No need to pay for pricey coffee-shop pumpkin spice lattes with this easy, homemade version that uses real pumpkin puree (no fake, sugary syrups) and can be made quickly and inexpensively at home. And now you can enjoy pumpkin spice lattes year-round from home.
Every year around this time the world seems to go crazy for Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes
The Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes are lovely…
But you can make them at home
And I’d like to think my make-at-home version wins
Why?
Because you can make them vegan at home, if you so choose.
And the ones you purchase are generally made with fake, sugary, pumpkin-flavored syrups, not real pumpkin puree.
It should be noted that this is a natural latte, made with real pumpkin puree and real pumpkin pie spice. It does not all fully dissolve and there will be some settling at the bottom of the mug. If you don’t want settling, the way to avoid that is to use synthetic syrups made from chemicals rather than real pumpkin and real spices. Your choice.
Since some people enjoy a daily dose of HFCS, you make lattes at home and can control what goes into your latte.
Another reason the at-home version wins is because you could go into the poorhouse if you like your coffee as much as I like mine buying these specialty drinks.
I bet the cost per cup of the homemade latte is less than a quarter and probably even less.
Far less than the $4 coffee shop lattes and the cheapskate in me wants to make things at home whenever possible.
And I actually prefer the taste of my version to the Starbucks version but I could be biased.
For the recipe, there are many ways to make these and many recipes I’ve seen on the internet, but here’s what I do because I like these ratios the best.
And oh yes, it’s easy.
A Visual Guide
Brew your coffee
I was lucky enough to receive this Godiva Pumpkin Coffee from Godiva in conjunction with being a FoodBuzz Featured Publisher
The coffee is delicious and being that it’s pumpkin-flavored it just enhances the recipe but it’s not required to use pumpkin coffee
Any ole coffee will do if you don’t have any of these just laying around your cupboards
After you’ve made your coffee, make the pumpkin milk
Everything in
Blend
This stuff is so good!
You don’t even need to pour it into coffee. You can just drink this as is. Mmmm, good. Just ask Skylar.
And when you’re chugging this straight taste-testing this before you pour it into the brewed coffee just remember the old saying: “Pumpkin Milk: It does a body good!”
I recommend heating the pumpkin milk mixture up in the micro (or stovetop) before you add it to the brewed coffee (or Vita users, just let ‘er rip and let the machine do the work for you)
But I truly despise lukewarm coffee drinks so I always heat it up as to not cool off my coffee too much
Pour the coffee into your mug, top with half the pumpkin milk mixture
Garnish and Drink Up
And be glad you don’t have to rely on buying pumpkin spice lattes anymore!
As I said in the recipe section, you know you will want a refill
Every bit as good as Starbucks Star Who?
And easy and cheap!
And for the rest of the can of pumpkin puree you have on your hands, I have a great recipe coming up for how to use it…
Tip: I actually mix up about 2 cups+ worth of pumpkin milk at a time and store that in the fridge and heat it up as needed and then add that to coffee as I see fit over the next couple days
I figure as long as I am dirtying dishes and have everything out, I always make a little extra for refills or future use
Or, you can also freeze the extra pumpkin puree in a small container and make something else that tickles your pumpkin fancy because you never know when a pumpkin craving is going to hit.
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Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients
- At least 2 cups coffee, strong and freshly brewed
- 1 cup milk, I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk but use any kind you wish from whole to soy to rice milk
- ¼ heaping cup pumpkin puree, more if you really love pumpkin
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice blend, or to taste
- 1 teaspoons cinnamon, or to taste
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- sweetener of choice, to taste (I suggest 2 tablespoons agave or 2 tablespoons brown sugar, or a pinch of stevia to taste; or try honey, maple syrup, etc. to taste)
- Optional: pinch of ground nutmeg, ginger, garam masala, cardamom, or other warming spices to taste
Instructions
- Make coffee (a pot, single-serving cup, in whatever fashion and however you prefer making your coffee. The stronger the better)
- Make Pumpkin Milk by combining all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well by hand or blend using a Vita-MIx or blender Optional: Warm the finished pumpkin milk mixture in the microwave or on the stovetop (I do a quick nuke of about 1 minute)
- Pour 1 cup of brewed coffee into a mug and pour half the pumpkin milk mixture over the top of the coffee and enjoy. (The other half of the pumpkin milk mixture is for the refill you know you will want. If you truly don’t want a refill, refrigerate it for up to a few days and use for your next latte, in a smoothie, or drink it as is. As long as you’re dirtying dishes, I always make a little extra for refills or for later)
- Optional: Finish by garnishing with real whipped cream/whipped topping such and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice/cinnamon on top
- Notes: The spices will not “blend” or entirely dissolve. This is to be expected and normal. If this bothers you, this may not the recipe for you and you may want to experiment with other recipes or techniques.All spices and seasonings are to taste; in this case, mine. If you want to reduce the spices (or increase them), obviously adjust everything according to your own taste preferences. Some people may find the amounts I used a bit strong, but I like robust flavors.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Here’s a Roundup of my Favorite Pumpkin Recipes
Do you like Pumpkin Spice Lattes? Are you one of those people who has been over-paying for your seasonal pumpkin spice lattes (or come Christmastime the gingerbread lattes)?
Maybe you’ll make these at home because as I said here, if I relied on Starbucks for my coffee or specialty drink fix, I’d be broke!
Plus I truly prefer the taste of the make-at-home.
hi! i used one of your pictures on my blog, i hope that’s okay. if not, just tell me so. have a look at my blog ;-)
jenny
I went to your blog and I didn’t see anything.
I made this coffee this morning and it was WAY too chalky. I am not sure if maybe the combination of spices mixed with regular soy milk was the problem or what. What kind of milk did you use?? I am huge fan of pumpkin spice anything but the combo of pumpkin spice AND so much cinnamon left spice floating at the top of my blender bc there was too much to make a nice balance.
If you reread the recipe, I stated that I used almond milk in it and there are also some notes about the seasonings, i.e. they will not dissolve entirely and this is normal, and to adjust everything to taste.
Good luck with your experimentation on finding something you feel is perfect for you.
Oh, yes. I see now where it says almond milk that you SO MUCH for pointing that out. I suppose it will make all the difference and can not WAIT to try it that way.
I halved the amount of cinnamon, and it was still way too “spicy” for me :( thanks for giving me a starting point, but I think i’m going to have to adjust it quite a bit to get what I’m looking for. :(
Well good luck!
Actually, in the end I decided I didn’t like it. I’m sad, because I really REALLY want to like it. I thought that the spices would dissolve, but they never did, no matter what I did. Is there a solution to that? Either way – Thanks for giving me the idea in my head, because now I want to play with all these ingredients [& more] to see if I can find one that will work for me. Minus the inch of spices coating the bottom of the mug when I’m done.
Same issue here- even when I warmed up the milk, the spices never mixed into the milk and every time I took a sip, it was super gritty. OP, how did you avoid this?
You know I really didn’t have this issue and what little bit of “grit” I had was not a big deal for me. I’d either suggest reducing the amt of seasoning, or omitting it entirely and just using the pumpkin puree if it truly bothers you…or you can pay $4 a pop at Starbucks as a last resort :)
I just made this, & at first I didn’t think I liked it. But I’m sitting here drinking more & more & it’s growing on me more & more! I think at first I was disappointed because it didn’t taste like what I originally had hoped for my tastebuds – but I’m beginning to love it. I also like my coffee really sweet, & this recipe doesn’t make it very sweet. So I think when I pull the milk out of the fridge next, I’ll add a little more brown sugar, & it will work out. Thanks for making me step outside my coffee-comfort zone, & bring a little Fall to my apartment. :]
So i was super excited to see this and gave it a try today. I’ll say for the most part, it’s pretty darn good! But like one of the previous posters, i think I could’ve done with a little less spice. While I was adding the ingredients I got to the cinnamon and said to myself….but isn’t there cinnamon already in pumpkin pie spice? But I went ahead and followed your recipe. But I do think (for my taste anyway), it’s too much cinnamon. Every time I took a sip I felt like I had a slight coating on the roof of my mouth. And I blended it well! But still, great recipe! And I love that you use actual pumpkin puree rather than just a flavoring. :)
Everyone has different tastes and preferences and scaling back the cinnamon for your own palate is a very easy fix next time, I’d say. Glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my, I am REALLY looking forward to trying this. I don’t much care for coffee, but I’ve discovered that the pumpkin spice from Starbucks when mixed with a chai latte with soy milk is fantastic. Seriously, it’s like drinking a pumpkin pie.
However, all other recipes make a sweet, thin runny pumpkin syrup, this one looks promising. and the pumpkin milk looks tasty as is. Thank you so much, I can’t wait to make pumpkin spiced chai! :)
Thanks for the idea! I could not find plain Pumpkin Puree anywhere so I bought Pumpkin Pie Mix in the can. I used 1/2 heaping cup of the pie mix, 2 cups of 2% milk, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract mixed well for my pumpkin mix. Made 2 cups of strong decaf coffee in large mugs. Warmed 1 cup of the milk mixture in the micro for 1 1/2 minutes stirring a couple times. Poured 1/2 cup mixture per cup of coffee added 2 teaspoons Splenda and we really enjoyed it!! I called it Nat’s Pumpkin Pie Latte!!
Pumpkin Pie Mix is really just plain Pumpkin Puree + added sugar (maybe some cream/milk in tiny amts too, I dont have a label to read on hand…) but skipping/reducing the sweetener is really the only difference needed. Sound like you doubled my recipe and it came out great. Glad you like it!