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Making your own pumpkin puree is very easy and with this homemade pumpkin puree recipe you will never have to run to the grocery stores for the canned stuff again.
Make your own pumpkin puree
I live in the Netherlands and finding canned pumpkin puree here is really hard. There are a few shops that stock it around the holidays, but overall it is impossible to find. So I tested how to make pumpkin puree myself and I’ll be sharing two easy recipes for homemade pumpkin puree. It’s not complicated at all!
It may come as no surprise that I am a fan of pumpkin. I use whole pumpkins a lot and sometimes buy way too many. Turning it into pumpkin puree is a great way to have stock of your own homemade pumpkin puree for future recipes.
Quick pumpkin puree
Now for most of my favorite pumpkin recipes you need pumpkin puree. That is true for both savory recipes as well as sweet recipes. This is a quick recipe and even if you roast the pumpkin in the oven it will take you no more than 30 minutes.
Making your own pumpkin puree is a breeze
This recipe is so super simple that I hesitated whether to include it, but you are just starting to cook and have no idea how to make pumpkin puree. So here are my two ways of making pumpkin puree. Both childishly simple.
Which pumpkin?
Now technically you can make a pumpkin puree with all sorts of (edible) pumpkins. You can use sugar pumpkins (my favorite), pie pumpkins, kabocha squash, butternut squash or any other kind of pumpkin you like.
Not too long ago I did a pumpkin test with a friend. We bought four different kind of pumpkins and prepared all four in two different ways. One as a soup and one roasted in the oven. To our great surprise, there was a huge difference in the taste of the pumpkins.
To my surprise the least favorite flavor was a butternut squash. Which is funny as I always bought that for making pumpkin purée. Not anymore. My favorite is a blue pumpkin (Jarrahdale) but since there are different varieties around the world just try what you like best yourself. It’s worth doing a pumpkin test!
Cooking or roasting
There are two ways to make pumpkin puree. You can choose to roast the cubes. This gives the most flavor. Use a large baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and remove the pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin. Chop into smaller cubes and sprinkle with olive oil. I sprinkle the pumpkin with salt and pepper but if you’re making a sweet dish with the pumpkin you might want to stick to only a little bit of oil to have a neutral flavor to work with. A little salt does bring out the flavor of the pumpkin so even for sweet a little salt doesn’t hurt.
You can chop the pumpkin or roast the pumpkin halves and use a large spoon to scoop out the flesh later if you want. Obviously using smaller pieces will result in a shorter roasting time. If your roasting the whole pumpkin you might have to cover it with aluminum foil first to prevent it from burning.
If you’re roasting the pumpkin keep in mind that the total volume will be halved. 400 gram of raw pumpkin will result in roughly 200 gram of pureed pumpkin.
Delicious pumpkin puree
Once roasted you can use a potato masher to make the puree or if you want a really smooth puree you can use an immersion blender or a food processor for the best result. You can also use a potato masher and then pass it through a fine mesh strainer to make it smoother.
Depending on the type of pumpkin you can also eat the skin of the pumpkin. When I use an organic sugar pumpkin I keep the pumpkin skin on. I find that not every pumpkin is as tasty with the skin. I made a huge mistake once by adding a new variety of pumpkin to the slow cooker only to find out that the skin stayed really hard. Not a good choice and the dish was ruined.
So if you do want to use the skin make sure to either test it or ask your greengrocer or farmers market.
You can also boil the pumpkin. This is quicker, but the flavor of the cooked pumpkin will be less concentrated. When you roast the pumpkin the excess liquid evaporates giving a much better result with pure pumpkin flavor. For fresh pumpkin puree I go for roasting every single time, but if I’m stretched for time (or don’t have an oven nearby) I will be using the cooking method.
Freezing
Do you already know that you will need pumpkin puree on a regular basis? Then make a big batch and freeze it in portions. This is easy to do by dividing the (cooled) puree into a zip-top bag and placing them flat in the freezer. It won’t take up much space and you’ll always have some on hand. You can also use ice cube trays to freeze the pumpkin puree if you need smaller portions to add to dishes.
What can you do with pumpkin puree?
You can use the homemade puree for lots of different dishes. Pumpkin pie of course, but also pumpkin pancakes, delicious pumpkin desserts, pumpkin soup or use it in pasta sauces.
How long can you keep pumpkin puree?
What kind of pumpkin can be used to make pumpkin puree?
Can you freeze pumpkin puree?
Where can you buy pumpkin puree if you don’t feel like making it yourself?
What spices can I add to pumpkin puree?
Do I need to peel the pumpkin?
Pumpkin puree
Ingredients
- 1 pumpkin
- pepper
- salt
- olive oil
Equipment
- Oven or pan
- Immersion blender
Titel
- If you have a whole pumpkin, peel it before slicing it if not organic. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200˚C if you are using the oven.
- Try to get the pieces about the same size (something that is quite tricky with a pumpkin)
- Spread them out on a baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until tender.
- You can also boil the pumpkin cubes in water but I always feel that roasting them in the oven gives more flavour.
- Once the cubes are soft enough you can mash them with a potato masher or a stick blender.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
