The tradition of roasting a fresh pumpkin is one the boys and I have had for years. 🎃🎃🎃
We love using freshly roasted pumpkin, also referred to as cooked pumpkin, in my pumpkin dessert recipes like homemade Low-Carb Pumpkin Pie.
While I like freshly roasted pumpkin, because it’s cheaper and has an amazingly rich depth of flavor, my friend Deb who is a master in the kitchen, prefers to use canned pumpkin in her pumpkin recipes.
Along those lines, my Nut-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe calls for canned pumpkin, which is a great way to go if you’re in a hurry.
Either way, my how to cook pumpkin tutorial will give you valuable kitchen skills.
Canned Pumpkin or Cooked Pumpkin?
And a quick note to avoid confusion. Some of my recipes call for fresh cooked pumpkin, i.e., freshly roasted pumpkin, while others use canned.
With a few of them, you get to choose between freshly roasted or canned pumpkin. However, that is not the case for all of them. If a recipe calls for one, do not substitute the other.
How Long Does it Take to Cook Pumpkin in the Oven?
So, first things first, how long does it take to cook a whole pumpkin? It kinda depends on the size of your pumpkin. A larger one will take a bit longer because there is simply more of it to cook. Likewise, a smaller pumpkin will take less time. Overall, I find it takes somewhere between 45-70 minutes to roast a pumpkin in the oven.
How to Choose a Pumpkin for Roasting
Choose a firm, small pie pumpkin, not more than 3-4 pounds. Smaller pumpkins tend to be a bit sweeter. Skip that giant pumpkin and save it to make a jack-o-lantern.
How to Roast a Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 4 small pumpkins
Instructions
- Rinse pumpkins under warm water, removing dirt
- Cut pumpkins in half on a large cutting board with a chef’s knife
- Scoop out seeds with a metal spoon, I use an old measuring spoon that has a nice edge
- Lay pumpkins face side down in a large baking dish
- Cover with ⅛ inch water or enough to prevent burning while roasting
- Bake at 350°F for 40-50 minutes (depending on size) or until fork tender
- Remove from oven and scoop out insides, discarding skins
- Store in refrigerator in a glass mason jar
- Keeps for 5 days in refrigerator
How to Cook Pumpkin in the Oven
Now we’re going to learn to cook pumpkin in the oven so that you can get to the super fun part of this article and learn how to make many low-carb pumpkin desserts for you and yours.
How to Roast A Pumpkin The Easy Way
If you are in a rush, cut the pumpkin into smaller pieces and it will cook faster. The pumpkin in the picture above was rather large (for a pie pumpkin) and I had to cook it for over an hour.
Use Pumpkin or Other Winter Squash for Roasting
The above pumpkin preparation technique is great for pumpkins and other winter squash such as:
- Butternut
- Buttercup
- Acorn Squash
- Kabocha
- Hubbard
I often substitute these squash in my recipes that call for pumpkin and it works very well, sometimes even better than sugar pumpkin.
How to Cook Butternut Squash
I do have a wonderful little How to Roast Butternut Squash tutorial that you can check out. It’s very similar to the how-to roast a whole pumpkin tutorial that you have here.
What to Do with Roasted Pumpkin?
Now for the fun part. We’re getting to all of the amazing ways to use the roasted pumpkin.
Healthy Low-Carb Pumpkin Recipes
First, though, did you know that pumpkin is a healthy low-carb food that’s full of fiber? It’s not just delicious, it’s really good for you. Here’s a link to all of my pumpkin recipes.
Vegan Pumpkin Pie
I have two incredible easy homemade pumpkin pie recipes for you. If you have an egg allergy, my Vegan Pumpkin Pie is for you. This is an easy no-bake pumpkin pie recipe that our whole family loves.
The filling has seven ingredients total and calls for baked pumpkin. Although it has a dash of sweetener in it, it’s so low-carb that we consider it a keto pumpkin pie.
I created my classic yet healthy, Paleo Pumpkin Pie back in 2013. It’s our family’s healthy version of the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe. Baby Pantry asks me to make it all year round, he loves it that much. This is a baked custard made with 6 ingredients total, and you can use roasted pumpkin or canned pumpkin in the recipe.
Does Pumpkin Pie Need to Be Refrigerated?
A quick digression from the recipes for a pro-tip on how to store pumpkin pie. If you’re wondering does pumpkin pie need to be refrigerated, the short answer is yes.
I leave mine out on the counter overnight to cool, but that’s it, after that into the fridge it goes. It won’t matter if your pie filling is made with fresh roasted pumpkin or canned pumpkin, throw it in the fridge to make it stay fresh for up to four or five days. If it lasts that long!
Nut-Free Pumpkin Crumb Muffins
My family goes crazy for these Nut-Free Pumpkin Crumb Muffins made with a coconut flour base and a coffee cake-like streusel on top. These are so good I want to stop typing and run to the kitchen to bake them right now.
Paleo Pumpkin Bread
Did you know that when my younger son was a baby he ate so much squash and pumpkin that he turned orange? This amazing Paleo Pumpkin Bread was, and still is, one of his favorite treats. Try it for yourself and see why.
Nut-Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’re not in the mood to roast a pumpkin, you can make my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies which are made with canned pumpkin. These pumpkin cookies are incredible for the spooky season but we love them so much we make ’em all year round. While most of my cookie recipes are made with almond flour, these are an incredible nut-free treat.
Pumpkin Cranberry Granola
My easy Pumpkin Cranberry Granola has eight ingredients total, that’s it. If you want to turn it into a low-carb, keto granola recipe, leave out the cranberries and you’re good to go, with only seven ingredients. It’s super easy to make granola from scratch. The only problem I have is that when I make it for the family it’s gone in one day. They like it that much!
What’s Your Favorite Pumpkin Recipe?
Here’s wishing you a good time on your roasted pumpkin adventures! I hope you had fun learning how to roast a pumpkin! Leave a comment and let me know. What’s your favorite pumpkin recipe? 🎃
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives, I first published it in 2008.
David Downie says
I can’t believe Americans eat canned pumpkin. I don’t even think you can buy it in Australia. It sounds disgusting. I have never heard of anyone ever using it. Australians always eat roasted pumpkin with their roasts. I wouldn’t recommend roasting it the way outlined here. That looks like a halloween pumpkin for starters. Find the most delicious for roasting. Then chop it into slices. Put in a roasting tray, finely chop some rosemary (a few tablespoons) and mix over the pumpkin with some best quality extra virgin olive oil, and also some good salt and a head of garlic, chopped in half and split up. Use your hands to mix it all in. No water! Roast until caramelised (say 60 mins at 180 celsius).
Amy says
Here in North America we often roast squashes the way you describe.
What is outlined here is a recipe for soft pumpkin to blend into sweet rather than savory recipes – pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cake, etc. It’s a tradition mostly associated with Thanksgiving. The pumpkin used here is not a hallowe’en pumpkin, it’s far smaller, usually about 6-8 inches in diameter, and it’s called a sugar pumpkin. Very yum!
Robert says
I wanted to thank you all for your insight and information. I have a pumpkin in the oven this very moment and had wondered if the skin could be incorporated as a pie filling. Thanks for such an informative website! I found you by mistake but have marked you as a favorite and look forward to checking in for futher tips. Who knows…I might even be able to offer something as I have been cooking for myself for 30 years.
elana says
Shirley -I’m going to try this as well; it sounds amazing.
Naomi -You’re very welcome and I completely agree.
Jenny -This method sounds fantastic. Thanks for your input.
Jenny says
I roast small pumpkins and other squash in the crock-pot: select a pumpkin that will fit into your crock-pot, wash and dry it, then place the pumpkin into the cooker with no water. Cook until it can be easily pierced with a fork. It’s so much easier to cut it apart and separate the seeds when it’s already soft and cooked! Even with my good knife I always have a hard time hacking tough pumpkins/squash in half when raw.
naomi says
Elana,
Thanks for the link! I never even knew canned pumpkin existed until I wrote that recipe! Your easy to follow instructions here, should mean that everyone can roast up a pumpkin with ease.
Shirley says
Kathleen-Thanks so much for that info! I had originally thought the dark color of canned pumpkin was food coloring, but didn’t find it in the ingredients so I was baffled … until now. I will definitely use this method next time around! It will make the pumpkin-baking task much easier and the baked goods more colorful. :-)
Caroline says
I love homemade soups … I make them weekly … try some ‘pumpkin pie spice’ in your pumpkin/apple soups (chicken broth) along with a little cream. I have also used rosemary, garlic, ginger (with pumpkin/carrot..yummy) and basil (if I use basil, I use coconut cream .. a touch of Thai …)
elana says
Kathleen -What a great idea! I’m going to have to try this. Saves time, labor and increases nutrients. Win-win all around
Caroline -Your soups sound delicious. Especially the pumpkin-apple. Yum.
Peter says
I roasted pumpkin chunks last year and it was great, and now I’ll try roasting it whole – great idea! I used the skin and everything in apple smoothies. (The apple tree is in front of the house so the food travelled about 40 feet to the kitchen.) I use ground flax, about 2 T per 5 cups of apple/pumpkin, (and also pop in about the same amount of cracked wheat. It softens overnight and makes this a full meal smoothie – with the protein in the pumpkin.) Sorry, I know this is a glutin free site, but the cracked wheat made me think I could grind the roasted pumpkin seeds too – that worked fine too. As for the skin, it blended into teeny pieces, not much bigger than the ground flax. A little honey and nutmeg or cinnamon and a great smoothie is born!
Caroline says
Thanks for the tip on throwing in the skin and giving it a whirl in the blender! I would never have dreamed of doing that … but I have two (2) lb pumpkins in the oven now … I am going to give it a try. In our family, we eat a lot of soups blended with pumpkin … pumpkin/pear, pumpkin/apple, pumpkin/carrot all done in chicken broth.
Elizabeth Buttle says
I love the sound of your soups – which spices and seasonings do you use please?
Best wishes from the UK
Kathleen says
I don’t remember where I learned this, but I found out that the reason that store-bought pumpkin is such a nice dark orange color as opposed to the lighter orange that you get with home cooked pumpkin is because they do not remove the peels. After I learned this, I tried it. I cut the pumpkin into smaller chunks, cooked them, pureed them in the blender with the peel intact, and then cooked it down further until it was nice and thick. It was much darker orange and I imagine has a lot more beta carotene. and it tasted great. I have a huge roaster pan cooking in the oven right now. I am going to try making my own home-canned pumpkin pie filling sweetened with honey.
Chrissy says
So .. wait. You put the skin in the blender too?? REALLY? After roasting the entire pumpkin, the only thing you remove are the seeds and pulp … then blend? I’m amazed at the thought of doing this. It never would have occurred to me. Thanks for the tip!