Homemade Pumpkin Puree

An easy Homemade Pumpkin Puree recipe made with 1 ingredient to use in your favorite pumpkin dishes. Made in minutes from scratch!

Why make Pumpkin puree at home?

In our country, canned pumpkin puree is difficult to find, but making your own from scratch is super simple! We like to make a big batch once the squashes are in season and freeze leftovers for later use, so we really need to do the process only once. 

Canned pumpkins can also be expensive, while in-season pumpkins are cheap and abundant.

And in our opinion, homemade is always better than store-bought!

Ingredients

To make this pumpkin puree recipe you only need 1 ingredient, and that is – a pumpkin or large squash!

We like to use a red kuri squash or butternut squash to make the puree, as it is the variety that is easily available in our country. 

Aim for about a squash of about 1.5 kg / 3 lbs in size. Red kuri squash, butternut, kabocha, or similar squashes all work fine, but we would not recommend using the large Halloween pumpkins, as their flesh is too fibrous to make a smooth puree.

To make this recipe you will also need an oven, and a food processor or blender. It doesn’t have to be a powerful one, as the roasted pumpkin flesh is easy and soft to process.

How to make Homemade Pumpkin Puree Recipe

Making pumpkin puree at home is easier than you’d think and you can make a large batch at once and store it / freeze it for later use.

All you really need to do is:

1. Slice the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and place cut-side down on a baking sheet
2. Roast for about 30-50 minutes at 200°C / 400°F
3. Cool down and peel the skin off
4. Puree in a food processor

Your pumpkin puree is now ready to use immediately or store for later use. See the recipe below for detailed instructions and tips on storage.

Cut the squash in half, remove all the seeds, and place it cut-side down.

Roast until the skin starts to peel off and turns black in spots. Try poking the flesh with a fork to make sure it is fork-tender and ready to process.

I like to slice the baked pumpkin in larger chunks once roasted as this way it is easier to handle while peeling the skin, and the chunks are a good size to place in the food processor.

Once the skin is peeled off, place the flesh into a food processor and puree until smooth.

You may need to stop the machine a couple of times to scrape the sides down to achieve a really smooth puree.

How to use Pumpkin Puree in recipes

This pumpkin puree is great to use in any recipe that required canned pumpkin puree, such as pumpkin bread rolls, pumpkin cinnamon rolls, risotto sauce, or pumpkin mac and cheese.

You can also use it as a healthy pasta sauce, in baked muffins, make pumpkin pancakes, or make into a pie!

Basically, you can use this pumpkin puree in any way you’d use canned pumpkin puree from the store.

Make these recipes:

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls

Vegan Pumpkin Bread Rolls

Vegan Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Pearl Barley and Pumpkin Risotto

 

Storage tips

Store the pumpkin puree in an air-tight container refrigerated for up to 1 week.

You can also store in a freezer for up to a month, so you can easily make a big batch, and use it throughout your festive baking, then freeze single servings in containers for easy use.