder.

The most important factors for storing your spices are to make sure the temperature is less than 70 degrees F, the mix is out of direct light, and the container is air-tight.

But don’t store your seasoning blend in the freezer! While your spices will stay dark and cold, freezing them will increase condensation every time you take your Tuscan seasoning out to use it.

And when spices get damp, they are much more likely to mold or go bad. That’s also the reason why an airtight container is so important.

I like to use a mason jar for storage, but a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid will also work.

Finally, keep spices out of the sunlight: they’re photosensitive, which means they will change when exposed to light. In general, they will fade and taste duller.

You can also use this mix to season a bottle of olive oil. Your spices will stay good, and you’ll have a delicious flavored oil to cook with!