I love roasting pumpkin seeds and experimenting with different flavours. Home Roasted Pumpkin seeds are a moreish and nutritious snack. They are a good source of magnesium, zinc, iron and fibre and great if you’re following a gluten-free, paleo and/or vegan diet.
Cleaning your pumpkin seeds
Once you’ve scooped out and collected your pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin you need to clean them up.
- Pick out the large pieces of pumpkin flesh and then tip the seeds into a bowl of warm water.
- Rinse the seeds in the bowl by swirling them around the water with your hand to loosen up any stringy pumpkin wrapped around the seeds. Then let the seeds rest in the water for about 10 mins. This allows the seeds to float to the top and any remaining flesh to sink.
- Once the seeds and flesh have separated, use a slotted spoon to remove the seeds from the water and place them onto a tea towel and pat dry.
- Place the cleaned seeds into a pan of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Remove from the water and dry off in a tea towel
Roasting Your Pumpkin Seeds
Once the seeds are dry, toss in some olive oil and your seasoning of choice. This could be:
- Brown sugar or honey and cinnamon
- Salt and pepper
- Brown sugar and paprika or cayenne pepper
- Make sure your seeds are thoroughly coated in your seasoning of choice
- Spread them out evenly onto some parchment paper lined in a baking tray and roast in the oven on a low heat. Pumpkin seeds can catch and burn easily, so keeping a low temperature and stirring every 10mins will help prevent them from burning.
- Roast for 25-30min until they are a golden brown.
- Once roasted remove the seeds from the oven, allow them to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container
Roasted pumpkin seeds can be eaten on their own, added to porridge, included in a granola, tossed into a salad, blitzed in a smoothie. They are so versatile the options are endless…