Homemade Pumpkin Pureé & Roasting The Seeds

IMG_4371We tried growing our own pumpkins this year for the first time and…..  we got four perfectly orange round little pumpkins! (See the picture to the right.) We decided to carve two and use the other two for pumpkin pureé. I have never made pumpkin pureé before and discovered there are two ways to roast the pumpkins. I definitely prefer one way over the other. I’m not gonna lie, it is definitely work either way but I felt good knowing that we are using what we grew. And of course I had to roast the seeds too! 😉 Check out the pumpkin pureé recipe below (in a step-by-step process) and then some ideas on roasting the seeds. And here are my recipes for using the pumpkin pureé: Pumpkin Recipes.

homemade pumpkin puree

Homemade Pumpkin Pureé

There are two ways you can roast a pumpkin (that I know of). 1) You can put the whole pumpkin in the oven, or 2) Cut it in half or quarters, remove the insides, place on a baking sheet. Personally, I like just putting the whole pumpkin in the oven because it is so much easier to cut after it has been roasted. When I cut the pumpkin before cooking, I thought I was going to slice my finger off! No joke… I also hurt my back trying to do it. It was definitely a pain and I recommend roasting the whole pumpkin if it can fit in the oven (I pulled the stem off mine). It did seem like the ones that were already cut up came out softer but you can just cut up the whole pumpkin and stick it back in the oven to soften more. Anyway, I will show both ways to do it so you can make your decision. I got about 11 cups of pureé total from our two pumpkins. 🙂

IMG_4699Step 1. Preparing for the Roasting: If you are cooking the whole pumpkin then the only thing you need to do is rinse off the pumpkin really well and you might need to pull off the stem to fit it in the oven. If you want to do it the other way, cut up the pumpkin either in half or in quarters. Remove the insides (save the seeds to cook later if you want and toss the rest), and then place the pumpkin pieces on a baking sheet. For the whole pumpkin, I put a baking sheet on a rack below it just in case it dripped. It didn’t but I didn’t want to take any chances.IMG_4700

Step 2. The Roasting: Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes for a small/medium pumpkin. A larger pumpkin may need more time. You will know it’s done if you can cut into it easily. Cut off the stem of the whole pumpkin and then cut it either in half or in quarters. If it doesn’t seem like it’s done after you have cut it, you can always put it back in to roast longer. Then let all the pieces cool a little.

Step 3. Preparing for the Pureé: For the whole pumpkin, you will have to remove all the insides still but it should come out pretty easily (save the seeds to cook later if you want and toss the rest). Then you will need to peel off the outer skin from all pieces of the pumpkin(s). The skin should come off pretty easily too (see picture below). If not just scrape the pumpkin off the skin using a spoon. Toss the skin and cut up the pumpkin (like shown below).

prepping for the puree

Step 4. Pumpkin Pureé: There are a few ways you can make the pureé. You can use a Food ProcessorBlender (add a little water), Potato Masher, or you can even use a NutriBullet (or similar device) but you also have to add water to this one. I tried a couple different methods, the blender and the NutriBullet. Honestly I was about ready to start mashing with a potato masher! Just having to continue to add water and try to get it to blend up was a pain and then had to do several different rounds of it. It probably would have been much easier in a food processor or just mashing yourself with a potato masher. You can see a comparison below between the NutriBullet & my old blender. The NutriBullet pureéd it quite well. A little too good! It looks like baby food, lol. And the blender seemed to be the right consistency. I had to work with both quite a bit to get it to blend up.

pumpkin puree

IMG_4707Step 5. Storing the Pureé: The pureé is good in the fridge for up to a week, or you can freeze it for 6 – 8 months. I prefer to freeze it in 1 or 2 cup increments. You can use ziploc freezer bags or mason jars. I did some of each and prefer the mason jars because it isn’t so messy. Trying to fill the freezer bags was a pain and I can only imagine trying to get the pureé out of them when I go to use it. It will be a lot easier with mason jars but of course, more dishes to wash. (And you can reuse the lids and rings for the freezer as long as they aren’t rusty or bent (but you cannot reuse lids for canning unless you have the reusable kind)). If you use mason jars, make sure to leave some room at the top for expansion.

roasting seeds

Roasting the Seeds ~ Spicy, Sweet, & Salty

There are a few different recipes we like. Well, I should say that I like them. Kailey likes a couple of them but the boys aren’t as crazy about pumpkin seeds as we are. Anyway, here are a few recipes for you. You can double the recipe too if you have a lot of seeds. We like to make them different ways so we do 1 cup at a time.

spicy roasted pumpkin seedsSpicy:

  • 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (dried)
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
  • 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 1 TB olive oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the olive oil to a medium bowl and mix up the seeds to coat them. Then mix up the seasonings in a small bowl and add the coated pumpkin seeds. Mix up well. Lay them out on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

sweet pumpkin seedsSweet:

  • 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (dried)
  • 1 1/2 TB Sugar (I use raw cane sugar)
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
  • 1 TB olive oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the olive oil to a medium bowl and mix up the seeds to coat them. Then mix up the seasonings in a small bowl and add the coated pumpkin seeds. Mix up well. Lay them out on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

salty pumpkin seedsSalty:

  • 1 cup of pumpkin seeds (dried)
  • salt (sprinkle desired amount)
  • 1 TB olive oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Simply mix up the seeds with the olive oil in a medium bowl to coat them, and lay them on the baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle with desired amount of salt. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Another Option – Dill Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:
Just follow the same recipe as above but sprinkle the dill on top of the salt. I really didn’t taste the dill too much but just wanted to put the recipe out there if you like dill. 🙂 Picture below:

dill pumpkin seeds

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