Roasted pumpkin seeds are a healthy fall snack, as well as a way to use more parts of the pumpkins you carve for Halloween. After experimenting and hybridizing a few recipes I saw online over the years, this is the best roasted chili lime pumpkin seeds recipe I’ve come up with.
It uses easy to find ingredients you probably already have on hand, and is suitable for the GAPS Diet, Paleo, real foods, and vegan eating plans. This recipe can also be doubled or beyond, depending on how many pumpkins you carved. One pumpkin seems to equal about one cup of seeds.
According to the nutritionists at health.com, pumpkin seeds are a good source of several nutrients:
- Manganese
- Phosphorus
- Copper
- Magnesium
- Zinc
- Iron
- Small amounts of B vitamins including thiamine, niacin, and folate
- Vitamin E and other antioxidants in the phenol and lignans families
Pumpkin Seed Tips
Soaking the pumpkin seeds in salt water overnight breaks down the phytic acid in the outer husk, unlocking more mineral absorption, and making them easier to digest. This is the traditional method of preparing nuts and seeds according to the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.
Boiling the soaked seeds for 10 minutes cooks the inner seed, allowing them to crisp up more evenly when you roast them.
Including both lime juice and zest creates a brighter flavor. If you’re making multiple batches, mix up the full amount of ingredients at the start. If you’ve got more juice than zest, at least there will be some zest in every batch.
You can adjust the chili powder up or down – just taste a raw coated seed to make sure it’s to your liking before you roast them.
Best Roasted Chili Lime Pumpkin Seeds Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoons avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt (or other medium size grain salt)
- 3 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 tablespoon of lime juice
- Zest of 1 lime
Directions:
- Soak your pumpkin seeds overnight, at least 7 hours, covered in filtered water with 2 teaspoons of Celtic or Himalayan salt mixed in.
- The next day, drain them and rinse them a bit and remove any last bits of orange flesh.
- Bring a few cups of filtered water to boil and add the seeds, you want at least an inch of water above the seeds.
- Boil for 10 minutes.
- Drain them in a colander and pat them dry with a lint-free dish towel or paper towel. They don’t need to be completely dry – just enough that your oil and seasonings will stick.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Mix all the seasonings together in a bowl, then add the pumpkin seeds and mix them until they are evenly coated.
- Place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, spreading them out evenly without them piling on top of each other too thickly. A standard baking sheet can hold about 2 cups.
- Place them in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.
- When the timer goes off, pull them out and stir or flip them over.
- Put them back in the oven and set the timer for another 10 minutes.
- Take them out and test one to see if they’re done – when they’re crunchy all the way through with no woodiness.
- If they’re not quite done, stir them again and place them back in the oven for no more than 2 minutes at a time in between checks. They can go from perfect to smoky or burned very quickly.
- Let them cool fully before storing them in a container.
These roasted chili lime pumpkin seeds make a satisfying low carbohydrate snack, and you can also use them as a salad topper or toss them into a stir fry just as you pull it off the stove.
Buen provecho!
