Healthy Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte (Is PSL Healthy?)

Pumpkin spice latte is the signature drink of the fall. It consists of a velvety foamy latte infused with the delicious spiced flavors of pumpkin spice and topped with whipped cream. While this classic fall favorite is super delicious, is the pumpkin spice latte healthy?

Pumpkin spice latte can be a very unhealthy drink given that a serving of the drink consists of a whopping 390 calories, with 14 grams of fat and 52 grams of carbs, making it less than ideal for purposes of staying fit. 

However, you can still enjoy this drink with just a few modifications - the key to making this drink help rather than hinder progress towards your fitness goals is to substitute and portion the high-calorie ingredients.

Jump to:

• 💭 Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Nutrition – Is It Healthy?
• 🍏 How To Order or Make A Healthy Version
• 🍎 Calories and Nutrition
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions
• 📖 Substitutions and Variations
• 🥡 Storage
• 🍳 Recipe

💭 Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Nutrition – Is It Healthy?

To understand the calorie and nutrition content of the pumpkin spice latte, it’s helpful to look at the core ingredients that make up the drink. The drink is made of four main components: the coffee, the pumpkin spice sauce, the milk, and the whipped cream. 

Coffee – Coffee is the main component of this dish and has very few calories - an 8-ounce serving of coffee has about 1 calorie and will not add a significant amount of calories to the dish.

Pumpkin Spice Sauce – The pumpkin spice sauce is what gives the pumpkin spice latte its signature flavor. According to Starbucks, their syrup consists of sugar, condensed skim milk, and pumpkin puree. A pump is about 30 calories each and a grande consists of 4 pumps, adding a total of 120 calories to the drink!

Milk – In the Starbucks original recipe, 2% milk is the default. While 2% milk isn’t too bad in terms of calories, for purposes of lowering calorie consumption, it's best to opt for lower calorie milk alternatives, such as skim milk or almond milk. 

For more information about the calorie content of different kinds of milk, check out this article on the healthiest milks.

Whipped Cream – This is another big source of calories from the drink. A ¼ cup serving of heavy cream adds a whopping 200 calories. 

Looking at each component, it’s easy to see how the beloved pumpkin spice latte is a whopping a total of 390 calories, largely from its high fat and sugar content.

Thankfully, it’s not hard to make or order a low-calorie Pumpkin spice latte — let's look at how we can make a few tweaks that will make this classic fall drink easy to fit into your everyday diet.

If you liked this recipe, check out the following:

• Healthy Philz Mint Mojito recipe for another healthy coffee drink
• Thai Butternut Squash Curry
• Is Butternut Squash Soup Healthy?

🍏 How To Order or Make A Healthy Version

Ordering At Starbucks

Pumpkin Spice Sauce – Limit to 1-2 pumps at most

Milk –  Opt for skim or almond milk for a lower calorie alternative 

Whipped Cream – It’s best to omit this altogether

Making it At Home

Pumpkin Spice Sauce – Make your own with pumpkin puree, vanilla extract, pumpkin spice, and sugar for a lower-calorie version. More detailed instructions are below.

Milk –  Opt for skim or almond milk for a lower calorie alternative 

Whipped Cream – It’s best to omit this altogether

🍎 Calories and Nutrition

According to the Starbucks menu, a typical Grande-sized Pumpkin Spice Latte comes at a whopping 390 calories with 14 grams of protein, 14 grams of fat, and 52 grams of carbs.

Pumpkin Spice Latte (Original)
Ingredient	Quantity	Calories	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Carbs (g)
Coffee	1 serving	1	0	0	0
Whipped Cream	¼ cup	147	6	9.4	20
Milk 2%	1 cup	122	8	4.6	12
Pumpkin Spice Syrup	4 pump	120	0	0	20
Total		390	14	14	52

This is almost the same amount of calories as a meal! 

Most of the calories come from the sugar in the pumpkin spice sauce, contributing to the high carb content, and the whipped cream. 

Using the ingredient swaps and omissions mentioned below, you can make a much lower calorie pumpkin spice latte with the following calorie breakdown: 

Pumpkin Spice Latte (Skinny)
Ingredient	Quantity	Calories	Protein (g)	Fat (g)	Carbs (g)
Coffee	1 cup	1	0	0	0
Almond Milk	1 cup	39	1	3	3.5
Pumpkin Spice Syrup	2 pump	60	0	0	10
Total		100	1	3	13.5

The skinny pumpkin spice latte only has 100 calories with 3 grams of fat and 14 grams of carbs. This is a much more manageable amount of calories. 

📋 Ingredient Notes

To make your own pumpkin spice latte at home, you’ll need the following ingredients. 

Pumpkin Sauce

I used this easy recipe from Liv B to make the pumpkin sauce. Here are the key ingredients.

Sweetener – I only use 1 teaspoon of sugar here, which is only 15 calories. If you would prefer not to use sugar, feel free to swap out for stevia. 

Pumpkin spice – Key for the spiced flavor 

Pumpkin Puree – Used to give the pumpkin flavor. 

Vanilla extract – Help flavor the sauce

Water – Gives the sauce the right consistency

Latte Components

Low-Fat Milk – I used almond milk. You can also use macadamia milk or low-fat milk. Oat milk is another popular plant-based milk but is higher in calories. It doesn’t mean you can’t use it, but just something to be mindful of when you’re tracking calories.

Coffee – Lattes are generally made with espresso, but not at all have espresso machines at home. Here are some other options:

• Coffee (Pour Over or whichever method you usually use)
• Cold Brew (Great if you’d prefer an iced drink)
• Nespresso or any similar machine (A great way to get a makeshift espresso)

🔪 Step-By-Step Instructions

Make the pumpkin sauce – Start by mixing the pumpkin sauce ingredients together in a saucepan. Mix thoroughly and bring to a simmer, stirring regularly to prevent the mixture from burning. Let simmer for about 10 minutes, transfer to a container if not used right away, and let cool.

Assemble the iced latte – Start by adding the pumpkin sauce to the bottom 

Add the ice and milk – Add the ice, and pour in the milk. 

Add coffee – Top the mixture with coffee. Garnishes with cinnamon sticks and/or star anise if desired, and enjoy your delicious skinny pumpkin spice latte.

Note: While the layered latte looks cool, I would recommend mixing it thoroughly to have a more even-tasting pumpkin spice latte. 

📖 Substitutions and Variations

Without Espresso – Feel free to use iced coffee, cold brew, or normal coffee from a Nespresso.

With other milk – Skim milk, macadamia milk, and soy milk are other great low calorie options.

With low-fat whipped cream – If you cane imagine the latte without whipped cream, find yourself some light whipped cream to top it off.

Alternative sweeteners – You can also use stevia or monk fruit sweetener to sweeten the latte to your liking.

🥡 Storage

I would recommend consuming the latte immediately, but you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for a day.

🍳 Recipe