Pecan Oatmilk Cortado {Starbucks Copycat}

The Starbucks Pecan Oatmilk Cortado is a milky espresso drink sweetened with pecan syrup and topped with a crunchy nut topping. With this copycat recipe, you can make the drink at home!

Jump to:

• ☕️ What is a Starbucks cortado?
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 👩‍🍳 Tips for making
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🍂 More Starbucks pecan copycat recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

Happy fall 2025 from Starbucks! Lots of customers are upset the coffee shop isn't bringing back apple drinks (I've got you covered with the Apple Crisp Macchiato, the Apple Crisp Shaken Espresso, and more), but are thrilled the Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Latte is back!

And after the success of 2024's Brown Sugar Oatmilk Cortado, Starbucks is launching a new cortado drink this year: the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado.

I'm happy to be sharing an easy make-at-home recipe for the new cortado with you!

☕️ What is a Starbucks cortado?

As we discussed with the original cortado launch, a Starbucks cortado differs quite a bit from a traditional Spanish cortado.

Typically, a cortado is a coffee beverage that consists of equal parts espresso and steamed milk, typically served in a small (generally 4 or 4 ½ ounce), usually Gibraltar or Duralex Picardie, glass.

The name comes from the Spanish word "cortar," which means "to cut" as the strong espresso is being "cut" with steamed milk.

A standard cortado is 2 ounces espresso (roughly 2 shots) and 2 ounces of steamed milk, for a total of 4 ounces of liquid.

However, Starbucks serves their cortados in 8 ounce glasses and they definitely don't use the 1:1 ratio of espresso to milk.

The drink does have 3 shots of espresso, but they are "ristretto" shots. While a typical shot of espresso is 1 ounce, a standard ristretto shot is about ½ ounce. They're stronger than the typical espresso shot, but that's still only 1 ½ ounces of espresso in the cup.

And since brand standards state Starbucks must fill the cup just about to the top, they're filling the rest of the cup with steamed milk and froth. So, their cortados have 1 ½ ounces of espresso, a little syrup, and a lot of milk! This means the standard Starbucks cortado is almost as milky as a latte!

It's still quite delicious; just know when you order a cortado, it may be a little different from what you're expecting.

🗒 Ingredients

The pecan cortado is pretty similar to the brown sugar cortado, aside from using pecan syrup instead of brown sugar syrup.

Here's everything you need for the drink (be sure to view the recipe card at the bottom of this post for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions):

• Ristretto shots: if you don't have an espresso machine that can make ristretto shots, just use very strongly brewed espresso. You can even use Nespresso ristretto capsules.
• Pecan syrup: I'll show you how to make your own, but you can also use a store-bought bottle of pecan syrup if you prefer (you can even purchase Starbucks pecan syrup).
• Oat milk: you can use any kind of dairy/non-dairy alternative you want, but Starbucks uses oat milk in their cortado.
• Pecan crunch topping: I'll show you how to make this super easy topping, too.

Here's what you need for the homemade pecan syrup:

• Water
• Granulated sugar
• Chopped pecans (salted or unsalted): if you prefer, you can substitute with pecan extract
• Salt: only use if your pecans aren't salted

Here's what you need for the pecan crunch topping:

• Pecans (salted or unsalted)
• Granulated sugar
• Salt: only use if your pecans aren't salted

👩‍🍳 Tips for making

• If you opt to make your own pecan syrup, you can toast the pecans for both the syrup and the drink topping at the same time. Just remove the extra ¼ cup of pecans from the saucepan before adding. the rest of the syrup ingredients.

• Feel free to use salted or unsalted pecans. You'll just want to add a little salt to your syrup if you're using unsalted pecans.

• Once your syrup has simmered, I recommend letting it rest for about 30 minutes to let the pecan flavor continue to steep into the liquid.

• Then you'll want to strain the pecans out of the syrup. But note that you can save them for snacking or baking or even for topping ice cream with!

• Note that the syrup will continue to thicken as it cools. So, even though you're adding this to a hot drink for this cortado, I do recommend letting it cool before using.

• When stored in an airtight container in the fridge, the pecan syrup should keep fresh for about a month.

• Brew ristretto shots into a glass (I use these 8 oz. Duralex picardie glasses). If you don't have a machine that can make ristretto shots, simply make 1 ½ ounces of strongly brewed espresso.

• I recommend using 1 oz. of pecan syrup, which gives this drink a slightly sweet pecan flavor, but doesn't make it overly sweet. Of course, you can add more or less syrup if you want.

• Steam about 5 ounces of milk. I use the steam wand on my espresso machine, but you could also use a handheld or electric frother or put the milk in a mason jar in the microwave.

• Typically, cortados have very minimal froth on them, but the Starbucks
   recipe card does list foam for the drink and the drink does have a small layer of foam.

• Starbucks tops their pecan cortado with a pecan crunch topping (the same one they use for the Iced Pecan Crunch Latte and their other pecan drinks).
  
• It's easy to make with chopped pecans and granulated sugar mixed together (and salt if your pecans are unsalted). But you're also free to just top with crushed pecans. Or even a little cinnamon or nutmeg.

Even though Starbucks doesn't know how to make a "proper" cortado, I have to admit this Pecan Oatmilk Cortado is pretty delicious!

There's something about nuts and coffee (one reason Starbucks Pistachio Cold Brew is so popular!) and a hot espresso drink laced with pecan sweetness really hits with the onset of chilly weather season.

🎉 Variations on recipe

If you love the idea of this drink, but want to make substitutions or add different flavors, it's easy to do! Of course, the more you do to this drink, the further you'll be taking it from a standard cortado drink... But that's part of the fun of making your own coffee at home.

Here are some ideas:

• If you don't like oat milk, you can certainly use the dairy or non-dairy alternative of your choice to make this. Almond milk, soy milk, or coconut milk all work. As do whole milk, skim milk, or any other you want to try.
• If you're not a fan of pecans, use the syrup flavor of your choice. Or use the pecan syrup along with complementary flavors, like vanilla syrup, cinnamon dolce syrup, or sugar cookie syrup.
• Drizzle the drink with caramel sauce or mocha sauce for extra indulgence.
• Turn this into an iced cortado drink by shaking the espresso with ice and pecan syrup. Top the drink with oat milk.

Any perhaps the most important variation of all? If you want this cortado to be a more traditional-style cortado. Here's what I recommend:

• 2 ounces espresso (not ristretto shots)
• ½ ounce pecan syrup
• 2 ounces oat milk

Of course, a traditional cortado wouldn't use oat milk or a flavored syrup either, but at least the ratios are more accurate here!

🍂 More Starbucks pecan copycat recipes

Starbucks has a few different pecan drinks on their menu. And even if you don't see them on the menu, you can order them as long as all the ingredients are in stock. Or you can make them at home with these copycat recipes!

I have lots more Starbucks fall copycat recipes, too!

Are you a fan of the traditional cortado drink? Do you think Starbucks should continue highlighting these flavored espresso drinks?

📖 Recipe