🎃 Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds for kids: the whole recipe

Let's turn the slimy seeds from your pumpkin into a crunchy, salty snack! This easy Halloween treat is for ages 5 to 11 (grades K–5th), takes about 50 minutes and serves 4. Crumb, our tiny chef, reads every step aloud with a picture, so a child can follow along, and every hot or sharp step is marked for a grown-up.

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

Tools

A cutting board, A sharp knife (grown-up), A big spoon, A mixing bowl, A colander, A clean tea towel, Measuring spoons, A baking tray, Baking paper, The oven (grown-up), Oven mitts.

Steps

1. Wash your hands with soap for twenty seconds.
2. Grown-up step: A grown-up cuts a lid round the stem of your pumpkin.
3. Scoop the seeds and stringy goop out with a big spoon.
4. Pull the seeds out of the goop with your fingers. Squishy!
5. Rinse the seeds in a colander under cold water.
6. Pat them really dry with a clean towel.
7. Grown-up step: A grown-up heats the oven to 325°F and lines a tray with baking paper.
8. Toss 1 cup of pumpkin seeds with 2 teaspoons of oil and ½ teaspoon of salt in a bowl.
9. Spread them out flat on the tray in one layer.
10. Grown-up step: A grown-up roasts them 20 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway, till golden.
11. Grown-up step: A grown-up takes them out with mitts on. Cool for 10 minutes: they crisp up as they cool.
12. Crunch time! Count how many seeds came out of one pumpkin.

Safety notes

• Sharp! A grown-up does this part.
• Hot! A grown-up does this part.
• None of the nine major allergens as written. Still read the labels on packets.
• Nuts and seeds are a choking risk for little ones under 4.
• A bit messy.

Kitchen science

Drying the seeds matters: the water has to steam away before they can turn crisp and golden in the oven.

Make it your own

• Make them sweet: swap the salt for cinnamon and a little sugar.
• Try a pinch of garlic powder or paprika.
• Roast the seeds from a butternut squash the same way.

Carving one? Carve first, then roast the seeds: pumpkin faces and stencils

More Halloween treats for kids

• 🍞 Ghost Toast (breakfast, 10 minutes)
• 🍕 Mummy Pizza (lunch, 20 minutes)
• 🎃 Jack-o'-Lantern Quesadillas (lunch, 20 minutes)
• 🧁 Pumpkin Muffins (baking, 40 minutes)
• All 14 Halloween treats for kids, with party food ideas
• All our easy recipes for kids and no-bake recipes