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It’s that time of year… fall is here and pumpkin spice lattes and recipes are flooding our social media feeds. If you’re ready to bake, but your spice cabinet is missing a crucial ingredient – pumpkin pie spice – you’re in luck.
In this easy recipe, we’ll show you how to make your own pumpkin pie spice substitute with a few simple and affordable ingredients: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and, if you choose, cardamom.
Be sure to read the tips and ideas for using your homemade blend in tested food recipes and beauty products below this recipe.
Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cinnamon powder
- 2 tablespoons ground ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom - optional
Equipment
- Small mixing bowl
- Spoon
- Small glass jar
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a small mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
- Transfer to a small, airtight glass jar for storage (see tips below).
Notes
Nutrition Information Per Serving
Tips and Recipe Ideas
1. What can I make with pumpkin pie spice?
There are so many ways to use this DIY seasoning blend besides making traditional pumpkin pie.
Here are some recipe ideas to try:
You can also use pumpkin pie spice in some DIY beauty products like:
2. Is this a copycat McCormick’s Pumpkin Pie Spice recipe?
While this recipe is very similar, it does not contain sulfiting agents like the red capped bottle at the grocery store.
Sulfiting agents are often added to store bought seasonings as a preservative, mostly to help the spices retain their color. Since sulfiting agents aren’t naturally derived, we try to avoid them when we can.
So I make my own so I know exactly what is in my pumpkin pie spice mix.
3. Do I have to add cardamom and cloves?
Nope! Most commercial pumpkin pie spices don’t use cardamom, and many don’t use cloves either. I like adding them because it adds complexity to the flavor, but it’s absolutely not necessary.
4. Storing your spice blends
It’s important to always store your spices in airtight containers (preferably glass) in a cool, dry place. Spice cabinets and pantries are great.
Since we only use this blend during fall, I make this recipe in small batches compared to my other homemade spice mixes and seasonings, which I always make by the pint or quart since we buy our individual spices in bulk.
5. Best place to buy bulk spices?
I buy all of my spices in bulk because I make all of our seasoning blends from scratch. Starwest Botanicals has great prices on bulk spices, so that’s who I source most of my spices and seasonings from to make my own mixes.
If you want to make some of my other homemade spice blends, these are popular choices: