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These healthy and easy pumpkin recipes are the best ways to use this nutritious orange vegetable! Use it in cookies, pasta, soup, and more.

Pumpkin recipes
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Once cooler temperatures start to creep into the mornings, it starts: pumpkin mania. Yes, this nutritious orange squash has a cult-like following starting in September. It’s a short season, so the time is here. Let’s make all the pumpkin recipes!

Pumpkin is extremely versatile: it’s most popularly used in desserts, but it works in savory recipes like pasta sauce or a bright orange hummus that’s perfect for fall parties. Here are all the top pumpkin recipes that are easy to make with healthy, whole food ingredients. Want recipes by type? Try these 10 Pumpkin Breakfast Recipes, 20 Pumpkin Desserts, or 10 Pumpkin Bread Recipes.

And now, our best easy pumpkin recipes!

Pumpkin puree vs pumpkin pie filling

Let’s get technical for a moment. What’s the difference between pumpkin, pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie filling?

  • Pumpkin refers the fresh pumpkin squash! All of the pumpkin recipes above don’t call for this because it’s easiest to find and work with pumpkin puree.
  • Pumpkin puree is cooked pumpkin that has been blended down into a puree and canned. It is unflavored. Take a taste out of the can, and it tastes very bland. When you’re shopping, do not accidentally grab pumpkin pie filling because…
  • Pumpkin pie filling is sweetened and includes pumpkin spices. Many of the pumpkin recipes above are savory, so you’ll want plain old pumpkin puree. (Remind us to tell you the time we accidentally made our pumpkin Parmesan penne with pumpkin pie filling…!)

Canned pumpkin can contain butternut squash, too

That can of pumpkin puree sometimes has other squashes too! Here’s what’s really in your canned pumpkin puree. Butternut squash is sweeter and creamier than pumpkin, which can be bitter and stringy. So many times manufacturers add butternut squash. Don’t worry, it’s not cheating: it’s just the best way to that creamy, sweet puree that we can call pumpkin!

What is pumpkin spice?

Now, some pumpkin recipes don’t even use that bright orange puree at all. They rely solely on pumpkin spices! Pumpkin has a fairly neutral flavor: our brains just associate the flavor of pumpkin with the spices in pumpkin pie. Some types of recipes simply don’t work with actual pumpkin: like iced coffee or energy bars.

Pumpkin spice can stand in to evoke the flavor in a pumpkin recipe where adding the actual vegetable would be too gooey. What spices are in pumpkin spice? Here’s our Pumpkin Pie Spice recipe. It’s a blend of:

  • Cinnamon
  • Ginger
  • Allspice
  • Cloves
  • Nutmeg

More pumpkin recipes

There are so many ways to include pumpkin in recipes! Here are some more serving ideas:

About the authors

Alex & Sonja

Hi there! We’re Alex & Sonja Overhiser, authors of two cookbooks, busy parents, and a real life couple who cooks together. We founded the A Couple Cooks website in 2010 to share simple, seasonal recipes and the joy of cooking. We now offer thousands of original recipes, cooking tips, and meal planning ideas—all written and photographed by the two of us (and tested on our kids!).

Leave a Comment

3 Comments

  1. FIONA J PRUJEAN says:

    LOVE your recipes – I can’t see nutrition detail anywhere though – would you be able to add that? xx Fi

  2. Recipe Bake says:

    I made these cookies yesterday, and this recipe is a winner! I substituted pumpkin pie spice blend for the cinnamon and nutmeg. Thanks for the recipe. I will be making these again, for sure.

  3. Ashieboi says:

    If you want more soft squishy cookies that are easier to eat, I suggest cooking them for two minutes or so less. It turns out tons better