Are you ready? All your pumpkin spice dreams are coming true right now! You can't rely on Starbucks to give you a vegan pumpkin spice latte but I sure can deliver.
I recently discovered you can get an oat milk pumpkin spice latte at Peet's Coffee. It was good, but a little overly sweet. Also, I don't want to be spending $7 on a drink regularly! That inspired me to make my own concoction and my recipe makes about 3 whole cups of pumpkin spice syrup so you need not worry about running out!
You'll use this spiced pumpkin syrup to make pumpkin spice lattes all autumn long. But even better, you can use this thick syrup for so many other things too. All you do is reduce pure pumpkin puree, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, spices, and nondairy milk in a pot, then strain it to get a smooth, silky, and fragrant pumpkin spice syrup.
Thankfully vegans can readily find nondairy whipped cream now at grocery stores. It's a must for a beautiful and tasty pumpkin spice latte. Peet's pioneered carrying vegan whipped cream back in 2016, but disappointingly it's now discontinued. That's why homemade is better!
I can think of even more ways you could use this pumpkin spice latte syrup. You could drizzle it on ice cream, use it as the filling for a pumpkin spice cinnamon roll, mix it into buttercream frosting (which then goes on the pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls!) or use it mixed into a french toast batter! Ok all of those ideas have me drooling. And I've got plenty more pumpkin recipes, both sweet and savory on the blog too. There's pumpkin pasta, pumpkin soup, pumpkin scones, muffins, and cheesy puff pastry rolls!
One of my absolute faves is the pumpkin spice latte pie. Yes, I made that! It's a bit more work than this vegan pumpkin spice latte so start with the recipe below and get inspo to level up to pie-making status.
vegan pumpkin spice latte
Ingredients
pumpkin spice syrup mix (makes 3 cups)
- 1 (15oz / 425g) can pure pumpkin puree
- 1 C packed light brown sugar
- ¼ C maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cinnamon stick or 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon whole cardamom pods or 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 C unsweetened nondairy milk
- ¾ C water
pumpkin spice latte (2 small lattes)
- ¼ C to ⅓ C pumpkin spice syrup, divided
- 2 shots of espresso
- 1 C unsweetened nondairy milk
- nondairy whipped cream
- ground cinnamon, as garnish
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract, all the spices, sea salt, nondairy milk, and water. Whisk occasionally until at a low simmer. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Lower heat further as needed to prevent it from spurting!
- Strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl or large liquid measuring cup. Using a spatula or spoon stir portions of the mixture in the sieve. Whatever easily comes through is the good stuff. There will be less than 1 cup of mixture remaining in the sieve that is just too chunky for a silky smooth and delicious latte!
- Use 2 to 3 tablespoons of pumpkin spice syrup per drink, depending on the size of your cups. I used 8 oz mugs. Put the pumpkin spice syrup in the bottom of your cups. Add espresso—you can obviously adjust to taste and make it a single or double shot per latte. Steam the nondairy milk. Add the milk to your cups and top with whipped cream and garnish with a shake of ground cinnamon.
Lauren Toyota
Lauren is a plant-based powerhouse, a former TV host turned wildly successful food creator, best-selling cookbook author, and the woman responsible for making vegan comfort food a thing worth craving. Through her blog and YouTube channel, hot for food, she’s amassed a dedicated following by recreating all the nostalgic, indulgent dishes we love—mac & cheese, burgers, cinnamon rolls—but making them entirely plant-based. No compromise on taste, no weird ingredients, just damn good food.