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How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree

October 22, 2014 by Melissa Howell 8 Comments

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

It is pumpkin season. Time for pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin ice cream! Since I am a snob, I do not buy the pumpkin in the cans. Some years ago, I was professing to a friend the superiority of my homemade pumpkin puree to the stuff in the cans, which I assumed had all kinds of fillers and unnatural colors and so forth. She showed me the ingredients on the can. There was one ingredient. It was pumpkin. I was embarrassed by my know-it-all air of superiority, but not willing to abandon it completely. When you consider that one can of pumpkin makes one pumpkin pie, and that each can of pumpkin puree costs about $2.00, you will see that making your own puree at home is much more economical, and therefore, superior to using pumpkin from cans. From this one pumpkin, which I bought for $5.00, I got enough puree to make 14 pumpkin pies!

O.K. I should say something else. If you purchase those little “pie pumpkins” and make your own puree, your cost will be closer to what you pay for the cans. This puree is darker orange and thicker than puree from large pumpkins. However, I have not found a difference in flavor or texture when using my own puree in baked goods. So I will continue with the tradition of making my own pumpkin puree, and stocking my freezer with all the pumpkin I could ever want.

Here’s how you do it. Get yourself a big, honkin’ pumpkin.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Next, get yourself a big, honkin’ knife, such as this one. Notice how I cleverly blurred out the tip of the knife so that you could not see that it was broken off due to an unfortunate incident involving me stabbing a can from which the pull-tab had broken off.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Now cut around the top, just like you were going to carve a jack-o-lantern. You need to get all the guts out of this pumpkin. After removing the “lid,” get a big spoon and scrape out the insides. After that is largely ineffective, just reach your hand in there and yank out the innards.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Next, put the lid back on the pumpkin and place the entire pumpkin on a heavy-duty foil-lined baking sheet. In the past, I have cut up the pumpkin into large chunks before baking it. This was difficult, and I always worried that I might inadvertently lop off one of my arms in the process. This year, probably because I dyed my hair brown and am no longer subject to the inherent stereotypical lack of intelligence due to my blonde hair, I realized that it would be much easier to bake the whole pumpkin first. Yeah. It only took me like ten years to figure that out.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Move your oven rack to the next-to-lowest position and turn on your oven to 350 degrees. (You actually probably should have done this earlier so you wouldn’t have to wait now. Why didn’t you think of that? Maybe YOU are blonde).

When the oven is ready, carefully insert your pumpkin and bake for one to one-and-a-half hours, depending on the size of the pumpkin. I baked this one for one-and-a-half hours. I stabbed it to see if a knife would go in easily, but the tough outer skin makes it difficult to get a good read on how soft the inner flesh actually is. So I slid the tip of my knife just under the lid and tested it there. Even if your pumpkin is slightly underdone, you can still make puree with it just fine.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

When the pumpkin comes out of the oven, it should look like this: kind of sad and droopy.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Carefully lift the lid off (I slid my big, honkin’ knife under it to lift it up) to allow the pumpkin to cool. I don’t let mine cool all the way, because I am too impatient for that. I just wait long enough not to get burned.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Now go get a manicure or eat bon bons or watch an episode of Gilmore Girls while you wait because you have nothing better to do with your time. After that, return to your pumpkin, and continue as follows:

Carefully transfer your pumpkin to a large cutting board, and cut it into large chunks.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Then take your big, honkin’ knife and use it to remove the skin.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

After that, chop up each piece into smaller chunks. The size of the chunks is up to you. Smaller chunks tend to blend better.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Put the chunks into the blender of your choice, and blend the heck out of the pumpkin. Make sure there are no chunks when you are done. When my mom makes her own puree, she uses a potato masher instead of a blender, and her pumpkin pies always seem a little too nutritious with all the chunks of pumpkin in them. Pies should not be nutritious. “Pies” and “nutritious” are oxymorons.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Now pour this puree into a big bowl. Keep pureeing and pouring until your bowl is full.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Now you need to start transferring the puree into plastic bags that you can put in your freezer. Get yourself some quart-sized freezer bags. Sure, you can use plastic sandwich bags if you like your pumpkin puree to leak all over your refrigerator when you are thawing it out. You need more heavy-duty freezer bags. Only took me like ten years to figure that out, too. Sheesh. Label your bags with the quantity and the date. I always put 1 1/2 cups of puree in a bag, because my favorite pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread recipes both use that amount. I can just thaw out a whole bag and dump it in without measuring again.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Next, get a large cup, and use your fist to insert the plastic bag. Fold the top of the bag inside-out over the top of the cup. (Does this make sense? I hope so. If not, I bet you can figure it out).

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Now scoop up some puree, and pour it into the bag.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

Then seal the bag (try to press out some air first) and you’re done!

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

It's easy to make your own pumpkin puree. It just involves your oven, a blender, a little time, and maybe a really big knife.

I like to lay the bag on the counter and press it flat. That way, it is easy to store and takes up less room in the freezer. Now you have pumpkin for all your baking needs! And for a fraction of the cost of the stuff in the cans. Go get a pumpkin now, because they’re really hard to find after Halloween.

Have you ever pureed pumpkin before? Do you have a different way to do it? I would love to hear about it in the comments!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: pumpkin, puree

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Comments

  1. Andi Gibson says

    October 22, 2014 at 8:46 pm

    LOL You are so funny! I love all the pics, they are very professional looking, which should not be a surprise since you are a professional photographer. 🙂 I had to laugh when you mentioned bon bons and Gilmore Girls b/c my husband always teases me about being pregnant and eating my bon bons. I have also got him hooked on Gilmore Girls!!!!

    Reply
  2. Melissa Howell says

    October 23, 2014 at 9:04 am

    Andi, thanks for your comment! I’m so glad you enjoyed the post. We always joke about eating bon bons, but I don’t think any woman actually knows what they are. I think they are a mythical treat that may have been enjoyed by French ladies in the 1700s, but they have been lost to civilization since then. Also, I love the Gilmore Girls! I just started watching it. So great that your husband is hooked!

    Reply
  3. Lynette Blue says

    October 24, 2014 at 7:46 pm

    I used your instructions to cook my pumpkin today. (In the past I have peeled the pumpkin, cut it into small pieces, added a tiny bit of water and steamed it.) It turned out pretty well. Definitely easier to peel your way. I still used my good potato masher rather than the blender – there are no chunks larger than a pinhead – so I’m not going to stress about it. Also in the past I’ve put it in the freezer in plastic containers but I did it your way today and it definitely takes up less space. So thank you for being smarter than your mother – in many ways.

    Reply
  4. Jill says

    October 26, 2014 at 7:27 am

    I baked my pumpkin yesterday and am so happy to have some beautiful bags of pumpkin puree in my freezer. Way easy! Now looking forward to pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cake roll, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes…….. Thanks!

    Reply
  5. Melissa Howell says

    October 27, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    Yay Jill! I’m so glad you tried it and now have lovely pumpkin at the ready! There is something so beautiful and satisfying in those bags of pumpkin, isn’t there?

    Reply
  6. Olivia says

    November 2, 2014 at 6:57 am

    OH how I wish my family liked pumpkin that much! AND how I wish my tummy didn’t HATE sugar right now. But do I refrain from raiding all the sweets in the house that is humanly possible???…..

    This sound like too much fun. Yes, fun. I love baking and making things from scratch. Perhaps I will go raid the stores tomorrow for the last vestiges of pumpkins!

    Reply
  7. Debbie Cowden says

    September 22, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    I cut my pumpkins in half and put them on a heavy cookie sheet face down, with about 1/4-1/2 inche of water in bottom of cookie sheet. I bake at 350 for 45-60 mintues. Take it out, pour off any remaining water and let it cool….like you I only wait till its cool enough not to burn myself. I scoop the pumpkin out with a spoon, leaving the dark orange skin on the cookie sheet. I puree the pumpkin in the blender too.

    (Libby’s is reported to puree even the hard orange skin into their pumpkin puree but since we don’t have industrial strength blenders, its probably not good to try that at home!) Also, having grwon pumpkins, I don’t want to eat the knobby things that pumpkins often get on their hard outer skin which always look to me like something insects have deposited there. Gross!

    Reply
    • Melissa Howell says

      September 23, 2020 at 12:17 pm

      Hi Debbie! Thanks for sharing your method! I always wondered how come the pumpkin in the cans was darker orange than my homemade pumpkin! I think companies like Libby’s might also use smaller pie pumpkins, which are naturally more orange. But I wouldn’t want the skin, or heaven forbid, the stem!

      Reply

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Hi, Im Melissa!

I help women like you create a beautiful life and home through the magic of cooking, the thrill of home organization, and the joy of discovering your personal style. Read More

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