Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice {Copycat Recipe}

Warm up your chilly fall days with this homemade Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice, a copycat version of the coffee shop's popular drink. The cozy juice-based hot drink is easy to recreate at home with lots of options for making the elements from scratch or using store-bought ingredients.

Jump to:

• 🍎 What is the Caramel Apple Spice?
• ❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
• 🗒 Ingredients
• 🥣 How to make cinnamon dolce syrup
• 🍮 How to make caramel sauce
• 🍦 How to make homemade whipped cream
• 🍵 How to make the Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice
• 🎉 Variations on recipe
• 🧊 Can I make this drink iced?
• 🍬 How to make drink with less sugar
• ⏲️ Can I steam apple juice in microwave?
• 🍏 Can I use apple cider?
• ⚡️ Is there caffeine in this?
• ☕️ More Starbucks fall drink copycats
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

You know that I'm always eager to find out what new drinks Starbucks is offering each season. And while the new drinks are always fun to try and talk about, I also find myself constantly relying on the old classics.

Starbucks' Caramel Apple Spice really is the most perfect drink for fall, especially for anyone looking for a non-coffee drink. It's been around for a long time and did you know that it's actually available at the coffee shop all year round?

The simple ingredients it's made with aren't technically seasonal, but they combine to make an incredibly warming fall-forward drink that's so satisfying on a cold day. And it's a drink that's SO easy to make at home!

🍎 What is the Caramel Apple Spice?

Starbucks' Caramel Apple Spice is a really basic hot drink. It consists simply of steamed apple juice, cinnamon dolce syrup, and whipped cream with a caramel drizzle.

Despite the fact that its name starts with the word "caramel," there's no actual caramel in the drink... It's only drizzled over the whipped cream topping.

Each of the elements of the drink is available at Starbucks all year-round, but when there's a chill in the air, I really start craving the hot apple drink.

❤️ Why you'll love this recipe

If you love the idea of drinking a cup of sweet warm apple cider on a cool fall day, this is the drink for you!

Not only is it the perfect Starbucks drink for anyone who doesn't drink coffee, it's also a super easy drink for you to make at home. Almost all of the ingredients can be purchased, but I'll also show you how to make them from scratch if you prefer.

The Caramel Apple Spice is packed with apple and cinnamon flavor, lots of sweetness, and a touch of caramel.

Oh, and when you make it at home, you can customize it to make it the most perfect drink for you!

🗒 Ingredients

You don't need many ingredients to make this Caramel Apple Spice. And even better, for three of the ingredients, you can choose to make your own or buy them.

If you buy the syrup, caramel sauce, and whipped cream, you can enjoy this drink in just minutes! But you know me, I'll always provide options for making your own ingredients!

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

• Apple juice: I'm a Mott's girl, but you can use your favorite apple juice brand.
  
• Cinnamon dolce syrup: you can make this at home with my cinnamon dolce syrup recipe (I'll provide details in this post) or you can use a store-bought cinnamon dolce syrup.
  
  The one I linked above is the one Starbucks uses, but you can feel free to use a less expensive one if you prefer. Cinnamon dolce is essentially just sugar (often brown sugar) and cinnamon, so you can use any brown sugar cinnamon syrup.

• Whipped cream: you can use store-bought or make your own. When I make my own, I use the whipped cream recipe in this post.
  
• Caramel sauce: You can use store-bought caramel sauce or use the easy recipe I provide in this post.

Here's what you need for the cinnamon dolce syrup:

• Water
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar: dark or light, but I prefer dark
• Cinnamon sticks: you can substitute with ground cinnamon if you prefer
• Vanilla extract

Here's what you need for the homemade caramel sauce:

• Brown sugar: dark or light
• Unsalted butter
• Half-and-half: you can substitute with heavy cream if you want
• Salt

And if you decide to make your own whipped cream, you'll need:

• Heavy cream
• Confectioners' sugar
• Vanilla extract

🥣 How to make cinnamon dolce syrup

The caramel dolce syrup is really easy to make at home if you decide to go that route. It's essentially just a simple syrup made with two kinds of sugar (granulated and brown), water, and cinnamon sticks. If you don't have whole cinnamon sticks, you can use ground cinnamon.

All you have to do is put water, both kinds of sugar, and cinnamon sticks in a medium-size saucepan and bring mixture to a boil.

Once boiling, lower heat and let mixture simmer for about 10 minutes, until syrup has thickened (note that it will continue to thicken as it cools).

Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Strain cinnamon sticks out of syrup and pour into a heat-proof bowl or mason jar.

Place bowl or jar in fridge to cool completely before using.

🍮 How to make caramel sauce

To be honest, I'm a big proponent of using store-bought caramel sauce for this drink. You're only using it as a drizzle, though you're, of course, welcome to add more to the drink.

However, I did make my own super easy caramel sauce based on Starbucks' recipe and am sharing it with you here. You're also welcome to use your own caramel sauce recipe.

For this one, all you have to do is add brown sugar, butter, half-and-half (or cream), and salt to a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat.

I've never made a caramel sauce where I've added all the ingredients to the saucepan at once, but it definitely made the process extremely easy.

Stir to combine and let cook for one minute.

Then reduce the heat to a low and simmer, without stirring, for about 8-12 minutes, until caramel sauce has a deep amber color.

Keep a close eye on it because it can start to darken pretty quickly and if it gets too dark, it may have a burnt taste.

Remove from heat and store in a mason jar or other airtight container. Store in fridge and let cool completely before using.

Your caramel sauce will likely thicken as it cools and you may need to microwave it briefly so you can drizzle it over the whipped cream.

🍦 How to make homemade whipped cream

It's also perfectly fine to purchase the whipped cream for this drink. I used store-bought for these photos... I have to admit that I like the aesthetic of aerosol whipped cream as it has a distinct look compared to homemade dollops.

But to make your own, you just have to put heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, about 4-5 minutes.

If you don't have a stand mixer, you can make it in a large bowl with a hand mixer or with a wire whisk and a lot of elbow grease!

If not using immediately, store in fridge.

🍵 How to make the Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice

Now that you have all your ingredients purchased or made, you can whip together this delicious fall drink!

All you have to do is steam the apple juice.

I recommend putting the apple juice in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat. I generally steam two batches of the juice at once so I can make two drinks.

Each grande size drink has about 1 ½ cups (12 oz.) of apple juice in it.

Now, stirring occasionally to ensure even heating, heat until the juice reaches between 130°F-160°F. I like to use a candy thermometer to keep a check on my juice temperature

If you don't have a thermometer, just heat the juice until it's nice and hot, but not boiling.

Remove the saucepan from the heat and pour or ladle the juice into heat-proof mugs.

Add the cinnamon dolce syrup. Starbucks uses 4 pumps of syrup. There is some discrepancy on how much syrup is in a pump, but the general belief is that there is about 1 Tbsp (½ oz) of syrup in each pump in hot drinks.

So, for a grande Caramel Apple Spice, you'd add 2 Tbsp of syrup.

I think this makes for a pretty sweet drink, so you may want to add less. Of course, you can add more if you love a sweet apple drink!

Now all you have to do is top the drink with whipped cream and add a nice generous drizzle of caramel sauce.

I mean, doesn't this just look like fall coziness in a mug? The flavor actually reminds me of apple pie. It's so cozy and sweet and comforting.

It will be easy to make this drink one of your family favorites since it's also a great option for kids who you want to avoid caffeine for. Remember it does have quite a bit of sugar in it (according to Starbucks, a grande has 70 grams of sugar), but you can also easily half the recipe for kids or use less additional syrup.

🎉 Variations on recipe

This copycat recipe is basically just what you'd get if you ordered the Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks. But, of course, you can customize it any way you want to!

Here are some ideas:

• Add caramel sauce or caramel syrup to the drink. Since it's called a caramel apple spice, it almost feels like there should be more caramel involved, right? I love the idea of stirring a little caramel into the drink... But you might want to cut down on the amount of syrup.

• Add a pump or two of chai tea concentrate for even more fall spices. You can do this in place of the cinnamon syrup or do half and half.

• Add steamed oat milk, almond milk, or coconut milk for a sweet apple crisp like drink.

• Add a shot of espresso. I guess that would make it a dirty caramel apple spice, right? If you're adding the coffee, I also highly recommend adding some steamed dairy or a non-dairy alternative.

• Serve it affogato style. Instead of pouring espresso over vanilla ice cream, pour this caramel apple drink. Talk about indulgent!

• Garnish the drink with a cinnamon stick or sprinkle some ground cinnamon over the whipped cream.

🧊 Can I make this drink iced?

Um, yes! You most certainly can. An Iced Caramel Apple Spice has a whole different vibe to it, but is so perfect for those in-between days when you're in the mood for fall flavors, but don't want a hot drink.

If you're making the drink iced, you don't have to steam the apple juice. I recommend putting the cold apple juice and syrup in an ice-filled shaker and shaking to combine. And then pouring the mixture (ice included) into a glass and topping with whip and caramel.

If you're making it iced, you may as well top it off with a cinnamon caramel cold foam. Yum!

🍬 How to make drink with less sugar

This is a pretty sugar-heavy drink, but you can certainly make it with less sugar if you prefer.

I recommend using a low-sugar apple juice and adding less cinnamon dolce syrup to the drink. You can also use a sugar-free cinnamon syrup and can even use a sugar-free caramel sauce.

⏲️ Can I steam apple juice in microwave?

Sure! If you don't feel like heating your apple juice in a saucepan, you can always just heat it in a mug in the microwave. This is especially easy if you only want a single serving.

I recommend heating it at a lower power, like 50%, so as not to scald it.

Feel free to also warm the apple juice in your slow cooker. This is especially great if you're making this drink for a fall party.

🍏 Can I use apple cider?

You definitely can. I'm all about drinking fresh apple cider in the autumn, so even those Starbucks uses apple juice in their caramel apple spice, you can certainly use cider instead.

But I also think that adding the cinnamon syrup to the hot apple juice actually gives it a warm apple cider feel to it.

⚡️ Is there caffeine in this?

Nope! This is a decaffeinated drink, which is actually quite rare for Starbucks!

☕️ More Starbucks fall drink copycats

Though you can get the caramel apple spice any time of year, I definitely consider it a fall drink! If you're looking for more Starbucks copycats for fall drinks, here are some of my favorites:

Though I'm a coffee lover, I'm counting this Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice as one of my very favorite things this fall. It's perfect when I want a little sweet treat with no caffeine involved.

Just imagine cuddling up on your couch on a chilly fall day with a good book and your own homemade caramel apple spice Starbucks drink.

Let me know if there are any drinks or foods you would like to see a Starbucks copycat recipe for!

📖 Recipe