*This post contains affiliate links.
Did you know you can cook a whole pumpkin and then turn it into pumpkin puree? I didn’t. I mean, I guess I did, but it just never occurred to me that it could be that easy. Then I read this post…several years ago. I forgot about it…until the day after Halloween when my supposed-to-be-a-jack-o-lantern was still just a pumpkin. I wondered if I could cook up my big ol’ pumpkin? I decided to give it a try and since I’m telling you about it, that means it worked.
I washed it and put it on a cookie sheet. I also had to take out one oven tray so it would fit. I stabbed it a few times – don’t want any exploding pumpkins! I will say that stabbing it was kinda fun! Then I cooked it at 350 for almost 2 hours. It probably could’ve cooked a little longer, but I had places to go and couldn’t wait any longer.
After it cooled for an hour or so (maybe longer), I cut it open. It was so easy! I separated the seeds and saved them for roasting. The stringy stuff went into the compost container. I cut the skin off the rest (the skin went into the compost too) and chunked the fruit. 
I used my immersion blender to mix it up. It really didn’t take that long. I ened up with about 5 cups of pumpkin puree. I’m sure I would’ve had more, but I wasn’t real careful when I cut the pumpkin up and I’m sure there was a lot of good stuff left on the skin.
I froze three one cup baggies and made the other two into pumpkin roll. It was delicious!
Of course the seeds had to be roasted! I spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, give them a generous sprinkle of salt and bake them at 350 for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown. They are extra good when eaten still warm!
Have you ever cooked a whole pumpkin?
*This post contains affiliate links. For more info, see my disclosure policy.
Leave a Reply