Instant Pot Pumpkin Puree Recipe and How to Photo Shoot

It's that time of year and while the seasons are not changing like I am used to from childhood, I have determined it's time for pumpkin and so have the local grocery stores. These imported California Pumpkins are 50 pesos each just about everywhere I see them and I bought these two to make into pie.

I came across an Instant Pot post where someone shared that they put the whole pumpkin in the pot with good success for producing puree. It was then that I decided to cook these in the instant pot, although I cut one up to both make it fit better and to harvest the seeds so I can grow these.

I started by cutting off the stem. For the one I left whole, this was all I did.

I cut the other one in half and removed the seeds. From there I just cut it down into the pieces needed to fit in the pot.

Set on manual for 30 minutes high pressure and put on the lid in the locking position.

Worked like a charm.

The idea was to try the food processor to turn it into puree, however the instant pot cooked it to such a mush that it didn't need it.

Very sweet and familiar smelling.

I just took the pieces out and peeled off the skin. Any seeds I scooped out.

I only tried a little bit of pumpkin. When I found the puree was the same consistency I decided to just call it pureed.

Ingredients and Materials

2 sugar baby pumpkins
1 cup water
Instant Pot

How it's Done:

1)Cut the stem off of one pumpkin, set it inside the instant pot on the trivet.

1. Cut the stem off the other, cut it in half and scoop out as much of the seeds as possible.
2. Cut the pieces down as needed to fit in the spaces around the pumpkin. I managed to fit two in with no issues.
3. Add a cup of water to the instant pot.
4. Put on the locking lid into the locked position.
5. Set the instant pot on manual for 30 minutes.
6. Allow to natural release.
7. Open the instant pot and peel the pieces setting the cooked skin and seeds aside to compost.
8. Fill freezer safe container and freeze until ready to use.

I'll make pumpkin pie and likely a pumpkin cheesecake. I might even do pumpkin empanadas. This instant pot experiment left me with the resolve to buy at least 3 more of these pumpkins so I can stockpile it in my freezer for whenever I start to miss home or winter.

Check out some of my other recent posts!

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