I am a huge fan of roasted pie pumpkin. Puréed into savory soups or sweet desserts, chopped up into rice or quinoa, mixed into burritos or pasta. There are countless number of things to utilize pumpkin in! And you only have a brief amount of time every year to do. Pumpkin season is fleeting and, if you miss it, it won't come around until next fall!
This means that every year I try to pack as much pumpkin into everything as I can. You can cube it, and I'll often do that for curry or stew. But I usually tend to purée it. It's more versatile and easy to toss into any dish!
For this recipe I added a couple of cloves of garlic to kill two birds with one stone. It adds a savory element to an otherwise sweet dish and then you also have roasted garlic at the end!
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What to Make with Roasted Pie Pumpkin
For this pumpkin, I specifically set out with the intention of puréeing it for sweet potato lentils. That's why I roasted it with a little bit of garlic to add a flavor. However, you can easily add any flavor profile of choice. Pumpkin does great in both sweet and savory dishes.
No fall would be without roasted pie pumpkins! In this recipe, I tossed in a couple of cloves of garlic to roast with the pumpkin. It's a quick and easy addition that permeates flavor throughout the pumpkin during the roasting process. This gives a more robust seasoning and saves you the time of having to roast garlic separately. It works great in savory recipes and is puréed to perfection.
Using a spoon, scoop out the innards to remove all of the seeds and stringy pieces. Reserve the seeds if you want to roast them for a fun snack.The "guts" are still edible, but can be texturally unpleasant. I will usually keep them to puree into soup or pet food. However, most people will discard them! Just make sure not to toss any seeds!
If you would like to throw some garlic roasting into the picture, add garlic to the inside of the pumpkin.
Once you've cut, peeled, and removed the innards from the pumpkin, wrap in aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet.I do this by getting a piece of foil long enough to wrap around the entire pumpkin. Place pumpkin face down in the center of the foil. Then, wrap the edges of the foil around to cover the pumpkin completely.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours depending on size. Make sure to flip halfway through so that the pumpkin sides are face up.This is the trickiest part about roasting pumpkins: the size of the pumpkin can drastically increase the cook time. You’ll know that they’re done when the flesh is soft and you can poke it with a fork without any resistance. It will vaguely resemble the consistency of potatoes before you mash them. The best thing to do is to cook them for 45 minutes and then check them every 5-10 minutes after that until they’re cooked throughout.
Let cool to the touch.
If you would like to make purée, remove skin and add flesh to the food processor. Puree until smooth, about 30-60 seconds. Making sure to scrape down the sides occasionally.If you aren’t using a food processor, you can use a large mixing bowl and a fork, potato masher, or mixer to achieve a similar effect. I prefer a food processor, though, because it removes the stringiness that I find texturally unpleasant.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
Is there really no salt, pepper, spices, or sugar? No! put the extras down! Roasting is one of those cases where less is more. I like to let the pumpkin stand out on its own. Plus, adding any flavor profile here can affect what you can and can't cook with it. You. can't make something sweet, like
Also, pumpkins are naturally very sweet. So, stop sugaring your sugar! It's unnecessary!
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