Spicy Harry Potter Inspired Pumpkin Juice Recipe

One of my favorite daydreams as a kid was to have the ability to jump into my favorite books to interact with the characters and explore their world. And that’s exactly what happened when Husband and I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of both Universal Studios Florida parks!

JK Rowling approved every. single. thing. in Hogsmede and Diagon Alley all the way down to the food. Universal set up a test kitchen in England so JK Rowling could select what she imagined when she created pumpkin juice and all of the other fantastic wizard food and drinks that appear in the series.

 If you have food allergies read my Lazy Budget Chef post How to Vacation at Universal Studios Orlando with Food Allergies before you go!

Unfortunately the way I envisioned the taste of pumpkin juice does not match J.K. Rowling’s vision of pumpkin juice.The official Harry Potter version of pumpkin juice is a sweet apricot juice based drink.

It is too sweet for my taste. Not to mention, I expected pumpkin juice to have more pumpkin spice in it than what I drank at The Wizarding Worlds. I expected something like a spicy fall apple cider but with the mild taste of pumpkin instead of apples.

So I decided to make a less sweet and more spicy pumpkin juice recipe myself!

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You will need:

5 3/4 Cups of pineapple juice

2 Cups of apple juice

1 and 1/4 Cups of pumpkin puree – you can learn how to bake a fresh pumpkin and make pumpkin puree here. You can use canned pumpkin puree if you like, I won’t tell.

Tip: If your pumpkin treats are on the bland side, it may be the brand, age, or blend of pumpkin spice you use instead of the fruit itself. I used to fall for the ‘cooking with big pumpkins is bland, only use the little pie pumpkin' thing until I bought a bottle of Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice when I ran out of McCormick. Turns out it was the brand and blend of spices that made the difference to our taste buds not the size of pumpkin.

1/2 Cup of sugar – this seems like a lot of sugar to add to the sugar that is already in the fruit juice but you need it to counteract the acid in plain pumpkin puree.

2 Teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

1/2 Teaspoon of vanilla extract

Make it:

1. Stir to thoroughly combine the pineapple juice, apple juice, pumpkin pure, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla extract in a pot on the stove over medium heat.


2. Allow the pumpkin juice mixture to come to a boil.


3. Reduce the heat and allow the pumpkin juice to simmer for approximately 30 minutes while occasionally stirring the mixture so the ingredients completely dissolve and to allow the heat to release the flavor from the pumpkin spices.


4.Optional: Strain any dissolved pumpkin pulp from the pumpkin juice through a metal sieve if desired. I skip this step because I like my pumpkin juice on the thick side like fresh pressed apple cider.


5. Remove the pumpkin juice from the stove and either serve it hot or chill the pumpkin juice mixture in the refrigerator for a few hours and serve cold.

 Aicco Pumpkin Juice!

6. Drink, enjoy, repeat!

Update October 2019: On my recent revisit of the Harry Potter areas of Universal Studios, I bought pumpkin juice in a bottle and the seller suggested I shake it because the spices settle in the bottom of the bottle. After doing so it tasted MUCH better than on the visit where I drank it without shaking the bottle the first time I visited which inspired this recipe.

If you'd rather buy than DIY, check out the pumpkin juice options - and more! - below!


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