If you could bottle the smell of autumn, this would be it. Homemade pumpkin pie spice is easy to make, and you may already have all the ingredients in your spice rack. A quick blend of 5-6 spices is all you need to make this seasoning, and it is easily customizable to your own taste.
If you’ve never used pumpkin pie spice before, the first thing to know is that there’s no actual pumpkin involved. It is a great seasoning though and is a blend of spices considered “warm” spices. They have just a small bite to them, but combined they give a warming sensation that makes you feel like you’re wrapped in a blanket and drinking a hot coffee or warm apple cider on a cool fall morning.
Another good reason for making your own homemade pumpkin pie spice blend is the cost. Every year the premade stuff seems to keep getting more costly, and a small jar with about 2 tablespoons worth is over $5 now. If you already have most or all the spices to make your own, it tends to be a lot cheaper, especially if you only need to make a small amount for 1-2 uses.
Uses for Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend
The obvious answer would be for pumpkin pie, but there’s a lot of uses for this spice blend. The flavor truly does enhance almost any pumpkin recipe, but you can also use this as a 1:1 substitution in many recipes that call for a mix of things like cinnamon and nutmeg. Just keep in mind that this blend will be a little spicier and has a bigger depth of flavor, so it may not work in every situation as a substitute.
A few great options for using pumpkin pie spice include:
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Brownies
Pumpkin Snack Cake
How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
Ingredients
The ingredients for pumpkin pie spice are quite simple:
Pin- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Allspice
- Clove
- Black Pepper (optional)
Depending on how much you’d like to make, the important thing to keep in mind is the ratio of each spice. Feel free to experiment and tweak this to your own liking, but generally cinnamon makes up a good 60% of the blend, followed by ginger, then nutmeg, and even less allspice and clove, with just a (optional) pinch of black pepper.
How to Make
I’m including two versions of the recipe here, the first one makes roughly a ½ cup, which should easily fill a 4oz spice jar as shown in the picture. The second version is roughly 2 tablespoons worth, if you’d like to make your own but don’t plan on using a bunch.
In a small mixing bowl, combine 5 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 3 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice, 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Whisk together, and with a small funnel, pour into a jar for later usage. This should make roughly a ½ cup of pumpkin pie spice.
Alternatively, whisk 3 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, ¼ teaspoon ground clove, and a pinch of ground black pepper. This version should make roughly 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice.
Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Storage
If you’re making a very small batch, I would recommend making that for immediate use. You could also store it simply in a zipper lock sandwich bag or a very small jar.
If you make the ½ cup batch, I’d recommend storing in your favorite spice jars. The jar pictured is a 4oz spice jar that I use for all my spices. You could also try these small jars with cork tops for gift giving.
PinAs for how long homemade pumpkin pie spice will last, it depends on how old the ingredients are. If you buy all of them fresh at the same time, the spice blend should be good for a good year or two stored in a container at room temperature. The spice will technically last indefinitely though, it will just lose potency and freshness the older the spices are that you use.
📋 Recipe
Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice
Ingredients
Large Batch:
- 5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 3 teaspoons ground ginger
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground clove
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper , optional
Small Batch:
- 3 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon ground clove
- Pinch ground black pepper , optional
Directions
- In a small mixing bowl, combine 5 tablespoons ground cinnamon, 3 teaspoons ground ginger, 2 ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoons ground allspice, 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper. Whisk together, and with a small funnel, pour into a jar for later usage. This should make roughly a ½ cup of pumpkin pie spice.
- Alternatively, whisk 3 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, ¼ teaspoon ground clove, and a pinch of ground black pepper. This version should make roughly 2 tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice.
Equipment Used
Notes
Your Notes
Nutrition
Pin
Evona Jessup
Hi, if you were making a pumpkin pie, how much of this spice would you need per pie?
Chris
Hey, sorry for the delay. Pumpkin pie spice is fairly potent, especially with the allspice and cloves included. For most recipes that use it, you only need about 1-2 teaspoons and usually "water" it down with extra cinnamon. For instance, in my pumpkin spice muffins I use 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. In my pumpkin cheesecake recipe, I believe I used 1.5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. For a pumpkin pie, I'd probably use about the same as the cheesecake recipe.