Ever thought of making your own homemade pumpkin puree from scratch, but not entirely sure of the method? These super easy steps will walk you through making your own from scratch pumpkin puree. Easy peasy!
For someone who grows 20-something varieties of heirloom tomatoes every year, I grow a pretty monotonous pumpkin patch. In fact, I've gotten so I only plant one kind of pumpkin on our homestead these days.
Winter Luxury pie pumpkin is my absolute, hands-down favorite, so I don't waste garden space planting any other variety. It's sweet, dry, fine-textured, perfect for baking with - and it's PRETTY. That white netting over the deep orange just makes me happy!
It does, however, have one minor downside. I discovered the hard way last year that it is not a very good keeper. Unlike the blue hubbard squash, which were still firm and perfect as I was feeding them to the pigs in May, these get squizzly and start to rot very early. Even at cool basement temperatures, they really need to get used or preserved by Thanksgiving. So - it's marathon pumpkin cooking time around here!
My favorite way to preserve pumpkin, is pureed, and frozen. I love having it all ready to work with, in easy one-cup portions. So, while I do can and dehydrate some, this is how I use the bulk of our pumpkins. If you've never roasted pumpkin for puree - it's SO easy. Here's the method I use.
First, you chop those beautiful pumpkins in half. While just about every tutorial you'll ever read for roasting pumpkin will instruct you to cut through the pumpkin from top to bottom, I've found that I can fit more pumpkins in my oven if I cut along the equator - through the middle. I figure, if I'm going to roast pumpkin, go big or go home, right?
Another thing I do a little differently - I bake pumpkins on parchment paper. "But won't they make a mess of my oven?", you ask. If you're working with good, fine-fleshed, pie pumpkins (as opposed to some of the extra-large decorative varieties), then nope. They really don't drip, certainly not enough to make a mess on the bottom of the oven.
If you're just doing one or two, by all means, place those puppies cut-side-down on baking sheets. But if you're trying to cram your oven full like I do, parchment paper works very well. I don't use aluminum foil, because it's important to me to avoid cooking food in contact with aluminum.
Bake at 350, for about an hour. You'll know they're done when the skin darkens and looks "puckery". You can also poke them with a finger - they should be very squishy feeling, right through the skin. I like to turn off the oven, and let them sit right where they are, until they're cool enough to handle. Then remove them from the oven, and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh.
I use my Kitchen Aid for pureeing the cooked flesh to a beautifully smooth consistency. A food processor works great as well. The only reason I generally opt for the Kitchen Aid is that it holds more. Whichever appliance you use, it doesn't take long to puree it into a lovely, smooth texture.
Once I've pureed it, I use a measuring cup to make one-cup mounds of puree, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put the whole thing in the freezer, and freeze for a few hours, or overnight. I then put the frozen portions into freezer bags, and use my vacuum sealer to seal them up.
I bother with this extra step of freezing in portions before bagging, because it make it so easy to pull out the number of portions I need, and let them thaw (out of the bag) in the mixing bowl I plan to use. This way, I don't end up trying to scrape every last messy bit of puree out of a mushy freezer bag. I find it SO much tidier.
Anyway, that's all there is to it! Super easy, and super handy for using in all that holiday baking we're about to do! Happy baking, my friends!!
Anna Chesley
Anna Chesley is a freelance writer living a homestead lifestyle, with a special love for family travel, old books, vintage skills, and seaside living. In addition to founding Salt In My Coffee, she runs the website, New England Family Life, as well as The 1800's Housewife, a website devoted to re-creating authentic 1800's recipes.
Stephani says
I LOVE making my own pumpkin puree! Pumpkins are definitely my favorite thing I plant. When I roast mine, however, I don't bother cutting it in half or chunks first. I just throw the entire thing in the oven, bake for about an hour, then the skin peels right off! No more scraping or sawing through a hard pumpkin rind.
Anna says
Stephanie! That's an awesome tip, thank you for sharing! And I'm totally with you - I'm not sure there's any crop I grow that makes me smile more than a field of perfect pumpkins!
Denise Kawaii says
Thank you so much for this! I found it on Reddit when I was up in the middle of the night. It worked perfectly and I made a couple of beautiful pies and a custard with the puree today.
Anna says
Denise, I'm so delighted! Sounds like you had a wonderful, productive, day of baking!! I do all my best research when I'm up in the middle of the night too - which, with a teething baby, has been happening a lot lately! ; )
Karen Merhalski says
Wow! You make it sound so easy! Your pie and pumpkin puree look amazing! I will have to try this. Thank you Anna for such an easy to follow and inspiring tutorial on how to make pumpkin puree! I'm sure that fresh from your garden pumpkins taste so much better than the can stuff you buy from the grocery store.
Anna says
Karen, thanks!! You know, it really IS so easy! And you're totally right...there's no beating the taste! = )