How to Roast a Pumpkin

Sure using canned pumpkin from the store is fine, but ever wonder how to roast a pumpkin on your own? With Fall upon us, let’s learn how to roast our own pumpkin and see how much tastier it is!

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Why Roast A Pumpkin?

To be honest, I mostly use canned pumpkin in all of my recipes. It is too convenient! But there was one year that I visited a pumpkin patch and was given a few sugar pumpkins. I didn’t want to just use them as decoration. I had always wanted to try making my own pumpkin puree anyways. That’s when I embarked on roasting my first pumpkin to see if it tasted any different than the canned stuff from the store.

After I roasted the pumpkin and blended it into a puree, I tasted it. I was shocked! It was entirely different from the canned store-bought pumpkin! You won’t know unless you try it for yourself, but it was so much fresher and sweeter than the store-bought canned pumpkin. Besides that, the color is a vibrant and gorgeous orange instead of dark burnt orange like the canned. It almost looks like mango puree! I use it in my The Best Pumpkin Chili and freeze the rest in freezer Ziploc bags in premeasured amounts to be used in other recipes. Now I do this every year during pumpkin season!

What Pumpkins to Use?

Called Sugar Pumpkins or Pie Pumpkins, these are small pumpkins that are much sweeter and less fibrous than the common Jack-O-Lantern style of pumpkin. This makes them perfect for cooking with! The flesh becomes creamy and sweeter when cooked and can be used in sweet or savory recipes.

When picking out a pumpkin, there are a few things to consider so you get a good one. Obviously, make sure there are no soft spots on the pumpkin. You want a pumpkin with a uniform color all over and no mold spots anywhere. Then check the stem to make sure it has a firm stem without any mold or softness around it.

We try to eat seasonally in our house because it is usually cheaper to eat produce that is in season. Squash is so healthy and we honestly eat it year-round, but especially in the Fall when you can find some great squash varieties to experiment with! Sugar pumpkins are in the same family as acorn squash and butternut squash, and the taste is very similar. Just look here at the benefits of eating pumpkin and maybe this will convince you to include more squash into your diet!

How to Roast a Pumpkin

It couldn’t be simpler really. First, wash off any dirt that might be lingering on the skin. Then cut the pumpkin in half through the middle of its body (not through the stem because that would be hard!). Here’s the fun part and a great way to entertain the kids by including them! Scoop out all of the seeds and flesh and scrape the inside clean, but save the seeds for roasting as a snack if you want! My 3-year-old played for probably an hour by scooping out the seeds and playing in the pumpkin “guts.” That alone is worth buying a little pumpkin to roast haha.

Once it is cleaned out, just place them cut side down onto a foil-lined baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40-60 minutes. Cooking time all depends on the size of the pumpkin and how our ovens vary in cooking temperature/times. My pumpkin was just over 2.5 lbs and needed 50 minutes in my traditionally slower oven. When the now dark orange skin sinks in under the pressure of being poked by a fork, it is probably done. Flip it over to check the flesh inside with a fork and see if it is buttery soft.

What to Make With Roasted Pumpkin?

The great thing about these tasty little pumpkins is that you can make both savory and sweet recipes from them! That’s why you should definitely grow them in your garden if you have one. Just look at some options as to what you can do with them!

• Puree: I usually just make puree and freeze it in 1 or 2 cups portions into Ziploc bags. You can then make soups, loaves of bread, pasta sauces, muffins, pies, you name it! However, the homemade puree will have a higher water content than the canned stuff, so make sure to drain it or squeeze it through some cheesecloth before using it to bake with.  If you have babies at home, then one pumpkin can make a plethora of healthy puree that you can freeze in individual servings at a much cheaper price than store-bought baby food! My pumpkin this year was just over 2.5 lbs and it yielded exactly 2 cups of puree.
• Roasted: Try cutting it into wedges tossed with maple syrup and cinnamon and roast until it is deliciously soft and full of Fall flavor! Or stuff it with sausage, chunks of bread, and seasoning for a beautiful stuffed pumpkin meal.

No Excuses, Roast a Pumpkin!

No excuses this year on how canned pumpkin is just easier to use and roasting your own. Sure, keep some cans in the pantry if you want and that is fine! However, I think Sugar Pumpkin Day is a fun little tradition to start every Fall with the family. Save a day for Jack-O-Lanterns, but also give a day to the cutie little Sugar Pumpkins. Every kid can have one to pull the guts out and they will giggle the whole time! Then you roast  up the pumpkins. Serve one for dinner, save puree to have the kids help make muffins the next day, and freeze the rest. Any time you pull out puree from the freezer, the family will remember the fun day of Sugar Pumpkins and smile at the meal 🙂

Enjoy!