Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Two Ways

My cat is a mystery to me. He loves peaches. Whenever anyone in the house is eating a peach, the cat is guaranteed to find out and come stare at that person with these big, inquisitive eyes until he finally gets a tiny piece of peach. Have you ever heard of a cat that loves peaches? I sure haven't.

He also enjoys sleeping in the bathtub and violently attacking people's feet.

But we forgive him because he's cute.

So, last week I made pumpkin puree and this lovely scone recipe. And those pumpkins left behind lots and lots of seeds.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are one of the perks of pumpkin carving. They're a yummy, healthy, crunchy snack for a fall day. Did you know that pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein and iron? (I didn't until a few seconds ago. I just looked it up on Wikipedia.)

Since we had so many seeds, I decided to make two different varieties.

The first is the traditional roasted variety. These are deliciously simple. All you need is seeds, salt, and olive oil. It's a great healthy alternative to other crunchy snacks.

And the second variety is a spiced-up, caramelized version, and boy are these good. Sweet and salty with a hint of spice. I've been snacking on these all morning.

The really beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can fiddle with it as much as you want. Add more cinnamon and less cumin, skip the ground ginger all together and go wild with the cayenne pepper, or go with a completely different selection of spices. The choice is all yours.

Roast Pumpkin Seeds

both recipes adapted from Allrecipes.com

Basic Roast Pumpkin Seeds:

1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds

2 teaspoons olive oil 

a pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Toss seeds in bowl with olive oil. Spread seeds in a single layer on baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Bake about 25 minutes or until golden brown; stir every 10 minutes or so.

Spicy Caramelized Roast Pumpkin Seeds:

1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar

quarter-teaspoon cumin

quarter-teaspoon cinnamon

quarter-teaspoon ground ginger

couple of pinches of cayenne pepper

2 cups raw pumpkin seeds, washed and dried

salt to taste

olive oil (to drizzle seeds with)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar


1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In large bowl, stir together white sugar, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne. Set aside.

3. Place pumpkin seeds on prepared baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt to taste. Spread into an even layer and bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes.

Four. Heat the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, then add pumpkin seeds. Cook and stir seeds until coated with the sugar, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir the caramelized seeds into the spice mix; toss to coat. Let cool.