If you love nut butter, you have to try this! Our pumpkin seed butter tastes fantastic, is super creamy and perfectly runny. It’s more affordable than nut butter and allergy friendly too. You only need a few ingredients and five minutes active time while the oven and food processor works its magic.
Use it on sandwiches, yoghurt, porridge bowls, in energy bars, desserts and for dunking apple slices in.
Our family burn through nut butters like most people consume milk. I have a theory that vegetarians are extra fond of nut butters because we need the extra fat and protein that some vegetables lack. Leave a comment if you are also a nut butter loving vegetarian so I can see if my theory makes sense 🙂
In our home we usually buy peanut butters because they are cheap and there are many brands with clean ingredient labels. We sometimes buy almond, hazelnut or cashew butter and other times we make these ourselves. It’s a pretty straightforward process, all you need is a strong food processor and some roasted nuts. The fat in the nuts is released when it is mixed and turns into nut butter. We usually add in sunflower or pumpkin seeds to our nut butters because they are less costly than nuts and it’s a great little trick to make more affordable nut butters (we made a very lengthy blog post about it here).
What we don’t do very often is making pure seed butters as they often turn out a little thickish and compact. But a while back we visited a cafe that had a jar of pumpkin seed butter on the counter and it was everything we love about nut butters – rich, flavorful, creamy, loose and runny – but this one was entirely nut free. It dawned on us that most of our seed butter attempts had been made with sunflower seeds so once we got home we almost immediately made a batch of pure pumpkin seed butter. It turned out really well but still slightly too thick, so we made another batch. This time we added a little coconut oil and some cardamom for a flavor boost and it turned perfectly. Super runny and with a great flavor. You could easily play more with the spices and add cinnamon, ginger and possibly some ground clove for a pumpkin spice flavor. You could also sweeten it (although it’s not necessary as the pumpkin seeds provide a mild sweetness). If you do, we recommend using sugar or coconut sugar rather than any syrup, as liquid sweeteners react with the oil in the nut butter and make it firmer.
This pumpkin seed butter is extremely good for dunking apple slices, celery and carrot sticks in, but we also drizzle it over sandwiches, yoghurt, porridge bowls, mix into energy bars and desserts.
We created the short video below to show you the process. Give it a try and let us know what you think!
Pumpkin Seed Butter
300 g / 2 cups pumpkin seeds / pepitas
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp coconut oil, room tempered
1/2 tsp cardamom
Pumpkin Seed Butter
As you can see in the video, the seeds go through different stages when mixed, first they get coarsely chopped, then they turn into a fine powder, then they start releasing liquid and for a few minutes it’s just a thick and sticky clump. Don’t give up, just keep on mixing and it will eventually loosen up into a buttery consistency. If your food processor isn’t very strong, take a few breaks in between mixing to allow it to cool down.
And whatever you do, never add water to try to thin your nut or seed butter. Water reacts with the oil and will only make it thicker.
1. Set the oven to 160°C / 320°F.
2. Spread out the pumpkin seeds on a baking tray and sprinkle with salt.
3. Roast for 15-18 minutes until the seeds start popping.
4. Transfer to a strong food processor (we have a Magimix 3200XL and it has reliably made nut and seed butters for us for years).
5. Mix on high speed for approx 15 minutes or until super smooth and runny (stopping and scraping down the sides every now and then).
6. When the seed butter is smooth, add coconut oil and cardamom (or other spices).
7. Give it a quick blend and then pour into a jar. Store in room temp for up to two weeks.
