Cooking a pumpkin to make your own pumpkin puree is super easy, super cheap, and super yummy.
Start with a small pie pumpkin.
Cut it open.
Scoop out the seeds.
And place in a shallow baking dish with about a 1/2 inch of water.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until soft.
Remove the skin and puree. Use a food processor or blender or do it by hand with a stick blender or a potato masher.
Use as you would canned pumpkin in any recipe that calls for it. See, I told you it was easy!
I normally find that I get about a cup of puree for each pound of pumpkin. So a 2 1/2 pound pumpkin will give me approximately 2 1/2 cups of puree.
It freezes well too. So feel free to cook up a big batch of pumpkins all at once and freeze the puree in one cup portions in zip-top bags so that you are all set for a delicious season of pumpkin pies, muffins, and lattes!
In fact, there might be some recipes coming in the next week for which you may just want to have some pumpkin puree on hand. Hint hint...
[This is day 5 in a 31 day series about celebrating autumn. Click here for more fall ideas!]
Oh, awesome, a way to cook pumpkin without using foil. I'll be sure to try it.
ReplyDeleteKelly, don't you drain some of the liquid off after you've pureed the cooked pumpkin?
I'm always afraid a pie would be soggy so I always (the one or two times I did it :) ) drain the puree a bit.
Ieva
Hi Ieva! I find that the pumpkin doesn't absorb much of the water. The small amount of water is just there to keep the cut side of the pumpkin from getting browned and dried out.
DeleteThank you for the reply! I see what you mean, but I was thinking about the actual pumpkin liquid, you know?
DeleteThe pumpkins we get over here, seems like you have to drain the puree a little bit. Maybe they grow more watery over here, who knows.
Can't wait for the pumpkin muffin recipe :)
Ieva
This is great, because our commissary in Italy only sells pumpkin PIE puree, and it has too much sugar and spice in it to use in a lot of my recipes. Why don't they just carry the regular puree like they do by the crate in the States??
ReplyDeleteMy husband just brought home two pie pumpkins so I could practice making homemade pies before Thanksgiving. Your cooking instructions are the same way we made homemade baby food with squash - super easy!
ReplyDeleteExcited to try this!
ReplyDeleteI just did this last week! I had to add a bit of water to the pumpkin in the Vitamix, but it didn't affect the puree at all. I made a batch of pumpkin spelt muffins and 2 batches of pumpkin granola and froze the rest. My husband roasted the seeds. Yummy and easy!
ReplyDeleteI found pressure cooking the pumpkin for 7-10 minutes does the trick to soften them enough to puree too. My ovn is too tiny to accomodate more than half a tin pumpkin at once.
ReplyDeleteYay! I have a pie pumpkin sitting on my counter and I needed a recipe on how to cook. You always seem to be reading my mind.
ReplyDeleteHi, do you know how much the flavor would change if I'd use some other type of pumpkin? In the pumpkin pie there are a lot of strong flavors, so I was wondering would it affect the real taste a lot.. I live in Costa Rica, and it's a bit hard to find the pie pumpkins..
ReplyDeleteLaura
That depends... What do you mean by "other type of pumpkin"? Like, a decorative pumpkin? Because it is my understanding that you can technically eat them but they aren't as sweet and tasty. Or do you mean a winter squash of some sort? Because I've used butternut squash in place of pumpkin before and it's delicious.
DeleteIt might be squash then, not a decorative pumpkin anyways.. Its good to know that they would taste good too! Thanks for your reply!
DeleteI have never tried to make my own pumpkin puree because I always thought it would be too hard. This looks easy, thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the difference between pie pumpkin and I guess decorative pumpkin? I thought there was only one lol
ReplyDeletePie Pumpkins are generally smaller and sweeter varieties than the ones you would carve for Halloween. They will be labelled as pie pumpkins in the grocery store.
DeleteSomeone may have already mentioned this, but I just started roasting my pumpkins whole this year and it works GREAT. I just stick it in the oven (with a pan at the bottom to catch anything that might leak out) for about an hour or so on 350ish. It's done when I poke it and it gives. I cut it open, scoop out the seeds, and puree the pumpkin. It's so easy. And I also canned mine this year. USDA doesn't recommend it, but I pressure can it for 55 minutes and it seems to do the trick. Plus, I'm canning it when it's already smokin' hot, so I think it's okay. :)
ReplyDeleteI am using crookneck pumpkins...
ReplyDeleteBut, here's an FYI to Kelly's dear readers: DON'T under ANY circumstances, decide to help" your food processor along by pushing some of the bigger chunks down by putting a Pampered Chef rubber spatula down the little spout-thingy opening. You will not have a working spatula anymore and will have to spend time picking out the chopped up spatula chunks. Ask me how I know;OP
Anyway...very excited...so far I have 4 (2cups) Baggies ready to freeze, and still more to chop (I had to stop to share this Public Service Announcement)...and since I got 2 pumpkins for $1.25/each, even if that is all I got, I would basically have 4 cans for $0.62 each....yay!! (and it will be way cheaper than that!!)
Thanks Kelly!! (p.s. you should watch "what to expect when you are expecting...you might pee your pants...I did and I am not even pregnant...I laughed sooooo hard at one particular spot).<3
This is the same way I puree a butternut squash for my husband's favorite soup, butternut squash soup w/ bacon in it. :) Always turns out very well this way, but I didn't know that 1lb/pumpkin=1c/puree. Good to know!
ReplyDelete