Easy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
How to make roasted pumpkin seeds at home. You can even use this method for other winter squashes like butternut squash. Jump to the Easy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe
The first time I ever looked into how to roast pumpkin seeds I was in mid scoop of carving a pumpkin. Is that you, too? Welcome and I’ve got your answer below.
Halloween isn’t the only time to roast pumpkin seeds, though. They are so tasty, you can do it throughout fall and winter. You can even roast the seeds of other hearty squashes. Think butternut, spaghetti squash and delicata squash seeds. The method stays the same, although you may find the smaller seeds don’t need as much time in the oven.
You May Also Like: How to make homemade pumpkin puree from scratch to be used in your favorite pumpkin recipes.
How to roast pumpkin seeds (and other winter squash seeds)
Don’t throw away those seeds, here’s how we turn them into a delicious snack!
After scooping out the seeds, they’re going to be a bit messy. To clean them, throw them into a bowl of cold water. Swish the seeds around a bit then as they float to the top, take them out.
They’re mostly clean at this point, which is fine because they have one more chance to clean up. Add the mostly clean seeds to a pot of boiling salted water. Then simmer for about 5 minutes. This cleans the seeds and seasons them — like how adding salt to the boiling water seasons pasta.
Drain and rinse the seeds. Pull away any extra bits of pumpkin left then dry them as well as you can. The more dry the seeds are, the better they will roast.
Toss the dry seeds with some oil — use olive oil, coconut oil or a nut oil like walnut. Add a sprinkle of spice — we used harissa in the photo, but curry or chili powder are also wonderful. Spread the seeds into one layer and roast until crisp and browned around the edges.
Sprinkle these pumpkin seeds on top of dishes like our Easy Pumpkin Mac and Cheese, our Quick and Easy Creamy Vegetable Soup (35 minutes), this 7-ingredient Roasted Butternut Squash Soup or these Creamy Avocado Lime Sweet Potato Noodles (gluten-free).
Easy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
- PREP
Season pumpkin seeds with almost anything from your spice cabinet. Boiling the seeds in salted water for 5 minutes before roasting helps to clean and season them. Before baking, pat the boiled seeds very dry otherwise they will not brown or crisp.
Makes 1 1/2 cups
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons fine sea salt, plus more for serving
2 teaspoons olive oil, melted coconut oil or nut oil like walnut
2 teaspoons your favorite spice blend such as curry powder, harissa and chili powder
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Fill a medium saucepan with about 2 cups of water and season with 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, scoop the seeds from your pumpkin. Add the pumpkin seeds to a bowl filled with cold water and swish them around until the seeds float and are mostly clean.
Add cleaned seeds to the boiling salted water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and pull away any remaining pumpkin attached to the seeds.
Scatter the seeds onto clean dishcloths and pat them very dry. Mound the dried seeds onto the prepared baking sheet. Add the oil and any spices on top then toss until well coated. Spread the seeds into one layer. Bake, stirring the seeds at least once, until fragrant and golden around the edges, 10 to 25 minutes, depending on how large the seeds are.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Harissa is sold in it’s dried form — like curry powder — as well as in jars mixed with oil. We used the dried harrisa spice blend in the photos above. You can use harrisa already mixed with oil and omit the oil called for in the recipe above.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 2 tablespoons / Calories 105 / Protein 5 g / Carbohydrate 2 g / Dietary Fiber 1 g / Total Sugars 0 g / Total Fat 9 g / Saturated Fat 2 g / Cholesterol 0 mg
Don’t Miss Our Latest Recipes
Green Chile Chicken Quesadillas
How to Make Tender Juicy Meatballs
Our Favorite Chocolate Cupcakes (Naturally Vegan)
Ridiculously Easy Bean Salad
Chimichurri Cauliflower Steaks
Lentil Soup with Lemon and Turmeric
Tour Our New Kitchen
Followed the recipe, then seasoned half the seeds With Lawry’s seasoning salt, and the other half with Zehnders Chicken Seasoning(famous, family-style fried chicken restaurant in Frankenmuth, MI).
After roasting, do you eat these whole or do you crack them like eating watermelon seeds?
We like to eat them whole but you can crack them to eat the seed inside. Completely your preference.
Hi everyone happy fall season. I used popcorn seasoning you can chose different flavors to your liking yummy its so good. Wanted to share this with all of you enjoy have a safe happy fall season and happy cooking.
Raw pumpkin seeds can be frozen and used anytime to make roasted seeds. A zip loc snack bag holds about 2 cups of seeds, I usually freeze about 12 packages of seeds, and I can roast them anytime through out the year. I visit places that sell pumpkins a day or two after Halloween and get all the free pumpkins I need.
Would it work to put spices like clove, cinnamon and nutmeg on them instead of savory or spicy or smoky?
Yes, absolutely.
I really liked the idea of boiling in salted water. I ll try that and just yesterday did 7 old soggy pumpkins for the pumpkin and seeds. I rinse pat dry after leaving in colander to really drain off and put on paper plate with sea salt and I microwavea minute. Then use a slotted fork and mix gently and put more salt and microwave another minute. Mix again. And how they look may or not put more salt and microwave a third time and let cool off. So sometimes have to microwave a fourth minute not often. Much quicker and dry but not roasted. I got 4 cups. And enough pie purée for three and use lard pie crust I make.
We used a spice blend of cajun, cinnamon, and seasoned salt. Ghoulishly good!!
Wonderful recipe! We have gone for fresh garlic and salt seasoning. Delicious ♡
Hi, made these after carving our pumpkins – I’ve got loads! My question is, how should I keep them? How long will they keep?
Hi Katryna, I’d store them in an airtight container and expect them to last about a week.
I put mine in snack bags and hide around the house and dont share with anyone lol. They last all winter or more. Until I remember where they’re hidden.
Haha! I do this as well. My husband will eat them all up so I hide about 6 baggies full & pull them out at random times.
I am still in the process of making this pumpkin seed recipe. To be honest, I did not follow exactly as I had to almost triple the recipe. After gutting our 2 average sized pumpkins for carving, I ended up with 5.5 cups of seeds. I used seasoning salt and smoked paprika for our spices and after pulling out the first batch, OMG amazing crunchy saltiness. I have not had homemade pumpkin seeds since I was a kid, and am thoroughly enjoying munching on these while I wait for the next batch ?
I used this recipe and it turned out terrible. I followed the directions and used Larwrys season salt and I threw them all out. I wasted 2 large pumpkins to try this.
Hi Kurt, We’re sorry the recipe didn’t turn out as you expected.
Next time you could probably just wash them off and try again. It might leave a little salt, but you could just leave that out for the next round
I tried this per your instructions as well. They were too soggy after baking then for 25 minutes. I was going to throw them out as well but the next day I decided to bake them again in low heat, I turned the oven down as far as it would go (170°) and put the seeds on the top rack just to dry then out. But first I used non stick foil and used olive oil spray and sprayed the foil and then sprayed the seeds after placing then on the sheet and lightly sprinkled salt on and baked for one hour. They turned out perfect!
I’m almost 60 years old and I have use the same pumpkin seed recipe for about 40 years LOL I just happened to look up a different way last night and I found your recipe !!! If first I wasn’t thrilled because I’ve got 10 pumpkins worth of seeds to do and let me tell you what I just took the first two pans out I did garlic salt and regular salt to start and DHS are absolutely by far the best seeds I have ever ever had !!!!! I can’t say thank you enough and I definitely will be using this recipe every year for the rest of my life thank you so so much absolutely fantastic ♥️♥️♥️
Well, gee: had it not been for this comment, I may skipped to another recipe. This is my first go at roasting pumpkin seeds (red kuri seeds, to be precise). Using a homemade taco seasoning to coat! Thanks Jane, Adam and Joanne!
I’ve never boiled the seeds first until now, and this is definitely the best way to do it!
I’ve never heard of boiling them in salt water either, what a game changer eh!
Thanks for your detailed recipe! Sorry, but I couldn’t find the oven temperature for baking the seeds. Could I ask what that would be?
Thanks! S. Soon
Hi Shirley, We bake the seeds in a 350F oven.
For how long do we cook the seeds for?
Bake, stirring the seeds at least once, until fragrant and golden around the edges, 10 to 25 minutes, depending on how large the seeds are.
Your recipes are superb and I like all of them. Your passion for cooking gives us many ideas. Thanks for the lovely recipes.
Hello! just discovered your site after looking for how to cook pork ribs, then followed to how to make ketchup, looks wonderful and can’t wait to make that! Found this recipe for the pumpkin seeds, my question, how do you eat them? Can you eat all or do you have to dispose of an outer shell to eat the insides???? like for sunflower seeds.Thanks!
Eating the outer shell or removing it is completely a personal preference. Some pumpkin seeds have delicate shells and some have thicker shells.