Pumpkin spice seemingly steals the spotlight— every fall season. While we’re not mad about it (we’re huge fans of the flavor ourselves), there’s another healthy pumpkin-related food that often gets overlooked: Pumpkin seeds! Sure, you can buy them at the store, but that takes the fun out of making them yourself. There are few things more satisfying than the crunch of a fresh, hot pumpkin seed in your mouth after putting in a little bit of effort to get them just right. And honestly, what else would you do with all those pumpkin seeds from your kid’s Jack-O-Lanterns?
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- One large pumpkin
- Salt and pepper
- Olive Oil
- Warm water
WHAT TO DO:
- Get the hard part over with first. Carefully cut off the top of your pumpkin and use a large spoon to scrape out the “guts” and seeds into a large bowl. If you can, separate the seeds from the stringy pieces of the pumpkin as you go. (We assume you’ll be carving the pumpkin as well, so be sure to really scrape the insides!)
- Set the pumpkin aside— we’re sure you’ll need it later, but not for the sake of this recipe!
- Begin separating any remaining guts from the seeds, placing them in separate bowls. Discard the cuts (but if you have any additional use for them, we’d love to hear!)
- Rinse the pumpkin seeds in warm water, taking care to remove any last bits of pumpkin strings. It helps to use a colander! They may need several rinses. We promise, totally worth it.
- Soak the seeds in water for about ½ an hour— you can even salt the water a bit to help the seeds soak up a bit more flavor.
- Drain the seeds.
- Boil a pot of water and add the seeds in, boil for about 10-15 minutes just to get the insides cooked.
- While the seeds boil, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Drain the seeds.
- Toss the pumpkin seeds in olive oil and spread onto a baking tray (take caution to make sure they’re not overlapping!). Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then pop into the oven.
- Check every 10 minutes or so until they start to brown (about 40 minutes). It’s important to shift the seeds around a bit while they’re baking and to keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly (too hot and they’ll burn your mouth!)
- Store in an airtight container (that is, if you don’t finish them all right after they’ve cooled!).
Tip: Try different flavor variations! We love cajun, but you can also use garlic salt, Italian seasonings, or any other delicious combination.
