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Pumpkin puree is one of those simple and satisfying recipes to make yourself with pie or sugar pumpkins. Use in pie or any recipe calling for pumpkin puree.
The whole time I’ve been working with fresh pumpkin in the kitchen recently, I’ve been astonished that I’ve never done it before. We are traditional pumpkin pie eaters at Thanksgiving, and though my mother would like to have it more frequently, that’s about it. She always opened a can, and so did I.
The homemade puree is simple, though, especially if made ahead before the frost is on the pumpkin, and frozen so you have it on hand when you’re ready to bake.
Don’t forget to toast the seeds! Try my Zaatar Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (and I’m partial this the Lebanese Za’atar in my online shop!). Cooking like this reminds me of the stories Sitto used to tell about being raised on a farm. They wasted not one thing ever, so I’m sure they’d even have found a use for the top of the pumpkin, stem and all.
Rinse the seeds and remove as much of the pulp as possible. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and dry out. Toss with a drizzle of olive oil or melted butter and several pinches of salt. Bake at 350 degrees until toasty, nutty brown, stirring occasionally. Hide these…then eat them while handing out Halloween candy to the kids, preferably with a good glass of wine hidden behind your jack-o-lantern.
Pumpkin Puree
Ingredients
- 4 lb. pie or sugar pumpkins
Instructions
- Wash the pumpkin thoroughly and slice off the top. Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise from the stem end down. Scoop out the strings and seeds. Don’t worry if it won’t all come out easily; once the flesh is roasted it will be easy to scoop out the rest.
- On a lightly oiled or parchment-lined heavy baking sheet, place the pumpkin cut side down. Turn on the oven to 400 degrees, and place the pumpkin in. Pre-heating doesn’t matter when roasting like this because the pumpkin can begin to roast from the lower temps on up to temperature
- Roast for about 90 minutes, or until the flesh is very soft and a knife inserted meets no resistance. Remove from the oven and cool until the pumpkin can be handled. Scoop out any remaining pulp and discard. Scoop the flesh away from the skin and discard the skin.
- Puree the cooled roasted pumpkin in a food processor until smooth. Store in quart-sized zip-lock bags. Refrigerate if using the puree within a few days, or freeze now for Thanksgiving cakes and pies. If the puree is very watery, drain briefly in a cheesecloth or sauté in a pan on low heat to remove some of the moisture.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Maureen this old post is so on point (and evergreen) as I bought 2 sugar pie pumpkins today because they are cheaper than pay for the skyrocketing inflated cost of Libby canned pumpkin (if you can find it) right now!
I think we’re all going to be making our own this season!!! I’m going to look for a can of Libby next shopping trip to see if our shelves are bare of it here too. Thank you Mariangela!
I’ve always roasted my pumpkins with the seeds in; so doing makes the flesh more flavorful. The seeds really plump up…for the folks who roast the seeds I’m thinking they would be extra flavorful as well.
Clever!!
Maureen, do you use it in vegetarian kebbeh?
Sure can, you might need to adjust for the water content or drain the pumpkin.
IT TASTES so different … and better! We’ve been astonished. Got our cooking pumpkin in our Allen Neighborhood Center Veggie Box, or we might still be opening cans. And your long-ago recipe for Zatar-coated pumpkin seeds are to DIE FOR!
Really does!! Thank you Joann!
My husband salts seeds after cleaning. He puts them on unlined cookie sheet (no oil) & bakes at 200F to dry moving them around every 15 minutes til dry. Once dry he rubs them between his hands to remove excess salt. He raises temperature to 350F and bakes til dry inside & light tan color outside stirring them around again occasionally. To eat, he cracks them around the edges between his front teeth starting at the pointy edge and extracts the meat of the seed and discards the rough outer shell.He just eats the meat inside the shell–like a parakeet! I’m almost getting to the point where I can do the same.
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A little Tamari or Soy Sauce sprinkled over the seeds toward the end of roasting makes a nice treat.
That sounds great, Greg. I’m going to try adding tamari next time.
Great post! I have not made pumpkin puree myself and want to try. I live in Chicago so I know what you mean about it being hard to go and buy a pumpkin and carve it. We are the same way!
We started to see pumpkins here in the orchard and we just cut them up (minus the outer skin) and stuff in ziploc bags into the freezer!
My Mom adds curry powder to the pumpkin seeds for an extra kick, and the puree makes divine pumpkin soup. 🙂