One of my favorite holiday pastimes is to make a big pot of hot apple cider, turn on It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and carve pumpkins with my kids.  This of course, is not complete until we have also roasted our pumpkin seeds to perfection.

I think we can all agree that there is nothing worse than a chewy pumpkin seed.  I’ve tried so many methods, but this new method, which I tried last night, is definitely the best ever.  I have found the perfect way, and I will never try a new one.

Turns out, the trick is to soak them for a minimum of three hours in very heavily salted water before you bake them.  This surprisingly simple step will yield the perfect seeds.  Additionally, the bigger the seeds, the better.  Usually the bigger the pumpkin, the bigger the seeds.

This method will result in a perfectly crunchy, deliciously salty pumpkin seed.  My 4 year old and two year old were scarfing them down.

I think they had a fun weekend. 🙂

Method from Flour on my Face

Step one: Clean your pumpkin, separating the seeds as well as you can from the gunk, and placing them into a large bowl or pot filled with warm water.  The guts will sink to the bottom, and the seeds will float at the top.  Give them a couple stirs with your hand throughout, and then let it all settle.

Step two: In a large bowl or pot, mix 3 cups of very hot water with 1/2 cup of sea-salt.  Mix it around until the salt disolves.  Skim the seeds off the top of your other bowl, and place them into the salty water.  Let soak for a minimum of three hours.  (NOTE: This year we carved kind of late and I tried soaking them overnight and baking them in the morning- it worked perfectly! But, they took longer to bake than 30 minutes- more like an hour)

Step three:  Preheat your oven to 350° and drain the seeds from the salted water.  Pour salt (to taste) on top of them and mix until evenly covered.  Spread them over top of a cookie sheet in an even, single layer, and place them in the oven for 20-30 minutes, stirring, turning, and re-spreading every 5 minutes.  You will know they are done when they are a white color, very lightly golden on just the edges- you don’t want the shells to be browned.  Mine were perfect in 28 minutes, exactly.

Remove from the oven and place in an airtight container.  Enjoy!