Try this tasty roasted pumpkin seeds recipe for a great way to use those pumpkin seeds, along with how to roast a pumpkin, pumpkin recipes and more!
Roasting Pumpkin Seeds and Pumpkin Recipes
Peter Piper Picked a Profoundly Plump Pumpkin — Now what does he do with it?
Every fall I get many questions about what to do with pumpkins. Many people find curious fascination in imagining what it would be like to grow these versatile little gems, as if growing something that produces a large fruit is somehow more respectable than growing, say, a Serrano pepper. Many people eventually venture into pumpkin experimentation. Some succeed and many fail. Much like a dog that chases a car, many people never give thought to what they would do if they actually succeeded in successfully raising a patch of these fall favorites.
Whether you have found yourself with more pumpkins than you know what to do with or you are one of the people who had to buy pumpkins and duct tape them to the vine, these tips for roasting and using pumpkins are sure to help you make the most out of them (no matter how you acquired them)!
How To Roast A Pumpkin
You can only do this with a freshly carved pumpkin! Do not use on a pumpkin that has been carved and sitting out for several days.
If your pumpkin is small enough that you can fit it in your oven, just place the entire pumpkin on a cookie sheet and bake, uncovered, at 375° for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the pumpkin. When you can easily insert a knife inserted into the side of the pumpkin, it is done. Then cut in half, remove seeds and remove pumpkin pulp.
To bake a fresh pumpkin that won’t fit in your oven, halve the pumpkin crosswise and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place halves, hollow side down, in a large baking pan covered with aluminum foil and add a little water. Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until fork-tender. Remove. When cool, scrape pulp from shells and puree, a little at time, in food processor or blender. Mix with a little salt.
To freeze pumpkin puree. Put 1-2 cups in freezer bags along with spices and use in pies.
To use pumpkin puree for recipes: Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth or a flour sack dish towel and let the pumpkin sit to drain out the extra moisture BEFORE cooking with it. Pumpkin is very moist, so in order for your recipe to come out correctly, you MUST strain it.
A 5 lb pumpkin makes about 4 1/2 cups of mashed (pureed) pumpkin.
a 15-16 oz can of pumpkin equals about 2 cups of mashed pumpkin.
So if the recipe calls for a 15-16 oz can of pumpkin use 2 cups.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Salt or Seasoned Salt
Boil the pumpkin seeds in water for 5 minutes. Drain well. Sprinkle with salt or seasoned salt. Place a thin layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees. Stir after 30 minutes. Bake 1/2-1 hour more or until crunchy.
*Squash seeds may also be used.
Ranch Pumpkin Seeds
2 tsp. Ranch Seasoning Mix
2 Tbsp. butter or oil
Drizzle butter over pumpkin seeds. Then sprinkle ranch dressing mix over seeds. Stir every 15 minutes for 30-45 minutes until seeds are golden brown.
Dill Pickle
2 tsp. Dill
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Salt
4 tsp. Black pepper
2 tsp. Vinegar
2 tsp. Olive Oil
Mix dry ingredients together. Drizzle oil over seeds and then sprinkle dry ingredients over seeds before roasting. Stir every 15 minutes for 30-45 minutes until seeds are golden brown.
Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/8 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/8 tsp. Black Pepper
Mix dry ingredients together. Sprinkle over seeds before roasting. Stir every 15 minutes for 30-45 minutes until seeds are golden brown.
Pizza Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp. Basil
1/2 tsp. Oregano
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Mix dry ingredients together. Drizzle oil over seeds and then sprinkle cheese mixture over seeds before roasting. Stir every 15 minutes for 30-45 minutes until seeds are golden brown.
Cinnamon and Sugar Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Salt
2 Tsp. Butter, melted
Mix dry ingredients together. Drizzle butter over seeds and then sprinkle sugar mixture over seeds before roasting. Stir every 15 minutes for 30-45 minutes until seeds are golden brown.
Pumpkin Pancakes
2 cups flour
2 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup pumpkin
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1/2 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
Combine ingredients. Stir just until moistened; batter may be lumpy. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat; brush lightly with vegetable oil. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle; cook until bubbles begin to burst. Turn and continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes. Serve with Pumpkin Maple Sauce and nuts.
Pumpkin Maple Sauce
1 cup maple syrup
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
Mix everything together until well blended.
Find Part 2 Of This Post Here!
For even more great pumpkin recipes including an easy homemade pumpkin muffin recipe, check out part 2, Easy Pumpkin Recipes – Muffins and More!
And here are even more tasty pumpkin recipes and treats!
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My favourite pumpkin recipe is this. Cut off a section at the top if the pumpkin and scoop out all the seeds. Fill the cavity with cubes of pork that have already been browned and small cubes of potatoes, onions and carrots in a thick gravy. Put the lid back on the pumpkin and tie down or wrap tightly with foil and bake in oven until done. You can take the lid off and test to see if the meat is cooked. Serve with rice, or mashed potatoes. You nay need some extra gravy on the side. It is scrumptious!
This is the first year I’ve had such success with the little beasts so I’ll not throw away the seeds now.Thank you , Jill.
Great recipe too and so simple.Thanks, Cynthea
We always bake squash and pumpkin cut side down. Instead of water in the cavity though I put in an icecube, it is easier to handle. I like Cynthia’s recipe above. My mom used to stuff acorn squash with browned savory sausage, stove top stuffing and cheddar cheese! Yum-o.
Love anything made with pumpkin. Really enjoy reading your newsletter. Have a great day!! L
I love your newsletter. Just thought I would let you know, the new PointsPlus points on the cake mix with pumpkin is 5 pts (if you do 12 muffins, w/o the chips)
Thanks for all your ideas,
jo
If you make puree with your own pumpkin, approximately how much puree do you need to equal one can of pumpkin?
A 5 lb pumpkin makes about 4 1/2 cups of mashed (pureed) pumpkin.
a 15-16 oz can of pumpkin equals about 2 cups of mashed pumpkin.
So if the recipe calls for a 15-16 oz can of pumpkin use 2 cups.
If I’m going to just eat a cooked pumpkin or squash, I leave the seeds and strings in for more nutrition. I scoop out the seeds if using for baked goods.
Thanks for reminding us to strain out the pumpkin juice for baking. I always justed cooked it to dryness!
That pumpkin maple syrup sounds so good and different.
RE: Pumpkin Muffins
What size cake mix? With or without pudding in the mix?
What size can of pumpkin? Thanks
Just a regular size box of cake mix (16 oz) and it doesn’t matter on the pudding, a 15-16 oz can of pumpkin.
I made the pumpkin muffins with yellow cake mix (with pudding) and some chocolate chips and they are great.
I dearly love the Delicata squash. It has a sweet and rich flavor, almost like a cross between pumpkin and sweet potato. It’s very hard to find here in Southern California, but I just moved to a place with room to grow plants, so that and tomatoes are at the top of my list for spring. I’m sure it will work well in these recipes, although my favorite way to cook it is just cut it up and scoop out the seeds and put it in the steamer of my rice cooker. The seeds taste just like pumpkin seeds when I used your recipe above.
I made my first pumpkin pie using fresh pumpkin last night. I bought the pumpkin at the Farmers Market. It is really easy to use fresh pumpkin. A lot easier than I thought it would be, and the pie came out great. I also roasted the seeds using the instructions from your cookbook and they came out great too. I’m so happy that I got enough pumpkin to make 3 pies from one $1.50 pumpkin, which is cheaper than canned and fresh. I may even make the muffins or cookies.
The pumpkin pancake and pumpkin maple syrup sounds yummy:) I will have to try this
My husband wanted me to make pumpkin pickles. I had never heard of them until I met him so after 36 years we are going to try them today.
He is going to cut them up since he bought a couple fairly large ones. Heck I don’t like pumpkin so if he wants to eat them he is going to help with the making of them.
Wish me luck.
Still have apples to dehydrate both dehydrators are full. This will take a number of days so no great hurry.
About 40 lbs of different types of meat to can and freeze after cutting it up.
Would like to get it done by Wed. as we have to go out of town on Thursday and won’t be back until late Friday night.
One nice thing I learned this morning was that I can freeze the meat and can it later. Will have to keep that in mind.
Off to the salt mines for a bit. need lots of breaks as my feet are swollen with RA so not easy to stand for long.
jill .. never heard of using the pudding mix for the muffin recipe .. is that instant pudding mix (dry) or cooked mix (its just the mix, not cooked or added milk) .. just curious ..
and yes, i just use one can of the pumpkin puree to the boxed cake mix ..
just curious :D
Yes Rose it is instant pudding – dry. Sorry I try to usually say that but sometimes I forget to correct it in older recipes. One rule of thumb is usually in baking recipes like this you always use instant and add it dry unless they say other wise. One thing that helps to is if the pudding is suppose to be cooked they normally have extra milk written in the recipe and say some where in the instructions to mix milk and pudding. Hope this helps a little. I will try to catch those recipes better.
thanks for responding jill .. i appreciate it .. i was just curious .. i normally do not add the pudding in the recipe i use .. neither does my daughter .. she just adds the can of puree pumpkin and then folds in the chips .. i dont even do that .. i just use the can of puree pumpkin and then frost with cream cheese frosting ..
she told me she usually uses the reg chocolate chips (or semi sweet, i cant remember which one) but next time she is going to use the white chocolate chips ..
so many different versions for this one basic recipe .. adn all are sooooo good ..
hope all is well with u these days .. i am sure ur getting ready for your busy gingerbread men baking season .. walmart is having their usual holiday baking items display up now .. there are alot of pumpkin baking items out there this year . pumpkin bars, cookies, pudding, no bake cake… its nice to see this and gives alot of variety to choose from ..
stay warm and safe jill .. :D
what is best way to separate the pumpkin seed and the stingy pumpkin so i can roast the seed
One seed at a time. :) I know that is not what you wanted to hear. I have yet to find a really quick and easy way to do it other then just separate them with my fingers and most of the research I have done comes up with no other really easy way either but maybe one of your readers can give us a tim.
A quick and easy pumpkin treat from your frozen pumpkin pulp:
1 cup vanilla soy milk (I use light)
1 cup frozen pumpkin (I chip it off with a heavy knife.)
1 TBS. brown sugar or maple syrup (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)
a nice sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon and cloves.
Blend all in a blender until shake like. Stir in 1/4 cup sugar cookie crumbs or nilla wafer crumbs (optional).
Makes a full pint of shake. MY husband likes all the optional stuff but I like it just plain for a quick breakfast.
Yes, One seed at a time works. I was wondering too if there was an easier way, but I usually turn the radio on or music, and listen to it while I painstakingly pick each seed off those stings. It is worth it when done, and then are roasted. Yummy.
How safe is it to use pumpkin out of the can ? It has a low pH and I have seen recipes that call for non reheated pumpkin from the can.
Regular store bought pumpkin is perfectly safe to use from the can. They don’t recommend home canning pureed pumpkin like you use in pumpkin pie etc. It has to do with the ph, density and other things in the pumpkin. You can how ever freeze pureed pumpkin and I like to dehydrate mine into a powder which lasts forever and when I need some for pumpkin pie I just add water and it is perfect for pie.
Now you can can cubed cooked pumpkin but you must use a pressure cooker.
The pumpkin muffins are really good made with butter pecan or spice cake mix.
My kids always loved roasted pumpkin seeds, seasoned with salt and garlic powder, for snacks. One year, after they had all left home, I had a particularly large cache of the roasted seeds and just my husband and I to eat them. I found out that they were really good additions to a home-made version of party mix (sometimes known as ‘Nuts’n Bolts’) that I make at Christmas. I usually send a package of party mix to each of my kids for the holidays.
Don’t forget to use pumpkin as a vegetable or to make soup. Brown a little meat and some onions, add cooked pumpkin and you have a savory soup. Or cut it up and eat it like squash. Good for you and yummy too!
I never knew you could actually eat pumpkin seeds. This is good!
Is there any particular type of pumpkin that you use to make the puree or just use the pumpkins that are used for jack o’ lanterns? Sorry for the ignorance but this will be my first time to make my own puree and want to make sure I do it right. Thanks!
Don’t worry Alayna, that is a really good question one I wondered about too. We have always used the jack o’lantern pumpkins and they seem to do just fine. I’m not even sure I can tell any difference in the flavor of different pumpkins either because by the time you get all the different spices added you taste those mostly.
Yep! Jack’O’Lantern pumpkins are what you use to make pumpkin puree for pies, pumpkin butter, or what ever you like. I usually can my pumpkin for convenience sake later on, but freezing works just fine. For canning and for having a “drier” type of pumpkin puree, just cook the pumpkin as you like, mash it then strain it over night so the excess water will be separated off. I use a pillowcase, hung from the ceiling over a bowl, the same way I do to strain pulp to make crab apple jelly. Please note though, I would not use a leftover jack’o’lantern pumpkin that had a live candle in it, due to soot and/or pollutants from the candle smoke. Only jack’o’lanterns that had a battery operated light or no lights put in them are suitable for eating, once they have been carved.
I should say for safety sake, that I have a very cool room (unheated utility porch, actually,) that I hang my pumpkin puree up in, to drain overnight. It is near freezing in this part of the country by the time Hallowe’en comes. I then refrigerate the pumpkin puree when I bring it in, and set up my canning station. It is a good reminder that when I say you can use carved pumpkin, I mean freshly carved pumpkin, as noted in the article above. Sometimes I forget that other parts of the country are not as cool as we are. Always, safety first.
I thought it was strange that the brown sugar cinnamon pumpkin seed recipe didn’t have any sugar in it, but I never tried making that flavor before so I tried it by following the recipe and it didn’t turn out the way I hoped. I’m wondering if maybe the recipe meant to say sugar where it says salt?
Neko so sorry. That was our fault we left out the sugar. It should have a 1/4 cup of sugar in the recipe. Of course you can adjust the sugar and all the spices to your own taste too. Thank you for pointing this out to us.