Sweet & Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

This is a gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free version of the roasted pumpkin seeds recipe that my mom used throughout my whole childhood to make roasted pumpkin seeds with the seeds removed from pumpkins we had carved into jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. I LOVE these roasted pumpkin seeds and always have because they are the most delicious salty, sweet, crunchy snack!

Note: This recipe uses fresh pumpkin seeds, recently removed from a pumpkin, not store-bought pumpkin seeds. I haven’t tried using store-bought dry seeds, but I don’t think it would work very well because the slimy coating on the fresh seeds is actually a critical component of this recipe!

Ingredients (scale measurements up according to how many cups of seeds you have)

• 2 cups raw pumpkins seeds, recently removed from a pumpkin. If you don’t roast your seeds right after carving your pumpkin, you can store the fresh seeds in the fridge overnight to roast them the next day. Also, you want to separate the seeds from the rest of the pumpkin insides, but DO NOT rinse them off to clean off the sliminess because it is important!
• 1/2 T coconut aminos
• 1/2 T apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 t maple syrup
• 1/4 t garlic powder
• 1/8 t red pepper flakes (or 1/4 t if you like some heat)
• 1/2 T ghee
• 1 t sea salt (plus more to taste)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
2. Spread pumpkin seeds onto a cookie sheet or roasting pan in a thin layer (about 1/2 inch). Use as many pans as you need depending on how many seeds you have.
3. Add coconut aminos, maple syrup, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes to a small bowl.
4. Melt the ghee in a small sauce pan on medium heat on the stove (should take about 1 minute) then pour into the bowl and whisk until combined.
5. Pour the glaze over the seeds evenly, then mix the seeds around to evenly coat the seeds with the glaze.
6. Roast pumpkin seeds in the oven, removing the seeds from the oven every 30 minutes to stir the seeds and then lightly sprinkle with sea salt.
7. Roasting time can vary dramatically depending on the pan you are using. After 3 hours of roasting, taste test the seeds to see if they are done, continuing to cook them until they have reached your desired crunchiness. This can be as quick as 3 hours or as long as 5 hours. I often use several pans to roast a lot of seeds at once and will sometimes leave one pan in the oven an hour after taking another one out!