I decided that this year, I wanted to make my own pumpkin puree. I usually buy a can or two each winter to make pumpkin bread, but of course there are issues with BPA in the can liners. Making my own seemed to be the best solution!
I bought some nice pie pumpkins at a local farm last week when I went apple picking. Making puree (while I was also working on my applesauce!) was very simple.
First, I cut the tops out of the pumpkins and sliced them in half. Then I removed the seeds and pulp:
I saved the seeds from this, too. I’ll talk about those in another post.
The pumpkins were baked, cut side down on baking sheets for about an hour at 350.
Below is them after they were baked. I probably left them a bit too long because there were some burned parts around the edges when I was finished. Oh well.
Then I scooped out the pumpkin puree into a bowl, mashing it just slightly (it was already very soft and the water had been released during baking). I put 1-cup portions into freezer bags to use later for bread. Very simple!
I also happened to have 6 sweet potatoes, which we don’t really like to eat. I went ahead and washed them, poked holes in them, and baked them at 350 for about an hour and treated them the same as the pumpkins — scooping the puree and freezing in 1-cup portions. I can now make bread out of either sweet potatoes or pumpkins, which will be wonderful this fall!
How do you use pumpkins and sweet potatoes?
Mmm. Pumpkins and sweet potatoes are some of my favorite foods – I like to make soups, mostly. A blend of butternut squash, sweet potato, and pumpkin is heavenly with a bit of fresh cracked black pepper, cream, and a dash of ginger. Add some crumbled bacon and chives on top – HEAVEN.
I love making lots of different recipes with pumpkin so thank you so much for posting this about how to freeze pumpkin puree – this will be my project next weekend!
I was wondering how long frozen pumpkin purée would keep?
6 – 8 months most likely before it was kind of stale/freezer burned. Deep freezing and wrapping well may be more like a year.
Someone just gave me 2 large pumpkins, so I am going to can them since I don’t have a lot of freezer space.
How long do you can your pumpkin puree and do you just add the pumpkin puree and nothing else? Because I have 6 15 pound pumpkins on the vine just about ready to be pulled and I am preparing to can them for the first time. Any tips would also be welcomed… 🙂 Thank you.
Hi Danielle,
It’s not recommended to can pumpkin puree because of how thick it is — it’s hard to get all the bacteria out so it won’t spoil. For freezing it, though, I just have the puree and nothing else.
You may can pumpkin in cubes using a pressure canner. Contact the local county extension office for safety guidelines. There is a ton of info from your local county extension office. :>)