20 October

Pumpkin Seeds: How to Make Fall’s Favorite Snack

Now that fall is in full swing it’s time to enjoy the essence of a fall harvest by baking pumpkin seeds! They make a delicious snack to munch on throughout the season. Pumpkins are a great fruit to work with because you can use the seeds for snacking and the pumpkin as decor. Read on for our step-by-step instructions for cleaning and preparing pumpkin seeds.

There are many options on how to season pumpkin seeds. We chose to make a healthy savory choice by using the ingredients listed below.

Ingredients:

1 Pumpkin

2 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil

Sea Salt

Step 1: Cleaning & Preparing Your Pumpkin

To start off, preheat your oven to 375ºF now so you can bake the seeds later on. Gather your materials for cleaning and preparing your pumpkin seeds. Cleaning out a pumpkin can seem endless when you’re scraping every last bit of seeds and pulp from the interior of your pumpkin. To speed up this process, we attached a mixing beater to the end of a drill and loosened up all of the seeds and pulp inside the pumpkin.

Next, we removed all of the pulp and seeds into a bowl and set the pumpkin aside.

Step 2: Separate and Clean Pumpkin Seeds

Pick out the pumpkin seeds from the bowl and place them on a separate plate. After this, pick through the pumpkin pulp to find any remaining seeds stuck to the flesh.

Rinse the seeds with water in a strainer to remove any remaining pulp.

Step 3: Season and Bake Seeds

Pour the pumpkin seeds out onto a baking sheet. Spread the seeds evenly on the baking sheet.

Pat the pumpkin seeds dry with a napkin or paper towel to remove any extra water from rinsing them.  Drizzle vegetable oil and sprinkle sea salt on top of the seeds. Also toss the seeds gently with a spoon for an even coating of oil and salt.

Place the seeds in the 375ºF oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Step 4: Carve Your Pumpkin

While your seeds are baking away, spend the extra 15 minutes carving your pumpkin! We used a jigsaw to cut out the jack-o’-lantern face on our pumpkin. Learn how to preserve your jack-o’-lantern for up to a month with our simple 1-step process here.

Step 5: Arrange & Enjoy!

Once your pumpkin seeds are golden brown, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool. Then, display the pumpkin seeds in a festive bowl for friends and family to munch on this fall.

There are a few other options in seasoning pumpkin seeds. For a more flavor, sprinkle both salt and pepper on the seeds before baking. If you’re a spice lover, check out this recipe to make pumpkin seeds with a kick! All in all, any of these pumpkin seed recipes are the perfect way to celebrate the fall season.