Grab 2 colanders, one that has your pumpkin seeds fresh from the pumpkin, the other to transfer your rinsed and clean seeds into. You are going to rinse, pull off and discard all the pumpkin guts.
Rinse, remove pulp, prepeat!! *Remember this is worth it!!* I’m cleaning 5, fairly large pumpkins mind you. So I was here for about 30 min. Maybe stop and stretch 😉
All clean!! Now place in a bowl, fill with water and soak for 30 min on counter. (Don’t clean that colander yet, we are going to need it again) Or you can soak overnight in fridge. Either way, when the time is up, dump and discard water when you’re all done soaking.
Preheat your oven to 350°F
Now we are going to boil seed for 10 min. Giving them a little stir, occasionally.
Remember that colander we didn’t clean!! Dump seeds back into that colander and drain. (I let mine sit in colander for about 10 min, to get rid of excess water) I then drizzle olive oil over seeds, and mix well. Add salt and mix well again. I “usually” do this in the colander to skip dirtying up another bowl.
Now transfer seeds to rimmed cookie sheets. Make sure to line them with parchment paper or I LOVE silicone baking mats. Get them in a nice single layer to help them cook more evenly.
Place in oven, and set timer for 10 min. Take them out and mix them around and get them back to a single layer. Then place back into oven for 10 min. Do this 4 times. Equaling cooking time of 40 min or until golden brown.
Remove when golden brown, let them cool before eating.
Enjoy and Happy Carving! ~Jeanne
*Store them in and airtight container for up to a couple weeks. If they last that long. I store mine in Mason Jars and keep them on our island.
Notes
If you’re new to eating pumpkin seeds… you can either crack them open and eat just the seed inside, like eating sunflower seeds.Or enjoy them like we do and just eat them whole. Store them in and airtight container for up to a couple weeks. If they last that long. I store mine in Mason Jars and keep them on our island.