How to Make Pumpkin Purée {Instant Pot + Slow Cooker + Steamer}

Making your own pumpkin purée in the Instant Pot, slow cooker, or steamer is stupid easy! I love the clean, pure taste of the pumpkin that has no additives or preservatives, and I’m sure you will too! It’s also freezer-friendly, so you can make extra for recipes later in the season.

Homemade pumpkin purée has been something that our family has been doing for years. Families that make a lot of food from scratch already know how quick and easy this can be.

You know if we are showing you how to do this, it is super simple to do and you will come out the other side looking like a rockstar. I pinky swear you will want to make more than one batch. I made four batches this year as I love to store them in the freezer.

If you’re a fan of pumpkin like me, then you know the unreal amount of recipes you can use the purée for. Some of my family’s favorites are Pumpkin Delight, Healthy Pumpkin Yogurt Muffins, and Easy Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.

🎃 Ingredients

There is only one ingredient (plus water) for this whole recipe, but I do want to make a couple of helpful observations.

📌Sugar or Pie Pumpkins – Look for small sugar or pie pumpkins to make your purée as they taste better and are meant for cooking/baking. You will find them at farmers markets and inside the grocery store in the produce section.

They run 3-5 pounds. You will be limited to find these from September to November though, so be on the look out. Grab a couple and make this purée and freeze it so you don’t need to stress.

🍴Instant Pot Instructions

Instant Pots are the rage right now so I’ll start here since it is also the fastest of the three versions.

👉Step 1: Clean the outer pumpkin shell. If the pumpkin is too large to fit, cut it in half and remove the seeds and attached strings. Mine fit just fine whole, which saves some hassle!

👉Step 2: Place one cup of water in the bottom of the Instant Pot and add the steam rack to the inner pot. Place the pumpkin inside the and turn on MANUAL to 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally.

👉Step 3: Remove the pumpkin from the Instant Pot and allow it to cool for a bit. When it is cool enough to touch, cut it in half and remove the seeds. The skin will easily peel away from the meat.

Place the pumpkin into a food processor and blend until creamy. If your pumpkin is dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time to the food processor to make it creamy. Don’t over-add water. My pumpkin needed a little extra water but yours may not. Each pumpkin is different and each time you do it will be different.

👉Step 4: At this point, you can use it right away, store it in the refrigerator for up to five days or store in freezer safe bags for up to six months.

🥘 Steam Instructions

If you want to use this method but don’t have a steamer basket, don’t worry. Crumble up large pieces of foil into balls and put in the bottom of the pan. Then, lay the pumpkin on top of the foil balls and slowly add water. Make sure that you have the pumpkin above the water line though. You may need to refill with water once or twice.

👉Step 1: Using a large steamer, bring the water to a boil and place the whole pumpkin (you aren’t going to cut it this time) into the steamer basket and cover. If the pumpkin doesn’t fit with your lid, add a layer of foil over the top.

👉Step 2: Steam for 50-60 minutes or until you can poke the pumpkin with a skewer and it goes in easily. Remove and allow to cool.

👉Step 3: Once the pumpkin has had a chance to cool, cut it in half and remove the seeds and pulp. Then, take the pumpkin meat out of the shell and put it in a food processor. Just like in the Instant Pot version, if the pumpkin is dryer, add in a tablespoon of water at a time to add more creaminess. Our steamed version didn’t need anything added and blended up in seconds.

👉Step 4: Use the pumpkin purée immediately or store it in the refrigerator for five days or freeze it in freezer safe bags for up to six months.

🍲 Slow Cooker Instructions

This is the most hands-off technique and most people have a slow cooker, so this could end up being the most popular option of all three.

👉Step 1: Clean the outer shell of the pumpkin. Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and the stringy pulp.

👉Step 2: Place the pumpkins inside the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours and leave it alone. Test the pumpkins with a knife or skewer at the four hour mark and see how much longer it will take.

Note: You do not have to put water in the slow cooker. Water won’t hurt you as I am going to show you how to get the water OUT of the pumpkin purée below if you have too much moisture.

👉Step 3: Allow the pumpkins to cool and remove the pumpkin meat from the skin and blend in a food processor. If you find your pumpkin is not blending well and/or it is too dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time to the food processor. Don’t add too much at a time.

👉Step 4: Add this to your favorite recipes now, store in the refrigerator for up to five days or freeze in freezer safe bags for up to six months.

❄️ Freezer Instructions

To freeze, divide these into one cup portions and place in a quart sized freezer safe bags and seal up flat. Try to squeeze all of the air out. They will keep for up to six months.

If you don’t have quart sized freezer safe bags, put them in regular sandwich bags, but them place them into a large gallon sized freezer safe bag.

Another option is to freeze each up in a small rubbermaid container overnight, pop it out of the container and then place it into a gallon sized freezer safe Ziploc bag.

💦 Removing Excess Fluid

I learned this technique from America’s Test Kitchen years ago when making my pumpkin cheesecake. The thought was that you needed to remove as much of the excess liquid as you can before adding the Pumpkin Purée to the mixing bowl. So, if you find that yours has too much fluid, simply follow a couple of steps, thanks to ATK!

👉Step 1: Lay out 1-2 layers of a flour sack towel or paper towels on the counter. Pour the purée on top of the towels.

👉Step 2: Take another 1-2 layers and press on top of the pumpkin. This allows the towels to absorb the moisture that is left inside the purée. You may need to do it a couple of times to get the excess moisture out, especially if you are using a canned version with this technique.

Now, you can use it in the recipe as you would like.

❓ Recipe FAQ

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