How to Roast (and grow) the BEST Pumpkin Seeds

Did you ever wonder why pumpkin seeds you roast at home are white and kind of hard to chew and the ones you get at the store (the “pepitas”) are smaller and green, with a perfect crunchewy texture?

I did. I pondered on this long and hard … how the heck do they do that? I wondered. Do they take off the hard outer husk? That was the conclusion I came to … way back when. I thought there must be some special machine that takes off that hard outer husk that us ordinary normal human beings just don’t have. So we’re stuck with hard white home-roasted seeds while the stores have all the good ones.

Boy was I wrong!

Several years ago, my dad let me in on a little secret: there are pumpkins that are grown specifically for their seeds. My dad grows all kinds of pumpkins. He grows sugar pumpkins for baking, big orange pumpkins for decorating … and now, for the past several years, he also grows special pumpkins just for their seeds. He’s tried a few different varieties, but the pumpkin he’s settled on for seeds lately is the Kakai pumpkin.

You guys, when you start with the right pumpkin seeds, it’s soooo easy to make fabulous, puffy roasted pumpkin seeds with the perfect crunchewy texture!

What’s a Kakai pumpkin?

Kakai pumpkins (or squash) are pumpkins that are typically medium in size and have green or black stripes down the sides. Some people say Kakai pumpkins were developed in Japan, but I can’t say whether or not that’s true. They are quite striking in appearance … you can use them as ornamental pumpkins, yes, because they are quite lovely, but if you only use them for their looks, you’re kind of missing the whole point.

Here a couple of my Kakai pumpkins:

The magical part about a Kakai pumpkin is when you cut it open and gaze upon the seeds! Look … they’re a lovely pretty green … with NO hard white outer hull!

Just so you can see a comparison against “regular” pumpkin seeds, I took a picture. The seeds on the left are from a sugar pumpkin (one that got rather large and made a LOT of seeds). The ones on the right are from a Kakai pumpkin.

Can you eat the flesh of a Kakai pumpkin?

Okay, of course you’re probably wondering: can I eat the flesh of the Kakai pumpkin too? Well, yes, you CAN eat the flesh of the pumpkin. You can roast it up just like you would any other pumpkin and eat it. But it’s not as flavorful. It’s kind of blah tasting, not as pretty in color, and sometimes it’s even fairly stringy. Personally, I prefer to take out the seeds and roast them, then let the deer have the flesh of the Kakai pumpkins. I’ll stick with the sugar pumpkins for eating the flesh.

Why am I writing about roasting pumpkin seeds in March?

Well, the reason I’m writing about this is because I just happen to have roasted up a bunch of pumpkin seeds. But I also thought I should write about this now because this time of year is when gardeners start thinking about what they’re going to plant in the spring. The seed catalogs arrive and people start ordering seeds … at least that is what always happened in my house, back when I was little. My parents are both from farms and they like to grow things.

About a month ago, Mom and dad came to visit and brought me some of the last of their pumpkins that they grew last year. I knew I wanted to get the Kakai seeds roasted before the pumpkins went bad, so I started cutting up my Kakai and pulling out the seeds right after mom and dad left. And then since I was in pumpkin mode, I opened up a sugar pumpkin and decided to roast the flesh of it for eating. But then I couldn’t resist pulling out the seeds of the sugar pumpkin too. And that’s when I decided to blog about how to get lovely hull-less pumpkin seeds.

What’s the secret to roasting the BEST pumpkin seeds?

It starts with using the right pumpkins, with hull-less seeds. Kakai pumpkins are one variety, but there are others too.

Getting the right pumpkin is 90% of the trick. But there are a few other things that I think make for perfectly delicious pumpkin seeds:

1. Let the seeds sit out and get dry before roasting them. Overnight is good, but the longer you let them sit, the quicker they will roast. I let mine sit for 3 days before roasting them and they were done roasting in just a few minutes!
2. Toss the seeds with a bit of good quality extra virgin olive oil, some salt and lots of good seasonings. You can use whatever seasonings you like … usually I use Red Robin Seasoning because I just love the taste of it, but this year, I tried Red Robin Seasoning plus Shawarma seasoning and a bit of cayenne pepper and that was really tasty.
3. Roast at 350 F. until you hear popping sounds. Let them pop for a bit until they are lightly browned, then take them out and let them cool. This can go rather quickly (within 5 – 10 minutes) or it might take up to 20 minutes if your seeds are wetter. (Note: seeds with a hard outer hull may not pop, or you might only hear one or two pops.)

Look at how perfectly puffy my Kakai seeds turned out. They almost wanted to jump out of what little shell they had!