Anyone Know How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds?

[NicoleAJ]

I'm having a party tomorrow, and along with the loads of other foods I'm making, I'd like to roast pumpkin seeds. I also think it will help the whole apartment smell delicious and cozy. What do I have to do once I cut the pumpkin open and shell out all of the gook inside?

[Michi8]

  NicoleAJ said:

I'm having a party tomorrow, and along with the loads of other foods I'm making, I'd like to roast pumpkin seeds. I also think it will help the whole apartment smell delicious and cozy. What do I have to do once I cut the pumpkin open and shell out all of the gook inside?

You'll want to then separate all the seeds from the strings, and rinse them well before preparing to bake. I don't have a specific recipe for you to try...I made mine last year from a basic recipe I found online. If you do a Google search for pumpkin seed recipes, there should be all sorts of recipes to try. I found one recipe from Martha Stewart for Sweet & Spicy pumpkin seeds: Open Original Shared Link

Happy Roasting!

Michelle

[eKatherine]

It's a huge amount of work cleaning up the seeds, and you'll probably find the quality is lower than the ones you buy already shelled in the natural food store, ready to roast.

[Lollie]

I just roasted some last night! I went on line also and found alot of recipes, but decided on a plain one. It just called for butter or olive oil, about 1.5 tablespoons, and salt. You just toss the seeds in the butter and salt and then roast at 300 degrees for about 30-45 minutes! I thought they were great1 I liked that I didn't have to throw them away, since I was roasting the pumpkin to make a pie! Besides, I like the idea that i made them start to finish!

Good luck!

Lollie

[NicoleAJ]

Thanks so much for the insights. I went to a pumpkin carving party last year where I think the hostess just did the olive oil and salt method. I'll snoop around online, but I'll probably do a plain recipe as well since there are going to be so many different flavored things at the party.

[CarlaB]

It is a lot of work, but I do it every year. My kids stand there and eat them till they're almost gone!! I just put them out flat on a cookie sheet and salt them. That's it. They might be better with butter, but I like them plain.

[skbird]

I clean the gook off (pour it all into a bowl of water and use my hands to loosen the gook) and then pour a couple tbsp of olive oil on a sturdy cookie sheet (with a rim). Pour the seeds in, stir around to coat with oil, then sprinkle with salt and garlic powder (MMMMM!!!!!!) and put in the oven. Uusally 300 degrees - slow and low is the best way. They'll start popping at some point. The slow cook gets them more thoroughly dry, the low prevents burning. 300 might be too high. I play it by ear and we always gobble them up!

Must go buy some now... homemade ones are about a thousand, no a zillion (is that a number?) better than anything I've had in the stores.

Stephanie

[penguin]

We did it every year also

I didn't even know you could buy pumpkin seeds in the store until I was an adult

Clean em off, oil them up, salt and roast at what, 300? Stir often!

[jerseyangel]

We used to have those every year when I was young. I should make them again--they were good!

[tarnalberry]

pretty easy, as has been noted... I usually clean in a bowl and collander, toss w/ a bit of oil (or not) sprinkle w/ spices (or not), and put in the oven. (300f?) turn/toss half way through or so.

[lonewolf]

I always roast mine with butter or olive oil, worcestershire sauce and garlic.

[NicoleAJ]

I can't wait to do this now. Thanks for all of the advice. I never would have thought of worchestershire sauce. Garlic powder sounds good too. I let you know if they're a hit.

By the way, an unrelated question--this may sound totally stupid, but if I'm cooking frozen spinach at 350 for 45 minutes, that would kill potential e. coli right? I really want to make spinach and artichoke dip, but I don't want my guests to worry about getting sick either.

[tarnalberry]

  NicoleAJ said:

By the way, an unrelated question--this may sound totally stupid, but if I'm cooking frozen spinach at 350 for 45 minutes, that would kill potential e. coli right? I really want to make spinach and artichoke dip, but I don't want my guests to worry about getting sick either.

There was never any concern about frozen spinach.

[NicoleAJ]

Awesome--I thought that was the case, but I just wanted to make sure.

[corinne]

We always did them as kids, but my mom had us separate the seeds from the strings. She said that she would roast as my seeds as we could find (and we loved them) and that we had to get the strings off so they wouldn't taste yucky. I thought it was fun and that mom was being nice to let us find the seeds. She tossed them in olive oil then sprinkled them with salt. She roasted them on the lowest setting with the oven door open so they wouldn't burn.

[NicoleAJ]

I made these on Saturday night, and they were absolutely delicious. You were all totally right about the need to roast them slowly on a low setting. They were nice and crisp and dry.

[Helena]

Just wanted to add---you can roast squash seeds too!