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Weight Watchers Recipe of the Day: Healthy Homemade Pressure Cooker Pumpkin Puree
I have a totally fun new activity that I’ll probably be doing weekly this fall…
Making my own homemade pumpkin puree! It’s creamy, fresh, delicious 🙂
It’s so easy and fun—kinda like a 7th grade science experiment.
This all came about thanks to Bentley and Fenway—two rescue pups we adopted about a month ago.
In an attempt to feed them better meals, I started adding canned pumpkin puree to their food. And needless to say they loved it!
But it gets expensive—at least $1.99 for a 15-ounce can in my local markets.
And since I already have an InstantPot, the time seemed right for a little experimenting 🙂
How To Make Fresh Pumpkin Puree In A Pressure Cooker
I haven’t tried this in the oven yet (it’s still too warm hot here in Phoenix to turn the oven on and heat up the whole kitchen), but fresh homemade Weight Watchers friendly pumpkin puree couldn’t be easier to make when using my electric multi-function pressure cooker… my new love!
After doing a little research, it seemed pretty straight-forward…
1. Buy a small pie pumpkin (aka sugar pumpkin) – these are smaller (bigger than a softball, but smaller than a basketball) that you should be able to find in your local grocery store (or pumpkin patch) this time of year
2. Pull out your InstantPot (or electric pressure cooker of choice)
3. Add 1 cup of water and insert the rack or steamer basket (affiliate link) into the bottom of your InstantPot
4. Place your pie pumpkin on the rack and make sure the lid seals (if not, you may need to trim off the stem)
5. Lock the lid and cook for about 13 minutes on HIGH pressure
6. After about 25 minutes (13 minutes for cooking and another 10 minutes or so, for pressure release), voila – you’ve got amazing soft and tender pumpkin
Cutting the pumpkin after it’s cooked couldn’t be easier.
Scooping out the pumpkin guts and seeds can be a bit messy, but it’s also a little fun. For me, it usually feels like cooking is often about being careful and neat, so this is one of those times where you can just roll your sleeves up and be a little messy.
After you’ve got all the pumpkin seeds and goop removed, you’ll find that the pumpkin almost literally peels away from the skin.
I then add it to my VitaMix (any high-powered blender or food processor should work) and puree until its smooth and creamy. If needed, add water (by the tsp. or Tbsp.) to achieve desired consistency—but go easy so your puree doesn’t get watered down. (I haven’t needed to add any water to mine.)
Then just store in an airtight container in the fridge and use it however you want.
When all is said and done, this is all that’s left of the beautiful little pumpkin that I started with…
I’m so looking forward to doing some fun baking with it this fall… can’t wait!
If you have any easy dessert recipes using fresh homemade pumpkin puree, be sure to let us know in the comments below.
How Many Calories and WW Points in Fresh Pureed Pumpkin
According to my calculations, each 1/2 cup serving has about 38 calories.
To see your WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
0 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
0 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
0 *SmartPoints (Purple plan)
1 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
If you like this easy recipe for Homemade InstantPot Pumpkin Puree, try making some at home and then substituting it for canned in these healthy Weight Watchers friendly recipes: Slow Cooker Simply Filling Pumpkin Black Bean Chili, Crock Pot Chai Pumpkin Soup, WW Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts, 2-Ingredient Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies and Muffins, WW No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake, Crock Pot Pumpkin Crumb Cake and Skinny Slow Cooker Pumpkin Spice Latte
If you’ve made this Homemade Pumpkin Puree, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
Pressure Cooker Pumpkin Puree Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 small sugar (pie) pumpkin (about 2 - 3 pounds)
Instructions
- Add steamer rack to InstantPot Pressure cooker.
- Add 1 cup water to pressure cooker.
- Place pumpkin on rack inside pressure cooker and make sure the lid seals. If the stem is too tall, trim stem until lid seals properly.
- Seal pressure cooker cover and cook on HIGH pressure for 13 minutes.
- Your InstantPot pressure cooker will take some time to build up the pressure and temperature inside.
- After the 13 minute cooking time finishes, allow your InstantPot to release the pressure naturally for at least 10 minutes. Then if you want to release it manually, go ahead. Or, just let it completely release on its own.
- Once the pressure is released, remove the cover and carefully lift out the rack, being careful not to drop the pumpkin which will be very hot.
- Place pumpkin on a cutting board (affiliate link) and cut in half.
- Scoop out seeds and pumpkin goop. Feel free to rinse and drain pumpkin seeds for later use.
- Peel cooked pumpkin from the skin and add to Vitamix (affiliate link) or other high-powered blender (affiliate link) or food processor (affiliate link). Process to desired consistency.
- Scoop out fresh pumpkin puree and store in airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This Clean & Delicious video shows how to make pumpkin puree in the oven:
More Recipe Ideas For Cooking With Pumpkin
Weight Watchers Friendly Pumpkin Recipes (Simple-Nourished-Living)
10 Fast Recipes With Pureed Pumpkin (Prevention)
50 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes (SkinnyTaste)
18 Must Try Clean Eating Pumpkin Recipes (Amy’s Heathy Baking)
12 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes (Cookie + Kate)
37 Pumpkin Recipes You’ll Want to Pin Like Crazy (PopSugar)
29 Unexpected (but Awesome) Ways to Use Canned Pumpkin (Greatist)
Healthy Pumpkin Recipes (EatingWell)
This worked perfectly!! Thank you for sharing.
Have you tried it in pumpkin pie yet? I have a regular pressure cooker…wonder if directions would be the same?
Hi:
If I don’t have a pressure cooker how would I go about getting the puree done? What-else could I use or do with the pumpkin to get the puree?
Hi Norma,
You could bake it or slow cook it like I did with this spaghetti squash.