Homemade Pumpkin Puree in the Instant Pot

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, don’t worry! You can still make homemade pumpkin puree, you’ll just need to roast your pumpkin rather than pressure cook it.

In order to do this, you’ll need to cut your pumpkin into 4 wedges (in half and then in half again) first, then scrape out the seeds, and give each wedge a good olive oil rub. Once your pumpkin is coated in olive oil, place on a rimmed baking sheet or baking dish and bake it at 375ºF for 45 minutes, or until the flesh is easily pierced with a fork.

Let your pumpkin cool to handling temperature, and then scoop out the roasted pumpkin flesh, blend it in a food processor for 3-5 minutes, and strain if needed! 

If you’re using the Instant Pot method, there is no need to cut your pumpkin before cooking it (which is REALLY nice, because cutting through a raw pumpkin can get a little bit tricky!), but if you’re going the oven route, you’ll need to cut your pumpkin in half beforehand.

To do this, simply take a paring knife (trust us on this one!) and stick it straight into the pumpkin (starting at the top, near the stem) so that the pointed tip of the knife is piercing the pumpkin’s skin + flesh. Then, move the knife in and out of the pumpkin as you continue cutting down toward the bottom of the pumpkin.

Continue this until you’ve made it all the way around the pumpkin and have two separate pumpkin halves! Using this technique is a lot easier than trying to saw the pumpkin with a large knife…I promise!

When it comes to pumpkin puree, you don’t want to grab a huge orange pumpkin – the really big ones are fantastic for pumpkin patch photos, carving, and painting, but not for popping into your Instant Pot or baking (they tend to be stringy and bland).

Instead, you’ll stick with pie pumpkins, small baking pumpkins, or sugar pumpkins (all the same, just known by a few different names!) – this smaller variety is less fibrous than carving pumpkins, really flavorful, just a tad bit sweet, and has a super smooth, creamy flesh. 

Glad you asked! Pumpkin puree (even the homemade variety) has a pretty lengthy shelf life! If you’re choosing to store your puree in the fridge, it’ll last for a week, but if you’re choosing to store it in the freezer, it’ll last for 4-5 months.

We say, grab a few baking pumpkins at the very end of pumpkin season, make + freeze some homemade puree, and then enjoy pumpkin-y goodness for the months to come (because EVERYTHING is better with pumpkin, right?!).

There are a few different ways to freeze pumpkin puree. If you’ll use ~12 ounces (1½ cups) at a time (or in a week’s time), we recommend freezing your puree in 12 ounce portions in THESE mason jars. If you know you won’t use 12 ounces at once, though, feel free to freeze your puree in smaller portions!

We love freezing purees in THESE reusable baggies, or portioning small amounts of puree in muffin tins lined with silicone baking cups for individual sized (about ½ cup per silicone liner) frozen puree. If you’re going the muffin tin route, simply pop the puree-filled silicone liners in a large Ziplock once frozen, and store in the freezer!

YES! That’s the beauty of this recipe! No more stocking up on canned pumpkin, because making it this way is cheaper and (dare I say) even yummier. Though every pumpkin is different, and some have more or less flesh or seeds than others, we’ve found that a 1½ – 2 pound pumpkin yields about 3 cups (24 ounces) of fresh pumpkin puree, which is a little bit more than a can and a half of the store-bought stuff.