How to Make Pumpkin Puree

Course: Miscellany

Cuisine: North American

Keyword: baking, pumpkin, puree, seasons

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 45

cooling time: 10

Total Time: 55

Servings: cups

Calories: 1kcal

Pureed Pumpkin is so easy and inexpensive- it's a must this baking season!

Preheat your oven to 425°F (218°C).
Line a sheet pan with a silicone baking mat and set it aside.

On a cutting board, use a chefs knife to remove the stem of the pumpkin, then pumpkin half lengthwise.
Use a large, wide spoon to scrape out the stringy innards and seeds. You can discard the seeds or wash and roast them and enjoy them as a snack.
After you scrape the seeds and stringy innards from the pumpkin halves, flip them over onto the prepared sheet pan.

Roast the pumpkin halves for 40 minutes. Depending on how thick the flesh in the pumpkin is, the longer you will have to roast it.
Once the peel begins to pull away from the bottom of the pumpkin halves, use a pair of tongs or the tines of a fork to remove the rind from the flesh.
Compost or discard the rind.

Use a fork to mash the roasted pumpkin until smooth, or carefully transfer the soft pulp to a food processor fitted with a metal blade or to a blender.
Vent the lid to avoid an explosion and puree the pumpkin until smooth.

To create a deeper, more pronounced flavor in your pumpkin puree, decrease the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C).
Use an offset spatula to spread the mash into an even layer on the same baking mat you roasted the halves on earlier.
Roast the puree for 20 minutes, scooping it up and spreading it back into an even layer after the first 10 minutes of roasting.
Once it's nice and thick, allow the pumpkin to cool completely at room temperature.
Use this homemade pumpkin puree in any recipe calling for canned puree.

Replace the (Sugar) Pie Pumpkin with Autumn Gold, Blue Doll, Blue or Golden Hubbard, Sweet Sugar Pie pumpkins.
Avoid Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins. They don't have the right texture or flavor for this recipe.

Thicker-fleshed pumpkins requires longer roasting, but it shouldn't take longer than 1 hour.
Roasting the puree helps evaporate more water from the puree than not doing it.
To make a double-batch: add one or two more pumpkins to 1 or 2 two sheet pans. Increase the second roasting (the drying and concentrating phase) to 40 minutes to evaporate the added water.
After storage, some water may develop in the container, especially if you have frozen and thawed it. Simply strain it through a cheesecloth set inside a fine-mesh sieve to remove excess liquid.

Store the cooled pumpkin puree in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1 week.

Transfer the cooled puree to a freezer-safe storage container and store it for up to 6 months.
Thaw it completely in the fridge overnight before using it in recipes.