Roasted Pumpkin Seeds – Recipes and Ideas

The next time you carve your Jack-O-Lantern, make sure you save all those pumpkin seeds. Roasted pumpkin seeds are easy to make and can be used in many dishes. Add them to salads, bread and muffin mixes, or kids lunches. Try these pumpkin seed recipes and ideas this fall:

General Instructions:

1. Clean out the pumpkin, rinse the seeds and put on a paper towel to dry.
2. For all of the recipes, use a baking sheet and bake in an oven set at 250 degrees. You can cook faster at higher temperatures, but you may lose some of the essential oils.
3. Either spray the baking sheet with a non-stick spray, or mix a couple teaspoons of oil in with the seasonings and seeds before placing them on the sheet.
4. Check and stir seeds every 10-15 minutes. Let roast for 45 minutes, or until the seeds are crisp and golden. Remove them from the baking sheet and let them cool.
5. Store roasted seeds up to 1 month in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Seasonings: There are so many flavors you can add to pumpkin seeds. Think of popcorn and all the flavors you put on that. In fact, you can sprinkle popcorn seasonings on pumpkin seeds – especially flavors that are hard to make like dill pickle and bar-b-q.

You can make the pumpkin seeds spicy by adding crushed red pepper, cayenne pepper, black pepper or hot chili powder. Try adding some seasoning blends from your cupboard, like Cajun, Tex-Mex or Italian. Add in some garlic powder, sea salt or salt replacement blend for added flavour in your mix.
A sample combination for 3 cups of seeds would be: 2 teaspoons of oil (like canola), 4 teaspoons of garlic powder, 2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper, 2 teaspoons of sea salt, and 1 teaspoon of black pepper. You can add more or less seasonings to taste. Seasonings like cayenne pepper and cajun blends add nice color to the seeds as well.

Let your kids help with cleaning and roasting the pumpkin seeds. Easy recipes for kids will encourage them to learn how to cook and teach them important life skills.

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