Spicy pumpkin seeds roasted fresh out of your oven is a healthy delicious salty snack. Pumpkin seeds, olive oil, cayenne, smoked paprika and a bunch of warm spices makes this tasty 20 minute snack for your family.
Next time try this delicious pumpkin bundt cake.
This is how to roast raw pumpkin seeds in the best possible salty way. This roasted pumpkin seeds got the approval of many of my family and friends. So in short, do not throw away those pumpkin seeds, they are a healthy snack for the whole family.
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❓Why This Recipe Works
- An easy and healthy snack for the whole family.
- Be a waste-free family especially if you’re carving a Jack-O-Lantern.
What to do with pumpkin seeds? Roast them. They are packed full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals and they are a great vehicle for incredible flavors. Here is how to toast shelled pumpkin seeds with a spicy tangy flavor.
We are very much used to eating seeds with shell, the most popular one is watermelon seeds followed by sunflower seed. In fact, for my little family movie nights are not perfect without having one or two of those seeds along with popcorn🍿.
📝 Ingredients
- Raw pumpkin seeds, cleaned and dry.
- Olive oil.
- Spices: garlic powder, salt, black pepper, coriander, cumin, cardamom, smoked paprika and cayenne peppers.
- Lime or lemon juice to finish it off right.
🥄 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven then start by combining all the spices along with olive oil in a medium bowl.
- Mix in the clean and dried pumpkin seeds.
- Spread seasoned pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and roast pumpkin seeds in the oven until golden brown.
- Pour lemon juice over the seeds while hot and mix with a spoon. Return to oven for a couple of minutes.
- Let it cool down for 10 minutes before serving.
💡 Tips
- Try drying your seeds after washing as much as possible as this will help the seeds crisp up quickly in the oven. But do not intimidate yourself either, they will eventually dry in the oven it will just take a little longer.
- Olive oil plays perfect in terms of flavor with these spice combo. You can use avocado oil or butter too.
- Make sure that the spices you are using hasn't been in your cabinet for like forever! Stale spices will taste bad and ruin your recipe.
- Stir the seeds midway through baking to ensure even baking.
🧺 Storage
- Leftover stay in an airtight container for about a week, because this has oil it might go rancid so check them to make sure.
- If you want to keep them for longer then refrigerate and reheat lightly in the oven or on a skillet.
👩🍳 Variations
Spice up your pumpkin seeds however you like. For example omit the cayenne pepper if you do not like spicy food. Use chili powder, curry powder, parmesan cheese, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup or honey for some sweetness.
💬 FAQs
This is really the hardest part, it is not that hard but it is the most part that requires some work.
First you want to buy a big pumpkin, the bigger the pumpkin the bigger the seeds.
Scoop the pumpkin seeds into a colander. There will be some stringy pulp that will come out with the seeds.
Rinse all under running cold water.
Remove as much as you can of the stringy pumpkin things. There might be some still attached to the seeds, but do not worry , it will be easier to remove those when seeds are dry.
Spread them on kitchen towel and let them dry overnight.
Some people suggest boiling pumpkin seeds in salty water to help get rid of these slippery slimy strings. Personally, I haven't tried this method before, I am just ok with cleaning them under running water and that's it for me.
Yes, dry pumpkin seeds roast mush better than wet ones.
Pumpkin seeds are full of nutrients, such as omega3, protein, iron, zinc, calcium and much more. It is said that it can help manage diabetes. Source.
📣 Related Recipes
If you need some healthy, great real homemade snack ideas here are some of my favorite.
- Use some cut up veggies with healthy dips like baba ghanoug, hummus, melitzanosalata, mutabal or tzatziki.
- make some homemade flatbread crackers, they are easy and tasty.
- Air fryer frozen onion rings are a great crispy and quick snack too.
- Try this delicious pumpkin spice bundt cake to celebrate fall this year.
I hope you'll like this recipe and please if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter!
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Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons olive oil.
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder.
- 1 teaspoon salt.
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander.
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin.
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom.
- ½ teaspoon paprika preferably smoked.
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper optional.
- 2 cup raw pumpkin seeds cleaned and washed and patted dry.
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice.
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F.
- In a small bowl, combine first 7 ingredients.
- Combine pumpkin seeds with spices and toss to coat well.
- Spread seeds on a 15 x 10 rimmed baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until light golden brown and crisp.
- Take the seeds out and add the lime juice, toss well. Return to oven for a couple of minutes.
- Let it cool before serving.
Video
Notes
- Try drying your seeds after washing as much as possible as this will help the seeds crisp up quickly in the oven. But do not intimidate yourself either, they will eventually dry in the oven it will just take a little longer.
- Olive oil plays perfect in terms of flavor with these spice combo. You can use avocado oil or butter too.
- Make sure that the spices you are using hasn't been in your cabinet for like forever! Stale spices will taste bad and ruin your recipe.
- Stir the seeds midway through baking to ensure even baking.
- Storage:
- Leftover stay in an airtight container for about a week, because this has oil it might go rancid so check them to make sure.
- If you want to keep them for longer then refrigerate and reheat lightly in the oven or on a skillet.
- Variations:
- Spice up your pumpkin seeds however you like. For example omit the cayenne pepper if you do not like spicy food. Use chili powder, curry powder, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup or honey for some sweetness.
- Please check the nutrition disclaimer policy.
Nutrition
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First published September 27, 2018 . Last updated September 26, 2022 with important tips, clear step by step instructions and readability.
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