Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
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The perfect pumpkin shell pops right open and doesn’t crumble and break the seed inside. My mom has a pumpkin patch and we always look forward to pumpkin puree and of course the seeds. Mom has found that baking at 200°F for 3 hours is the key for avoiding a crumbling shell. You can add any spice or salt to these before baking, but we like ’em plain. It makes for an ideal, guilt free snack without the salt-raw tongue.
Yeah yeah I know this post is a little late for all those halloween pumpkin seeds, we don’t celebrate halloween so I completely forgot. Whoops. Anyway, it’s been a whirlwind of a weekend! We filmed 2 videos this week and can’t wait to share them with ya! PS. those are my sons hands in the picture above. I love sweet little fingers.
Ingredients:
3 medium size pumpkins, or 2 large
How To Make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:
Preheat your oven to 200°F at step 2.
1. Cut pumpkin in half and use your hands to remove seeds. Try to avoid removing the pulp.
Kids love to help with this, but don’t expect a pulp free-extraction.
2. Put fresh pumpkins seeds in the colander, give them a good rinse and remove any stray pulp. Then lay the seeds out on a kitchen towel and place second towel over and pat them dry. Note: we use kitchen towels because we’ve found they stick way too much to paper towels.
3. Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake for 3 hours at 200°F. Give them a stir once every hour. We put two baking sheets of seeds in the oven at once. Taste test after 3 hours to see if they are ideal enough for ya.
For a more golden tint, broil for a couple minutes, but remember they can burn crazy fast so stir them after a minute and check on them often!
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients
- 3 medium or 2 large pumpkins
Instructions
- Cut pumpkin in half and pick out the seeds.
- Preheat oven to 200°F
- Rinse the seeds in water, then dry them between kitchen towels.
- Spread pumpkin seeds on the baking sheet and bake for 3 hours, stirring them once every hour. Test the seeds before removing from the oven.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
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Oh wow, thanks for reminding me–I’ve been so busy lately I forgot all about pumpkin seeds! I usually stock up on pumpkins from a farmers market in November when they’re trying to get rid of them just so I can roast the seeds.
That’s smart!! I hadn’t thought of that.
I just made these, followed the whole recipe. Cooked for 3 hours in 200 degree oven and the seeds are really hard to peel. The inside feels done but the shell is super hard and the seed is just stuck to the sides. What can it been? Are they under cooked? I had to turn them off cause they were turning medium brown already and didn’t want to burn them. Any advice? I still have 3 more pans to make and want to make them just right! Thanks.
If they are already browning, taste test them at an earlier interval- like at 2 hrs then 2.5hours. The timing can vary by seeds as well since they aren’t all exactly the same.
Did you figure out why the seeds were stuck to the shells? I’m having the same problem!
Hi Natasha,
I just watched your spinach dip video on youtube. It was amazing. I found it just because I was looking for some recipes and I saw your video. Just wanted to let you know that I love your videos as much if not more than I like the step by step photos because it’s even easier to follow when you demonstrate how to make it. Are you going to have anymore videos on youtube? If yes, would you be able to tell us on your site to look for your videos so we would know exactly when you have a new one posted?
Thank you so much for all the hard work that you put into your site and your videos.
Thank you Sarah; I’ll put up a link to youtube soon; probably when this video officially goes “live”; I’m waiting to get it approved by Kettle 🙂 I’m still trying to get my footing with videos, but I am enjoying it 🙂 I’m glad you liked the video; I appreciate the feedback. There will be more videos this coming year; we are going to be investing in a better camera and lens (our current camera doesn’t shoot video).
We love pumpkin seeds here…..we had about 8 pumpkins on Halloween so my husband, daughter and I saved all the seeds and roasted them. My husband being of Turkish background munches on pumpkin seeds all the time…..actually his friend in Turkey rents out land in the Ukraine to grow pumpkins for seeds. He said they are the best…..and then wholesales them in Turkey. If you ever go there to Turkey they are all cracking the pumpkin seeds at the movies and not popcorn like here.
Thanks you for sharing your recipe.
That’s cute; pumpkin seeds at the movies 😀
My parents used to roast pumpkin seeds when I was little, and I loved to crack them and get the seed out of each one. 🙂
Same here! It’s awesome to have fun memories like that 🙂
Ps I love your blog. Lovely photos!
I love pumpkin seeds! I made some this year and wanted to blog them too but, I just got back into the swing of things today. I guess I’ll wait and we’ll have to enjoy yours! 🙂 I love kids hands too…so sweet!
Thank you Suzie 🙂
I’ve only done it once, I tossed them with oil and taco seasoning and called them “scabs” on our Halloween table. LOL! Yours are lovely.
Thank you Veronica, I also made some before with cayenne pepper, paprika and garlic salt. They were pretty good too :).
I have a request for you!! Do you have a recipe for Pumpkin kasha with rice? My mom used to make it, and I never thought of getting the recipe.
My husband has been after me to make a pumpkin kasha. We’ll see if we can come up with something postworthy :
Mmmmmm 🙂 I made some recently they were SO GOOD. I sprinkled mine with some salt before baking. I actually had some acorn seeds left over from my butternut/acorn squash soup, so instead of tossing them I put the seeds in the oven and wallah a taste snack. Next time I will try your suggestion of 200 degrees, I did mine at 350 some were kinda burnt lol. Thanks Natasha keep ’em coming =)
I’ve never tried seeds from a butternut squash. Are those good too? I actually have oen of those lying around in my garage; don’t know what I’m going to do with it! 🙂
Yes they are good!! They are like mini pumpkin seeds. In this weather I love to make squash soup, I put lots of spices in it like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice. I usually roast my squash in the oven with other veggies then blend it in a pot with some chicken stock and some cream. Really filling and satisfying on a cold day 🙂
Oh yum. That does sound so good! Thank you for sharing. I’ll try that soon!