Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

Embrace your inner basic bro: Learn how to make your own pumpkin spice

You don't have to deny It anymore — pumpkin spice is delicious

Lindsay Parrill
By

Look, no one’s proud of it. It’s something that’s associated with teenage girls and Ugg boots, or middle aged moms and Hobby Lobby. This time of year, every “Karen” in the country is walking around singing its praises and decorating every nook and cranny of her home accordingly with plastic gourds and faux foliage. But the sad truth is, pumpkin spice is delicious.

It just is, and there’s nothing we can do about it. So we say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Throw on some flannel and embrace your inner basic bro. Stand up and declare your passion for pumpkin spice proudly. And we daresay, take it a step further by making your own blend at home. Because this time of year, adding this easy-to-make spice blend to just about anything will put you in a leaf-jumping, apple-picking, hay-riding kind of mood. And we’re here for it.

Recommended Videos

Just about every food and drink brand has hopped on the pumpkin spice bandwagon in the last few years. Of course, the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte is the leader of the pack, selling millions of the popular drink every autumn. Brands like Nespresso and Swiss Miss have also cashed in on the trend. Our favorites are the more unusual pairings — Pumpkin Spice Oreos, anyone? Or how about cracking open a cold Pumpkin Spice Hard Seltzer courtesy of Bud Light? No matter how far these brands might be reaching, there seem to be customers who just can’t get enough of this popular spice in their favorite foods and drinks.

Related

The good news is, with this simple recipe, you, too, will be able to give anything you desire a pumpkin spice kick. Simply sprinkle bit to your coffee beans for a bit of fall flavor in your brew. Dust a little on toast or pancakes on those chilly fall mornings. Add a bit to your vanilla milkshake if you’re still in the summer heat and just can’t wait for fall to start! And of course, use it in all of your favorite pumpkin spice recipes, like pies and cakes.

Pumpkin spice recipe

Ground cinnamon spice.
Pexels

This recipe is ridiculously easy to make. No cooking required — just mix a few things you probably already have in the cupboard, and bam. Homemade pumpkin spice. Pro tip: Make a big batch, find some cute jars, and give them away as gifts. Your charm meter just skyrocketed.

Maybe make a few extras, tag them with your number, and hand them out in front of Starbucks? Sounds like a brilliant plan to us.

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
  • 2 teaspoons allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Method:

  1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.
  2. Store in a tightly sealed jar.

That’s it! Now you’re ready to put pumpkin spice on… well, just about anything!

Editors' Recommendations

Lindsay Parrill
Lindsay Parrill
Contributor
Lindsay is a graduate of California Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu, San Francisco, from where she holds a degree in…
The sriracha shortage is real – but making your own sriracha is so easy you might not even care
Best of all: You basically don't do anything
Empty sriacha bottle

Most of us fell in love with sriracha ages ago, when it could still be found on almost every casual restaurant table, and grocery store shelves were bursting with the bottle's signature green cap and rooster logo. Even more cruel a memory? At the time, one of those bottles would only set you back a couple of bucks. Remember those days? Sadly, times have changed, and just one 28-ounce bottle of Huy Fong Foods' favorite condiment is running over $20 on sites like Amazon. And even those bottles are selling like crazy, hotter than their delicious contents. So if you don't mind spending five times what you did just a few precious years ago on your beloved brand, you'd better do so fast.

In a sriracha shortage that has now gone on for three long years, it seems that the always-fun combination of legal battles and climate change is to blame. A dispute between Huy Fong Foods and its pepper supplier, Underwood Ranches, that started in 2017 is still causing problems that just don't seem to be getting any better. Pair that drama with terrible drought and unpredictable weather conditions, and there doesn't seem to be any reprieve in sight for Huy Fong Foods' popular sriracha sauce.

Read more
Chef reveals how to make a Smashburger taco, the tasty heir to the viral food throne
You know about the Smashburger, but what of the Smashburger taco? Here's how to make one
A profile of the Smashburger chef Ty Goerke

The Smashburger is coming for your favorite dish and the taco is next in line. The internet is already making the tasty hybrid dish, so we thought it was high time you knew how to as well.

What is a Smashburger? It's pretty much what it sounds like, a burger pressed with some weight as it cooks, locking in flavors and creating added texture. Turns out, it works with foods beyond the burger, too. If you're working with some good meat or meat substitute, it's like making an elevated version of your favorite fast-food burger.

Read more
How to make a kimchi bloody mary, the best a.m. drink
There are many ways to make a bloody mary. Going the kimchi route is highly recommended
Bloody mary cocktail lime

The bloody mary might be the least boilerplate drink out there. Sure, you can get the pre-made bloody mary mixes and just add some vodka, but often, the best versions are a little adventurous. Bartenders throw just about anything at the drink, from mezcal and whiskey to various condiments, spice blends, and literal towers of garnishes.

It's believed that the bloody mary was devised in 1921 in Paris, specifically at the New York Bar. Since then, the drink has gone on to become a brunch staple and has many popular spinoffs, from the bloody Caesar to the bloody maria. Bartenders guard their house-made mixes like a hawk, of the belief that they've cracked the code and made the perfect version of the drink.

Read more