So you’ve gotten your pumpkin home and you’re ready to carve it. But what do you do with all those pumpkin seeds? Sure, they’re fun to pull out and kids love to squish them around in their fingers, but did you know that pumpkin seeds can be roasted and eaten? My sister does this all the time. But I admittedly manage to mess it up each time, either overcooking them and winding up with burnt pumpkin seed smell filtering throughout my house, or undercooking them and ending up with chewy seeds…not good.
If you’re like me and need a little help with roasting pumpkin seeds, give this recipe a try. Your kids will love them and likely, so will you.
First you’ll need to clean the pumpkin seeds. Once you’ve scooped them out of the pumpkin, place them in a colander and run them under cold water. Use your hands to remove the seeds from the pulp and the stringy mess that’s likely wound around the seeds.
To roast the seeds, preheat your oven to 300 degrees. In a bowl, mix about 1 Tablespoon of oil with ½ teaspoon of salt for every cup of seeds. You can also add other spices: for spicy seeds try pepper, paprika, and garlic. For sweet seeds, try pumpkin pie spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Toss the seeds with the oil mixture until the seeds are well coated (you may need a bit more oil than called for). Spread the seeds evenly on a cookie sheet and bake until the seeds are golden (about 30 minutes). You’ll need to stir the seeds from time to time.
The seeds will be very hot so let them cool on paper towels before enjoying them.