How to roast pumpkin seeds in Canada

You can roast pumpkin seeds at home by rinsing them, boiling them in salted water for 10 minutes, drying them, tossing them with oil and baking them at 200 C (400 F) until golden. It turns the scooped-out insides of your Halloween pumpkin into a snack.

With Halloween falling on Saturday, Oct. 31, many households will carve a pumpkin this week and have a bowlful of seeds and pulp to deal with. Roasting the seeds is a simple way to use them, and the method below draws on two tested recipes from Seeded at the Table and Sugar Geek Show. Both call for boiling first, which softens the shells and seasons the seeds from the inside. If you are still choosing a pumpkin, our guide on how to make a carved pumpkin last longer covers keeping the carved shell fresh through the weekend.

Step 1: Scoop out the seeds. Pull the seeds and stringy pulp from the pumpkin by hand or with a large spoon and drop them into a bowl.

Step 2: Rinse and pick off the pulp. Put the seeds in a colander and rinse them under cool water, separating the seeds from the pulp.

Step 3: Boil the seeds in salted water. Both recipes boil the seeds for 10 minutes. Seeded at the Table uses 6 cups of water and 3 tablespoons of salt. Sugar Geek Show uses about 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt for every half cup of seeds. Bring the salted water to a boil, add the seeds and boil for 10 minutes.

Step 4: Drain and dry. Drain the seeds and spread them on a clean kitchen towel. Let them dry before they go in the oven.

Step 5: Oil and season. Heat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Both recipes use olive oil: Seeded at the Table uses about 1 teaspoon for 1½ cups of seeds, while Sugar Geek Show uses 1 tablespoon for 2 cups. Toss the seeds with the oil on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle on salt. Seeded at the Table says other seasonings can be added before baking.

Step 6: Spread in a single layer. Seeded at the Table says crowded seeds turn chewy, so use a large baking sheet and keep the seeds in one layer, with none piled on top of others.

Step 7: Roast until golden. Seeded at the Table says the seeds need 5 to 15 minutes at 200 C (400 F), depending on size, and should come out when they just start to brown. Sugar Geek Show suggests about 20 minutes and advises going by the colour of the seeds rather than the clock. Small seeds cook faster than large ones, so check early. If you prefer a slower method, Seeded at the Table says 150 C (300 F) for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden, also works.

Step 8: Cool completely. Let the seeds cool on the pan before you eat them. If they are still chewy, Sugar Geek Show says to bake them another 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 9: Store them airtight. Once the seeds are fully cool, keep them in an airtight container or bag. Sugar Geek Show says they keep up to one week at room temperature in a sealed bag and longer in the fridge.

For more Halloween planning, see our list of trick-or-treat times by city, and our report on how Ottawa farms lost 40 per cent of their pumpkins to record rain. If you need a carving tool, see our picks of the best pumpkin carving kits on Amazon.ca.

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