Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Chai (Tea) Spice Recipe is a gluten-free, vegan Indian condiment made with simple everyday ingredients in about 15 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 8 minutes
  • Cook time: 7 minutes
  • Total time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 75 · 75 grams
  • Category: Condiment
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons (20 grams) green cardamoms
  • 1 tablespoon (8 grams) black pepper
  • 1 small stick (8 grams) cinnamon ((Ceylon cinnamon, not cassia))
  • 1 tablespoon (6 grams) cloves
  • 2 tablespoons (14 grams) ground dried ginger
  • 1 to 1½ tablespoons (7 to 10 grams) fennel seeds
  • 1 large star anise
  • 1 medium (4 grams) nutmeg
  • 3 (3 grams) Black cardamoms ((optional))

Method

How to make Chai Spice

  1. Break the nutmeg using a nutcracker or in a mortar pestle. Peel the black cardamoms if using. Break up the cinnamon stick roughly with your fingers to smaller piece.
  2. Add cinnamon, green cardamoms, star anise and black cardamom peels to a heavy bottom pan and dry roast on a low heat for 3 minutes.
  3. Add cloves, black pepper, black cardamom seeds and fennel seeds. Roast for 2 to 3 mins and add nutmeg. Roast for another minute and stir in the ground ginger.
  4. Turn off the heat and continue to stir until the ginger is hot. Cool down and transfer to a nut grinder and grind to a fine powder.
  5. Cool down and store in a air tight glass or steel container for upto 3 months at room temperature or in the refrigerator/freezer for a year.
  6. Use ¼ tsp per serving of black tea or ½ tsp per serving of milk tea. You can find the recipe to brew your tea in the recipe post.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.