Pumpkin Pie Spice vs Apple Pie Spice: Know the Blend

Pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice sound like they should be near-identical fall blends, but their ingredient ratios pull them in noticeably different directions — one leans warm and earthy, the other leans bright and tart-sweet.

Comparing the Two Spice Blends Ingredient by Ingredient

A pumpkin pie spice blend is typically built around cinnamon as the base, with ginger, nutmeg, allspice, and sometimes cloves layered in — the combination that made pumpkin spice recognizable in the first place. Cloves and allspice in particular give it that deeper, almost savory-warm edge. Apple pie spice, by contrast, is usually just cinnamon and nutmeg, occasionally with a touch of cardamom, and skips cloves and allspice almost entirely, which is why it tastes noticeably lighter and less complex on its own. Worth noting: we don't currently carry a standalone apple pie spice jar, but an apple crisp baking mix is built around that same lighter cinnamon-nutmeg profile and gets you most of the way to the flavor if you're baking with actual apples rather than needing the raw spice blend by itself.

Beyond baking, either blend works stirred into oatmeal, whisked into pancake batter, or dusted over roasted squash — pumpkin spice's added clove and allspice give it more presence in savory-leaning dishes like roasted vegetables, where apple spice can taste comparatively thin.

Swapping One for the Other in a Recipe

If a recipe calls for apple pie spice and you only have pumpkin pie spice, use about three-quarters of the amount called for — the extra clove and allspice in pumpkin spice are strong enough that a full swap can push a delicate apple dessert toward tasting like pumpkin instead. Going the other direction is easier: apple pie spice can substitute for pumpkin pie spice at closer to a 1:1 ratio in most recipes, since it won't overpower anything, though the result will taste a little flatter and less "pumpkin" than the real blend.

The Simple Swap Rule

• Baking a pumpkin dish and out of pumpkin spice — apple pie spice works at roughly 1:1, minus some depth
• Baking an apple dish and out of apple spice — use about 3/4 the amount of pumpkin spice instead
• Want the real apple flavor without assembling your own blend — the apple crisp mix already has the spice built in
• When in doubt, taste the batter or filling before baking — spice blends vary enough between brands that measuring alone isn't foolproof