I Made the Viral Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread and Now I Understand the Pumpkin Spice Hype

Maybe it’s the skeptic or the contrarian in me that makes me reluctant to join in on new cultural trends and hop on bandwagons, but I’m not afraid to admit that I'm usually late to the proverbial “party.” It’s a thing that I’m looking to change, but it may take me a bit of time. For example, fall has always been just the season that followed summer to me. Likewise, “PSL” was just an acronym used by us Floridians to identify Port St. Lucie. With one swipe of any social media account, however, you'll quickly be shown that to many, fall is now pumpkin spice latte (or PSL) season.

Related: Starbucks' Halloween Cups Dropped Early—Here's Where to Find Them

Every year, the fan-favorite seasonal ingredient sweeps through the nation, offering up a highly sought-after remix to many franchises’ normal menus. You would be hard-pressed not to find something pumpkin-flavored being advertised at your favorite grocery store or chain restaurant right now. And one of the main places you'll find the pumpkin flavor in abundance is Starbucks.

While I'm normally not a frequenter of the chain, during a recent TikTok scroll session, I stumbled across a Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread recipe from a creator by the name of Shannon that stopped me in my tracks. In an effort to see what all I could be missing on the pumpkin spice train, I decided to give the recipe a try and see if it's really worth the hype.

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Ingredients for the Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

The list is quite long, but each ingredient plays its part. You’ll need a single can of pumpkin, ripe bananas, eggs, rolled oats, baking soda, a pinch of salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon, vanilla extract, maple syrup and — of course — chocolate chips.

How to Make Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

Although the list of ingredients is kind of long, the cooking process is actually short and sweet. To get started, all you need is a blender and a loaf pan. You’re going to take all of your ingredients (minus the chocolate chips) and mix them in the blender until it resembles cake batter.

Next, fold in your chocolate chips and pour the batter into the pan. Add a few additional chocolate chips to the top of the loaf and throw it in the oven at 350°F for about 30 minutes.

Related: Why Your Starbucks PSL Will Cost You More This Year

What I Thought of the Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

I now understand why they call this time of year PSL season. The smell of pumpkin and nutmeg is quite overpowering before the loaf goes in the oven, but after baking, the notes are quite subtle.

The loaf was soft, moist and surprisingly not too sweet, which is what I honestly expected prior to tasting it. The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger helps balance the pumpkin flavor and the addition of the chocolate chips brings just enough sweetness to make things interesting.

Tips for Making the Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Bread

1. Keep it in the oven a bit longer. If you're like me and enjoy a firmer quick bread, you'll want to keep it in the oven a bit longer. Keep in mind though that all ovens are different, so you'll want to be sure to keep an eye on the bread if you decided to bake it longer.

2. Make it your own. While this recipe did produce a delicious treat, I personally could do without the chocolate chips on top. I could, however, see myself adding a layer of frosting to the top to turn this copycat Starbucks offering into a new pumpkin dessert that's perfect for me.

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