Skip to Content

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Less expensive plus you control the salt level.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Less expensive plus you control the salt level. A recipe for one of the most popular seasoning blends in Canada that you can easily make at home.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.

Originally published May 2017.

Montreal Steak Spice is an iconic seasoning here in Canada and has been used on backyard grilled steaks across the country for decades. Its origin comes from its namesake French Canadian city.

It is said the first versions were blends of the actual spice blend used on Montreal smoked meat. The city’s ancient delis are renowned for this specialty..

Wikipedia credits the original follows: “The Montreal deli Schwartz’s is credited with the creation of Montreal steak seasoning. The story of its creation is that, during the 1940s and 1950s, a Schwartz’s broilerman by the name of Morris “The Shadow” Sherman began adding the deli’s smoked meat pickling spices to his own rib and liver steaks.

Soon the customers began asking for the same. Due to its popularity, it eventually became a norm in Montreal delis and steakhouses, such as the nearby Moishes Steakhouse and the Main Deli Steak House, to spice their steaks similarly.”

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice

Montreal Steak Spice. The Case for making your own!

Montreal Steak Spice (or seasoning) spread across the country, and is widely available on store shelves from several national brands. As with many bottled seasonings, the cost increases dramatically once the ingredients are blended and packaged.

It is a far more economical practice to make your own and, I think, far more flavourful too.

Another issue with seasonings like Montreal Steak Spice is the amount of salt used in the blend. Because salt is a cheap filler ingredient, I think the default action of brands is to use rather a lot.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice on Sizzling Chuck Burger

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice on Sizzling Chuck Burger

Look at the composition of Montreal Steak spice in one of the small bottles in the spice aisle at your supermarket and you can see that the coarse salt granules are very prevalent in the mix.

In some blends I’ve seen, it looks to me that it could comprise as much as half. For me that is far too much. I also prefer a smaller grained salt in my blend.

After doing some research and looking at the composition of other recipes online (and there are a lot of them) plus a little experimenting, I came up with my own blend that I think works very well.

For me the salt in this blend is adequate to season a steak well and adds a lot more flavour than the standard off-the-shelf brands.

Low Salt Homemade Montreal Steak Spice on Rib Eye Steak

Low Salt Homemade Montreal Steak Spice on Rib Eye Steak

Montreal Steak Spice. Counting the cost.

The other thing that’s so much better about this version of Montreal Steak Spice is the cost. This is far less expensive than those small bottles in the supermarket spice aisle and even the larger economy sizes.

This recipe makes enough to fill a 16 ounce mason jar as shown and using bulk store spices, cost only around 2 dollars to make! You can’t beat that for value. 

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice

Over the next few weeks I’ll be testing it on steaks, ribs, chops and even grilled chicken, so be sure to follow the action on our Facebook page to see the results as they are posted.

I’ve already tested it on steaks a couple of times and are having some friends try it today. Ribs will be up next.

Need a side dish?

We have plenty summer side dish inspiration to explore. Everything from baked beans & corn bread to deliciously different potato and pasta salads. Be sure to check out our collection of 35 Best BBQ Side Dishes

26 Best Barbecue Side Dishes photo collage for Pinterest

Like this Montreal Steak Spice recipe?

You’ll find hundreds of other great ideas in our Beef Recipes Category and even more in our BBQ & Grilling Category.

It’s easy to keep up with the latest home style cooking & baking ideas from Rock Recipes. Be sure to follow Rock Recipes Facebook Page and follow us on InstagramPlus you’ll see daily recipe suggestions from decadent desserts to quick delicious weekday meals too. 

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice

You can also sign up for our FREE newsletter to know immediately when we add new recipes. You’ll also get weekly suggestions for great family friendly  meals and desserts too!

Rock Recipes a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Our product recommendations are almost exclusively for those we currently use or have used in the past.

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice. Far less expensive and you control the salt level.
Yield: 96 servings (2 cups seasoning, 1 tsp serving)

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Homemade Montreal Steak Spice - less expensive plus you control the salt level. A recipe for one of the most popular seasoning blends in Canada that you can easily make at home.

Ingredients

  • 3  Tbsp granulated onion
  • 3  Tbsp black peppercorns
  • 2 Tbsp chili flakes, (cayenne pepper flakes or red pepper flakes also work)
  • 3  Tbsp granulated garlic
  • 2  Tbsp smoked paprika, (or regular paprika)
  • 3  Tbsp kosher salt
  • 3 tbsp mustard seeds
  • 2 Tbsp coriander seeds
  • 3 Tbsp dill seeds

Instructions

  1. I like to grind each individual ingredient to a coarse consistency before blending them all together. This ensures that I get a uniform size.
  2. I use a mortar and pestle but this is not completely necessary. You can use a spice grinder, blender or food processor if you like but again I recommend, doing each one individually.
  3. Blend all of the ground spices together well and store in an airtight container like a mason jar.
  4. This spice blend will maintain its freshness for several months. Small 4 ounce mason jars make great host/ess gifts if you're invited to summer barbecues.

Notes

I like the salt amount in this recipe but if you prefer a more heavily salted seasoning for your purposes, try increasing the salt by a Tbsp and experimenting from there.

Nutrition Information

Yield

96

Serving Size

1 grams

Amount Per Serving Calories 4Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 119mgCarbohydrates 1gFiber 0gSugar 0gProtein 0g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

Did you like this recipe?

Do you love our "Real food recipes for real people'? Share the recipe on Facebook to let your friends know about us. They'll thank you for it.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Shirley

Sunday 19th of June 2022

I assumed to crush the mustard seeds—not succeeded via M & P (but not much arm strength) nor small food processor; looking closely, I think I see whole mustard seeds. Should I be substituting some ground mustard? (Maybe the seeds pop with heat of grill?) Making 1/3 of the recipe. I assume to grind the peppercorns, the coriander seeds, the dill seeds. Thank you for any insight you can give me.

Olga

Saturday 16th of March 2019

Barry, what a great idea! Love this. I’m sure this is incredibly delicious!

Stephane Beaulieu

Monday 28th of January 2019

You forgot a little known ingredient: dried orange peel.

P.S. It's also the spice mix for the famous Montreal Smoked Meat.

Bill Wilkat

Wednesday 30th of January 2019

Wouldn't they be required to put that in the ingredients list? I don't see orange peel as a spice and with peoples allergies manufacturer's need to be careful. I know Mrs. Dash uses orange peel as they have it listed on the label so I thought that certain ingredients must be shown on the label nowadays.

Barry C. Parsons

Wednesday 30th of January 2019

Never seen that before.

Bill Wilkat

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

Thanks Barry! I'm adding the link to your blog from mine so that anyone who can't find Montreal Steak Spice can make their own--and with the added bonus of being able to control the salt level which is so important to people like me who are salt-sensitive.

Fellow Canadian, Bill Wilkat

Laurie Wilson

Wednesday 5th of December 2018

Oh yum! I am so excited to have a reduce salt version of this. Any chance you have been working on the Pub Burger Mix? I just love it but not only is it too salty it is hard to find.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Skip to Recipe

Sharing is Caring

Help spread the word. You're awesome for doing it!