What do you do with a plethora of pumpkins? That could be a post title – Plethora of Pumpkins! Um… maybe next year! Oh – got off track there for a moment. What do you do with a plethora of pumpkins? Well, you can bake them and make endless pumpkin recipes, including Roasted Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt! Which is exactly what I did.
But, I’m not baking all of my pumpkins now; I want to enjoy them awhile. So, they are here and there around my house (stay tuned to tomorrow’s post to see my bountiful pumpkins!), but when I was at the grocery store last weekend, I found these pumpkin baking kits. They were two little pumpkins, put together as a kit with spices and instructions on how to make pumpkin pie. So, I couldn’t resist – I bought one. A kit that is. Two more pumpkins to add to the plethora of pumpkins.
And, I followed the instructions and baked the pumpkin pie, but you will have to wait until next week for that post!
I ended up with pumpkin guts and pumpkin seeds (and a big mess, but you’ll have to read the pumpkin pie post to find out why), so decided to take this project one step further and roast the pumpkin seeds!
Here’s what you do:
- Pumpkin guts with the pumpkin seeds.
- Separate the pumpkin pulp from the seeds and discard the pulp.
- With the seeds in a bowl, fill the bowl with clean water and with your hand, gently “massage” the seeds to loosen the excess pulp (I know that you can’t tell this is a bowl full of water, but it is!). You will have to change the water several times. I changed the water 5 times to remove the pulp.
- Cover a baking tray with a couple of sheets of paper towels. Drain the pumpkin seeds from the water using a fine mesh strainer. Place the drained seeds on the baking tray and spread out to dry thoroughly. I left them out overnight and roasted them the next day.
- Once the seeds are dry, add the dry seeds to a clean bowl and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of lite-flavored olive oil. Toss with fingers to coat evenly. Then, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of sea salt over pumpkin seeds and toss with fingers (again) to coat.
- Spread on baking sheet in a single layer. I tasted them at this point and decided they needed more salt.
- So, I salted them while they were on the baking sheet.
- Place in preheated 300 degree oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes. Mine were done at the 35 minute marker. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
And, here are close-ups of the cute pumpkins used in the photo shoot. I particularly love the little pumpkin with vine still attached!
Here’s the recipe:
Harvest-Time Roasted Pumpkin Seeds with Sea Salt
Don’t throw away your pumpkin from Halloween! Bake it and make a pie and save the seeds to roast! Here’s how…
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw whole pumpkin seeds
- 1 teaspoon lite-flavored olive oil (I used Olivum from the Temecula Olive Oil Company)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
- Clean your pumpkin seeds by first separating them from the pulp, discarding pulp.
- Then place the seeds in a bowl and add clean cold water.
- Using your hands, gently massage the seeds to loosen the remaining pulp.
- Change the water and repeat the massage process until the seeds are clean (I changed the water 5 times).
- Drain the seeds in a fine mesh strainer.
- Line a baking sheet with several layers of paper towels, then add the drained seeds, spreading out in a single layer to dry completely.
- Once dry, place the pumpkin seeds in a bowl.
- Drizzle with olive oil and toss with fingers to coat evenly.
- Add sea salt and toss with fingers to coat evenly.
- Pour pumpkin seeds on a clean baking sheet and spread in a single layer.
- Taste one for saltiness and add more salt, if necessary.
- Place in oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes until lightly browned.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Tootles,
Related Posts:
(other pumpkin recipes)
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