Exactly How I Make My Homemade Pumpkin Puree.
It’s so freaking simple.
I first made pumpkin puree from scratch a few years ago when there was a pumpkin shortage. Remember that? After discovering that all I had in my pantry were cans of pureed pumpkin that had expired two years prior… measures needed to be taken.
This is super simple and only requires a pie pumpkin. You can really use any sort of pumpkin, but the ones that you carve aren’t ideal (I’ve heard they are stringy or something?), so it’s best to actually choose a pumpkin that is labeled as “pie,” or even a sugar or cheese pumpkin. There may be other varieties but these are the ones I’m aware of. If you know of others, leave tips in the comments below!
My grocery store tends to carry sugar pumpkins for pie making, and they look like smaller, smoother pumpkins that the ones you would carve. I have used them in the past, but this year I grabbed a pie pumpkin from my local farm. They looked at me like I had ten heads when I asked where their sugar pumpkins were, and directed me to a large crate of these funky looking pie pumpkins. Didn’t matter… still produced delicious puree.
First up, I slice off the stem and remove the seeds. I find that removing the seeds in any sort of square works best when I use my serrated grapefruit spoon.
I love that thing.
[You can roast the seeds, but we can talk about that later.]
Then I cut them into wedges. If they are small, I cut them in half once. I usually try to get wedges that are around the size of my hand because I know those will cook in about 45 minutes.
At this point, you can add oils, salt, seasoning, etc. If you’re just looking to make pure puree (ha!), don’t add a thing. For purity sakes, I didn’t add anything to mine. However, I’ve rubbed all the flesh down with coconut oil before and um… that’s incredible.
It’s up to you if you want to roast the wedges flesh up or flesh down. I’ve done both. You can also add them to a baking dish with a quarter inch of water or so, and I find that keeps the pumpkin from drying out. For examples’ sake, I roasted mine flesh up on a baking sheet. No water.
Roast those wedges until they are fork tender, then let them cool slightly. I find that it’s better to remove the flesh when it is still slightly warm.
The skin should be wrinkly and mostly pull right off. If there are any stringy parts, you can discard those if desired.
Then add the pumpkin to a food processor and blend the heck out of it. I’ve roasted a ton of pumpkins and some are dry, some are moist. There really isn’t a guarantee of what the texture will be like, but you can add a few spoonfuls of water while pureeing to get the texture you’d like. Adding a little water will also produce a puree that more closely resembles what comes out of the can.
I like mine to be super creamy since I tend to bake with it or stir it into pasta sauces.
If you’re used to baking with canned pumpkin puree, the texture may be slightly different so it can take a bit of playing around to get things right. But for the most part, I find that working with homemade puree is almost identical to using canned. I’m definitely not against used canned pumpkin, but I love supporting my local farm and doing this at home. It just feels GOOD. And it tastes good. The actual taste may differ a bit depending on your pumpkin, but I suggest adding a touch of salt after it has been pureed and go from there. You can load it on up with a bunch of pumpkin pie spice too and then do crazy stuff like put it in ice cream.
YES.
Homemade Pumpkin Puree
Ingredients
- 1 pie pumpkin
- a few spoonfuls of water if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Slice the stem off the pumpkin and cut in half. If it’s large enough, cut it in half once or twice more. Remove the seeds with a spoon (I like to use a grapefruit spoon with a serrated edge). Place the pumpkin wedges on a baking sheet skin-side down. Roast for 45 to 50 minutes until the skin begins to shrivel and the pumpkin is fork tender. Remove from the oven and let it cool until you can tough it. Remove the pumpkin from the skin and discard any pieces on top that may be tough.
- Add it to a food processor or high-powered blender and puree until smooth. If the pumpkin seems dry, add a few tablespoons of water until it is moist and resembled the puree you see in a can. Store pumpkin in the fridge in a sealed container for about a week!
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
So creamy!
[This is a part of my exactly how I do things series where I tell you… exactly how I do things. Even if they’re wrong]
70 Comments on “Exactly How I Make My Homemade Pumpkin Puree.”
Great idea! For some reason I had myself convinced this would be much more complicated — seems pretty simple when you lay it all out!
Oh darn…looks like I’ll be heading to trader joes again for a pumpkin ;)
I will certainly be trying this for some of my pumpkin recipes this year!!! :)
i’m assuming you could freeze this? (everytime i open a can of pumpkin i end of freezing most of it for another time.)
Yes you can freeze it. I found that canned pumpkin has a funny texture (kind of separates) after being frozen but the fresh stuff is perfect.
Looks amazing! I do this with butternut squash. LOVE adding it to soups and pastas.
It’s sooooo buttery smooth looking. Thanks for the tutorial and exactly what you do. Although I have made my own, I confess to 99% of the time just buying it. And yes, roasting with sugar pumpkins not the carving kind is mandatory :) Pinned!
It’s almost the only way to get pumpkin puree in England. I don’t mind doing it as I find it’s better than the tinned (and as tinned here are super expensive coming from the US).
have only ever seen the carving pumpkins where I live in England what kind do you use do grow my own squash but maybe that would not be the same
I’ve never made or had pumpkin puree I’m afraid.. I do think I must try it though, especially with this cold cold weather!!
Teffy { Teffys Perks Blog } X
I had no idea there were even special pie pumpkins. Good thing I read this before testing it out on my own!
Fun! you can also use cheesecloth to squeeze some of the water out of the puree if it is too runny :).
I’ve never made my own pumpkin puree before. Yours looks incredible! Ice cream idea: coconut milk pumpkin ice cream with a peanut butter swirl and dark chocolate chips. Do it!
Yours looks so creamy! And I will be keeping an eye out for pie pumpkins!
I literally did the exact same process with butternut squash last week!
Pinning this! Your photos are stunning!
I love pumpkin! This is easy to follow and beautiful!
YES! That color. I can totally see making this a little bit bigger project and freezing a bunch of this.
Well ladies I do use regular pumpkins for my puree. I cut up and cook in the crock-pot over night. Then use the the little blender inside place to mix up.
I do save my pumpkins till the last minute to cut up. That way after Halloween night cut up, skin them and cook.I made Pumpkin Butter last year with half and froze the other half. Guess I’ll give the little pie pumpkins a try and see if better but the others work fine too(cheaper too).
Enjoy your pumpkin year round this way and no canned taste. Yeppie.meme
wow!! This is so simple and can be used in so many recipes!
Any ideas on how to incorporate this into an autumnal cocktail? I’ve been craving a new one for fall and the best I’ve come up with is putting the new Smirnoff cinnasugar voda into apple cider which, while delicious, hasn’t quite hit the nail on the head for me yet.
Try the Smirnoff kissed caramel vodka in apple cider – amazing!
Thank you for this!
First off, my mom and I go to Schramm’s all the time. The smell of their bakery next door…omg. And every time we are there, we comment on the bin of pie pumpkins and I always say that I want to try and make my own pumpkin pie using one of those guys. Looks like I’m going to have to go back and get one now!
DROOLS! oh my!!! I loved pumpkin but now I can’t get enough of it.
It looks like baby food. And I would never do this on my own because I’m about as lazy as they come, BUT it looks freakin delish. And I appreciate people who actually take the time in their everyday lives to do stuff like this. You’re like, the best housewife. (Do you consider yourself a housewife?)
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Brilliant! I’ve been buying out grocery stores because I’ve been eating so much pumpkin. Instead of buying organic, I LOVE the idea of making my own and now that I see how simple it is, I can’t wait to try it!
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I love the texture! I usually add butter. Everything tastes better with butter! haha
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“Even if they’re wrong.” Haha, this made me laugh. LOVE this series, I get excited when I see a new “exactly how I” post pop up in my inbox. Keep ’em coming!
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About how many cups/ounces of purée would you get from one sugar pumpkin?
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do you have to store it in the fridge for a week or can you use it straight away?
I would not store it for more then a few days in the fridge. Put the rest in freezer bags and freeze it. I just used last year’s supply. ANd i use regular pumpkins after Halloween.
This worked out better than I thought! Far better end result and much easier than boiling and mashing. I cut mine in smaller pieces and added a bit if water to the pan.
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If you use a big bowl and an immersion blender it is easier to mix the pumpkin puree because it blends very easily and you can keep the puree pretty thick.
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Pumpkin Puree turned out great! thanks for this!!!
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