I love this time of year. The weather is changing, the leaves are turning, and there are pumpkins everywhere! Last week, we were driving back to San Francisco from my niece’s first birthday in Seattle. On the road through Oregon and Northern California, we passed through adorable pumpkin patch after adorable pumpkin patch. Big ones, small ones, orange ones, yellow ones.
So. Many. Pumpkins.
What sort of shocks me about this time of year though is how many things are flavored like pumpkin but how little fresh pumpkin we’re actually eating. The carving part is fun but pumpkins are also delicious and very easy to make fresh. So how can we leave the artificial pumpkin spice flavors and canned crap on the shelf and create our own delightful fall flavors at home?
How To Cook and Use the Whole Pumpkin will talk you through how to purchase, cut, cook, and use the whole pumpkin (seeds, guts, and flesh!) I compost the skin but there are some recipes out there that use it, so take a look if you really want to use the skin, too!
You can make at least all of the following with ONE fresh pumpkin:
How to Purchase a Cooking Pumpkin
If you are purchasing a pumpkin for eating, you should look for the ones labeled “sugar pumpkins” or “pie pumpkins.” At my grocery store, all the decorative pumpkins and carving pumpkins are lined up outside the store, and the sugar pumpkins are inside with the produce. You can eat the other types of larger carving pumpkins, but they are not as tasty and their texture isn’t great for cooking (but DO cook up the seeds of your carving pumpkins – see my recipe HERE).
Sugar pumpkins are on the smaller side and come in a variety of colors. Avoid any pumpkins with severe bruising, but otherwise some scuff on the skin will not impact the tasty insides of your pumpkin. I recommend purchasing pumpkins that are less than 4 pounds to help with the carving process.
How to Cut Your Pumpkin
Once you have your sugar pumpkin home, it’s time to open her up!
PLEASE NOTE: Cutting the pumpkin can take some effort and should be done very carefully.
Find a stable surface and check whether your pumpkin can solidly stand up on its own. If it rolls around or is unsteady, I recommend cutting off the bottom first so it can sit stably.
Use a large, sharp knife to cut the pumpkin lengthwise (from stem to bottom on both sides). Start from the top and slowly work your way down one side. You may need to wiggle your knife back and forth to get it through, which also helps open up the pumpkin. Then switch to the other side. Once the sides are cut through the bottom, you can use your hands to pull the two sides apart and split the stem.
How to Gut and Seed Your Pumpkin
I’ll admit it – this is my favorite part! I love putting my hands in the gooey insides of the pumpkin. It’s just made for the kid in all of us (this is also a great part for actual kids to help with!)
You can remove some of the seeds and guts with your hands (like me). To remove everything though, you should use a large, metal spoon to scrape away the insides. For any stubborn pieces, I just cut them away with kitchen scissors.
The seeds should be separated from the guts, but don’t throw anything out! It’s all edible!
Put the seeds in a metal strainer and rinse thoroughly. Remove any outstanding gut pieces. Lie out on a cookie sheet to dry.
Put the guts in a small bowl lined with a nut milk or cheese bag. Squeeze as much liquid out as possible. Then place the guts directly in a small, oven-safe casserole dish.
How to Cook/Roast the Whole Pumpkin
Now that you have dissected your pumpkin, you’re ready to start cooking! You’ll very likely want to cook your pumpkin before you start just eating these innards. Plain, raw pumpkin is actually not very delicious.
To cook the seeds, follow my guide HERE.
To roast the pumpkin, cover the insides of the two halves with about a Tablespoon of olive oil or coconut oil. If you had to cut the bottom of the pumpkin off, oil that up as well! Place all of these face down on a cookie sheet lined with certified compostable parchment paper if you have it. Otherwise, the bare cookie sheet will work fine (just a little extra cleanup :)).
Bake the pumpkin halves and the casserole of squeezed guts at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes or until you can easily pierce the skin of the pumpkin with a fork.
How to Use Your Whole Roasted Pumpkin
Let the pumpkin cool slightly before handling. At this point, you can use a spoon to scoop out the pumpkin. For me, it was a combination of scooping and peeling.
At this point you can also use the pumpkin as you would any other squash – cube it and add it to pasta, salads, or just eat it straight with some oil and salt and pepper.
If you don’t have a recipe on hand, I recommend using your pumpkin to prepare a pumpkin puree as an alternative to the canned kind available in stores. This puree can be used for things like Fresh Vegan Pumpkin Bread and Healthy Pumpkin Spice Smoothie, or anywhere that a recipe calls for canned pumpkin.
And it tastes INFINITELY better.
How to Prepare Fresh, Homemade Pumpkin Puree
To prepare a puree, add your pumpkin flesh and guts to a blender or food processer. Blend until the entire pumpkin is a smooth puree. You may want to squeeze any remaining liquid out of the puree one more time, but if you squeezed the guts well, this shouldn’t be necessary.
Put in jars and keep refrigerated up to one week. Freeze for up to six months.
I hope this post on How to Cook and Use the Whole Pumpkin was helpful. How did you use your whole pumpkin? Share below!
Nice to use every part of these tasty squashes. I like knowing no potentially useful part goes to waste!
Thank you, Patrick! It’s really amazing how easily we can start reducing our food waste once we start thinking about it.