How to Make Pumpkin Puree

Pumpkin puree is easy to make, but most people miss an important step. Here’s everything you need to know to make pumpkin puree from scratch, starting with choosing the right pumpkin, and finishing with proper storage of your finished product.

Best Pumpkins for Pumpkin Puree

You can use any type of pumpkin to make puree, but sugar pie or heirloom pumpkins will give you the most puree. That’s because they tend to have thicker flesh. Expect to get around one cup of puree per pound of pumpkin.

If you’re buying pumpkins specifically to make puree, look for pumpkins labeled as pie pumpkins, or go with an heirloom variety, like Musquee de Provence, Cinderella, Winter Luxury, Cheese, Galeux D’Eysines, Cushaw or Fairytale. Select pumpkins that feel heavy for their size. They’ll give you the most puree. It’s pretty typical for a small pie pumpkin to weigh 10 pounds and an heirloom pumpkin to weigh as much as 20 pounds!

Being a frugal sort, it’s pretty rare for me to actually buy pumpkins for puree. I usually just scoop up everyone’s uncarved pumpkins when they put them out at the curb after Thanksgiving. Because of this, I can tell you that even a jack o’ lantern will give you good puree.

How to Make Pumpkin Puree

Your yield will vary, depending on the size and variety of the pumpkin you use, but any pumpkin will produce a good amount of puree.

Ingredients

Pumpkins

What You Do:

Use a butcher knife to split your pumpkin in half.

Then, scoop out all the seeds and goop, and remove the stem.

Cut the pumpkin into smaller wedges.

Then, place the wedges on a baking sheet, skin side down (it’s less messy that way). If it’s a small pumpkin, you’ll probably have enough to fill two sheets. If it’s a large pumpkin, you may have enough to fill three or four!

Roast your pumpkin at 375 degree F. It’ll take at least an hour, but may take longer—perhaps even twice as long. Every pumpkin is a bit different. You’ll know yours is done, when the flesh feels soft, when you poke it with a fork.

Allow your roasted pumpkin to cool, until you can handle it comfortably. Then, remove the skins. I usually just run my thumb between the skin and the flesh to separate the two. It’s messy, but quick. And it minimizes waste.

Load all of that gorgeous pumpkin into a food processor, and puree it, until it reaches a nice, smooth consistency.

Here’s what it should look like. Yours may be a slightly different color, depending on the variety that you used. My favorite pumpkin, the Musquee de Provence, produces a bright orange puree.

Once you’ve pureed all of your pumpkin, it needs to be strained. This step is important, so don’t skip it! Pumpkin has a high water content, and if you don’t strain that extra water out, it’ll make any recipe you use it in a soggy mess.

Straining it is easy. Just place a colander inside of a large mixing bowl, and line the colander with a piece of cheesecloth. Then, pour the puree on top of the cheesecloth, and place the whole contraption in the fridge overnight. As the water drains from the pumpkin, it’ll go through the colander and into the bowl.

If you look closely at my set up, you’ll see that I didn’t actually use cheesecloth. That’s because I’ve discovered that a five-gallon paint strainer bag from the hardware store works even better. They’re a lot easier to clean than cheesecloth, and they have a nifty elastic band that fits snugly around the bowl. They also happen to be a lot more durable than cheesecloth. This cheap $1.07 bag will last for many, many batches of pumpkin puree.

Tempted to skip the straining step?

Look at all of the water that I strained out of this batch of puree. That’s enough to wreck a pumpkin pie.

Once you get that extra water out, your pumpkin puree is ready to use!

How to Store Your Homemade Pumpkin Puree

If you don’t plan to use your puree right away, it can be frozen. The USDA no longer considers it safe to water bath or pressure can pumpkin puree at home.

I like to freeze my puree in pint freezer jars. One jar is the equivalent of one (15-ounce) can of store-bought puree (approximately two cups), so this makes it easy to know how much I need to add to recipes.

Ways to Use Your Pumpkin Puree

Crockpot Pumpkin Butter

Pumpkin Tomato Sauce

Creamy Pumpkin Soup

Print