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RECIPE

Roasted pumpkin seeds from your carving pumpkin

Yes, the seeds from a carving pumpkin make a good snack. Rinse them, simmer them for 10 minutes in salted water, dry them well, and roast them at 350°F (175°C) until golden and crisp all the way through.

Save the seeds when you first open the pumpkin, not after it has been carved and displayed. If you won't roast them within 2 hours, put them in the fridge.

The recipe

Makes about 1 cup. Prep 15 minutes. Cook about 30 minutes (10 to boil, 15 to 25 to roast). Total about 45 minutes, including a few minutes of drying.

A medium carving pumpkin usually gives 1 to 2 cups of seeds. Scale everything in proportion, and use a second baking sheet rather than crowding one: piled-up seeds steam instead of crisping.

Ingredients

Steps

  1. Heat the oven. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and heat it to 350°F (175°C).
  2. Rinse the seeds. Put the seeds in a bowl of cool water and rub them between your fingers. Most seeds float and the strings sink. Skim off the seeds, then pick off any strands that still cling.
  3. Boil in salted water. Bring the water and salt to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the seeds and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain.
  4. Dry thoroughly. Spread the seeds on a clean kitchen towel and pat them dry. Let them sit for a few minutes until the shells look dull, not shiny.
  5. Oil and spread. Toss the seeds with the oil or butter on a rimmed baking sheet and spread them into a single layer.
  6. Roast. Roast for 15 to 25 minutes, stirring every 5 to 7 minutes, until the seeds are light golden brown, smell nutty, and sound dry when you stir them.
  7. Test and cool. Cool one seed for a minute and bite it. It should be crisp all the way through. Cool the batch completely on the pan, then add any finishing seasoning.

Getting the seeds out: scoop the seeds and strings into a big bowl while you open the pumpkin, before any carving. Your hands are the best tool. Pull clumps apart over the bowl of water and the seeds slip free.

Why boil them first?

Boiling is optional, but it fixes the two most common complaints about homemade pumpkin seeds: bland insides and shells that burn before the kernel is done.

The trade-off is one more pot and the need to dry the seeds well afterward. Any water left on the shells turns to steam in the oven and makes them chewy.

No time to boil? Skip step 3, dry the rinsed seeds well, and roast as written. Expect a few more minutes in the oven and less salt inside. For a gentler roast, the National Center for Home Food Preservation dries seeds first (a dehydrator at 115 to 120°F, or 46 to 49°C, for 1 to 2 hours, or a warm oven for 3 to 4 hours), then roasts them with oil and salt at 250°F (120°C) for 10 to 15 minutes.

Recipes vary a lot, and none of them is wrong. The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension boils seeds for 30 minutes in water with 2 tablespoons of salt per quart, then roasts them at 300°F (150°C) for 30 to 40 minutes. Food Network Kitchen skips the boil and dries the seeds at 300°F for 30 to 45 minutes before oiling and roasting them for another 20 to 30. Our version sits in the middle: a short boil, then a hotter, shorter roast you can watch.

How to tell they're done

Ovens and seed sizes vary, so go by the seeds, not the clock. Start checking at 12 minutes.

They crisp a little more as they cool, so pull them when they are nearly there, not when they look very dark.

Five flavor variations

Each is for 1 cup of boiled, dried seeds. Savory spices go on with the oil in step 5. Sugar burns quickly at 350°F, so sweet coatings go on near the end.

  1. Smoky garlic: add 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika and 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder with the oil.
  2. Chili lime: add 1/2 teaspoon chili powder and a pinch of cayenne with the oil. Grate the zest of half a lime over the seeds while they are still warm.
  3. Za'atar: roast with olive oil, then toss the hot seeds with 1 to 2 teaspoons za'atar.
  4. Cinnamon sugar: roast with melted butter. For the last 5 minutes, toss with 1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
  5. Maple spice: for the last 5 minutes, toss with 1 tablespoon maple syrup and a pinch each of cinnamon and salt. Stir once more after 2 minutes and watch closely. They set crisp as they cool.

If you boiled the seeds, go easy on salty blends; they already carry salt inside.

Carving pumpkin seeds, pie pumpkin seeds, and pepitas

SeedShellHow to cook it
Large carving pumpkinBig seeds with tougher, thicker shellsBoil first and roast the full time. If the shells feel woody, crack them open like sunflower seeds and eat the kernel.
Small pie or sugar pumpkinFewer, smaller seeds with more tender shellsCheck early. They are often done at the short end of the range.
Other winter squash (butternut, acorn, kabocha)Varies with the squashSame method. Tiny seeds brown fast.
Pepitas (green, no white shell)Hull-less or already hulledSkip the boil. Toast in a dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until they puff and pop, or roast for about half the time.

The green "pepitas" sold in stores are the seed without its white hull. Some come from hull-less (naked-seeded) pumpkins, whose seeds grow with only a thin, papery coat over the green kernel. Plant breeders developed them as a snack crop precisely because they can be eaten without hulling. A carving pumpkin's seeds have the full white shell, which is edible once roasted crisp.

Food safety

Storage and shelf life

Let the seeds cool completely before you close the container. Warm seeds sweat and go soft.

Pumpkin seeds are rich in oil, and old seeds turn rancid: they smell like paint or stale nuts and taste bitter. If they do, throw them out.

More for pumpkin night

Carving this year? Make a pattern from a photo

Sources