Categories: Health

Homemade Apple Pie Spice

This time of year everyone is going nuts over pumpkin pie spice. While it is delicious in everything from pumpkin pie to homemade lattes, apple pie spice is another fall favorite. With its intense flavor profile, it’s the perfect addition to your spice cabinet.

What is Apple Pie Spice?

This yummy blend of aromatic spices is often used in the cooler months to flavor apple pie and other apple dishes. It’s very similar to pumpkin pie spice, but my version omits the ground cloves and instead adds cardamom. Some people don’t like the flavor of cardamom, so it can be omitted if preferred.

You can add a few teaspoons of apple pie spice to sweet desserts, but it’s equally at home with savory dishes. This bacon apple chicken recipe is a good example.

Apple Spice Ingredients

With just five ingredients, this spice recipe is simple and easy to put together. And fresh spices are so much better than a premade blend that’s been sitting on store shelves for who knows how long. Not only does it add a flavorful kick to dishes, but it has plenty of health benefits.

This blend contains warming herbs that are perfect for chilly days. The spices also have antimicrobial benefits to ward off pesky viruses and bacteria that are more prevalent this time of year.

Cinnamon helps balance blood sugar, reduces inflammation, and helps regulate blood pressure. Ginger helps with digestion, stimulates circulation, and is helpful for illness, especially coughs. Another beneficial spice in this blend is cardamom. It’s not only high in antioxidants, but it may help lower high blood pressure, fight inflammation, and aid digestion.

How To Use Your Apple Pie Spice Mix

There are so many delicious ways to use this that it’s hard to narrow them down!

Try some apple pie spice in some homemade apple sauce. I added some before canning and my kids couldn’t get enough! If you cook the applesauce with spices in the crockpot on low for a few hours, you’ll get delicious apple butter.
Add some to sliced apples and bake in an almond flour pie crust. Apple pie spice also works well in apple, pear, or peach cobbler. Or try it in some berry crisp.
Make French toast with homemade sourdough bread (or a homemade gluten/grain-free bread). Add a sprinkle of apple pie spice to the toast and a drizzle of maple syrup.
Use it as a topping for a salted caramel latte. Add a little homemade whipped cream first for an even more decadent version.
Add some to homemade vanilla ice cream before churning for a fall-themed flavor. Then use it to top a slab of apple pie!
Use apple pie spice for more savory dishes, like baked sweet potatoes, apple pork chops, and sausage-stuffed apples.
Try adding it to homemade apple cider. Bonus, it makes your house smell great while it’s simmering!
Mix some into waffle or pumpkin pancake batter before cooking. Top with sliced, cooked apples and maple syrup.