How to Roast a Pumpkin in 10 Steps
After my last post, many people asked me how to roast a pumpkin. Several others inquired as to whether canned pumpkin would work in my recipes (for more info on that click here).
Because fresh food in general tastes better and is often cheaper than processed food, I have put together a short demo on how to roast your own pumpkin:
- Choose a firm, small pie pumpkin, not more than 3-4 pounds; smaller pumpkins tend to be a bit sweeter
- Rinse the pumpkin under warm water, removing any dirt or debris
- Cut the pumpkin in half on a large cutting board, with a sharp knife
- Scoop out the seeds with a metal spoon, I use an old measuring spoon that has a nice edge
- Lay the pumpkin face side down in a large baking dish
- Cover with 1/4 inch water
- Bake at 350° for 45-60 minutes (depending on size) or until tender, using a fork to check
- Remove from oven and scoop out insides, discarding skin
- Store in refrigerator in a glass mason jar
- Keeps for 5 days in refrigerator (at the ready for your pie, muffin and custard endeavors)
If you are in a rush, cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces and it will cook faster. The pumpkin in the picture above was rather large (for a pie pumpkin) and I cooked it for 1 ½ hours. This was far too long (I became distracted during the endeavor) as you can see the pumpkin is rather overdone. However, I think it will still be usable for various dishes.
The above pumpkin preparation technique applies to any winter squash: butternut, buttercup, acorn, kabocha, hubbard, and more. I often substitute these squash in my recipes that call for pumpkin which works very well. For another handy little pumpkin cooking how to, click here.
Here's wishing you much fun in your pumpkin adventures!
Posted on October 24, 2008 in how-to by Elana
other entries you may like: How to Roast Beets
or Roasted Chicken Stock
or McKale
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"Check out Elana's FAQ page for info on substitutions -- there are just too many possibilities so she can't answer all of these : ) But the Forums are an excellent resource and I highly recommend posting your substitution questions there; everyone is friendly and helpful." -Katie
Elana,
Do you know if you can freeze the pumpkin after it is roasted?
Thanks - beautiful photos, as usual!
Great tutorial! Pumpkin rocks! I use a grapefruit spoon to degunk the insides; the serrated edges rock! And, as usual, I wonder if I couldn't roast the pumpkin in the crockpot with no water. :P
Thats interesting and I thought of the same thing but wondered if it will work since there is not sufficient heat.
Did you try it yet? Did it turn out?
I find it very hard to cut my favorite butternut squash now. Have discovered that I can roast it whole and then cut it and scoop.
[...] to combat the chill. Last night we carved pumpkins, so today I am roasting the seeds, and roasting some squash to make GF pumpkin muffins. I also experimented with making my own caramel without refined sugar, [...]
I recently read that squashes of all types can be roasted whole, thus eliminating the whole water in the pyrex dish thing and the need to split tough squashes. I have tried it with two different types, both over 2 pounds each, and they were fabulous! I roasted them in my convection oven for 1 hour at 375 (400 in a traditional oven). When they cooled I split them in half (quite easily) and then removed the seeds. They were YUMMY!
I totally agree that fresh tastes much better than canned and there are no exceptions to that rule! Out of the 100s of posts on pumpkins this is probably the most informative! You literally just have to throw it in the oven so there is just no excuse for not doing it yourself!
We have been roasting pumpkins in our family for generations ..... and we always pick out our pumpkins just Elana has said.
However, we cook them differently ... we roast them. It is a really easy way ..... cut a small circle in the top ... take off the little ‘handle’ and put about ¼ cup of water in the pumpkin. Put it in the oven for about 1 hour on 400F. The pumpkin comes out ready to peel. Split open the pumpkin and the seeds scoop out very easily. The pumpkin is roasted beautifully... and yes, it freezes very well.
Great post and just lovely photos too!
Michelle -I haven't done so myself, though would bet it's worth a try.
~M -I like the grapefruit spoon action. I wonder how it would come out in the crockpot? If you try that please let me know!
Margaret -Though I have not tried the roasting whole method, I am a big fan because of the simplicity; might give it a go one of these days.
Lori -I'm definitely going to be trying this method!
Niall -I couldn't agree with you more about the fresh versus canned. Thanks for your comment.
Caroline -Thanks for sharing your family's method and for the tip on freezing :-)
Joy the Baker -Thanks!
Just wanted to tell you that I put a link to your blog so people could find these directions in a comment I posted at Gluten-Free Girl in response to her recent entry on squash.
I freeze pumpkin "meat" all the time. It works great. You usually have to drain off a bit of water when it thaws out, but tastes the same in recipes.
I actually prefer peeling my pumpkin ahead of time after cutting it into smaller chunks than halves. Whenever I bake it with the skin on, it seems to disintegrate as I try to peel it off and then I'm left fishing litle bits of skin out of the "meat." If there's a tip on peeling off the skin with better success, I'd love to hear it. Thanks.
Last, wanted to mention that cushaw squash provides the same flavor as pumpkin (some say a tad sweeter) and gives you a "bigger bang for your buck" so to speak. Cushaws are very large and really don't have that much in the way of seeds, etc. to discard. They will keep for the better part of the winter in a cool spot (not freezing) before you have to cook them. I cook them and then freeze the "meat" just like I do pumpkin. If you are not familiar with them, they are crookneck squash that are green with off white stripes.
Shirley,
Thanks for the tips!
Elana
I don't remember where I learned this, but I found out that the reason that store-bought pumpkin is such a nice dark orange color as opposed to the lighter orange that you get with home cooked pumpkin is because they do not remove the peels. After I learned this, I tried it. I cut the pumpkin into smaller chunks, cooked them, pureed them in the blender with the peel intact, and then cooked it down further until it was nice and thick. It was much darker orange and I imagine has a lot more beta carotene. and it tasted great. I have a huge roaster pan cooking in the oven right now. I am going to try making my own home-canned pumpkin pie filling sweetened with honey.
Thanks for the tip on throwing in the skin and giving it a whirl in the blender! I would never have dreamed of doing that ... but I have two (2) lb pumpkins in the oven now ... I am going to give it a try. In our family, we eat a lot of soups blended with pumpkin ... pumpkin/pear, pumpkin/apple, pumpkin/carrot all done in chicken broth.
Kathleen -What a great idea! I'm going to have to try this. Saves time, labor and increases nutrients. Win-win all around
Caroline -Your soups sound delicious. Especially the pumpkin-apple. Yum.
I love homemade soups ... I make them weekly ... try some 'pumpkin pie spice' in your pumpkin/apple soups (chicken broth) along with a little cream. I have also used rosemary, garlic, ginger (with pumpkin/carrot..yummy) and basil (if I use basil, I use coconut cream .. a touch of Thai ...)
Kathleen-Thanks so much for that info! I had originally thought the dark color of canned pumpkin was food coloring, but didn't find it in the ingredients so I was baffled ... until now. I will definitely use this method next time around! It will make the pumpkin-baking task much easier and the baked goods more colorful. :-)
Elana,
Thanks for the link! I never even knew canned pumpkin existed until I wrote that recipe! Your easy to follow instructions here, should mean that everyone can roast up a pumpkin with ease.
I roast small pumpkins and other squash in the crock-pot: select a pumpkin that will fit into your crock-pot, wash and dry it, then place the pumpkin into the cooker with no water. Cook until it can be easily pierced with a fork. It's so much easier to cut it apart and separate the seeds when it's already soft and cooked! Even with my good knife I always have a hard time hacking tough pumpkins/squash in half when raw.
Shirley -I'm going to try this as well; it sounds amazing.
Naomi -You're very welcome and I completely agree.
Jenny -This method sounds fantastic. Thanks for your input.
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I wanted to thank you all for your insight and information. I have a pumpkin in the oven this very moment and had wondered if the skin could be incorporated as a pie filling. Thanks for such an informative website! I found you by mistake but have marked you as a favorite and look forward to checking in for futher tips. Who knows...I might even be able to offer something as I have been cooking for myself for 30 years.
I can't believe Americans eat canned pumpkin. I don't even think you can buy it in Australia. It sounds disgusting. I have never heard of anyone ever using it. Australians always eat roasted pumpkin with their roasts. I wouldn't recommend roasting it the way outlined here. That looks like a halloween pumpkin for starters. Find the most delicious for roasting. Then chop it into slices. Put in a roasting tray, finely chop some rosemary (a few tablespoons) and mix over the pumpkin with some best quality extra virgin olive oil, and also some good salt and a head of garlic, chopped in half and split up. Use your hands to mix it all in. No water! Roast until caramelised (say 60 mins at 180 celsius).
[...] the pumpkin fresh, don’t do canned – that’s gross. For how to roast a pumpkin, check out this blog (its [...]