The Best Substitutes For Pumpkin Spice If You Don't Have The Real Thing

When the days start getting cooler and the nights start getting longer, that means pumpkin spice time is right around the corner. It's entirely possible that you and those you love firmly believe that everything is better with this fall favorite, from pumpkin pie spiced fudge to pumpkin pie spice French toast. Sure, you might stock up on the premade version of this spice for all your autumn baking needs, but what if you run out? We actually have some brilliant ideas for substituting your own spice mix, and honestly, you may never go back to the store bought stuff again.

There's actually more room for experimentation here than you might expect, and there's one ingredient that you're going to need a lot of: cinnamon. Most pumpkin spice mixes lean heavily on the cinnamon, and add in allspice, ginger, and either cloves or nutmeg. A good ratio is 3:1 cinnamon and each of the other spices, but if you take a look back at the history of pumpkin spice, you'll find that there are a few variations on the idea that you might opt to use the next time you make a batch of pumpkin spice ice cream.

For starters, early pumpkin spice mixes likely included cardamom. Interestingly, the inclusion of cardamom is one of the things that separates apple pie spices from pumpkin spice, but if you're making your own, why not get creative? There are a few ways you can do that, while still ending up with a delicious fall favorite.

Here's a super-fun fact to share at Thanksgiving dinner: Americans have been flavoring their pumpkin pie with the same spices since the 1700s. That's when Amelia Simmons included a recipe for it in her cookbook, making her the first to do so. Early recipes called for a now-familiar mix of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice, but it wasn't until the 1930s that spice companies started marketing unique blends. That brings us to some replacement options that you can make yourself. 

First, let's look at spice giant McCormick. They used allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, which is a pretty standard flavor profile that we'd recognize as pumpkin spice today. A competitor — Thompson & Taylor — had released its own the year prior, and marketed it as a proprietary blend of nine different spices.

This was actually the first true, commercially available pumpkin spice blend, and they were marketed as a foolproof way to make pumpkin pies. While it's not 100% sure what the spices were, the likely lineup is allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg, along with black pepper, cardamom, mace, and star anise. There's at least one ingredient in there that sounds a little weird, but black pepper is actually the secret ingredient that your pumpkin pie needs. It is, after all, spicy and just a little bit goes a long way in adding a little extra kick to your final product. Should you keep this in mind for the next time you're going to make some pumpkin spice bread? Absolutely.