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Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

October 9, 2017 by Tara Leung 4 Comments

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Carving a pumpkin for Halloween? Don’t throw out the seeds. Roast them with maple and cinnamon for a sweet and crunchy healthy snack.

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com

Have you guys bought Halloween candy yet? As a kid I loved getting dressed up for Halloween and trick-or-treating. I had some awesome costumes, most of which my mom made or helped me make, as I got older. I think my favorite one was my Pocahontas dress.

Since I moved to Boston for college, I was living in the college dorms and then in an apartment in the city. There were no trick-or-treaters there. Last year was my first Halloween living in the suburbs with Jonathan, and I was so excited for kids to come trick-or-treat at our house. I bought three bags of candy. We carved two jack-o-lanterns and lit them up on our front porch. We turned on every light in the house. I even took the day off work so I would be home for the earlier trick-or-treaters.

All of five kids showed up. I was so disappointed. Maybe it’s the area where I live, but it seems like kids don’t trick-or-treat as much as they did when I was young.

This year maybe I will buy the extra dark chocolate, so if we don’t get enough trick-or-treaters, at least I’ll be more enthusiastic about eating the leftover candy.

But I’m still getting into the Halloween spirit. Jonathan and I carved a pumpkin together last weekend. There were a couple mishaps, like in the first pumpkin where I cut the hole on the top too small and then could barely fit my hand inside to scrape out the seeds, but we had fun. We used this bat stencil from Real Simple. I chose it because I think bats are cool and kind of cute, like owls. I’ve never seen them as creepy.

For the next few nights, we kept our pumpkin at the table and lit a candle in it before dinner. Romantic, huh?

By the way, one of those jack-o-lantern-lit dinners was this recipe, which I really recommend while there’s still fresh apple cider in stores.

Every year after pumpkin carving, I roast the seeds. I know roasting pumpkin seeds isn’t rocket science, but I wanted to share the recipe because I’ve been enjoying snacking on these. One thing I found really makes a difference is when you boil the seeds before baking them. They end up a little less chewy than when you simply bake the seeds raw. I also like them with a sweet twist, so I’m sharing a maple cinnamon version.

I measured 2 ¼ cups of seeds from the two medium-sized pumpkins we carved. If you have more or less, you can scale the recipe. If you are making more, just use another sheet pan. The seeds won’t dry out if the pan is too crowded.

At the starting point of the recipe, you want your seeds to look like this:

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com

It’s okay if there’s a little orange stuff stuck to them, like in the photo, but you want to get most of it off.

Here they are ready to be baked. Notice how they’re mostly in a single layer.

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com

And 20 minutes later:

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com

You can start snacking as soon as they’re cool enough to pick up, but let the seeds cool completely before storing.

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds | WednesdayNightCafe.com
5 from 2 votes
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Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Carving a pumpkin for Halloween? Don’t throw out the seeds. Roast them with maple and cinnamon for a sweet and crunchy healthy snack.
Course Snacks
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 2 1/4 cups
Author Tara Leung

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (from 2 medium sized pumpkins)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 2 sheet pans with cooking oil spray and set aside.
  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and boil for 10 minutes. While you're waiting, mix coconut oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt together in a small bowl.
  3. Drain pumpkin seeds. Then return to pot and toss with the coconut oil mixture. Spread seeds out on 2 prepared pans. Try to get seeds mostly in a single layer.
  4. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove pans from oven and stir seeds, then spread them back out to a single layer. Bake 10 more minutes, until seeds are golden brown. Keep an eye the last few minutes to make sure they don’t burn.
  5. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Recipe Notes

Pumpkin seeds will keep in an airtight container for up to a month.

Bon Appétit!

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Related

Filed Under: Recipes, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: cinnamon, maple, pumpkin seeds, snacks

Previous Post: « Apple Cider Braised Short Ribs
Next Post: Polish Style Pork Tenderloin with Potato Dumplings »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ramona

    October 11, 2017 at 5:51 am

    Hi Tara! The pumpkin seeds came out great! I didn’t have any coconut oil on hand, so I just used some canola oil (although I’m sure the coconut would have been better). I did have to leave the seeds in for about 15 extra minutes. They are really delicious. This was the perfect fall snack! We love your blog!!

    Reply
    • Tara

      October 11, 2017 at 4:08 pm

      Aw, thanks for the kind comment Ramona! Not sure why they took longer, but I’m glad you enjoyed them!

      Reply
  2. Ramona

    October 26, 2018 at 2:00 pm

    Just pulled up this recipe so I can make these again this year!

    Reply
    • Tara

      October 27, 2018 at 1:22 pm

      So happy to hear that!

      Reply

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About Wednesday Night Cafe

  Hi, I’m Tara. This blog is where I share my recipes for special dinners. When I discover a new dish while traveling or come across something creative while dining out, I just have to recreate the recipe at home. I also love cooking my own versions of classic dishes. If you're new here, ...

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