Chili powder (also called chili mix) is a spice mix consisting of various ratios of dried ground chile peppers, cumin, garlic, and oregano. The ground chile peppers may be exclusively hot ones such as cayenne or (rarely) just mild ones like paprika, but are usually a mixture of types to give the desired balance between heat and chile flavor. As the name suggests, chili powder is used to spice chili as well as many other dishes.

Many people make their own chili powder, and many versions are available commercially. In addition to the main ingredients above, small amounts of any of a number of other powdered spices may be added to the mix including cinammon, cloves, coriander, mace, nutmeg, turmeric and even black pepper.

There is some disagreement about the origin of manufactured chili powder. The two men generally credited with marketing the first commercial chili powder blends were William Gebhardt and D.C. Pendry.

Pendry ran a Mexican grocery supply company in Ft. Worth, Texas. He began manufacturing and marketing his blend of chili powder in about 1890, encouraging its use by people who were unfamiliar with it by supplying recipes to restaurants in the area.

William Gebhardt was a German immigrant to New Braunfels, Texas. He served chili in his café, flavored with his own blend of chili powder. He starting selling the blend in about 1894 under the brand name Gebhardt's Eagle Brand Chili Powder.

Chili powder is often confused with the similar-sounding chile powder (an ingredient of chili powder), which is simply dried and pulverized hot chile peppers, the fruit of any of a number of hot varieties of the Capsicum plant of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). In cooking, a heaping teaspoon-full of chile powder is an equivalent substitute for one "average" chile.

An acceptable chili powder mix is:

Cayenne Pepper 1 T Paprika or other milder powdered chile 1 T Ground Cumin 2 T Oregano 1 T Garlic Powder 2 T Smaller quantities of any or all of the other spices mentioned above