Homemade Pumpkin Puree

If you’ve only ever used canned pumpkin, you’re in for a delicious surprise — homemade pumpkin purée made from fresh pumpkin is richer, fresher, and full of real fall flavor. It’s also incredibly easy to make, and once you try it, you’ll never want to go back to canned!

This simple pumpkin purée recipe is perfect for all your plant-based cooking and baking— from cozy soups and creamy curries to muffins, pies, pancakes, and more.

Plus, it freezes beautifully, so you can enjoy that fresh pumpkin deliciousness any time of year.

👉 Are you daunted by the task of cutting open a fresh pumpkin? I've got you. Below I'll share my tips for making light work of it. You'll be surprised how simple it is!

Have you arrived here from YouTube? If so, welcome!

If you missed it, you can watch me make homemade pumpkin purée in my YouTube video.

Click below to watch (the video will open in a new window), and then return here afterward to reference the instructions.

Don't forget to like the video and subscribe to the channel, too!

This recipe yields about 4 cups, but exact measurements will depend on the size of your pumpkin. 

Click here to download a printable copy of this recipe.

Quick note: Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means I'll earn a very small commission if you make a purchase through my link, at no additional cost to you. Your support makes my work possible and I appreciate you very much!

Ingredients

• 1 whole fresh "pie pumpkin" (sometimes called "sugar pumpkin" or "sugar pie pumpkin")

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment. A rimmed baking sheet is really helpful here to catch any extra liquid that drains from the pumpkin while it's roasting.

Wash the outside of your pumpkin for food safety purposes, just to be cautious.

If you have a knife sharpener, use that to sharpen your chef's knife. It will make the pumpkin cutting task so much easier!

Equipment tip: The knife sharpener I use in the video above is inexpensive and requires almost no skill to use, so I highly recommend getting one if you don't already have one.

Begin by stabbing the pumpkin near the stem with a vertical slice.

Then press the knife blade downward toward the bottom of the pumpkin. Turn the pumpkin on its side (but keep your hands as far from the blade as possible!) to continue the slice all the way to the bottom.

Then continue turning the pumpkin and continue the slice all the way back up the other side until you reach the stem again.

Remove the knife from the pumpkin. Slide your thumbs into the crack you just created and pop open the pumpkin.

Now you have two beautiful halves!

Use a soup spoon to scrape away the seeds and fibrous parts that hold the seeds in place.

Transfer these to a bowl. You can either discard the seeds or search online for instructions on how to roast pumpkin seeds so that nothing will go to waste.

Once you've cleaned out the pumpkin, it'll look like this:

Place the two pumpkin halves on your prepared baking sheet with the cut side facing down / dome side facing up.

Roast the pumpkin for about 45 minutes to an hour at 400 degrees F. The exact roasting time will depend somewhat on the actual size of your pumpkin, but one hour is a pretty good reference. When it's done, the pumpkin will be browning on top. The interior flesh will be soft and fragrant.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven (carefully!) and set it aside to cool until the pumpkin is safe to handle. Flip it over so you can see the inside.

Now carefully spoon the roasted pumpkin flesh away from the skin and transfer it to a food processor.

Once you've emptied both halves of the pumpkin into the food processor, you can discard the skin. Process the pumpkin flesh into a smooth puree. You may need to stop the machine once or twice while it's blending to scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure that all of the pumpkin gets blended in evenly.

Give the food processor one more run at blending, and then it's all ready to go!

Now you have a few storage options:

If you think you'll use all of the pumpkin puree within the week, you can transfer it to an airtight food storage container and refrigerate it until you need it.

However, for longer-term storage you may prefer to freeze it. Now, of course you can freeze it all in one container just like this, but that method has the disadvantage of requiring you to defrost it all at once.

My solution: Freeze the pumpkin puree in silicone baking cups.

Place the silicone baking cups on a baking sheet that will fit into your freezer. Fill the cups with puree, then slide the sheet into the freezer and let the puree freeze overnight.

Once frozen, you'll have a bunch of one-third-cup portions of frozen pumpkin puree.

You can remove the pumpkin ice cubes from the silicone baking cups and transfer the "naked" cubes to a freezer-safe food storage container (without the silicone liners). Then put the storage container back in the freezer right away.

In other words, you don't need to keep the silicone cups in the freezer once the food is frozen. That way, you can wash the baking cups and have them ready for another recipe even if you haven't used your frozen pumpkin yet.

(I also use silicone baking cups to freeze extra coconut milk when I open a can I can't use all of right away, or when I batch-prep homemade pesto, for example.)

I use my homemade pumpkin puree all fall and winter in baking recipes, of course, as well as smoothies and pancakes, and savory dishes like soups, curries, and even chili.

Stay tuned to my blog and YouTube channel because I think you'll love my Pumpkin Quinoa Chili recipe coming up next...

But in the meantime, this homemade pumpkin puree goes great in my:

• Glazed Pumpkin Donuts recipe
• Homemade Granola (substitute pumpkin puree for some or all of the fig butter)
• Cinnamon Rolls (substitute pumpkin puree for some or all of the fig butter)
• Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins become Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins when you replace the mashed banana with 1 cup of pumpkin puree + ¼ cup of maple syrup

Equipment Notes

🌸 Rimmed baking sheet: https://amzn.to/4qauf7U
🌸 Basic knife sharpener: https://amzn.to/4nRsPxw
🌸 Magimix food processor: https://amzn.to/48qDwlQ
🌸 Silicone baking cups: https://amzn.to/43dWPLo
🌸 Snapware glass food storage containers: https://amzn.to/43dX74W

If you see something in my kitchen not listed above and want to know where to get it, please email or message me and I'll find you a link if I can!

You can also check out my Amazon Storefront for a pretty complete list of my kitchen equipment recommendations.