Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe: Two Ways

When I was a kid, designing the face for our family's Halloween pumpkin was my opportunity to stretch my artistic wings…in the confines of a large oval…using triangles and circles. You could say that I can draw as well as David Hasselhoff can cha-cha-cha across the dance floor (not pretty!). And really, that is giving me far too much praise. To put it simply, I can't draw my way out of a box. But I can separate pumpkin seeds from pumpkin guts like nobody's business. And so, then and now, I am relegated to pumpkin seed duty.

Thankfully, my boys enjoy squishing pumpkin innards through their fingers as much as they like dreaming up scary or silly jack-o-lantern faces. Our assembly line starts with my husband scooping out the pumpkin, then moves to the boys separating the seeds while I stand at the ready to rinse, dry, season, and roast the seeds. Whenever my mum made this seasonal snack, she roasted them simply with canola oil and kosher salt. That is still my favorite version, but I also listed a cinnamon sugar version here for those of you who enjoy a little sweet with your savory.

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, with rack placed in the middle of the oven.

Scoop all of the innards out of a large pumpkin. This recipe is for 2 cups of pumpkin seeds, so adjust the amount of seasonings accordingly if you have more or less than 2 cups.

Thoroughly separate the seeds from the "guts" and place the seeds in a strainer. Rinse well and drain.

Place all of the seeds on a kitchen towel, cover with another kitchen towel, and pat dry thoroughly.

Place the seeds on a large baking sheet. Toss the seeds with canola oil.

Ignore the brown sugar and cayenne pepper that you see in this picture. That version didn't turn out how I imagined. Good flavor, but didn't stick to the seeds. That will be a future project.

For plain, salted seeds:
Toss the oil-coated seeds with kosher salt and spread in a single layer.

For cinnamon sugar seeds:
In a small bowl, stir granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. Toss the oil-coated seeds with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place baking sheet in the oven and cook until the seeds are golden brown and crunchy (test one, but be careful because it will be hot), about 25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool and serve. These stay good for weeks, though little hands make certain that they never last that long in our house.

Other roasted snacks:

Cookin' Canuck's Spicy Roasted Chickpeas with Rosemary & Brown Sugar
Kalyn's Kitchen's Roasted Kale Chips with Sea Salt & Vinegar
Passionate Eater's Dry-Roasted Pea Snacks
Mignardise's Rosemary Roasted Cashews

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - Two Ways

If you want to make both types of seeds, you will need twice the amount of pumpkin seeds and canola oil.

1 large pumpkin (to yield 2 cups pumpkin seeds)
4 teaspoon canola oil

Plain, salted seeds:
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Cinnamon sugar seeds:
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, with rack placed in the middle of the oven.

Scoop all of the innards out of a large pumpkin. This recipe is for 2 cups of pumpkin seeds, so adjust the amount of seasonings accordingly if you have more or less than 2 cups.

Thoroughly separate the seeds from the "guts" and place the seeds in a strainer. Rinse well and drain.

Place all of the seeds on a kitchen towel, cover with another kitchen towel, and pat dry thoroughly.

Place the seeds on a large baking sheet. Toss the seeds with canola oil.

For plain, salted seeds:
Toss the oil-coated seeds with kosher salt and spread in a single layer.

For cinnamon sugar seeds:
In a small bowl, stir granulated sugar and ground cinnamon. Toss the oil-coated seeds with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Place baking sheet in the oven and cook until the seeds are golden brown and crunchy (test one, but be careful because it will be hot), about 25 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool and serve. These stay good for weeks.

Makes approximately 2 cups roasted pumpkin seeds.

Printable recipe