Make your own pumpkin spice latte at home with this easy homemade pumpkin spice sauce that’s ready in 7 minutes!
Pumpkin Spice Sauce
Pumpkin spice sauce is the star ingredient in a Pumpkin Spice Latte. It’s what flavors and sweetens the drink. The sauce is a liquid sweetener that’s made with pumpkin pie spices and pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin spice is a blend of ingredients that flavor a pumpkin pie. This pumpkin spice is made with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Some blends include allspice, but I kept it simple with just four spices.
Pumpkin spice sauce is different from pumpkin spice syrup in that it’s thicker and contains dairy.
RELATED: Vanilla Syrup
Recipe Highlights
- This sauce is super easy to make in less than 10 minutes by just combining and heating pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, traditional pumpkin pie spices, water, and vanilla extract.
- Use the sauce to make pumpkin spice drinks and flavored cold foam.
- This recipe makes a cup of homemade pumpkin spice sauce. Make a batch and use it all week to make pumpkin spice drinks.
RELATED: Gingerbread Syrup
Ingredient Notes
- Pumpkin puree: For the best pumpkin spice sauce, use real pumpkin. It’s sold in cans for less than $2.00. Use canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie mix, which has added ingredients. Pumpkin should be the only thing on the ingredient list.
- Sweetened condensed milk: Instead of sugar and cream, this is used to make the sauce sweet, rich, and creamy.
- Ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg: Pumpkin spice is made from combining these spices. You can also get that’s sold pre-blended.
- Go for a more expensive brand if you can since a lower-priced options can have a chemical taste.
- Water: Use filtered water if possible, to make a better tasting sauce.
For full ingredients and detailed instructions, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Put pumpkin puree, water, and spices in a saucepan and simmer. Stir in sweetened condensed milk.
Turn off the heat and add vanilla extract. Let sauce cool.
Step 2: Pour sauce into an airtight container.
This sauce can be stored for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Expert Tips
- Always add vanilla extract to your saucepan after you’ve taken it off the heat. Vanilla extract loses a lot of its flavor when cooked.
- This recipe makes 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of pumpkin spice sauce. It can flavor and sweeten 8 grande-sized beverages if you use 2 tablespoons of sauce per drink, like Starbucks does.
- Since the sauce is thicker than a syrup, store it in a wide-mouth jar instead of a bottle so you can spoon it out if needed.
Pumpkin Spice Sauce Uses
- Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte
- Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino
- Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew
- Pumpkin Cream Cold Foam
- Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte
- Pumpkin Spice Steamer: Add pumpkin spice sauce to steamed milk for a caffeine-free drink.
Related
- Starbucks Classic Syrup
- 17 Simple Syrup Recipes
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon Syrup
- Honey Syrup
- Sugar Cookie Syrup
If you tried this Pumpkin Spice Sauce recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and let me know how you like it in the comments below.
Pumpkin Spice Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 3 tablespoons pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup water
- ⅔ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- Put pumpkin puree, water, and spices into a saucepan and simmer.Heat it on low-medium heat for 5-7 minutes. Do not boil.3 tablespoons pumpkin puree, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ½ teaspoon ground cloves, ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ cup water
- Stir in sweetened condensed milk and continue simmering.Once the puree mixture simmers, add the condensed milk to the saucepan and stir well. Simmer for another minute until condensed milk fully blends into mixture.⅔ cup sweetened condensed milk
- Turn off the heat and add vanilla extract. Make sure to add vanilla after heat is off. Let sauce cool.1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pour sauce into an airtight container.Store sauce in the airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
NOTES
- Always add vanilla extract to your saucepan after you’ve taken it off the heat. Vanilla extract loses a lot of its flavor when cooked.
- This recipe makes 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of pumpkin spice sauce. It can flavor and sweeten 8 grande-sized beverages if you use 2 tablespoons of sauce per drink, like Starbucks does.
- Since the sauce is thicker than a syrup, store it in a wide-mouth jar that can comfortably hold 1 cup.