Instant Pot Pumpkin Puree: The Best Pumpkin Pie Filler!

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Easy Instant Pot Pumpkin Purée Recipe

Pumpkin purée is an absolute must-add to your homemade cooking endeavours especially as the weather starts to cool down and we get into the throws of our typical Fall culinary favourites!

Just think of all the delicious treats and beverages you can make with this modest ingredient- pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice cake, pumpkin soup, pumpkin spice latte and even pumpkin pizza! My mouth is watering just listing some of the options.

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Why Making Your Own Pumpkin Purée is Better

Now you may be asking…why would I go through all the effort of making pumpkin purée when I could quite easily pop to the store and stock up on a few cans? 

Firstly, making pumpkin purée does not have to be time-intensive. Trust me, I don’t have the luxury of spending endless hours in the kitchen, as much as I may like to.

Thanks to my instant pot pumpkin recipe, the most you need to do is prep your instant pot cooker, place your pumpkin inside and set your timer which is going to take approximately 10 minutes at most.

Secondly, homemade pumpkin purée has a lovely vegetal flavour to it that gives other dishes like pies a lighter and fresher taste. This flavour is just not something that you are going to get from a store-bought can. If you live in the UK, you might not even be able to find pumpkin puree in a can so making you’re own may be the best bet anyway! 

The other great thing about this instant pot pumpkin purée is that it typically lasts for up to 2-3 days in the fridge so if you only have time to make the purée in one sitting, you can always return to it within a day or two to make your pumpkin pie or another pumpkin-inspired dish you’ve been wanting to try out.

With that in mind, let’s get straight into the details of how to make this delicious and extremely
simple instant pot pumpkin purée.
Ingredients

● 1-2 pie pumpkins (otherwise known as a sugar pumpkin which is less watery and more flavourful than your traditional carving pumpkins)
● 1 ½ cups water

Equipment

● Instant Pot
● Food Processor

There are various ways in which you can prepare your pumpkin for adding to the instant pot. I’ve included two sets of directions below depending on your preference.

Prep Time: 2-10 minutes
Cooking Time: 5-12 minutes
Additional Time: 6 minutes to pressurize and 10 minutes for natural pressure release
Total Time: 25 – 40 minutes

Directions (Cutting the Pumpkin Into Slices)

1. Add the water to the inner pot, followed by the trivet.

2. Cut the pumpkin tops off, and then cut each pumpkin into 6 equal slices.

3. Scoop/scrape the pumpkin seeds and pulp off the slices.

4. Place the pumpkin slices on top of the trivet and stack them on top of each other.

5. Set the pressure valve to sealing, and then set for a manual high-pressure time of 6 minutes total.

6. At the end of the cooking time, allow for a quick pressure release.

7. Remove the pumpkin slicing from the pot. The pumpkin peels will easily fall off the slices after which you add the slices to your food processor.

8. Process the pumpkin until a nice purée has formed.

9. Use your purée as an ingredient for another recipe or store it in the refrigerator in an airtight jar or container for up to 2-3 days.

Directions (Placing the Pumpkin In Whole)

1. Add the water to the inner pot, followed by the trivet.

2. Cut the pumpkin stem off and place the whole pumpkin on top of the trivet.

3. Set the pressure valve to sealing, and then set for a manual high-pressure time of 12 minutes total.

4. At the end of the cooking time, allow for a natural pressure release.

5. Remove the pumpkin from the pot. The pumpkin peels will easily fall off the pumpkin, and the seeds and pulp inside the pumpkin will also be easy to remove.

6. Add the pumpkin to your food processor and process it until a nice purée has formed.

7. Use your purée as an ingredient for another recipe or store it in the refrigerator in an airtight jar or container for up to 2-3 days.

How Many Pumpkins Do You Need?

The quantity of your pumpkin purée will depend on how many pumpkins are used as well as the size of the pumpkins. If you are wanting to just make pumpkin purée for baby food, then this recipe is perfect as it is.

If, however, you are wanting to use homemade pumpkin purée as an ingredient for something like a homemade pumpkin pie, then you are going to need approximately one pound of purée which translates to a three-pound pumpkin.

That may sound like a lot but you need to consider the weight that is lost through discarding unusable parts, draining it and draining most of the liquid through the process.

And that’s it! A pretty simple way to make a very wholesome and flavourful instant pot pumpkin purée.

If you enjoyed this recipe and are interested in other instant pot recipes, be sure to head over to my instant pot recipes on my blog.

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About Angela Milnes

Angela Milnes is a Qualified Early Years Teacher who has specialised in teaching. She has a wealth of experience teaching young children and adults. Angela has also taught cooking classes and loves to share both family recipes and easy instant pot recipes here on The Instant Pot Table. Follow her on Pinterest!