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You are here: Home / Recipes and Cooking Tips / How to Roast a Pumpkin and How to Make Pumpkin Puree

How to Roast a Pumpkin and How to Make Pumpkin Puree

September 6, 2015 by Alea Milham 33 Comments

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how to roast sugar pumpkins and make pumpkin puree
How to make pumpkin puree and how to freeze the pumpkin puree for later.
how to make pumpkin puree using roasted sugar pumpkins
tutorial on how to make pumpkin puree using roasted sugar pumpkins

It is easy to make pumpkin puree and depending on the prices of pumpkins in your area, it can save you quite a bit of money.

How to Roast a Pumpkin and How to Make Pumpkin Puree: Easy tips for roasting pumpkin. How to make pumpkin puree from scratch & freeze it to use in recipes.

When you make pumpkin puree you want to use baking pumpkins instead of carving pumpkins. Baking pumpkins are smaller, more flavorful, and contain less water. Sugar pumpkins are my favorite baking pumpkins, so I grow them in my garden. If you aren’t a gardener, you can usually pick up a baking pumpkin for around$2.00 at farm stands, pumpkin patches and grocery stores.

How to Roast a Pumpkin:

Lay pumpkin on side and cut it in half crosswise before roasting it

It is easier to cut the pumpkin in half if you cut it crosswise instead of from the top to bottom.

Remove the pumpkin seeds - A grapefruit spoon can speed up the process

Scoop out the pumpkin seeds. If you have a grapefruit spoon it can help speed up the process. Save the seeds! Rinse them, let them dry, and then use them to make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

Place pumpkin halves cut side down on baking sheet.

Place the pumpkin halves, cut side down on the baking sheet. I cover my baking sheet with foil so I don’t have to worry about the pumpkins getting stuck to the pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes.

cook pumpkin until it is fork tender

When the pumpkins are ready, the skin will be darker in color and can easily be pierced by a fork.

lift the skin off the cooked pumpkin

How To Make Pumpkin Puree

Use a spoon to remove the pumpkin skin from the cooked pumpkin. You may be able to lift it off in one piece. If not, just use the spoon to tear off  the skin in pieces. Now you are ready to puree the pumpkin.

How to Make Pumpkin Puree - step by step tutorial with pictures.

You can use an immersion blender, a food processor, or a blender to puree your pumpkin. Just use which ever one you already own. I pureed one half of the cooked pumpkin at a time using my immersion blender. You can use the puree as is, if you aren’t baking with it. If you are baking, you need to squeeze out the excess liquid before using it in a recipe.

How to make pumpkin puree and how to freeze pumpkin puree

How to Freeze Pumpkin Puree

You can freeze your pureed pumpkin. Measure it out into the amounts you use in recipes. Pumpkin Pie usually calls for 1 3/4 cup pureed pumpkin. Many of my recipes call for a cup of pumpkin, so I divided my puree into 4 baggies with 1 cup of pumpkin each. My 3 1/2 pound pumpkin produced a little over 4 cups of pumpkin puree.

Printable Recipe for Pumpkin Puree

How to Make Pumpkin Puree - step by step tutorial
Print
4.75 from 4 votes

Pumpkin Puree Recipe

How to make homemade pumpkin puree using roasted pumpkins.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword homemade pumpkin puree, how to roast pumpkins, pumpkin puree recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes minutes
Total Time 55 minutes minutes
Author Alea Milham

Ingredients

  • 1 sugar pumpkin

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and cover a baking sheet with foil.
  • Cut the pumpkin in half crosswise.
  • Scoop out the seeds.
  • Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on the baking sheet.
  • Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until the skin darkens and it can easily be pierced by a fork.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool.
  • Remove the skin.
  • Place one half of the pumpkin in a bowl, blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
  • Repeat with the remaining pumpkin.
  • If using in baked goods, place the pumpkin in cheesecloth and squeeze out the excess liquid.
  • Use the pumpkin puree in a recipe, or freeze it for future use.

Pumpkin Recipes:

Pumpkin Dip

Pumpkin Pie Fudge

Frosted Pumpkin Cookies

Pumpkin Chai Latte Fudge

Practically Perfect Pumpkin Pie

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About Alea Milham

Alea Milham is the owner of Premeditated Leftovers and the author of Prep-Ahead Meals from Scatch. She shares her tips for saving money and time while reducing waste in her home. Her favorite hobby, gardening, is a frugal source of organic produce for her recipes. She believes it is possible to live fully and eat well while spending less.

Comments

  1. Cz says

    September 28, 2023 at 9:42 pm

    I have never drained my pumpkin puree. I freeze and use for baking no problem.

    Reply
  2. Dawn says

    November 18, 2022 at 2:39 pm

    I used my pumpkin Juice strained from my puree to make a Pumpkin Cinnamon Jelly.. I put about 6 cinnamon sticks in the juice I had about 7 cups and brought it to a simmer for about 10 mins. Then strained the juice to get the small pieces of Cinnamon out of the juice. Then follow the Sure-jell box and use the grape juice recipe for this Pumpkin Cinnamon Jelly. Its very pretty and my family loved it.

    Reply
    • Brandi says

      November 13, 2024 at 10:10 am

      Dawn! Thank you for this idea! I always can my pumpkin juice for extra broth if I need it; but this sounds lovely! I can’t wait to try it! I’m roasting my pumpkins right now!❤️
      Brandi

      Reply
  3. Olga says

    October 20, 2022 at 11:23 am

    HELP!!!!!! My puree is super thin and watery. When I squeeze through cheese cloth the pumpkin comes out too. I’ve never had this problem before. I don’t use the round orange pumpkins, I use the turbine ones. I’m so upset, I wasted all the time roasting blending and then this happens.

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      October 20, 2022 at 4:44 pm

      The recipe is for baking pumpkins, so the puree will be different if you use a different type of pumpkin. You can try squeezing the puree through a thin white flour sack towel. The flour sack is thicker than cheesecloth, so it should keep the pumpkin from coming out.

      Reply
  4. Margery says

    October 14, 2022 at 8:47 am

    Any ideas as to what one can do with the liquid from the purée?

    Reply
    • Kathy says

      November 15, 2023 at 2:48 pm

      Someone above mentioned useing the liquid for jelly

      Reply
      • Brandi says

        November 13, 2024 at 10:12 am

        I can mine to add for broth!

        Reply
  5. Peggy says

    October 12, 2022 at 1:39 pm

    How long can it stay in the freezer?

    Reply
  6. Laurie says

    September 30, 2022 at 8:21 pm

    The image of the pumpkin and the recipe/directions were inspiring! I made the purée yesterday, placed it in a flour sack type dish towel to squeeze out the liquid and hung it over the kitchen faucet overnight to drain any residue liquid. In the morning it was quite dry so I scooped it evenly into 2 quart bags, labeled them and flattened them nicely so they will stack into the freezer well. So, 2 pumpkins, 2 pies. Was so satisfying will probably do it again for 2-4 more pies for the year. Thanks, was fun!

    Reply
  7. Sal says

    November 22, 2021 at 12:05 pm

    What is the puree is too liquidy ? What should I do if I want to make a pie with it ?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      November 23, 2021 at 2:09 pm

      Strain it to remove the excess liquid. You can put it in cheesecloth or a thin white “floursack” dishcloth. Then squeeze out the excess liquid.

      Reply
  8. Jody says

    November 3, 2020 at 3:52 pm

    Can u use jack o lantern pumpkins i have 3 not cut.

    Reply
  9. Catherine says

    November 9, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    I’m doing my pumpkin puree now and I squeezed out the excess but it seems like it’s really dry do you leave some liquid in there?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      November 10, 2019 at 10:56 am

      You can squeeze out as much or as little as you wish. If you are making pumpkin pie with it, you will want it pretty dry.

      Reply
  10. PAT says

    July 2, 2018 at 8:53 pm

    5 stars
    For those asking about the plain flavor of this puree. If you are wanting to use it for pies or cookies and such, you still need to add the spices and sugar,milk, and other things as you would with a canned pumpkin you would buy from the store. The flavor and texture of the home grown baking pumpkins are much better though. I found a pumpkin some years ago I was given by an amish family and have grown it ever since. The texture and flavor makes a pie that is like a pumpkin custard. So delishious. It’s called a Crook Neck Pumkin, or neck pumpkin. There are a few different names for it and you probably won’t find the seeds down at the feed store and most of the popular seed catalogs don’t carry them. But if you search them you’ll find them at some of the more obscure seed suppliers. Believe me , they are well worth the look 🙂

    Reply
  11. Frances Black says

    October 9, 2017 at 2:46 am

    4 stars
    I would like to be able to can the puree in the small jars to give as gifts. Is this possible? I am giving small jars of various food items for Christmas gifts. So far I
    have made several jellies, peach pickles, banana butter etc. Friends look forward to this as most of them don’t do any of this “old fashioned” cooking or canning. I have always done this and my Mom did also. I am really enjoying reading about what all of you women are doing.

    Reply
  12. Shani says

    October 9, 2016 at 9:21 pm

    So I just roasted my first pumpkin. I have to say it was rather huge but I did everything the recipe above stated. I did cook it a little longer due to the size, however it is still yellowish in color and a little “stringy”. Is this normal or should I have cooked longer? Basically all I do is make cookies with pumpkin so I thought this might save me some money doing this instead

    Reply
  13. Brahmina says

    October 17, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    How do you go about squeezing the liquid out? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      October 17, 2015 at 10:39 pm

      Place the pureed pumpkin in cheesecloth and then squeeze out the excess liquid.

      Reply
  14. Amanda says

    October 15, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Thank you so much for this easy tutorial. I am sharing this on my blog!

    Reply
  15. Tina says

    September 14, 2015 at 10:46 am

    Love this! I always make my pies with just pure pumpkin puree and they have way more flavour than my mother’s storebought-filling pies. I use whatever pumpkins are handy though, even the big ones, though I always plant sugar pumpkins. Even up here in zone 2b, they still grow wonderfully!

    Reply
  16. Maggie says

    November 20, 2014 at 11:23 am

    After reading the comments, Im guessing you cant just use any pumpkin for this? :/

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      November 20, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      It works best with smaller, baking pumpkins.

      Reply
      • Maggie says

        November 27, 2014 at 4:08 pm

        I was hoping to use the ones we got from our local patch, have our money go a little further (and something fun to do as Ive never done this). Is there something I can add to the puree to make it better or is it not even worth a try?

        Reply
        • Renee says

          July 22, 2018 at 8:02 am

          5 stars
          I’ve used the ones that we got from our pumpkin patch last year. Did the exact method of cooking the pumpkin. I looked up a recipe, which I have to find again, and the pies I made turned out fantastic. So don’t give up just yet. Give it a whirl and see what ya get.

          Reply
  17. Joyce says

    October 26, 2014 at 10:56 am

    Just baked a pumpkin & it has no flavor at all. I asked for a pie pumpkin at the market & was told all the small ones were pie pumpkins. You mentioned sugar pumpkins but have not been able to find them. Any suggestions how I can get that pumpkin flavor?

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      October 26, 2014 at 5:01 pm

      I grow my own sugar pumpkins. Not all small pumpkins are created the same, I would recommend calling a few stores and seeing if you can find one that carries sugar pumpkins.

      Reply
  18. Stephanie says

    August 18, 2014 at 11:15 am

    Just wondering if you’d squeeze out the liquid before freezing? Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Alea Milham says

      August 19, 2014 at 12:25 am

      If you are going to bake with it, then you should squeeze out the excess liquid.

      Reply
      • Danielle says

        October 17, 2017 at 7:25 am

        How do you squeeze out the liquid so it can be used for baking pies?

        Reply
        • Brook says

          November 5, 2020 at 5:06 pm

          You would wrap it in cheese cloth and squeeze out the liquid.

          Reply
  19. Melanie a/k/a CrazyMom says

    October 11, 2013 at 4:12 pm

    5 stars
    What a great idea… Thanks for sharing this simple tip that will come in handy; Pumpkin Puree isn’t cheap anymore and this is a great way to save and know what’s in your puree as well.. Love it. Saw it on pinterest and just had to come over and check it out.

    Reply

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Welcome. I'm Alea!

On Premeditated Leftovers I share simple recipes made with whole foods, practical shopping tips, time saving techniques, and meal planning strategies. I also share tips for minimizing food waste, so more of the food that is purchased ends up on the table.

While volunteering as a budget counselor, I realized that food is the element of most people’s budgets where they have the greatest control. I set out to develop low-cost recipes from scratch to prove it’s possible to create delicious meals on a limited budget. Eating well while spending less is about more than just creating recipes using inexpensive ingredients; it’s about creatively combining ingredients so you don’t feel deprived and are inspired to stick to your budget.

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