How to Make Pumpkin Puree – Canned Pumpkin from Scratch

I love making all things pumpkin in the fall. Pumpkin spice pancakes, pumpkin breakfast pie, pumpkin chili, and more. So this means I use a lot of pumpkin. We buy pumpkins for home decor, but I also buy them for baking and pureeing. In today’s post I will show you how to make pumpkin puree so you can use your pumpkins in all your fall baking.

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Pumpkin Puree vs. Canned vs. Mashed

If you have heard of several different terms for purred pumpkin, you will be happy to know they are all basically the same thing. Pureed pumpkin is typically what you would find in a can of pumpkin. If the label just says “pure pumpkin”, you are buying a can of pureed pumpkin with no other ingredients.

If the label says “pumpkin pie mix”, the contents will be pureed pumpkin plus spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, clove, and sugar. You can use this for making your pumpkin pies if you don’t have time to mix all of those together.

Pumpkin mash is actually a dish that is served on the side. You just puree the pumpkin like normal, and add some cheese, cream, spices, and milk. It’s kind of like mashed potatoes, but made with pumpkin.

Here is a good brand for canned pumpkin with a BPA-free liner.

Canned Pumpkin Shortage

This year (it is 2020 currently, if you are reading this in the future), you may have noticed that there was no pumpkin in the grocery stores for quite some time.

I do buy some canned pumpkin, because I always want to have it on hand if I don’t have any real pumpkins. Or if I’m in a hurry.

But this year there were canned pumpkins for all of August, September, and part of October, which is unusual. I don’t know the exact cause of this, but I’m assuming it had to do with the global pandemic we had which caused disruption in the production or supply chain.

Regardless of the reason, many people were looking for ways to cook more from scratch food this year anyway! Being home more and not wanting to go out to the grocery store caused lots of people to go back to basics and learn some traditional cooking methods.

If you are looking to learn more about old-fashioned, old-world cooking, I recommend reading this book called Nourishing Traditions which challenges modern-day food and cooking and explains traditional methods to homemade wholesome food. I love it and reference it all the time!

Also you can download my FREE from-scratch cook e-book for fall, with 10 wholesome fall recipes included. You can read more and download that here.

How to Store Pumpkin Puree

If you make your own canned pumpkin, you can store it in the fridge for up to a week or throw it in the freezer-safe container and freeze it. When I puree our pumpkins, I just put the puree in a BPA free bag and in the fridge until I can use it again. But if we don’t use it all up in a week or so, I will freeze it.

Best Pumpkins For Pie

For a pumpkin pie, you want to get a sugar pie pumpkin. These are smaller than your typical large carving pumpkin, but taste a lot sweeter. I also find that they are easier to carve.

Can Pumpkin Puree be Frozen?

Yes, you can freeze pumpkin puree. You can use either BPA-free containers or BPA-free bags to freeze your pumpkin puree.

To use frozen pumpkin puree, just remove it from the freezer and let it thaw at room temp. If in a hurry, you could throw it in your cast iron on low eat and let it melt that way.

What to Do with Leftover Pumpkin Puree

Just like any other vegetable, you should look at pumpkin as a great side dish or part of your main meal. Here are some ideas for ways you can use your leftover pumpkin.

Add it to a casserole dish. Google a sweet potato casserole recipe, and swap out the sweet potato for pumpkin for a pumpkin casserole.

Make from scratch breakfast pumpkin pie, a favorite around the Duvall Homestead.

Use it in this pumpkin chili recipe.

A recent favorite we’ve done in the last few weeks has been adding it to tacos! When you’re sautéing the ground beef in the cast iron, add a little pumpkin puree, spices, and some tomatoes for a homemade taco sauce.

Add it to your sourdough pancakes for pumpkin pancakes. Swap it out for the milk in this buttermilk pancake recipe for a tasty fall breakfast. What I love about adding pumpkin to pancakes is that your’e getting veggies in the morning, something that we basically never do! We pretty much save the veggies like brussels sprouts or ratatouille for the evening with dinner.

TOOLS NEEDED

Large, sharp knife

Cutting board (optional)

Squash Peeler

Food Processor (this is the one I use)

baking trays

INGREDIENTS

One sugar pie pumpkin

Olive oil (could also use coconut or avocado oil)

Salt & Pepper (optional – if you don’t use S&P then just keep in mind when you’re baking with the pumpkin that it is unsalted so it will need salt later)

How to Make Pumpkin Puree

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Carve a circle around the top of the pumpkin, around the stem. Pull the top off using the stem.

Insert your knife into the center of the pumpkin where the opening is, and carefully cut the pumpkin in half right down the middle. So you have two halves.

You will need to gut the pumpkin now, which means taking out all the seeds and stringy insides. Save the seeds for later and you can make roasted pumpkin seeds (to do this, rinse the seeds so they are clean, pat them dry, lay them on a baking tray flat, and coat with lots of salt and allspice seasoning. Then roast at 350 F for about 45 minutes, checking halfway to stir them). I find it’s easiest to gut the pumpkin with a large spoon.

TWO OPTIONS

Next you have two options: you can either roast the pumpkin with the two halves you have, and then skin it and chop it later, or you can skin it and chop it now and then roast.

I like the latter because it provides more roasted flavor. So to do this, you will need a good squash peeler (this is the one I use – do not use a potato peeler, I hurt myself doing this one time, lol). Peel the skin off the pumpkin. Then, with a large knife, chop the pumpkin into chunks.

Place the pumpkin chunks on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and roast at 375 F for 30 minutes (this time may vary depending on your oven and the size of the pumpkin pieces, but the idea is to soften them enough to be blended later).

Remove when finished and let cool. Then place in a food processor or whatever blender you have. Mash the pumpkin up until soft (you could also do this with a spoon or potato masher, if you want).

WATCH: HOW TO PUREE PUMPKIN

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