Make your own pumpkin pie spice (a.k.a. pumpkin spice) with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice and use this DIY combo for your fall baking!

You want to make pumpkin pie (or some other delicious fall recipe) and you look in your spice cabinet to find out you’re out of pumpkin pie spice. What do you do now? Make your own pumpkin pie substitute! It’s easy.

I always make my own pumpkin pie spice instead of buying a separate jar of it. It’s so easy to make your own and I’ll show you how below.

Substitute for Pumpkin Spice

What is pumpkin pie spice made of?

Simply, it’s a combination of ground cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and allspice. Some pumpkin pie spice recipes use either allspice or cloves or they use both.

For example, McCormick’s Pumpkin Pie Spice does not include cloves but, uses allspice.

I include cloves in my recipe below but, if you don’t have it, you’ll be good to go with using allspice in the same quantity instead as they’re similar in flavor.

I believe whole heartedly, you’ll have a great substitute for pumpkin pie spice if you just use cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves.

Also worth mentioning is that nutmeg is not included in some pumpkin pie recipes, yet nutmeg is included in pumpkin pie spice.

I’m going to say that is perfectly fine. You can use about two teaspoons of this pumpkin pie spice substitute in just about any pumpkin pie recipe!

How do I make pumpkin pie spice from scratch?

Mix together:

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (optional)

Next, put the mixture into a sifter and sift the spices to get the little clumps out.

Last, store in an airtight container.

If you don’t have allspice, you can easily omit it, as not all pumpkin pie spice mixes include it anyway.

I use allspice in my Slow Cooker Brown Sugar Balsamic Chicken. It’s one of my most popular recipes because it’s flavorful and easy-to-make.

I’ve used emptied containers of McCormick spices to make my own spice blends like my DIY spicy chili seasoning. It’s a good way to store this substitute for pumpkin spice.

Now, here are some ideas for using this pumpkin pie spice substitute.

Brown Sugar Pumpkin pie
Pumpkin bread and other pumpkin desserts use pumpkin spices.
Pumpkin whoopie pies
Roasted Pumpkin Pie Soup
Spice cake
Pumpkin Gingerbread Bundt Cake
streusel toppings

Making your own spice blend is so much cheaper than buying one in the spice section of the grocery store. It only takes minutes to measure up your own blend using this simple recipe.

You can double or triple this spice blend to keep handy or just make it for one recipe, it’s up to you.

Now you can really get your groove on with fall and holiday baking with this pumpkin pie spice alternative!

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