How To Make Pumpkin Pie Spice

Whether you’re making a pumpkin spice latte, popcorn, or oatmeal, this homemade pumpkin pie spice recipe is the best.

Did you know that by the time you get store bought pumpkin pie spice home, the spices are usually already over a year old?  If not closer to two.  

Did you also know that dry spices have a shelf life of only one year?  This doesn’t make sense does it? That’s why it is important to know how to make pumpkin spice at home so you have better control over the quality and flavor of your favorite recipe calling for pumpkin.

What Is In Pumpkin Pie Spice?

This simple spice blend is traditionally made of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, with some variations calling for allspice.  These “warm” fall spices are easy to find both whole or ground in the grocery store, with the exception being the ground ginger. (Also called powdered ginger.)

How To Grind Spices

Since you can buy most of these dry spices whole, this is the way I recommend going.  It only takes a few extra minutes to grind the spices, and it completely changes the game for how effective and flavorful spice mix is.  This is easily done with an electric appliance or a mortar and pestle.

My favorite way to grind spices is with the dry container for my Vitamix, however this is only really useful if you are making large batches. . If you want to go another route, I recommend using a basic level coffee grinder like this.  If you keep it separate from your normal grinder, you won’t deal with flavor cross contamination with your morning coffee.  Once you have finely ground cinnamon, you can make the ground cloves, etc…  

After, all the spices are ground, just wipe it out the grinder with a slightly damp paper towel.  Don’t forget to get the underside of the blades as well! 

Since nutmeg can’t be ground in a grinder, use a simple citrus zester like this one to get the job done easily. Just make sure to do it over a container that it is easy to get the ground nutmeg out of for measuring.

In the picture below you can see the difference between the freshly ground and what you get from the store. This homemade pumpkin spice is a little more coarse, but it also doesn’t clump. It is also more vibrant than the store bought because it isn’t stale and oxidized.

Ways to Use This Homemade Spice Mix

Beyond simple pumpkin pie, this spice mix can be used on almost any recipe calling for pumpkin. Additionally, it can be used for making anything flavored like autumn. For some great recipes that utilize this inviting spice blend, check out this list of my favorites below.

• Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
• Pumpkin Overnight French Toast with Pecan Praline Topping

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe

Keep in mind that if you went the route of grinding whole spices, this pumpkin spice recipe will be much more potent than the store bought version.  To keep from overwhelming what you’re cooking, start by adding in only ¾ of what the recipe calls for, then taste test it and add additional if needed.

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Want a free printable grocery list for this homemade pumpkin spice recipe?  Get it here. Everything is listed in standard grocery store amounts.  If no size is specified, even the smallest package will provide more than enough.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy Cooking! 🙂