Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

When fall rolls around, there is undoubtedly one major food that comes to mind — pumpkin. While people like to pumpkin spice all the things, it's also nice to go back to your roots and make roasted pumpkin seeds. Many of us had the tradition as kids of scooping seeds out of the pumpkin on Halloween and saving the seeds to roast. That way, you could enjoy some pumpkin seeds as you carved your masterpiece.

Recipe developer Miriam Hahn came up with this recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds, and this is something that you can easily add to your traditional. "My favorite thing about this recipe is how festive and full of fall flavors these pumpkin seeds are," Hahn shares. "They are simple to make, and you don't even need to mess with scraping them out of a pumpkin if you don't want. It is a really fun thing to make with kids!" While you can serve these year-round, Hahn especially likes making these seeds in the fall and during Halloween. "I have even filled little cello bags with ribbon and distributed to neighbors on Halloween," she shares.

Let's get to it! First, you will need to gather all the ingredients, including raw pumpkin seeds, maple syrup, coconut oil, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.

First things first, turn the dial of your oven to 325 F and let that preheat. In the meantime, turn your focus to the pumpkin seeds. If you opt to use pumpkin seeds from a pumpkin, scrape them out and toss them into a colander. Be sure to wash and remove any pulp from the seeds. If you'd prefer to use store-bought pumpkin seeds, you can do that instead, just be sure that you get white pumpkin seeds, not pepitas. "Many people think these are the same as pepitas, but that is actually not true," Hahn shares. "The white seeds that come from a standard pumpkin are different from the green seeds known as pepitas."

If you are using fresh seeds straight from a pumpkin, place them between a clean dish towel and dry them well. It will take them longer to cook if they're still wet, so be sure to dry them as much as possible. If you bought the seeds from a store, they should already be thoroughly dry.

Place the pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and add the seasoning. This includes maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Give it a good stir to combine. "The secret ingredient here is the pumpkin pie spice," Hahn shares. "You can, of course go the savory route with these and do olive oil, salt, and garlic. But for this sweet version, I like to add pumpkin pie spice since it is a mix of fall spices."

Add a piece of parchment to a baking sheet and lay the seeds in a single layer. Pop them in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes. Be sure to stir the seeds every 15 minutes or so. Once the seeds get crispy, you can take them out.

Once you remove the seeds from the oven, you can serve as you wish. These would be great to put on top of a festive salad. Hahn also shares her favorite serving suggestions. "These are a fun snack and are great to serve in a nut bowl around the fall holidays. Or put in a baggie and take on the run," she suggests.