How to Make Your Own Pumpkin Pie Spice and Does it Save Money?

Can you save money by making your own pumpkin pie spice in large or small batches? Let’s go over the numbers and share a recipe to make your own pumpkin pie spice!

We tend to use a lot of pumpkin pie spice in our from scratch home cookin’ – and I determined it made a lot more sense to make our own in bulk.

I like to keep a large jar of it close at hand in the kitchen, especially needful during the fall season.

If you’ve ever wondered if it would save you money to make your own pumpkin pie spice versus buying it already blended from the store, let’s look at some factors and help you determine what is best for you.

COMPARING BUDGET AND HIGH QUALITY SPICES

Of course every source is going to be slightly varied, but I thought I would look at 2 sources to give us an idea.

Let’s compare prices if you were to buy spices from:

• Walmart
• Mountain Rose Herbs

Walmart will give us a good idea of budget friendly costs, and Mountain Rose Herbs will give us an idea of high quality organically sourced spices. You can always shop around to determine your own exact prices, but this will give us a general idea.

COST OF STORE BOUGHT PUMPKIN PIE SPICE BLEND

To buy pre-blended pumpkin pie spice, here are the current costs.

• WALMART: $0.97 an ounce (for the cheapest option we could find)
• MOUNTAIN ROSE HERBS: $1.62 an ounce (for their blend)

COST OF BUYING THE SPICES TO MAKE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

Now let us look at the potential cost it would be to buy each spice individually and blend up your own.

• WALMART: $0.97 an ounce (for the very cheapest options currently available, using my recipe below)
• MOUNTAIN ROSE HERBS: $1.85 an ounce (using my recipe below)

IS IT CHEAPER TO MAKE YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PIE SPICE?

Looking at these numbers it is clear that it is NOT cheaper to buy the individual spices needed to make your own pumpkin pie spice!

This did surprise me! Did it surprise you?!

I think if you just need to quickly grab the blend from the store, you don’t need to fret that you are spending more money – rather than making your own.

This is especially relevant if you just need the pumpkin pie spice blend and not any extra of the other spices.

BENEFITS OF MAKING YOUR OWN PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

But there are other factors to consider, to determine if making your own would still be beneficial.

• Buying spices in bulk and making your own spice blend will allow you to have more stock of each individual spice that you can use separately in other recipes.
• You can control the ingredients! While the ingredients are usually listed on the spice blends (but not always), you don’t get a say for how much or what exactly is added.
• If you haven’t already noticed, the quality and potency of spices can greatly vary! After comparing some inexpensive market cinnamon to this cinnamon from Mountain Rose Herbs or my favorite Vietnamese cinnamon, the difference is obvious. I just can’t go back to buying the cheaper stuff because quality spices are so delicious! I love buying organic when I can as well.
• It is truly the easiest thing to whip up and you can make as much or as little as you need.

WHERE I BUY MY SPICES

I buy spices and herbs mostly in bulk from Mountain Rose Herbs. Here are my favorite sources for each spice you find in my recipe.

I love that you can typically buy them in 4 oz or 1 pound, although there is a very insignificant cost savings if you buy in 1 pound. If you only need 4 oz – stick with that!

• Cinnamon
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• Allspice
• Cloves
• Or buy their pumpkin pie spice blend

HOW TO MAKE PUMPKIN PIE SPICE AT HOME

Making your own pumpkin pie spice is not difficult! You will simply dump all the ingredients in a bowl and mix.

Store in a container (preferably glass) and it should last for 1-2 years. Avoid direct sunlight.

SMALL BATCH RECIPE

Here are the measurements you will need if you want to blend up a smaller batch of pumpkin pie spice.

• 3 Tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon clove

LARGE BATCH RECIPE

If you are like me, you are going to want a big batch to get you through the fall and winter. Here are the measurements:

• 1 cup cinnamon
• 3 Tablespoons ginger
• 3 Tablespoons nutmeg
• 2 Tablespoons allspice
• 2 Tablespoons clove

WHAT CAN I MAKE WITH MY PUMPKIN PIE SPICE

Here are some of my favorite recipes using our spice blend:

• Roasted Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds
• Healthy Pumpkin Muffins
• Healthy Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Bowl
• Pumpkin Crepes
• Pumpkin Dip
• Pumpkin Spice Crio Bru

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Go ahead and print out this recipe to have on hand when you need to make more!

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