Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Skip the coffee shop and be your own barista: Make your own Pumpkin Spice Syrup for all your fall coffee drinks and cocktails! It’s the tastiest way to start and end the perfect autumn day.

Fall is just a few days away, which means all the pumpkin spice stuff! However, I have to admit to you that I’m not crazy about the pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks.

I will order one PSL per season just to see if I like it more than last year, and then I remember why: I just do not love the Starbucks pumpkin spice syrup they use in their lattes and cold brews.

Trust me — I want to like it. I love other pumpkin treats, like pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice cake push pops and pumpkin spice oatmeal, but there’s something about the flavoring of the PSL that just doesn’t do it for me.

But one year I discovered I could make my own pumpkin spice flavoring for my coffees and lattes that I make at home. Friends, I have two words for you: GAME CHANGER.

This pumpkin spice syrup is the best. You can use it in so many ways: your morning coffee, in iced coffee, in homemade lattes, in cocktails, drizzled over ice cream… You name it! You can even use it to make pumpkin spice coffee creamer!

Why make your own pumpkin spice syrup?

There a ton of really good reasons to make your own PSL syrup:

1. Price: It is so much cheaper to make your own pumpkin spice latte syrup than it is to buy three PSLs, and you can make four times that many when you make your own syrup.
2. Availability: If you can’t get your pumpkin spice fix where you live, making your own syrup is a great way to bridge that gap. And brag on Instagram.
3. Flexibility: You have a choice of how much to use in your coffee, rather than rely on the confusing “number of pumps” at the coffee shop (how much is too much?!), and you can experiment with it in more recipes. You can even spoon it over ice cream or use the pumpkin spice sauce in your cocktails! I have a few exciting recipes using this syrup to share with you super soon.
4. Using up ingredients: If you made a pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread and have some leftover pumpkin puree, making a quick batch of syrup is an easy way to use it up.
5. Choice of ingredients: You can source the ingredients yourself. Knowing where my food comes from always makes me feel good about the recipes I make at home. (I can’t say I feel this way when I shop at Starbucks.)

What is pumpkin spice syrup made of?

You only need a few ingredients to make pumpkin spice syrup at home.

• brown sugar
• cane sugar
• water
• pumpkin puree
• vanilla extract
• pumpkin pie spice

Ingredients

My favorite part of making my own pumpkin spice syrup from scratch is that I can have a say in the ingredients I use. Quality ingredients make a big difference in creating the best pumpkin spice coffee syrup.

This recipe calls for both cane sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar helps to give it some of that caramel, toffee flavor as well as a richer color.

You can use either light or dark brown sugar, and you may also use regular granulated sugar instead of the cane sugar. You could even substitute honey like I did for my honey simple syrup.

Though you’re welcome to use pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice, I like to make my own for this pumpkin spice syrup.

If you go that route, you will need to stock up on a few things for this recipe if you don’t have them in your cabinet already. (Make sure to check the expiration dates though — spices can lose their flavor over time.)

Here are the spices you will need:

• cinnamon
• ginger
• ground cloves
• nutmeg
• cardamom

I buy my spices from my local spice shop or order them from Spiceology, because I know they are ethically and sustainably sourced.

You will also want to use a really good quality vanilla extract for this recipe, as it is going to provide the best flavor. I like the Nielsen-Massey brand, but you may also want to try making your own vanilla.

Oh, and pumpkin! We can’t forget our key ingredient for pumpkin syrup! I like to use organic pumpkin puree — and be certain that I’m using only the best ingredients.

If you like, you can even use homemade pumpkin puree with pumpkins you buy at your local farmers’ market. Or, that you grow yourself! (Jealous — I haven’t mastered the vegetable garden green thumb yet.)

If you prefer a syrup without pumpkin, you may absolutely skip that. I have a recipe for an autumn spice latte that doesn’t use pumpkin at all.

How to make pumpkin spice syrup

I want to note that the texture of this syrup should more of a liquid than a pumpkin sauce, similar to my homemade simple syrup.

Here are the steps in a nutshell:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together the water and sugars.
2. Heat them up until the sugars dissolve, but don’t bring the mixture to a full boil.
3. Stir in the pumpkin and spices.
4. Strain out the solids — this helps it to have that syrup texture. A really good fine mesh strainer will make a huge difference.

Step-by-step instructions

Now let’s get into the how-to! I’ve got step-by-step instructions showing you exactly how to make your own pumpkin spice simple syrup.

First stir together your sugars and water. Let them come to a simmer on the stove but don’t let the mixture boil. The sugars need to dissolve fully before you move onto the next step.

Add your pumpkin puree and the vanilla extract, and stir it into the mixture.

Then add your spices. I prep mine in a bowl beforehand then throw them in all at once.

Stir in the spices until they are fully incorporated. The mixture will be grainy. (See why we’ll need a strainer?)

Then turn off the heat and let the mixture rest for a while to infuse.

Then strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer. I do it into a bowl to collect splashes, then I pour the mixture into a mason jar later. Sometimes I do this process twice if the mixture is really grainy.

Then voila! Store the syrup in a glass jar or bottle for up to a week. Be sure to keep it in the fridge since it contains raw pumpkin.

Can you buy Starbucks Pumpkin Spice syrup?

Yes, you absolutely can buy pumpkin spice syrup. But I seriously recommend making it yourself. The difference is very noticeable!

Starbucks doesn’t currently sell their own Starbucks pumpkin spice syrup that you can buy. (I believe they have in the past but I couldn’t find it on their website this year.)

However, this Torani pumpkin sauce, this Torani pumpkin spice syrup and this Monin pumpkin spice syrup are probably pretty close, though I’ve not tried them.

How to use pumpkin spice syrup

There are so many ways to use pumpkin spice syrup!

• It makes a really good pumpkin syrup for coffee — just stir a little bit into your morning cuppa or cold brew.
• If you have an espresso machine, it makes a wonderful pumpkin spice latte syrup. Add a spoonful to the espresso before you pour on the steamed milk.
• Try drizzling a little of this pumpkin pie syrup over vanilla ice cream for a sweet fall dessert.
• Mix it into your cocktails — try adding 1/2 ounce to a Moscow mule, an old-fashioned or a white russian.
• Use it to make a pumpkin cream cold brew, another Starbucks copycat drink to try.
• You can even add some syrup to whipped cream to make a delicious topping for drinks and holiday pies.
• Drizzle it over your morning bowl of yogurt and sourdough granola for a delicious fall breakfast.

More pumpkin recipes

If you really love pumpkin, don’t miss out on these pumpkin recipes this season!

• Ginger pumpkin beer shandies are a delicious cocktail that highlights pumpkin beer.
• For weekend breakfast, try pumpkin spice doughnut muffins.
• This chocolate pumpkin seed toffee bark is a lovely fall housewarming gift.
• Pumpkin chocolate chip granola bars make a delicious morning snack to enjoy with your pumpkin spice latte.

More coffee syrups

• Vanilla Simple Syrup
• Cinnamon Simple Syrup
• Caramel Simple Syrup
• Homemade Chocolate Syrup
• Sugar-Free Simple Syrup
• Brown Sugar Simple Syrup
• Demerara Simple Syrup