This easy and healthy 5-ingredient homemade pumpkin seed butter recipe is flavoured with maple and cinnamon and is perfect for adding to smoothies, stirring into oatmeal, spreading over toast, or any other way you like to enjoy nut butter!
Cinnamon Maple Pumpkin Seed Butter
When it comes to nut and seed butters…I haven’t met one I didn’t like. These creamy, rich, and nutty spreads are a staple in my kitch, and while I tend to use almond and peanut butter the most, enjoying one that’s a little more unique like homemade cinnamon maple pumpkin seed butter is never off the table.
This delicious homemade seed butter made from lightly roasted pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup, salt, and a touch of avocado oil is super flavourful, incredibly healthy, and perfect for the fall season. Tis the season for pumpkin everything, right?
Ways To Enjoy Pumpkin Seed Butter:
Most people, unless they have an allergy, have enjoyed their fair share of nut butters, mainly peanut butter and almond butter, but seed butters are gaining popularity. Sunflower seed butter is more common in grocery stores as it is often used as a nut butter alternative for those who can’t eat nuts.
I’ve more recently been seeing pumpkin seed butter more often and here are the ways this delicious seed butter can be enjoyed:
- stirred into or drizzled over warm oatmeal (pictured above!)
- mixed into overnight oatmeal
- added to smoothies
- spread over toast, English muffins, or pancakes
- used in pancake batter
- used in cookies (think peanut butter cookies, but pumpkin seed butter cookies instead!)
Really, any way you can think to use peanut butter, you can use seed butter instead!
Ingredients in Maple Pumpkin Seed Butter:
To make this delicious homemade seed butter you only need 5 ingredients, most of which you likely already have in your pantry! The only ingredient you may not have is avocado oil and in that case you can swap it for olive oil as this is simply to help the seed butter get nice and smooth at the end of processing.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- raw pumpkin seeds
- salt
- cinnamon
- pure maple syrup
- avocado oil (or olive oil)
I like avocado oil because it has a very mild taste and is also very healthy! However, you can use either oil, it’s up to you!
How To Make Pumpkin Seed Butter:
The steps to making homemade pumpkin butter are quite simple but require some patience as pumpkin seeds take a while to turn from seeds into butter and it also depends on the quality of your food processor (hint: it’s not as fast as my homemade 2-minute peanut butter!). Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:
- Toss raw pumpkin seeds with salt and cinnamon.
- Roast the pumpkin seeds then cool completely.
- Add roasted seeds to a food processor and process for 10 minutes, stopping the food processor regularly to stir.
- Add in the maple syrup and process for another 5 minutes, stopping the food processor regularly to stir.
- Add in the oil and process for another 2 minutes or so until seed butter is completely smooth (right picture above).
The blending process takes around 15-20 minutes and the seeds will go from full seeds, to a crumbly mixture, to a chunky mixture, to a smooth butter… remember to be patient!
Health Benefits of Pumpkin Seeds
When it comes to eating pumpkin seeds, especially in this tasty butter, there are plenty of benefits! According to Healthline, the benefits of pumpkin seeds are many including the following:
- they are full of nutrients including fibre, protein, omega-6, vitamin K, magnesium, and zinc.
- they are high in antioxidant content
- they have been linked to reduce risk of certain cancers
- they are great for prostate, bladder, and heart health
- they are beneficial for balancing blood sugar levels
- they can help improve sleep quality
Are you a fan of pumpkin seed butter or seed butter in general? Have you tried making your own homemade seed butters? Tell me about it in the comments and be sure to pin the photo below the recipe to save this one for later!
Maple Pumpkin Seed Butter
A delicious homemade seed butter that's gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and great for many uses!
Ingredients
- 3 cups raw pumpkin seeds
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil (or olive oil)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- On a baking pan lined with parchment paper, add pumpkin seeds and sprinkle with cinnamon and salt, toss to coat then spread evenly over pan.
- Roast with for 10 minutes until slightly toasted, then remove from oven and let cool completely.
- Add roasted seeds and cinnamon to food processor and process for 10 minutes, stopping intermittently to scrape the sides of the processor with a spatula.
- After 10 miuntes you should have a crumbly, sticky mixture but it will not be smooth yet.
- Add in the maple syrup and process another 5 minutes. The seed butter will begin to clump together and may form into one big ball. Continue to stop the food processor regularly to scrape the sides and press down the seed mixture.
- Add in the oil and process for another 2 minutes and you should achieve a smooth nut butter consistency.
- Transfer to jar and enjoy as desired.
Notes
Store pumpkin seed butter in the fridge for up to 2 months or in the pantry for 2 weeks at most. I recommend storing in the fridge for food safety.
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You should not add the maple syrup until the pumpkin seed butter is fully formed and butter like / spreadable. Otherwise the water in the maple syrup can make the oils seize out of the butter and you can’t ever get it back in. It happened to me when making this recipe and once I looked it up online it was clear that was what had happened. It was a bummer because 3 cups of organic pumpkin seeds aren’t cheap.
Hi Heidi, Thanks for your feedback. I didn’t have this experience when making ny recipe – as you can see by the process shots, I didn’t have any issues with getting a nice texture. I also make note in the process to allow 10 minutes of processing before adding the maple syrup and at this point the butter is almost fully smooth. I do also add oil near the end which may help prevent the oils from “seizing” as you mentioned? Either way, thank you for the note as others might have the same experience as you, maybe it has to do with the type/brand of pumpkin seeds you used?