Pumpkin Recipes We Absolutely Love (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular dessert made from pumpkins? ›

The Great Pumpkin Pie Recipe

My beloved pumpkin pie recipe is one of the most popular recipes on my website every fall. It's rich, smooth, and bursting with flavor thanks to a careful combination of pumpkin puree, spices, and one very special ingredient.

To complement pumpkin with sweet flavor pairings, consider using spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla, or sweet ingredients like chocolate, maple, honey, cranberries or brown sugar. Create savory dishes by pairing pumpkin with spices like chilies, cajun, cayenne or pepper.

Yes, you can use that stringy slimy stuff in the middle of the pumpkin: put it in a pan with plenty of water, and boil it to make a thin broth. Strain the broth, then mix it with apple or orange juice and mulling spices for an aromatic autumnal warmer.

Cooking the Pumpkin

If you're roasting, roast at 400 F for 35 to 45 minutes or until the flesh is soft. If you're steaming, fill your steamer pot with a few inches of water, bring it to a boil.

Milk has calcium in it, pumpkins like calcium as it allows them to uptake various nutrients. Maybe that's where the connection is for people. Good well rounded article, pointing out the potential benefits and the downsides to feeding with milk, and gives a guide to doing this if you want to try it.

Yes, dogs can eat pumpkin and it is actually often added to dog foods. Check the label of some dog treats and you may find pumpkin on the ingredient list there too. However, if you are feeding fresh pumpkin, you will need to be careful about which part you're feeding as the stem and leaves are covered in prickly hairs.

For cooking, you'll want to use sugar pumpkins (also called pie or sweet pumpkins), which are small and round. Long Island Cheese pumpkins, which are more oblong and can look like a wheel of cheese, are also good to eat. Field pumpkin types are larger, have watery, stringy flesh, and are best for decorating.

Spoiler alert – it's a trick question! The correct answer is that ALL parts of the pumpkin are edible (although you wouldn't want to eat the dried stem – yuck!). Pumpkins are in the squash family, called “Cucurbits,” and all parts of all squash are edible – leaves, vines, fruit, seeds, skin and roots!

While all pumpkins are edible, some are great as food, and some are better suited for other purposes. The jack-o'-lantern pumpkin is a great example.

Why is my pumpkin stringy like spaghetti squash? ›

What kind of pumpkin do you have? Carving pumpkins tend to have thinner walls and flesh that is stringy (think: spaghetti squash) and flavorless but relatively easy to carve. You'll often find them displayed outside grocery stores.

While dogs can eat raw pumpkin, it might be harder to digest and can become a choking hazard. The rind is also a choking hazard and may cause an intestinal blockage. You can feed cooked or canned pumpkin to your dog—if it's 100% pumpkin with no added ingredients.

Canned pumpkin (labeled as "100% pure pumpkin") is a purée of pumpkin that is sometimes mixed with other kinds of winter squash. It is unsweetened and does not contain any added spices. Canned pumpkin and pumpkin puree are the same thing, and you'll often see the terms used interchangeably in recipes and cookbooks.

If the pumpkin is particularly big, cut it into quarters then, using a small, sharp knife, pare off the skin (unless you plan to roast it, in which case the skin can stay on). Then cut into chunks or wedges as required.

Kabocha. A popular Japanese variety, the Kabocha has a rough but edible peel, and a round plump shape. It can be dark green or bright orange-red, and has firm, orange flesh. One of the sweetest varieties of pumpkin, its flavour has been compared to sweet potato, while its firm flesh holds together well in the oven.

Pumpkin is popular in pancakes, pies, custards, and muffins, but it also works well in savory dishes. You can cook it into a soup or roast it with other vegetables. Canned pumpkin can be combined with coconut milk and spices to make a creamy curry base. You can also eat other parts of the pumpkin plant.

Connecticut Field Pumpkin

The most traditional of all autumn pumpkins, the cultivation of this variety goes all the way back to at least the days of the Pilgrims. Connecticut Field pumpkins are 15-20 pounds and are a favorite for Jack O'Lanterns.