Salt & Balsamic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It's October and here is the United States, that means it's pumpkin season! Whether you're stocking up on pumpkins to bake with or to carve up and decorate with, you will inevitably be faced with one messy decision: to roast the pumpkin seeds or to toss them. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with nutrients like zinc, iron and low in calories. What's not to like?

It seems that almost every time I've cleaned out a pumpkin, I've tediously separated out the seeds from the muck with intentions for a healthy, yummy snack. Inevitably, I roast the seeds and they're alright. I nibble on them them fresh from the oven, throw them in a container and they're never “good enough” to be a draw when I want a snack later. Eventually the container will end up emptied in the trash.

This year, I did some research, changed my method and had to hold myself back from eating the whole tray of seeds from the oven!  The best part, a week later stored in a sealed jar and they're still super crunchy!  Here are some of the tips I found and implemented for this year's pumpkin seeds:

1. 
   

   Rinse the Seeds: Once I had separated the pumpkin seeds from the orange muck, I rinsed them thoroughly to remove any remaining bits of pumpkin flesh. I couldn't rinse them enough to remove the sliminess but did get all the orange off.

   
   


2. 
   

   Boil the Seeds: After rinsing my seeds, I boiled them in heavily salted water (1 Tablespoon salt to 1 cup water) for 20 minutes. This removed a little bit more of the sliminess and infused the seeds with a little bit of salty flavor.

   
   


3. 
   

   Dry the Seeds: I drained the seeds and spread them out on a baking sheet. I let them dry overnight. They didn't dry completely but did dry down.

   
   

When ready to roast the seeds, I mixed my marinade and tossed the seeds in the marinade. Spread the seeds back out on the baking sheet and baked them at 325. I stirred them after fifteen minutes intervals at a time and roasted them until they were golden brown and completely dry.

For about 3 cups of pumpkin seeds I used this marinade:  2 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.  Shake it all up and pour it over the seeds and toss them thoroughly.  The vinegar didn't come through quite as much as I would have liked, but they're still pretty yummy!

Check out my guest post at Quick Easy Cheap Healthy for my Pumpkin Pie Spice Roasted Seed recipe!

This post is linked up to An Oregon Cottage's Tuesday Garden Party