Roasted Pumpkin to Pumpkin Puree: How to Make Your Own Homemade Pumpkin Puree

I had a pumpkin from my son's school creation which was brought in by one of the other mom's from their pumpkin patch in their yard.  They gave them a bunch of things to glue on like foam pieces and feather so he made his masterpiece.  Then it sat on our porch for Halloween and a little longer until he was over the excitement.  I brought it inside and took off all of the decorations and cleaned the outside off because I had a plan for this pumpkin!!

I wanted to make pumpkin puree.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but I knew that I had a free pumpkin and I might as well try.  Pretty frugal right?  I looked online and decided to use this recipe from Pioneer Woman.  It seemed easy enough and I had made other of her recipes and she has yet to steer me wrong.

Didn't my pumpkin clean up nice?

I cut the pumpkin's top off and got this.  There was a little bit of a squishy part so I did remove that while cutting because I just wasn't sure whether that was good or not.

I used my favorite knife because it is the only one that I can fight through things this tough to cut and I cut in half just like the Pioneer Woman showed. Easier said then done but push your way through it and change knives if you have to because you need a sturdy blade.

Then, I cleaned out the middle part.  I put the yucky part in the trash and the seeds in a bowl (stay tuned for pumpkin seed recipe).  I just used my hands but you can use a spoon to clean it out better.  I did some more cleaning when I cut the pieces up because it was a little easier to get inside the pumpkin.

Then, I cut the pumpkin halves into quarters or strips depending on what my knife decided.

I roasted it in the oven and they came out looking a lot the same but a little less brightly colored.  I wasn't sure that I did them right or long enough because I expected some huge change and there really wasn't any.  I left them to cool on the counter while I finished a few other things around the kitchen.

Then, I got a phone call and I decided to peel the meat of the pumpkin off the skin.  It was much easier then I thought and I got them all done while talking on the phone.  The skin was hard and easy to pull against.  I ended up with this crispy pile of skins.

I put all of the pumpkin into the blender to mix it together because the pieces were still pretty solid.

This being my first time, I wasn't sure if I needed extra water or not but the pumpkin looked pretty intact and dry so I tried the blender and it really didn't do much.  I added one tablespoon at a time but it took 4 tablespoons before the whole batch would mix up to the puree consistency.  I ended up with a much brighter looking pumpkin then the canned version.  There were still a little stringy pieces which you don't see as often in the store bought kind but I was sure that they would cook right into the bread or pie that I was going to make with this.

I scooped it all out of the blender and put it into a container in the fridge so that I could make my pumpkin item later in the week when I had a little more time.  I wish that I had more pumpkin to show for the end result but I did only make one really small pumpkin which was a little over 1 cup of pumpkin so I used what I needed for pumpkin bread and put the rest in the freezer for later.

I hope that you try this really easy recipe and I am currently waiting for the pumpkin bread to come out of the oven so that I can try it!!!  I am sure it is going to be even more flavorful then the normal loaf and I can't wait to try making this puree when I have a few more pumpkins.

Pumpkin Puree

Whole Small Pumpkins

Instructions

Select a couple of small (or pie) pumpkins. Cut off the top piece with stem and then cut the pumpkin in half. With hand, spoon or scoop, scrape out the seeds and pulp from the center. You don't have to be too thorough with this.

Place all the seeds into a bowl (you can roast them later and make pumpkin seeds). Repeat until all the pumpkin pieces are largely free of seeds and pulp.

Cut each pumpkin into quarters or whatever is easiest to cut.  Place pumpkin pieces on a baking sheet (face up or face down) and roast in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes, or until pumpkin is fork-tender. They should be nice and light golden brown when done.

Let cool for a little bit.  Peel off the skin from the pumpkin pieces and discard skin. In a food processor or blender, put in the pumpkin meat. If you don't have either, you can mash it up with a potato masher, or move it through a potato ricer, or process it through a food mill.

Pulse the pumpkin until smooth. If it looks too dry (or won't mix in the blender), add in a few tablespoons of water during the pulsing to give it the needed moisture. Add one tablespoon at a time and mix in between.  If the puree is overly watery, you should strain it on cheesecloth or over a fine mesh strainer to get rid of some of the liquid.

Dump the pureed pumpkin into a bowl, and if you have more continue pureeing until all the pumpkin is done.
You can either use this immediately in whatever pumpkin recipe you’d like, store it in the freezer for later use.
To store in the freezer, spoon about 1 cupful of pumpkin into each plastic storage bag. Seal the bag with just a tiny bit of an opening remaining, then use your hands to flatten out the pumpkin inside the bag and push out the air and then seal. Store them in the freezer until you need them.