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Whether you carved a jack-o-lantern or just love to make your own pumpkin puree, crunchy roasted pumpkin seeds are easy to make in the oven for a nice little treat you’ll be happy to eat.
The next time you’re carving a pumpkin or scooping out a squash, save those seeds. Sugar pumpkins, carving pumpkins, and even winter squash varieties like acorn, butternut, and kabocha, all contain one of the best snacks nature has to offer.
It only takes a few minutes to separate the seeds from the pulp, salt ’em up, and roast them until crispy. The seeds turn deliciously nutty as they gently toast. Eat them by the handful, shell and all, or throw them on top of a salad. They’re so good, you will wish you bought another pumpkin.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Raw pumpkin seeds: Fresh out of the pumpkin works best. But don’t forget, you can also apply this recipe to squash seeds (you may not get as many out of a squash, but they’re just as good).
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin seeds and olive oil.
- Sprinkle salt and mix thoroughly. Spread seeds evenly on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake until seeds are toasted, flipping seeds over every five minutes, about 15 minutes total. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 ½ cups roasted pumpkin seeds (or whatever quantity of seeds you decide to roast).
- Storage: Store roasted, cooled pumpkin seeds in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month. Or, store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
- Freezer: Roasted pumpkin seeds can be frozen for up to 6 months.
- Seasoning: This is up to you and your tastebuds, plus the amount of seeds you’re baking. if you like, add ½ teaspoon or more of another seasoning (lemon pepper, Cajun seasoning, Italian seasoning, etc) with the salt to flavor the seeds.
Recipe FAQs
Run your fingers through the fibrous strands inside the pumpkin gathering the seeds as you go, and collect the seeds (along with any clinging pulp) in a bowl. Then fill the bowl with cold water, which helps loosen up the slippery seeds and makes the pulp easy to remove. Pat the seeds dry with a kitchen towel before seasoning.
It’s the same word but in another language. “Pepita” is Spanish for “little squash seed.” Usually, we think of pepitas as the green, already-shelled pumpkin seed, which is added to mole and other Mexican recipes. Pumpkin seeds with the shell are creamy off-white on the outside with a pepita inside.
You don’t need oil to roast pumpkin seeds. The natural viscosity of the wet seeds will make the salt adhere to them naturally. Or, you can roast them without both salt and oil.
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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds fibrous strings and pulp removed (see note 1)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin seeds and olive oil. Sprinkle salt and mix thoroughly.
- Spread seeds evenly on prepared baking sheet and bake until seeds are toasted, flipping seeds over every five minutes, about 15 minutes total. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Notes
- Raw pumpkin seeds: Fresh out of the pumpkin works best. But don’t forget, you can also apply this recipe to squash seeds (you may not get as many out of a squash, but they’re just as good).
- Yield: This recipe makes 1 ½ cups roasted pumpkin seeds (or whatever quantity of seeds you decide to roast).
- Storage: Store roasted, cooled pumpkin seeds in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a month. Or, store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
- Freezer: Roasted pumpkin seeds can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is the Executive Chef and CEO of Culinary Hill, a popular digital publication in the food space. She loves to combine her Midwestern food memories with her culinary school education to create her own delicious take on modern family fare. Millions of readers visit Culinary Hill each month for meticulously-tested recipes as well as skills and tricks for ingredient prep, cooking ahead, menu planning, and entertaining. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the iCUE Culinary Arts program at College of the Canyons.
I love to roast pumpkin seeds! These were so good.