{"title":"How to Make Pumpkin Puree","canonicalUrl":"https://www.showmestepbystep.com/cooking/how-to-make-pumpkin-puree","category":{"slug":"cooking","name":"Cooking"},"creator":{"name":"Clean & Delicious","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj0V0aG4LcdHmdPJ7aTtSCQ","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIJ0k-YdfjA"},"tldr":"Roast one sugar pumpkin at 400F for 35 minutes, peel the skin and blend. Fresh pumpkin puree in 10 steps, plus how to drain it before it goes into a pie.","totalDurationSeconds":286,"difficulty":"easy","tools":[],"materials":[],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Slice the Top Off the Sugar Pumpkin","text":"Start with a sugar pumpkin. They are small, round and plump, usually two to three pounds, and they sit next to the carving pumpkins every autumn. Dani uses one that weighs about 2.5 pounds.Lay it on its side on a cutting board and cut the stem end off with a chef's knife. This takes more force than you expect. Go slow, keep your free hand flat on top of the pumpkin and well away from the blade, and let the knife work through the wall instead of shoving it."},{"number":2,"title":"Cut the Pumpkin in Half Lengthwise","text":"Stand the pumpkin on the flat face you have made so it cannot roll, then bring the knife down through the middle from top to bottom. That flat base is what makes the cut safe. A round pumpkin on a board rolls under the blade.Pull the two halves apart and there is the seed cavity, a nest of pale seeds held in orange strings."},{"number":3,"title":"Scoop Out the Seeds and Stringy Membrane","text":"Take an ordinary metal spoon and drag it around the cavity. The seeds come away first, then the stringy membrane they sit in. Keep scraping until the inside walls feel smooth under the spoon.Leave the strings behind and they roast into tough fibres that a food processor cannot break down, so they show up as threads running through the finished puree."},{"number":4,"title":"Save the Pumpkin Seeds for Roasting","text":"Tip the seeds into a bowl instead of the bin. Rinse them under cold water, pick off the last of the orange strings, and they are ready to go into the oven with oil and salt.They come out as a snack on their own and they are good scattered over a salad or a bowl of soup. Our guide to roasting pumpkin seeds has the temperature and the timing."},{"number":5,"title":"Lay the Halves Skin Side Up on a Lined Baking Sheet","text":"Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat, then set the halves on it cut side down with the skin facing up. Lining the pan saves you scrubbing caramelized pumpkin sugar off the metal later.Cut side down matters more than it sounds. Steam gets trapped under the flesh and cooks it through from below while the skin takes the dry heat, so the pumpkin softens without drying out on top."},{"number":6,"title":"Roast the Pumpkin at 400F for 35 to 40 Minutes","text":"Slide the pan into a 400F oven and leave it alone for 35 to 40 minutes. The one in the video came out at 35.This is the step that makes fresh puree worth the trouble. Boiling pushes water into the pumpkin and you spend the rest of the recipe getting it back out. Dry oven heat pulls water off instead, so what is left tastes more like pumpkin and holds together as a thicker puree."},{"number":7,"title":"Peel the Skin Off the Roasted Pumpkin","text":"Let the halves sit until they are cool enough to handle, then pull the skin away. On a pumpkin that roasted long enough it lifts off in big sheets with almost no effort and takes none of the flesh with it.If the skin fights back and tears into small pieces, the pumpkin came out of the oven early. Put it back for another ten minutes and try again."},{"number":8,"title":"Chop the Roasted Pumpkin Into Chunks","text":"Cut the peeled flesh into big rough chunks. They do not need to be even or neat. You are only making pieces small enough for the blade to catch and pull down."},{"number":9,"title":"Blend the Pumpkin Into a Smooth Puree","text":"Load the chunks into a food processor and run it until the texture turns smooth and creamy. It happens fast, and there is nothing to add. No water, no oil. The pumpkin already carries all the moisture it needs.No food processor is not a dead end. A blender does the same job. So does a potato masher, or the back of a fork if the pumpkin roasted long enough, though both of those leave more texture behind."},{"number":10,"title":"Scrape the Puree Into a Storage Container","text":"Scrape every last bit out with a spoon and into a lidded container. It keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks. Dani makes hers at the weekend so it is sitting ready all week for pancakes, oatmeal, a spoonful stirred through yogurt or a smoothie.Freezing works well too. Portion it into one cup measures before it goes in, so a recipe that calls for a cup does not mean thawing the whole batch."}],"recipe":{"servings":"Makes about 2 cups of puree from one 2.5 pound pumpkin","prepMinutes":20,"cookMinutes":35,"cuisine":"American","ingredients":[{"name":"sugar pumpkin, also sold as a pie pumpkin","notes":"small, round and heavy for its size - a large carving pumpkin roasts up watery, stringy and bland","amount":"1, about 2.5 pounds"}]},"lastUpdated":"2026-09-15T15:36:16.266Z","published":"2026-09-15T15:34:19.853Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}