Roasted pumpkin seeds have been my favorite part about Halloween night since I was a kid. We would carve pumpkins in the afternoon and then my mom would put the seeds in to roast while we were out trick-or-treating and when we would get home, she would let me dive in. I still love them and have come up with my own way to roast them to perfection.
The key to perfect pumpkin seeds is to clean them extra well. Try to clean them as well as you can as you pull them out of the pumpkin, this will keep the gunk from drying on them and causing problems. After you have finished pulling all of the seeds out, place the seeds in a large bowl of water. I usually clean the seeds in the water and allow them to soak for about 10 minutes.
After the seeds have soaked, pull them out of the water, not draining the water first. The seeds will stay cleaner if you skim them off the top, as the seeds float and the pumpkin gunk tends to sink to the bottom. Place the seeds on a cooking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake in a 200 degree oven for about five hours, or you can roast in a 450 degree oven for 10-20 minutes or until the seeds start to brown. I prefer the long roast method, but the seeds are delicious either way. So don’t waste the seeds from your pumpkins this year, roast them!
This post is a part of the Month O’ Pumpkin series at Housewife Eclectic. You can read the rest of the crafts, recipes and photography ideas in this series here.
I LOVE roasted pumpkin seeds! Mark's family does a pumpkin carving night and I'm the crazy one digging through the guts to save all the seeds every year. 🙂 We like them extra salty, so we soak them in salt water overnight before roasting them. Delish!