Help with ground beef seasoning: flavors are weak

To get more flavor out of cumin, you can use whole seeds, and toast them briefly in a pan before grinding. If you don't want to put forth that extra effort, you'll just need to add more cumin. If it's not salty enough, the best solution is to just add more salt (sorry). Salt will enhance the other flavors as well. A bit of cornstarch would help make the spices stick, and dry out the mixture. I'm not sure how much water and vinegar you're adding, but you may just be watering down your beef too much. I usually add just enough to keep the spices from sticking to the pan, but not so much that there is a lot of extra liquid that needs to be reduced.

Your spice mixtures may also contain some form of MSG. You can get a similar umami "punch" by adding a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

Edit: I don't know how I missed this, but the other answers point out the lack of garlic and onion. Your store-bought spice mixtures definitely contain plenty of those in powdered form, which you can use, but fresh is tasty too. Don't add fresh garlic too early, as it can easily burn and turn bitter.

Draining all of the fat will most certainly reduce flavor...so my first choice would be to keep some of it in the pan. Use it to heat up your spices and don't add any water. That is definitely lowering flavor impact. If you need to add a liquid, why not try some beef stock?

I find the secret to getting the right flavour is a couple of tablespoons of bean powder or just left over refried beans into the water (no vinegar). This makes the spices sauce up and stick to the meat

If you want the acid taste, squeeze some lime or lemon over while assembling the burrito

Instead of ground beef, try a good cut of beef and slice thinly (5 to 10 mm) into short strips. This holds more meat flavour and coats well too. This way you will use less meat, and can select for lower fat levels too

Light roasting the spices before grinding is always a great booster

When I make taco seasoning, I also add oregano. I usually add a pinch of sugar for sweetness, but your cinnamon works for that, too. I also like a little paprika and cayenne, but your chipotle will work for that, too, but I bet oregano is what you're missing...

If you're using cumin powder, you could try switching to cumin seed and then grinding it right before adding it. This might make it more flavourful. I might also add, for the rest of the ingredients, garlic/garlic powder and maybe onion powder as well. I don't know how much salt you add, but just increasing the salt by a bit, might bring out the rest of the flavours.

I often serve something similar, except I use shredded beef, the meat is different, but the seasonings are fairly similar. The recipe I started from calls for the following. I'm posting it as it gives an idea of the quantities used. For about 2 lbs of meat:

• 1 level tbsp. salt (I actually reduced this as it was a bit excessive the first time I made it)
• 1 tbsp. pepper
• 1 tbsp. cumin
• 1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder ( light or dark )
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder (I usually use minced garlic)
• 1 tbsp. onion powder (I omit it due to a severe allergy that my wife has)
• 4 bay leaves (It's stewing for hours to break down the meat)
• Onion (added mid cooking, for shredded beef, I'd add it prior to cooking if you're using ground beef. Omitted for me, for the same reason as the powder)

I have slightly increased other ingredients, to compensate for a lack of onions. I may try using some vinegar next time.

Garlic and Onion powder tend to help a lot. Also I use a nice pureed salsa in replace of most of my water, helps give it a little extra kick (in addition to the spices.

It's not a dry ingredient, but I typically add adobo sauce to taco and chili meat. It has a complex flavor, and a decent amount of heat. They are sold in small cans. I typically just extract a few tablespoons of the sauce, and leave the chilies.