Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

The BEST part of carving a pumpkin is for the SEEDS!

So I’m always on the search to find the perfect way to roast pumpkin seeds….Went online and did some research and I found a bunch of different recipes and used them all to create this recipe…(not saying this is the right way, but it worked for me)

So carve your pumpkin and clean the guts out

Then the fun part of washing the seeds and separating the guts from the seeds….

So when your done cleaning the seeds, then spread them on a baking sheet (I did mine on paper towels but I do NOT recommend this because when the seeds dry, they stick to the paper towel)

I left my seeds on the kitchen counter overnight to dry. (I have dried them for several days and I find that overnight works just as good as several days, just less time). I had someone ask me why I dry them overnight? Well they will not roast as well if you put them in the oven when they are wet…

So the next day I peeled my seeds of the paper towel (again don’t do this). I then got a pot of water and filled it halfway

and then added 2 tablespoons of salt

and brought it to a bowl

I measured out my seeds and I had 3 cups…I measured them out because I was going to follow this one recipe that I found online that said: Measure the pumpkin seeds in a cup measure. Add 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to the pan for every half cup of pumpkin seeds. Add more salt if you would like your seeds to be saltier. Source

Then I changed my mind and just decided to fill my pot halfway with water (didn’t measure) and added 2 tablespoons of salt just because I didn’t want them too salty (as when I was going to roast them, the seasoning I was going to use was pretty salty)

So brought the water to a boil and added my seeds

read a bunch of recipes online that pretty much all of them said to boil the seeds for 10 minutes, so that’s what I went with..

now preheat your oven to 400 degrees (I read so many different recipes that said bake them at 325, 350, 300….I just went with 400, I felt the higher heat would make them more crispy)

after the 10 minutes drain the seeds and then add them to a bowl

Then drizzle olive oil over them (read some recipes that said add butter and yes butter makes everything better I thought olive oil would be a little more healthy)

I didn’t measure, I just drizzled what I thought was a good amount of olive oil over the seeds

I went with a Cajun seasoning, and Montreal steak seasoning (because to me it’s good on everything).

Then I seasoned the heck out of the seeds (again I did not measure, I just went with what looked like the right amount of seasoning, which was a lot, I always say more is better).

then stir everything together so all the seeds get seasoning on them

then grab a baking sheet pan and spread the seeds out on the pan

I sprinkled more seasoning over the seeds because more is better!

Let them dry out for 30 minutes….

Then Bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, then I checked them and flipped them and stirred them around and then baked them for another 10 minutes…Then took them out of the oven to cool