Homemade Pumpkin Seed Butter, Plus Many Uses and Tips
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Homemade Pumpkin Seed Butter is a fantastic nut-free spread with deep, rich flavor, loads of nutrition (you’ll truly be surprised by how much), and it’s super easy to make. And of course it’s an allergy-free food that works wonderfully in pretty much any recipe calling for nut butter.
We do, however, have a love/hate relationship with pumpkin seed butter in our home. I’m the one who LOVES it (in fact I often crave it), but my kids do not.
In fact, the whole pumpkin seed butter thing has turned into a bit of a family joke. We’d say that our youngest would have to eat the stuff if he misbehaved.
{Cue oldest yelling in a funny voice “PUMPKIN SEED BUTTAH!!” whenever any such misbehavior happened.}
Pumpkin seed butter is really thick and has a savory, mellow flavor. I love it. Unfortunately, it’s also crazy expensive. I’ve seen it in stores for more than $2 per ounce!
That’s one great reason why you need this DIY Pumpkin Seed Butter recipe. It’s easy to make at home with a good high speed blender, plus homemade seed butter definitely tastes way better than store-bought anyway.
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Where to Buy Pumpkin Seeds
Of course, if you’re really into being a heavy duty DIYer, you can buy a pumpkin, scoop out the seeds (also known as pepitas), roast them, shell them and make your pumpkin seed butter from pumpkin seeds you’ve harvested yourself. There is a certain satisfaction in that process, I’m sure.
But it’s a LOT of work.
I personally buy my seeds (in bulk–to save money) and skip the fuss.
For my most recent purchase of pumpkin seeds I got the coolest dark heirloom pepitas–they’re almost black in color! They make a curiously dark color of pumpkin seed butter with a deeper flavor. You can get these same Stony Brook Heirloom Pumpkin Seeds on their site or on Amazon.
Here is a bit more information about both their organic and IPM (integrated pest management) grown seeds, in addition to links where you can purchase them.
Pumpkin Seed Nutritional Information
Nutritionally, the darker seeds are considered better, but you might prefer the lighter seeds like these for the taste.
Regardless, it’s best to soak and dry your nuts and seeds for the best flavor and nutrition by reducing antinutrients. Most jarred pumpkin seed butter is referred to as “sprouted”, which means that the company has soaked and dried their seeds.
Pumpkin seeds are very high in zinc, so they provide a nice balance to the other nut and seed butters, which tend to be high in copper. I like to combine equal parts of pumpkin seed butter with other nut or seed butters when making treats like these Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Bites or No Bake Almond Joy Bars to create a good zinc-to-copper ratio.
Pumpkin seeds are also really high in iron. (source)
Pumpkin seeds are also very allergy-friendly since they’re naturally gluten-free, nut-free, egg-free, and soy-free.
Should You Soak / Sprout or Roast the Seeds?
When making any seed or nut butter, it’s best to either soak and dry your seeds or nuts or roast them. I prefer to soak and dry my seeds and nuts to keep them raw and make them lighter tasting. There is some concern that roasting can damage the polyunsaturated fats in nuts and seeds, leading to free radicals. (source)
Another benefit of sprouting vs roasting is that you’ll already have some salt on the seeds from the soaking process, so there’s no need to add more.
To make the butter, all you really have to do is put the soaked or roasted seeds in a food processor or blender and pulse or blend until you get your desired consistency. You may have to scrape the sides of your blender or processor a few times.
Which Is Better for Making Pumpkin Seed Butter, a Blender or Food Processor ?
A good pumpkin seed butter starts with a either a good food processor or blender.
Blender Tips
I personally use and love my Vitamix.
Early on in our marriage, I resisted investing in a Vitamix since it cost a lot and we weren’t making a lot of money. However, it’s been one of the BEST things I ever bought for our whole food kitchen.
You can grind up to 6 cups of seeds at a time in the Vitamix, plus there are so many other great uses for this machine.
Making seed butter in a high speed blender is super fast and easy. Use the tamper (or other) tool to guide the seeds into the blades, resting if needed.
Food Processor Tips
However, a good food processor like this one works great as well.
There are all kinds of instructions on the internet about how long to process the seeds for in a food processor. It really depends on the size of the food processor, how many seeds you are processing, and the power of the motor.
Whatever processor you use, you will need to pause the processing to let the motor rest.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
Sweetener Tips: Add a little bit of your sweetener of choice if you want but it’s not really necessary. Anything will work–coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, a little stevia extract or monk / erythritol blend.
Smoothness: You can make your seed butter to your liking, but if your pumpkin seed butter is too dry, you can add a little oil (light olive oil or avocado oil) to make it smoother–maybe up to 2 tablespoons for each 4 cups of seeds. I’ve never needed to do that but it can happen, especially if you roast the seeds.
Raw vs Not Raw: Any high speed blender makes seed butter pretty hot, so really it can’t be raw. If you want a truly raw butter, the food processor is the way to go making sure to take breaks to prevent overheating.
Overheat Warning: Do not overheat your food processor or blender. It can take up to ten minutes to get a properly blended seed butter in a food processor, so take breaks as needed for the machine to cool down.
Flavor Additions: There are so many great options for make your pumpkin seed butter even more delicious. Add a splash of vanilla, some sweetener, and cinnamon. How about cocoa or some shredded coconut? Chocolate syrup? Flax or chia seeds. The possibilities are endless.
Color Variations: As mentioned, I am using heirloom seeds now and my pumpkin seed butter is quite dark. The images in this post show that different seeds yield different colors of seed butter–and how you process them will affect the color as well–roasting the seeds will change the color of the butter.
Time and Money Saving Cleaning Tip: After making nut or seed butter in the Vitamix, you can make dairy-free milk in it to save on clean up time. Just add the nut, seed, or grain to the machine plus water, and make the milk. Making the milk actually helps to clean the blender!
Ways to Serve and Enjoy
I keep containers of Pumpkin Seed Butter, DIY Almond Butter, and Sunflower Butter on hand at all times for snacking and no-bake goodies. It makes for at-the-ready snacks and we can also whip up no-bake treats like Homemade Protein Bars, Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Bites, and Almond Joy Bars in no time.
Pumpkin Seed Butter tastes great on toast (it’s great on this Focaccia Flax Bread), crackers, or as a spread for apples, pears, or bananas.
You can also spread pumpkin seed butter on celery, use it in place of peanut butter in a PB&J, or add a couple of tablespoons to your smoothies.
You can even stir it into oatmeal or any other hot cereal like this Cream of Rice.
Substitute this pumpkin seed butter in for almond butter for a fun twist on these Almond Butter Cups or stir it into pesto.
Personally, I like to grab a spoon, put a load of PSB on there and dip it into some low-carb sweetener, or sometimes coconut sugar. Raw honey tastes ahmazing paired with the dark flavor of this butter.
How to Store
You should be able to store the homemade seed butter at room temperature for up to 2 weeks, in the fridge for up to 2 months, and you can even freeze it.
Depending on how you freeze it, it could last frozen for a very long time.
Homemade Pumpkin Seed Butter
Equipment
- Dehydrator or
- Oven
Ingredients
- 4 cups pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste (if not soaking and drying seeds)
Optional
- 2-4 teaspoons avocado oil (or other light-flavored oil as needed, for smooth blending)
- low carb sweetener or other sweetener as desired
- cinnamon
- vanilla extract
Instructions
- Prepare shelled pumpkin seeds by either soaking and dehydrating or roasting.
- Place pumpkin seeds and additional ingredients as needed / desired in food processor or high speed blender.
- Blend or process seeds until desired smoothness, pausing to scrape the edge of blender / processor and to prevent overheating.
- Store seed butter in a glass container in the fridge for up to 2 months.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
However you choose to use “PSB”, I hope you love it like I do and that there’s none of the “hate” part in your house!
Why would you need to dehydrate if you’re using in the recipe? Couldn’t you just soak and then process it?
Hi there. I don’t care for nut and seed butter made with seeds and nuts that aren’t dried. You could but it will have a lot of water in it and is a really odd texture and the water separates out. Good question, though!
Can you use pumpkin seeds already packaged roasted and salted pumpkin seeds for making this recipe?
Yes, you can–the flavor will just be different. You’ll probably like it!
Thanks for sharing this! Do you know if this recipe will work for canning?
Hi there – no sorry you can’t safely can this at home due to it being high fat and low acid. Sorry about that! Hope you can enjoy making it regardless!
You mean soaking and sprouting, right? You don’t dehydrate them after sprouting, do you?
I get that you need to soak your nuts/seeds for health reasons, but if you dehydrate them, they aren’t raw anymore…..I remember as a kid in the 60’s eating raw, in the shell almonds….but now, after dehydrating soaked nuts, they aren’t that raw, good flavor; it has changed.
Hi there. I do mean dehydrating. If you dry the seeds at 115 or lower they would still be considered raw so we do that. Does that make sense?
Just made this, and it’s great! Can’t have walnuts or almonds, and I’m not a big fan of cashew or sunflower seed butter. So I really needed a healthier “butter” than using peanut butter all the time. Should have tried this a long time ago. Thanks for the tips and the “push” to make it, Adrienne!
Oh wow that is sooo great! I HAVE to make a video of my oldest and how he has a funny deal about our youngest needing to eat it for a punishment…..I’ll see if I can get that done this week and up on the blog. Glad to have a companion who LOVES this stuff. I think it’s amazing. You are welcome ;).