Drying Pumpkin Seeds & Making Flavored Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkins are in abundance in the fall and drying pumpkin seeds can be a great way to make the most of these yummy treats! Here are some pumpkin seed recipes for various flavors as well.

Drying Pumpkin Seeds can be done in a short amount of time to make a nutritious snack. All you need is an oven, pumpkin seeds, and some spices to make them.

Drying Pumpkin Seeds

I love Pumpkin seeds. They are so good and are so good for you, plus they are like a free bonus when you are preserving pumpkin! According to WebMD, Pumpkin Seeds are a rich source of protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that reduce risk factors of chronic diseases, including cancer.

Pumpkin Seeds are also high in phosphorus, Vitamin K, and Zinc. So not only do they make a delicious snack, you are getting so many healthy benefits by munching on them!

What Kind of Pumpkin Seeds Can Be Roasted?

Seeds from most pumpkins can be roasted. You will get a larger amount of seeds from the big “jack o lantern” type pumpkins, but you will get nicer, smaller seeds from the pie type pumpkins.

What is the Difference Between the Green and White Pumpkin Seeds?

White Pumpkin seeds are seeds that still have the hull on them.

Green Pumpkin seeds have had the hull removed.

If you plan on making a seed butter or if you don’t like the hulls, you will want to try and find or make the raw green pumpkin seeds. The white seeds are exactly how they will come out of the pumpkin most of the time. Some varieties of pumpkins such as Styrian and Kakai pumpkins have hull-less seeds!

Can you Air-Dry Pumpkin Seeds?

Yes, if you don’t want to roast them and just leave them raw, you can air dry the seeds. Note that this will not work as well if you live in a humid climate.

Just spread the pumpkin seeds out to dry on a clean towel or on paper towels in an area in your kitchen that won’t be disturbed for a few days. You could speed up this process by drying them in a low temp in the oven or the dehydrator if you need to.

Ways to Use Pumpkin Seeds

They aren’t just for snacking! Here are some other ways you can use Pumpkin Seeds.

• Soups. Use the seeds as a topping for soups to add a little texture.
• Salads. We love using pumpkin seeds on top on salads to add a little more nutrition.
• Granola. Probably our favorite use for pumpkin seeds is to add them into Homemade Granola.

Ingredients for Basic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• Pumpkin Seeds. If you want to use the hull-less kind and can’t find a pumpkin that has them, I have bought the Terrasoul brand here before. These seeds are raw so they still can be roasted with your flavors.
• Cookie Sheet or Baking Sheet. Something will sides will be good since you need to move the seeds around and you don’t want them falling off.
• Garlic Salt. This is the basic seasoning that I would give savory pumpkin seeds, although if you prefer, you can just use plain salt as well. Some other fun seasonings to try would be: black pepper, curry powder, chili powder, or cinnamon and brown sugar.
• Olive Oil. This is for roasting. This will also help to give the pumpkin seeds more flavor.

How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

Clean all the seeds out of a pumpkin. You can use the seeds from Sugar Baby pumpkins or the big ones like a jack-o-lantern that you use for pumpkin carving, it doesn’t matter.

You can also roast the seeds from winter squash such as butternut squash, acorn squash, or whatever you grew. Check out my post on Uses for Squash Seeds for more details on that!

Wash the seeds and clean out the chunks of pumpkin or the pulp of the pumpkin. Don’t worry about it being completely perfect.

Spread out on a cookie sheet. It does not have to be greased since you will be moving the seeds around. You may want to cover it with parchment paper.

Put your pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and sprinkle with a little olive oil. Sprinkle garlic salt onto the pumpkin seeds for your desired saltiness.

Bake the pumpkin seeds at 250F for about an hour or more until fully dried out. If you are using pre-bought raw seeds, they will not need to dry as long and only need to roast until they start to smell flavorful.

Scoop around the seeds with a spatula about every 10 minutes. Keep moving the seeds around and baking until the seeds start to turn brown and they snap in half when you try and break them.

Yum. These smell so good while they are cooking!

Grab the printable recipe below to add to your Recipe Binder.

Print

Basic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Course Snack

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Servings 4 people

Calories 188 kcal

Ingredients

• Pumpkin Seeds
• Garlic Salt
• Olive Oil

Instructions

1. Clean all the seeds out of a pumpkin. You can use the seeds from Sugar Baby pumpkins or the big ones like you carve for Halloween, it doesn't matter.
2. Wash the seeds and clean out the chunks of pumpkin. Don't worry about it being completely perfect.
3. Spread out on a cookie sheet. It does not have to be greased since you will be moving the seeds around.
4. Put your pumpkin seeds in a bowl and sprinkle with a little olive oil and Sprinkle garlic salt onto the pumpkin seeds for your desired saltiness.
5. Bake the pumpkin seeds at 250F for about an hour or more until fully dried out. Scoop around the seeds with a spatula about every 10 minutes.  Keep moving the seeds around and baking until the seeds start to turn brown and they snap in half when you try and break them.

Nutrition Facts

Basic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 188 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Fat 17g26%

Saturated Fat 3g19%

Trans Fat 0.02g

Polyunsaturated Fat 7g

Monounsaturated Fat 6g

Sodium 584mg25%

Potassium 259mg7%

Carbohydrates 3g1%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 0.4g0%

Protein 10g20%

Vitamin A 5IU0%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 15mg2%

Iron 3mg17%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Below you will find some other pumpkin seed recipes that I found for pumpkin seeds in different flavors if you are feeling adventurous. Be sure and comment with which ones you’ve made!

Roasted Dill Pumpkin Seeds

These Dill Pickle Pumpkin seeds are made with pickle juice and sound so yummy!

Spiced Maple Pumpkin Seeds

With the addition of cinnamon and maple syrup, these Spiced Maple Pumpkin Seeds sound like the perfect fall snack!

Chili Lime Pumpkin Seeds

These Chili Lime Pumpkin Seeds look so easy to make with only 3 ingredients!

Sweet and Salty Maple Pumpkin Seeds

Instead of focusing only on the sweet flavors like the recipe above, these Sweet and Salty Maple Pumpkin Seeds have the best of both worlds.

More Pumpkin Recipes

• Eggless Pumpkin Pie Recipe
• Pumpkin Turtle Cheesecake
• Easy Pumpkin Bread Recipe
• Easy Pumpkin Cookies
• Pumpkin Cake Muffins Recipe

And if you are looking to preserve the pumpkin for later, you can use my tutorial on Preserving Pumpkin.

What are your favorite pumpkin seed recipes?

This blog post about Drying Pumpkin Seeds was originally posted on Little House Living in November 2010. It has been updated as of October 2022.