I love pumpkins. Everything about them is fabulous. I love them in all shapes, colors and sizes. I’m and equal opportunity pumpkin lover. No pumpkin is to big, warty or strangely shaped for me. I just love em’!
However, when it comes to eating pumpkin, I get a little pickier. Well, okay… a LOT pickier. The thing is, I’ve tried several different types of pumpkin in the kitchen, and I come back again and again to sugar pie pumpkins. And just in case you’re wondering, yes, those are the pumpkins they make pumpkin pie with.
They are naturally delicious and lend themselves well to just about any pumpkin recipe you can conceive of.
Did you know that pumpkins are actually a fruit? Because of their seeds, they are part of the gourd family which includes melons. There, now don’t you feel good having learned something about your food today? I know I do! Who knew fruit was so versatile??!!!
But I digress.
I actually have TWO pumpkin recipes for you today!! Can you stand it?!
If you can’t decide which one to make, do what I did. Divide the pumpkin in half and make both!
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY:
Clean Eating Pumpkin Fries
(Makes approximately 8 servings)
Ingredients:
- SAVORY SPICE MIX
- 2 sugar pie pumpkins = approximately 8 cups when cut
- 2 teaspoons curry powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- SWEET SPICE MIX
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (no sugar added)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Directions:
- Prep: preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut the pumpkins in half and remove the seeds.
- Remove the skins with a potato peeler. (Careful not to get your fingers!)
- Cut into strips, similar to french fries. They won’t be perfect, but close enough. About 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness all the way around is perfect.
- Coat your pumpkin in desired spices. (See steps 8-14 below)
- Arrange the fries on a parchment lined cookie sheet so that they are in a single layer.
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until the squash is soft and easily pierced with a fork.
- SAVORY PUMPKIN FRIES
- Place your cut pumpkin and olive oil in a mixing bowl.
- Add 1 tablespoon. of the spices.
- Toss by hand until the pumpkin is well coated in oil and spices.
- SWEET PUMPKIN FRIES
- Place your cut pumpkin into a mixing bowl and sprinkle on your spices.
- Add maple syrup and toss by hand until your pumpkin is well coated with syrup and spices.
Savory Nutritional Content:
(Data is for 1/8 of the entire recipe)
Calories: 45
Total Fat: 2 gm
Saturated Fats: 0 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 1 mg
Carbohydrates: 8 gm
Dietary fiber: 1 gm
Sugars: 2 gm
Protein: 1 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 3
Sweet Nutritional Content:
(Data is for 1/8 of the entire recipe)
Calories: 43
Total Fat: 0 gm
Saturated Fats: 0 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 2 mg
Carbohydrates: 11 gm
Dietary fiber: 1 gm
Sugars: 5 gm
Protein: 1 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 5
Please Note: Nutritional information estimated at Nutritiondata.com. Data may not be accurate and is subject to the availability of specific foods in their database. Where one ingredient is not listed, substitutions must be used. Therefore, you should not refer to this data as being exact. It’s more of a ballpark figure. The Gracious Pantry does not take responsibility for the inadequacies of the nutrition calculator used. This data is provided as a courtesy and general reference only. It is not exact.
I love pumpkin as well, but never thought to eat them in fry-form. Such a creative idea!
Lauren – These are also great the next day, right out of the fridge I took them to school as a snack. No matter what you do, these are so very yummy! Enjoy!
Really good nutritional & dietary info here Tiff. I’d not tried Pumpkin fries either, but I love pumpkin, so this is a must try for me.
Anna – You’re gonna love em! They are great warm or cold and make for a terrific snack when you are on the go. Enjoy!
Never thought of using pumpkin for fries!! Very tasty. I cut mine fairly thin so that they would crisp right up, and used lots of hot spices!
Jill – Spicy is good! I love spicy fries!
I havent made these yet but I will.
Trude – I think you’ll really enjoy them. They’re great for a meal OR a snack!
Fran – No, there is no salt in it at all. It’s a mix of about 4 different spices. You can look up a recipe for it online. It’s pretty easy to make.
Me too!
Is it 45 cals per cup?
Zani – Approximately, yes.
Have you ever frozen the fries for later use? (I have 2 huge pumpkins left to use from last fall)
Nan – Yep! You sure can! I would freeze them on a cookie sheet in a single layer though and then transfer to a storage bag rather than just tossing them all in a bag and freezing. It will make things easier on you when you want to pull out a few.