How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree for Baking

Around our house, Autumn makes us think of pumpkins. We like to decorate with our table with cute little pumpkins, but even more, we like to eat pumpkin treats!

Many pumpkin recipes call for canned pumpkin puree, but you can make your very own pumpkin puree from scratch… all you need is a pie pumpkin. Large pumpkins that are sold for carving don’t work well for cooking as they are usually more stringy and have a higher water content. So look for a pie pumpkin when you want to make fresh pumpkin puree.

Make your own pumpkin puree

Ingredients:
1 pie pumpkin

Equipment:
cutting board
sharp knife
spoon
bowl
cookie sheet
metal spatula
oven mitt
potato masher
(optional: food processor)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Wash the outside of the pumpkin. With an adult’s help, cut the pumpkin in half.

Cut a Pie Pumpkin in Half

Pumpkin halves

2.With a spoon, scoop out the seeds from each half into the bowl. Scrape sides with the spoon to be sure you are all the way down to the flesh.

Scoop out the pumpkin seeds

3. Place your cleaned pumpkin halves face down on a baking sheet. We don’t grease our sheet or add water because it can make the puree runny.

Place pumpkin halves face down on baking sheet

4. Bake the pumpkin at 350° for about an hour. You want it to be nice and soft. You can test this by flipping over the pumpkin with a spatula (wear an oven mitt!) and pressing a fork into the flesh.

Flip the pumpkin halves over when done

Test the pumpkin with a fork

5. Let the pumpkin halves cool, then scoop the cooked pumpkin flesh out of the skin and into a bowl.

Scoop the cooked pumpkin into a bowl

6. Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher. If you prefer a very smooth puree, you can also use a food processor.

Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher

7. Use the puree in your favorite pumpkin recipe! We like to freeze any leftovers; just defrost a day or so before you want to use it.

 

Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Ingredients:
1 pie pumpkin

Equipment:
cutting board
sharp knife
spoon
bowl
cookie sheet
metal spatula
oven mitt
potato masher
(optional: food processor)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Wash the outside of the pumpkin. With an adult’s help, cut the pumpkin in half.

2.With a spoon, scoop out the seeds from each half into the bowl. Scrape sides with the spoon to be sure you are all the way down to the flesh.

3. Place your cleaned pumpkin halves face down on a baking sheet. We don’t grease our sheet or add water because it can make the puree runny.

4. Bake the pumpkin at 350° for about an hour. You want it to be nice and soft. You can test this by flipping over the pumpkin with a spatula (wear an oven mitt!) and pressing a fork into the flesh.

5. Let the pumpkin halves cool, then scoop the cooked pumpkin flesh out of the skin and into a bowl.

6. Mash the pumpkin with a potato masher. If you prefer a very smooth puree, you can also use a food processor.

7. Use the puree in your favorite pumpkin recipe! We like to freeze any leftovers; just defrost a day or so before you want to use it.

 

About Abbie and Mrs. Brown

7 Responses to “How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Puree for Baking”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Stephen says:

    You guys are amazing! How do I subscribe to the blog?

  2. sandy says:

    Good information about not adding water or greasing the cookie sheet! I didn’t think of that. Great post!

  3. brownium says:

    I got to have some of the pie that was made from that puree. It was, and I mean this, the very best pie I have had in many, many years. Perhaps the best pie I ever had.

Trackbacks

  1. […] father, a non-pumpkin-pie eater, became a true fan. He even commented on our post about pumpkin puree, “I got to have some of the pie that was made from that puree. It was, and I mean this, the […]

  2. […] Pumpkin dip makes a great snack or party offering. Pair it with apples, or our favorite, ginger snaps. If you are eating low carb, just powder the sweetener of your choice in a blender or coffee grinder (I keep one just for this purpose.) And if you are starting with a fresh pumpkin, check out our tutorial on preparing pumpkin for recipes. […]



Tell us what YOU think... leave a comment!

*