Tamari Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

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Fall has some of the most wonderful foods! The dishes are warm and comforting. The flavors are full of harvest foods (think apples, squash, corn, etc.) One of my favorite foods is this recipe that I will share in just a minute for Tamari Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!

One of my favorite flavors of fall is pumpkin. And while I think our culture has gone a little bit crazy about pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, I’m talking about the real flavor of the actual vegetable.

Technically, I am writing this post in the winter, but here’s the beautiful thing…

Pumpkins that you grow yourself last a LONG time at room temperature. And even longer if stored in a cool place like a garage or a basement or a root cellar.

Just last night I decided to cook up 3 of the pumpkins that I harvested in September. They were all perfectly ripe and just waiting to serve us as food. Interesting how fall foods store well, right into the winter months, right?!? Coincidence? I think not.

For the record, my favorite pumpkins to grow are called “small sugar pumpkins.” They are absolutely perfect for making homemade pumpkin puree. You can get seeds from my Etsy shop here.

It’s a simple process to cook pumpkins and make your own homemade pumpkin puree. I haven’t bought canned pumpkin in years because I grow pumpkins, cook them, puree them and store it in my freezer.

If I didn’t have enough freezer room or didn’t want to freeze it, I would simply store it in it’s whole food form (ie. a whole pumpkin) in a cold place and then just cook one pumpkin at a time as needed and use the puree within a few days of making it.

The process goes like this. Cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds and set aside. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down on a cookie sheet or baking pan that has sides. Fill the pan with water about 1/4 inch deep or until the water at least touches the bottom of the pumpkins in all directions. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes to an hour or until pumpkin flesh is very soft and skins just begin to turn brown. Allow to cool. Scoop out the flesh and puree in a blender or food processor.

Easy as pie.

Mmm, Pumpkin pie!

I like to store my pumpkin puree in the freezer in quart sized freezer bags with approximately 2 cups of puree in it. Which is roughly equivalent to one can of store bought pumpkin.

Tip: if you lay your bags flat before freezing, they will thaw in a matter of minutes in a shallow pan of hot water.

If you are looking for a great pumpkin pie recipe to make with your pumpkin puree, check out my pumpkin pie from scratch recipe here. It includes ingredient substitutes too if you (or someone you are feeding) is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, etc.

It will quickly become your go-to pie recipe!

Now. What to do with all those leftover seeds?

Whatever you do, DO NOT THROW THEM AWAY!!!

The pumpkin seeds are the best part!

Roasting them and making your own crunchy, salty snack food is seriously the best.

I always go for a simple, yet absolutely delicious recipe that I will share with you here. I like to call it Tamari Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

But really, it is just delicious!

Take that bowl of pumpkin seeds that you set aside earlier with all of it’s orange stringy goodness and add a whole bunch of water.

Swish the seeds around in the water for several minutes.

Give them a nice pumpkin seed massage if you feel so inclined.

Swirl or stir or rub them however suits your fancy.

This step will get the majority of the orange pulp off of the seeds. Next, dump the whole bowl into a strainer and rinse it well. You should now have mostly clean seeds.

You can pick out any last bits of orange strings or chunks of pulp that are still mixed in. Then dump them out onto a cookie sheet and let them dry for several hours or overnight.

When the seeds are dry or mostly dry, drizzle in approximately 1 Tablespoon of Organic Tamari (or use soy sauce if you don’t have tamari) for every cup of seeds that you have. Stir to gently coat the seeds.

Roast at 300 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has evaporated and the seeds are completely dry. Watch them closely so they don’t get too dark.

Once they are cool, you can store them at room temperature in a small container.

Or if it’s my house, in a bowl on the countertop…they’ll disappear in no time at all.

Because they are super addicting. Once you start eating them, you can’t get yourself to stop.

The umami flavor from the tamari is absolutely delicious. And the salty crunchiness is SO GOOD!

I really hope you enjoy this amazing fall/winter recipe for Tamari Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

If you end up making this, please let me know how it goes in a comment below.

Happy pumpkin seed snacking!