Healthy Pumpkin Seed Snacks Recipe, Perfect for Game Day!!

One of our family's favorite healthy snack's this time of year are pumpkin seeds!!  Whenever we carve up our pumpkins we make sure we make a batch.  The recipe we use is a family secret that I am about to let you in on it... hopefully that's okay with the family, right!  What a great snack to have as you are cheering your favorite team on during football season!!


Here is the how to:

First, pick a pumpkin out of your garden or purchase one from the store

Next, wash it and dry if off.

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees and prepare you cookie sheet by spraying lightly with cooking spray

A neat little tip when carving pumpkins is, place a disposable table cloth underneath. This is great in protecting your table and is awesome when it comes to clean up!!

Cut the top off of your pumpkin, I am using a pumpkin carving knife to do this, they cut so much better with their little saw like teeth, than a normal knives do.

Then it's time to scoop!!  Use a pumpkin scooper or a spoon to scoop out all of the insides of the pumpkin.Or just use your hands ;) That is actually what I did. It made it easier for me to separate the seeds from the waste. Place the seeds in a bowl and the waste in a grocery sack to be thown away.

Fill the bowl with the seeds with water to rinse off the seeds. You will be able to see if there is any more waste to get rid of.

Then strain the seeds.  Dump the seeds into a measuring cup to see how many seeds you have. The recipe is for 2 cups of seeds, which means a few pumpkins. I only did one smaller pumpkin. So I only got 3/4 of a cup of seeds, so I had to modify the recipe a little for myself. You can do the same if you don't have as many seeds.

At this time you will add the melted butter and the salt. If you have the 2 cups of seeds you will add 1 1/2 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix this in with the seeds.

Next, dump the seeds onto the cookie sheet. Spread out evenly. If you wanted to add any other seasonings, now would be the time to do so.

Place in the preheated oven and cook at 250 degrees for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Check a few times and give it a mix.  For my small batch it did not take as long.  You will tell they are down when they are lightly browned. Taste one it will be a little crunchy.

When the seeds are done, allow to cool and place in a sealed container. Enjoy!!!

We love having healthy snacks around the house, some of our other favorites are nuts, popcorn, jerky, fresh fruit, dried fruit, and veggies (especially carrots).

What are some of your families favorite healthy snacks?  What do you munch on while your cheering on your favorite team?  Comment below and let me know...

If you would like some more Healthy Snack ideas visit Nuts.com's Healthy Snack Page.

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