If you’ve been reading this blog for a year or longer, you may know that I’m head over heels for Homemade Pumpkin Butter. Not only is it one of the most popular recipes on the blog, but it’s also a personal favourite. I eagerly make several batches every fall and winter (umm, and apparently during the summer now…). No two batches are ever the same; I love changing it up with different sweeteners and spices depending on my mood. You all seem to love pumpkin butter too – I get so many comments and emails about the recipe!
The original recipe uses canned pumpkin which is great for convenience, but I’ve always wanted to try out the recipe using freshly roasted pumpkin. I just knew it was going to rock my world.
Oh, did it ever.
If you saw my pumpkin roasting tutorial Monday, you may recall this photo of the roasted pumpkin after blending in my Vitamix:
Well, after that photo I had a lightbulb moment. Why not just throw all of the pumpkin butter ingredients straight into the blender and blend it all up?
It turned out to be a great idea to use the blender – no need to whisk in any ingredients. Plus, the blender got it super smooth and silky. I also reduced the amount of juice so it only took 10 minutes to cook down on the stove top as compared to 35-45 minutes in the original recipe. I certainly wasn’t complaining!
My Tip:
The best tip I can give you when making pumpkin butter on the stove-top is to cover the pot with a lid and prop it open with a wooden spoon. The mixture splatters everywhere while simmering and you definitely need a lid to cover it while still allowing steam to escape. You can also make it in a slow cooker if that floats your boat.
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All Natural Pumpkin Butter From Scratch
Yield
3 to 3.5 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Adapted from Homemade Pumpkin Butter.
Ingredients
- 4 – 4.5 cups fresh pumpkin puree (made from ~3.8 pounds sugar pumpkin)
- 1/4 cup sweet apple cider or apple juice, more if needed
- 1 cup Sucanat (or brown sugar, unpacked)
- 3-4 tbsp pure maple syrup, to taste
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice (enhances flavour and helps preserve)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of fine grain sea salt
Directions
- Roast your sugar pumpkins (see this tutorial). Cool for 10 minutes on pan before handling.
- Add pumpkin flesh (without the skin) in a blender. Add juice and blend until smooth, stopping to push down the pumpkin when necessary. It may take a bit to get it going.
- Add the Sucanat (or brown sugar), maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg. Process again until super smooth and no clumps remain.
- Spoon mixture into a medium-sized pot. Cover with lid and prop lid ajar with a wooden spoon. Over medium-high heat, bring mixture to a low boil. Reduce heat to low-medium and cook for about 10 minutes, or until it’s as thick as you want it. Keep the lid ajar throughout the cooking process – you will find it splatters everywhere so be careful! I like to keep the lid propped up on an angle while I stir the mixture so I don’t get splattered. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Cool completely, stir in lemon juice and a pinch of salt, and then store in a sealed jar in the fridge. Should keep for 2-4 weeks.
No matter which version you make, one thing is for sure; your house will smell absolutely wonderful throughout the process.
Looking for ways to enjoy pumpkin butter? There are many…
- Swirled into vegan overnight oats or hot oatmeal
- Smoothies (try it in my Pumpkin Pie Smoothie for two!)
- Pumpkin Butter Oat Squares with Candied Pecans
- Spread it on toast for breakfast
- Stacked Pumpkin Butter Pancakes for One
- Swirl it into yogurt or make parfaits
- muffins & quick loaves
- try this Pumpkin Pie Chia Pudding Parfait
- Pumpkin butter latte, anyone?
- Use it as a dip for fresh sliced up apples
- With a spoon!
- Wouldn’t it be great in a pie filling? I’ll have to try this…
- Add it to banana soft serve (or vegan ice cream) for a seasonal twist
Have I convinced you yet?
Ohhhh my gosh! That looks sooo good! Although I am looking forward to fall, I still haven’t been able to let go of summer yet. Yesterday I bought some Ontario grown strawberries from the grocery store and this morning I made your strawberry shortcake stacked pancakes. To die for!!!! I think next up is your stacked pumpkin butter pancakes. BTW could this pumpkin butter be made using canned pumpkin or should I just stick with the older version if using canned?
Yes for sure – check out the link in the post. It links to my first version using canned pumpkin. It was also fantastic!
Looks great! Any savory recipe ideas to use with the purée? Without the vanilla of course! Always love your ideas and blog!
pumpkin soup? :)
Caribbean Pumpkin Bisque
5 cups pureed pumpkin
1 onion (pureed with pumpkin)
1 cup ½ and ½
1 ½ tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp. onion salt
1 tsp curry powder
1/8 to ¼ tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)
1 cup water (unless pumpkin has enough water)
Parsley (to taste)
I love the fact that you have made a couple of recipes with pumpkin. So many times I purchase ingredients or make a batch of something but run out of different uses, if that makes sense. Thanks! :)
Pumpkin butter latte. I’ve gotta tell my boyfriend’s mom about that one.
“Have you convinced us yet?” Heck yes! I think we all want to call in sick today and make this… Especially for the smell alone. :-) I just bought seven cans of pumpkin ( Pba free too!) and Fall is by far my favorite season, and it’s only just beginning. Yay and I can’t wait to try your pumpkin butter!
I made this all fall and winter last year. I LOVED it. During my long runs I’d think about coming home to a toasted bagel with homemade pumpkin butter … nothing better! Can’t wait to make it again this year. I just made the Maple-Cinnamon Almond Butter Monday night, so I’ll get through that first.
Now Im craving that nut butter – maybe we can trade some? heh
I am so excited to make this for my toddler! He loves almond butter and jelly sandwiches so I am sure he will love this!
You had me convinced at the title – it’s finally fall, and high time for some pumpkin butter! I am looking forward to making this today, thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe – I can’t wait to get started on making this!
This gets me soooo excited for fall. Anything pumpkin is fair game! Great idea to try making my own instead of purchasing the jarred stuff–this looks delicious!
Just bought canned pumpkin, will be making this ASAP!! :)
Oh wow. This looks incredible! I absolutely love the smell of pumpkin cooking with all those spices. This is a must make this fall. Thank you for posting!
YAY! More things to use my sugar pumpkins for! If only we could can pumpkin..
I know! Im bummed they don’t recommend canning it.
ok i’m making this! i love fall! i made quinoa stuffed acorn squash for supper lastnight and just had it for lunch :-) i love all the in season harvest :-)
I can honestly say that there is not ONE day that I go without pumpkin.
My all time fav veg!
I’m sad to say that in Australia we don’t have sugar pumpkin :( but kent pumpkin is very sweet so perhaps I’ll use that.
Thanks for sharing the love!
I’m so new to this pumpkin thing. Last year the only thing I had was pumpkin pie, but so far this year I’ve had pumpkin VOO and pumpkin smoothies. We use the Canadian Food Guide for a few things to reference and one thing it recommends is that we get one dark green vegetable a day and one orange vegetable a day. Between your Green Monsters and all your pumpkin recipes, I think you’ve got me covered lol!
I know what you mean – before I started reading blogs I NEVER ate pumpkin. Then I got hooked and it was all over.
You didn’t even have to convince me of anything once I saw the title and pictures! I love Pumpkin and making Pumpkin Butter sounds divine. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I love all your food.
I’m so glad to see I’m not the only one who is a wee bit pumpkin obsessed!!! ;)
I was salivating while reading this. i have never heard heard of pumkin butter (i’ve only been following your blog for a month and a half) but it sounds insanely good! i love that you include ways to use it because that is suuuper helpful! thank you!!
I love your old recipes and I come to your blog often for meal inspiration, but I have to say the last year has been SO disappointing- posts have gone down to 3x a week instead of 5, and they are things like peanut butter protein with jam, pumpkin pie smoothies (everyone has posted a million of these) and redos of your old recipes (todays “new” pumpkin butter). I’m sorry to sound negative but I really feel like if you can’t keep up with your blog while trying to write a cookbook then you should just leave it for a few months. I really think you are very talented and love your old recipes which is why I religiously check your blog, but it’s so disappointing and quite frankly it makes me sad now. I hope you take this to heart and realize I’m coming from a friendly place. I wouldn’t be so nice to other bloggers but I really love your blog and how you put your personality into it- I feel like I “know you” a little bit which is not the norm with a lot of the HLB’s I read. Good luck with the book, Angela
Just made the pumpkin butter…. I had never heard of it before but had a recipe that called for it (couldnt find it in any of our stores) so I googled it and found you :) It was super easy to make and taste great. I’m making pumpkin cheesecakes brownies (fattening I know)…. thanks for the awesome recipe!
can I jar this?
I’ve read that the USDA does not recommend home-canning mashed squash because the variation in thickness, acidity, and water levels cannot guarantee a consistent calculation for safe canning. However, I think if you sanitize the jars and lids like you would for canning, the jars which last unopened for a few months in the fridge!