If you enjoy drinking Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes every fall, you're going to love this copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Sauce recipe! Only three simple ingredients, no cooking required! Then you can make your own pumpkin spice flavored coffee or tea right at home!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
It's officially fall and that also means the return of pumpkin spice season! You really can't deny the unbelievable popularity of the official Starbucks drink of fall, the Pumpkin Spice Latte, affectionately dubbed the PSL.
But do you even have any idea how easy it is to make that magical pumpkin spice sauce right at home and not to mention, on the cheap?
Whether you want to make your own to save some cash or to avoid potential cross-contact from gluten at Starbucks, I've got you covered. Get ready to blow your mind with how easy it is to make your own homemade pumpkin spice sauce, with only a few ingredients and a few minutes of your time!
While you're here, be sure to check out these recipes: Starbucks copycat brown sugar syrup recipe, Starbucks classic syrup recipe, and the Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso.
Ingredients
As someone with Celiac disease, I am no stranger to looking at the list of ingredients on literally everything I consume. Starbucks drinks are no exception.
Although I haven't been to a Starbucks in years, I was curious if I could make a copycat version of the PSL so I looked up the ingredients in their app. Here's what I found:
The Pumpkin Spice Sauce is basically just sugar, condensed milk, pumpkin puree, and natural flavors. This tells me we can absolutely make a homemade version of this and with only three ingredients!
Here's what you'll need:
- Real pumpkin puree: I prefer Libby's brand.
- Sweetened condensed milk: not evaporated milk.
- Pumpkin pie spice
I saw a few recipes floating around for this sauce but none of them were quite as simple as this one. Some started with simple syrup and others started with sweetened condensed milk but added even more sugar or maple syrup.
Honestly, none of that is necessary! Sweetened condensed milk is already sweet enough on it's own! Plus, by only using sweetened condensed milk, most of the work is already done for us!
How to Make Pumpkin Spice Sauce
This is where the literal magic happens. Once you see how easy this is, you'll probably be mad at yourself and Starbucks for taking all of your money every fall. But hey, you live and learn. Are you ready for this?
- Stir the sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl.
- Whisk if needed to get out any lumps.
- Pour the sauce into a mason jar and refrigerate.
- Use about 1 tablespoon (you could add more if you like) in your morning coffee, iced lattes, or homemade Frappuccinos.
That's literally how easy it is and let me tell you, it's unbelievable how good it is! It's a taste of fall in every sip!
In this one recipe, you'll get about 36 tablespoons of sauce, that's basically 36 Pumpkin Spice Lattes for the cost of one PSL at Starbucks! [Insert exploding head emoji.]
Top Recipe Tip
Let the sauce rest in the refrigerator for a while after you make it. I found that the pumpkin pie spice kind of gets caught in your throat if you use the sauce immediately.
Give the sauce time to rest and hydrate the spices and this is no longer an issue.
Dairy-Free Options
I think you could make a dairy-free version of this recipe, too! Just substitute a diary-free sweetened condensed milk!
- Check out this easy recipe for dairy-free sweetened condensed milk!
- Or buy Nestle lactose-free sweetened condensed milk (contains milk) or
- Nature's charm sweetened condensed coconut milk.
Storage
Store the sauce in a small jar with a lid in the refrigerator. I think the sauce could potentially last about two weeks in the fridge, maybe longer. If you see mold or anything funky, throw it out.
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More Fall Pumpkin Recipes
This pumpkin bundt cake is easy and delicious!
Recipe
Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk.
- ½ cup canned pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
- Stir ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Use about 1 tablespoon of sauce in your preferred coffee/espresso drink.
- Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Stephanie
How is this only 37 calories per serving if 1 tablespoon of condensed milk has 65 itself?
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
This is what comes out when I use the nutrition calculator built in to the recipe card. If you need precise information (for any recipe you find on the internet), you should always do your own calculations. This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only.
Jessica
The sweetened condensed milk is mixed with pumpkin puree which is low in calories. So 1 Tbsp of the recipe includes less than 1 Tbsp condensed milk.
Icanmath
Can o sweet milk = 1820kcal
Can o pumpkin = 40kcal
Dash o spice = negligible
/38TBS
49kcal/TBS
Loren
So good thank you! I made it with sweetened condensed coconut milk and still 10/10
Cathy Middleton
I made this for an early Thanksgiving with some family and it was a HUGE success! I originally fiund it for a cheesecake topping, which was deeeelish, and some of us put it in our coffee too...yum!!!
I made a double recipe by just using 2 cans sweetened condensed milk and a 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree & 4.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice. Even the men were crazy for it!
.
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
So great to hear! Using as a cheesecake topping is a genius idea!
Kathy
We made this last fall. Very good. And a fun recipe to put in little jars and share with friends.
Ava
I am curious what you would think of this being used as a sauce to dunk PSL biscotti or plain biscotti in? Does this sauce harden like icing? Btw, I am not a PSL person.
Thank you,
Michelle
Just made it and it’s delicious as sauce but does not harden into a shell
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
It's not supposed to. It's meant to be stirred into your coffee.
Tristan
Holy moly this sauce is incredible and dangerous. My best friend shared the recipe with me and I am in basic white girl heaven. I used condensed oat milk instead and it worked great too. Such a good substitute that is really easy to make and tastes amazing.
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
It does not harden.
Rachel
I made this and it has a weird bitter taste. I used the same sweetened condensed milk brand you did but a different brand of pumpkin. I used allspice instead of pumpkin spice (thought they were pretty much the same) and the color of mine is not brown like yours but white. It was also really clumpy. Any ideas of what went wrong? Thanks!
Amelia
Use pumpkin pie spice the next time. Allspice definitely has a different flavor with a different blend of spices.
Md
Your problem is you added a lot of one spice. “Allspice” is its own thing that looks like large brown peppercorns when whole. It is not a mix of spices.
PeggyK
Wow! This is delicious and tastes just like a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. I used 2 tbsp in a 12oz coffee because I like mine extra rich. I did the recipe exactly as you recommended. Looking forward to saving lots of money as I was already getting 2 a day at Starbucks. Thank you so much!
Laurence B.
This recipe is awful.! It tastes nothing like the pumpkin spice sauce from Starbucks.
It's not sweet enough, and it is VERY bland. I ALWAYS have to add more sweetener to my drinks and I get NO pumpkin spice flavor whatsoever.
LizaJo
I agree with you, because it's nowhere near the pumpkin spice sauce that Starbucks uses. Starbuck's Pumpkin Spice Sauce contains a mere 2% of pumpkin puree. This recipe is basically Eagle Brand's pumpkin pie filling recipe minus half of the pumpkin and the eggs.
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
Sorry to hear you were SO disappointed, Laurence! Sounds like you'll just have to keep getting your drinks from Starbucks. 🙁
Laurel
I wanted a way to try to make healthier than the condensed sweet milk so I tried evaporated and it got “flakey” partials in it, is there another option healthier that works?
Katie | Wheat by the Wayside
Evaporated milk will not work, as you've found. I'm not aware of any low sugar condensed milks for purchase but there a few recipes for homemade versions.
Aspendot
This is so good I could eat it by the spoonful! I use it in my Tea (coffee is way to acidic for me) and it is delicious! Thanks!!
EC
I don’t usually leave comments on recipes but this stuff is PERFECT. It’s exactly what I was looking for. I make iced americanos with pumpkin, white chocolate and cream. I had looked into buying some pumpkin sauce but they all have so many preservatives and colorings added, I couldn’t justify doing that for the price. I made this in all of 5 minutes with some stuff in my cupboards and it was exactly the flavor I was looking for, 100/10 would recommend.