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How to Toast Pumpkin Seeds

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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Arturo Delfin
The pumpkin carving ritual wouldn't be complete without the smells and crunching of roasted pumpkin seeds! This also works for squash seeds, including spaghetti squash.

Ingredients:

  • Pumpkin or squash seeds
  • If you want to add salt or seasonings, you'll need a bit of oil so it will stick

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F. (or seed below for lower slower method).

1) Clean the pulp off the pumpkin seeds (or squash seeds), and dry with paper towels.

2) If desired, toss with a little olive or other oil. You only need enough to barely coat, otherwise, they will be greasy. Add salt and any kind of seasoning you want - garlic powder, Cajon seasoning, dried chile powder, or whatever sounds good to you!

3) Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the seeds out in one layer.

Bake for 3-5 minutes, until seeds just start to color and are fragrant. Sometimes I use a longer but safer method of using a lower temperature. If you roast the seeds at 250 degrees F., you don't have to watch them as carefully. It takes about 45 -60 minutes.

Nutritional information: Pumpkin seeds are packed with nutrition, but I am not satisfied with being totally clear on the carb count. I think you can safely count them as having 5 grams of usable carb and 2 grams of fiber for 1/4 cup. The counts I'm finding vary a lot if the outer shell has been removed (these are called pepitas), and the fiber information isn't always analyzed. The above numbers are based on the best information I can find.
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