This recipe for pumpkin spice syrup can be used in coffee, latte, tea, and cocktails. It’s easy to make and it’s dairy-free, so it’s vegan and fine for people with dairy allergies. I use it to make DIY pumpkin spice tea latte, and it’s a nice flavor for the autumn and all year.
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What’s different about this recipe.
The recipes that I found online for pumpkin spice simple syrups were way too bland, so I doubled the amount of spice to make mine. If this is too much for you, just drop the amounts of spice and see if you prefer it more on the less-spicy side.
The pumpkin that you put into the syrup really doesn’t add much flavor unless you leave it in and don’t strain it out, so that’s one thing to think about. Honestly, you can probably leave the pumpkin out completely and just use the spices and you’ll get the flavor of the pumpkin spice mix.
Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves are the basic spices that most pumpkin pie recipes use, and I’ve seen some that don’t have any nutmeg in them. You can also use pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices to make this if you want to shortcut everything.
This DOES NOT taste like artificial pumpkin spice flavor, so it’s a more subtle flavor. If you want the kind of flavor that you get at coffee shops where they use artificial flavors and commercial syrups, you can try this Torani syrup, which is a popular choice for commercial use: Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup (affiliate link)
Supplies you’ll need.
To make this syrup you’ll need some basic supplies:
- Saucepan
- Rubber spatula
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoon
- A fine-mesh strainer
- A bottle to keep the finished syrup in
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Ingredients.
This is a very easy recipe, and the ingredients are easy to find, no specialty food shopping needed!
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (canned is fine, but make sure it’s not pumpkin pie mix, you want plain pumpkin.)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
How to make the syrup.
This is a variation on a basic simple syrup, which is usually a 1:1 combination of water and sugar. For this variation I used less sugar in the syrup so that it would be less sweet overall. I like brown sugar instead of white granulated sugar for this kind of syrup since it has a “warmer” flavor.
Start by putting the pumpkin in the saucepan and stir it over high heat to cook it a little bit. This will bring out the flavor more than using it straight from the can.
Stir the pumpkin in the pan with the rubber spatula for 2-3 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and put the spices and sugar in the pan.
Add the water and put the pan back on the heat.
Stir the mix constantly to dissolve the sugar and combine the ingredients as well as you can.
You won’t be able to dissolve all of the pumpkin or spices, but stir the mixture in a figure 8 motion to keep it moving over the bottom of the pan so that everything mixes up as much as it can.
When the mixture comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and let it cool off in the pan.
When it’s cooled, pour the syrup into a storage bottle. You can either strain it when you do this, or pour it into the bottle without straining it, then strain it when you put it in your drink later.
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When to strain the syrup.
You probably want to strain the syrup, or you might get what I call “spice sludge” in your drink. The good thing is that you can stir it up and drink the solids with your drink, since it’s all fine to eat.
If you don’t want to deal with the solids, you can strain the syrup into a glass measuring cup, then pour it into the storage bottle after you remove a lot of the solids. That makes it easier to pour into your drinks without getting any of the spice solids in your cup.
If you leave everything in the storage bottle, the spices that are still in it can add some extra flavor to the syrup as it sits, but you’ll probably want to strain the syrup when you put it into your drink. It will also take up more room in the storage bottle, so it will look like you have more syrup than you do.
Since this is very pumpkin-heavy, you can shake the bottle and just pour out the syrup with the pumpkin and spices in it, then drink it with your coffee or tea. If you want to avoid the extra fiber, just strain the syrup as you pour it out to use it.
How much syrup to use.
I add about 4 Tbsp. of the syrup (1/4 cup) to a 16-ounce cup of tea latte. You can add more or less depending on how strong a flavor you want. The more that you add, the sweeter your drink will be, so keep that in mind.
I’ll say it again…This DOES NOT taste like artificial pumpkin spice flavor, so it’s a more subtle flavor. If you want the kind of flavor that you get at coffee shops where they use artificial flavors and commercial syrups, you can try this Torani syrup, which is a popular choice for commercial use: Torani Pumpkin Spice Syrup (affiliate link)
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