After the pumpkin puree extravaganza, I had a bowl full of pumpkin seeds.
Organic pumpkin seeds, just waiting for me to roast them. I haven’t had pumpkin seeds many times in my life, so I wasn’t exactly sure what they tasted like and what to expect from them.
I had read a few different recipes, and talked to my mom about what flavors worked best when seasoning pumpkin seeds. The most common flavors were garlic, slight sweetened with sugar or honey, and something spicy like cayenne.
I decided to try a sea salt and garlic salt combo, and a slightly sweetened pumpkin pie spice mix.
Roasting the Seeds
- Remove the larger, pulpy pumpkin parts from the seeds. It’s okay if there is some on there, it will add some flavor when they are roasting.
- Preheat your oven to 300ºF and grease your cookie sheet.
- Melt some butter (or use your favorite oil) to fully cover the pumpkin seeds. I used about 2 tablespoons of melted butter to fully cover my seeds.
- Spread the seeds out on to a single layer on the cookie sheet and sprinkle with desired toppings. I sprinkled half of my seeds with pumpkin pie spice and organic sugar, and the other half was sprinkled with garlic powder and sea salt.
- Roast your seeds for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to make sure all the pumpkin seeds brown evenly. I heard mine start to pop around minute 25.
- Let the seeds cool and enjoy! They make a fabulous snack, addition to granola, yogurt, or salads. You can add pumpkin seeds where ever you want!
Did you know..?
- Pumpkin seeds are a popular snack worldwide. Most common snackers? Mexico, Spain, Greece, and most of the countries in Latin America.
- In Mexico, pumpkin seeds are called pepitas, and are a common ingredient used in mole.
- The seeds are good sources of protein, zinc, potassium, and provide essential polyunsaturated fatty acids.
- Lightly roasted pumpkin seeds are better then darker roasted ones because too much heat will destroy some of the vitamins and minerals, altering their nutritional value.
- Pumpkin seed oil is a popular ingredient used in Central European cuisine.
Looking for something to make with your freshly roasted seeds? Check out some of these recipes!
Pumpkin Spice Granola from Joylicious
Pumpkin Soup from The Wannabe Chef
Pepita Rice Pudding from Foodnetwork.com
