Sweet and spicy roasted pumpkin seeds

A delicious snack or garnish for soups and salads!

I love roasted pumpkin seeds because they are crunchy and delicious – you can season them almost any way you can imagine. As a bonus, they are packed with vitamins and minerals making them a very healthy snack or garnish. And in case you’re wondering about the difference between pumpkin seeds and pepitas, the latter are the green ‘inner’ seeds you can access by cracking open the outer shell. I like this sweet and spicy combo when seasoning the seeds before roasting but I encourage you to have fun playing around with lots of different flavours. Note that the recipe is scaled for one cup – approximately the amount of seeds that come out of a small sweet or ‘pie’ pumpkin – you can easily scale it up if you have more seeds from a larger jack-o-lantern style pumpkin. If you’re looking for more tasty ways to enjoy pumpkin seeds, check out this candy recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (120 g) cleaned, dried pumpkin seeds
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) olive oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon (.7 g) each cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon (1.5 g) chili powder (or to taste)
• Few pinches Kosher salt

Method

• Scoop all the seeds out of the pumpkin and lay them out on a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. With your fingers, remove and discard any large pieces of stringy pumpkin flesh.
• Fill up a large bowl with warm water and add the seeds. Swirl the seeds around in the water with your hand or a large spoon; this should loosen any remaining pumpkin flesh. Let the seeds rest in the water for 5 minutes – this will cause the seeds to float and the pumpkin flesh to sink to the bottom of the bowl.
• Remove the seeds from the bowl with your hands or a slotted spoon and lay them out onto a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. Pat dry. You can roast the seeds at this point, but I prefer to let them air dry for at least an hour or up to a day before roasting, so the oil and seasonings adhere well.
• When ready to roast the seeds, preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, toss seeds with oil and maple syrup. Sprinkle seasonings over top and toss again. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and roast 20 – 30 minutes, or until browned (time will depend upon how dry the seeds were going into the oven).
• Note that roasted pumpkin seeds are ready when they are golden brown. The seeds might be chewy right when they come out of the oven, but will crisp up after cooling. If, after letting them cool completely, they are still chewy, just return them to a 325F oven for 4-6 minutes to give them time to finish cooking and crisp up.
• Store cooled roasted pumpkin seeds in an airtight container (I like canning jars for this) at room temperature (but preferably out of direct sunlight) for up to three months.

Makes approximately 1 cup (120 g).