If I’m being honest, I’m not a huge Pumpkin Spice Latte fan, but I’m definitely not a fan of paying $5 at a fancy coffee shop for one. After doing some separate pumpkin recipe testing, I found myself with half a can of pumpkin puree and thought I’d try to make this Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Concentrate!
I was surprised how much I liked it. It’s not crazy sweet and has a nice mix of spices and vanilla with just enough pumpkin and creaminess to make it special. The good news is that once you have it mixed up, you can use it with ANY coffee you have on hand: iced or hot!
What is a pumpkin spice latte (PSL)?
I’m sure many of you know what one of these is, but in case you don’t, it is a very popular seasonal drink from Starbucks, although now many other coffee shops make similar version.
I’m not sure people realize what’s going on with this drink. It’s almost all sugar. If you look at the nutrition breakdown for a Grande (medium) Pumpkin Spice Latte it has a whopping 50g of sugar in it. It’s more of a dessert than a coffee in my opinion.
So, my goal with this homemade pumpkin spice latte concentrate was to make something with similar flavors but less sugar and also something that you could keep in your fridge and use at your convenience in your daily coffee!
What ingredients are in the concentrate?
For my concentrate, which I just keep in a jar in the fridge, I used the following ingredients:
- Pumpkin puree – It’s important to use pure pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling for this recipe.
- Sweetened Condensed Milk – This is my binder for the concentrate. It also gives some sweetness and creaminess to the mix and means you won’t have to add cream or sugar to the coffee once you add the concentrate.
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – I use store-bought pumpkin pie spice for my concentrate but if you wanted to kick it up a notch further, you could make your own spice mix with a mix of nutmeg, ground cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. There’s a great recipe for this on My Baking Addiction if you wanted to try a homemade version.
- Vanilla extract – I think good vanilla goes so well in coffee and I wanted to make sure to add some to my concentrate.
- Other sweetener options – I thought this concentrate was pretty sweet for my tastes, but if you wanted it sweeter, you could add some maple syrup or honey to the concentrate as well. I would start with a tablespoon of the extra sweetener and adjust to your liking.
How to make the concentrate
This is pretty easy to make and you can multiply the recipe by 2 or 3 if you want to make a bigger batch. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. You could also use an immersion blender if you didn’t want to bust out the full-sized blender.
If you don’t have access to a blender, you can just whisk together the ingredients. Try to get them combined until they are smooth and creamy.
Once you have the homemade pumpkin spice latte concentrate mixed, transfer it to a mason jar and store it in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Nutrition facts for the concentrate
As I mentioned the store-bought PSL is basically dessert. It’s not at all hard to beat that version when it comes to nutrition. Even if you use a generous two tablespoons of pumpkin pie latte concentrate in your morning coffee, you are getting less than half the sugar and about a quarter of the fat in your coffee from the store-bought version. Not bad!
Use the Concentrate to make a pumpkin spice latte
Once you have the concentrate mixed up, you can add it to any coffee for a nice fall flavor boost.
If you want to make a true latte, make your espresso and then mix in 1-2 tablespoons of the concentrate plus hot water and or steamed whole milk. You could also use almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk if that’s your preference.
The good news is that you absolutely do not have to have an espresso setup to use this concentrate. You can stir it directly into whatever your normal coffee setup is. Even just standard drip coffee works well and tastes fantastic if you stir in a few spoonfuls of the spice concentrate.
Making an Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte
If you are making an iced version of the classic using this homemade pumpkin spice latte concentrate, you want to start with cold-brewed coffee. Add the concentrate and blend it together really well. Again, an immersion blender or milk frother would be a great tool for this, but you can just stir it well and it’ll work. Pour that over ice and enjoy your iced version of the drink!
How to finish your drink
Your morning coffee will be much improved with just a few tablespoons of the concentrate stirred in, but if you want to kick it up a notch, top your coffee with some whipped cream and ground cinnamon or ground nutmeg. SO good!
Other uses for the concentrate
I thought of a few other ideas where you could maybe use this jar of deliciousness. I didn’t actually test these, but I think they would work well.
Oatmeal – Stir a tablespoon into your morning oats for a nice pumpkin flavor.
Ice Cream – Drizzle the concentrate over your bowl of ice cream at night for a quick pumpkin ice cream sundae.
Steamed Milk – If you make steamed milk for your kids, they will love a spoon full of this mixed in.
Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte Concentrate
Equipment
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice seasoning
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Pumpkin Spice Latte:
- 2 tablespoons concentrate, from above
- 6-8 ounces coffee, hot or iced
- Whipped cream
- Ground Cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine pumpkin puree, condensed milk, spices, and vanilla in a blender. Blend until smooth and store in a jar in the fridge.
- Use concentrate by the tablespoon in your morning coffee or latte.
Vyom Overseas
Your blog is impressive, thanks to the quality of your recipes & other content.
Mike LeBaron
I’m not a big fan of sweet coffee drinks, but really like pumpkin. This is a good mix and not as sweet as the coffee shops make so it’s a win.
I just found this website. It’s got some interesting recipes that I plan to try. Thanks.