Description
Making your own pumpkin puree at home is first of all cheaper, it’s easier to control the ingredients (the 1 ingredient!) and it is so EASY.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 4 lb* pumpkin, pie pumpkin, butternut squash or kombucha squash. 1.8 kg
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375F (190C).
- To open a butternut squash: slice off a thin slice at the bottom, to make the squash sturdier. Also chop off the very top too, to get rid of the stem. Let the butternut stand on your chopping board, keep it steady, while you run a big and heavy knife through the middle, lengthwise.
- To open a sugar pumpkin or pie pumpkin: Take a big and heavy knife, insert the tip of the knife into the top of the pumpkin (next to the stem) and push it in. Carefully push the knife down, while wiggling a little to make the crack wider. Once you’ve gotten all the way through, do the same on the other side of the pumpkin. The only thing holding the pumpkin together now, should be the stem. Just pull the two parts apart with your hands, and it should crack at the stem.
- Scoop out the seeds using either a spoon or an ice cream scoop. Reserve the seeds for later, they are excellent snacks when roasted (read blog post for a quick recipe).
- Take the chopped halves of pumpkin or squash and place them with the cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Let them roast for approximately 40-60 minutes or until the skin of the pumpkin/squash gives in if you press it with a fork (aka fork tender).
- Let the pumpkin/squash cool for 5-10 minutes before you peel the skin off with your fingers or a knife. Discard the skin.
- Place the skinned pumpkin/squash into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Do you find it too watery? Homemade pumpkin puree can be a little more watery than canned (especially if you used a big Halloween pumpkin). You can run the pumpkin puree through a cheesecloth to remove that excess liquid. Optional step.
- Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for 7 days. To freeze: I like to add 1 cup of pumpkin puree into a ziplock bag, smooth it out into the entire bag. This eliminates air and it will thaw quicker**.
Notes
* Any size will do, but it may take longer or shorter to roast to fork tender. Keep in mind that the larger the pumpkin, the less flavorful it tend to be. Larger pumpkins are also more difficult to cut.
** Keeps well in the freezer for 8-12 months, in line with MatPrat’s guidelines (in Norwegian I’m afraid), although I see a lot of others say 4-5 months. I’ve used 11 month old pumpkin puree and didn’t notice any difference.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Inactive Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hours
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 grams
- Calories: 39
- Sugar: 3.7
- Sodium: 6
- Fat: 0.3
- Saturated Fat: 0.2
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 9.2
- Fiber: 3.3
- Protein: 1.3
- Cholesterol: 0