Roast Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a staple of the fall season and can make for a delicious snack. In order to best enjoy them though, pumpkin seeds do require a few ingredients and a little bit of careful preparation. If you would like to try out this festive treat, have a look at this guide on how to roast pumpkin seeds.

Salt the Inside and Outside of the Seed

Pumpkin seeds can be eaten shells and all. If they’re toasted properly and range from small to medium sizes, they are marvelously crunchy and quite easy to eat. Large seeds tend to come from larger carving pumpkins, and these sized seeds are best to eat shelled.

If you do have small to medium sized seeds, however, most would prefer having enough salt to add the most amount of flavor possible. It’s quite easy to simply put salt on the outside of the shell, but how are you supposed to get it inside? There is an easy trick to solve this problem. If you boil the seeds in salt water then toast them in the oven, the salt will get inside the seed, too. This step also allows you to control how much salt is added to the seeds depending on how much salt is in the water and how long the seeds are boiled.


Spice Them Up

Pumpkin seeds can be spiced up by adding paprika, cumin, or chile powder before cooking. Olive oil is also a great ingredient that brings out the flavor of the seeds. To make this type of recipe, start by cutting open the pumpkin with a circular opening on top. Scrape out the insides and separate the seeds and strings. You can then use a colander to rinse the seeds. Add two cups of water and a tablespoon of salt for each half cup of pumpkin seeds. Feel free to add more salt if desired. Simmer the seeds for ten minutes, drain them, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit. Before putting them on a baking sheet, coat it with about a teaspoon of olive oil. Spreading out the seeds in a single layer is best. Bake on the top rack of the oven until brown anywhere from five to twenty minutes depending on the size of the seeds. Take them out, let cool, and enjoy by either cracking it to eat the inner seed or just eating it whole.