Instant Pot Pumpkin – How To Cook Whole Pumpkin In The Instant Pot
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Instant Pot pumpkin comes out perfectly cooked and is truly effortless! Once you try cooking whole pumpkin in the Instant Pot, you’ll never make it any other way!
Instant Pot is my favorite method of cooking pumpkin, and it’s twice as fast as baking it in the oven! Instant Pot pumpkin cooks up super tender – perfect for homemade pumpkin puree!
I’ve already successfully cooked butternut squash, acorn squash and spaghetti squash in the Instant Pot, so the next logical step would be cooking pumpkin!
Cooking pumpkin in the Instant Pot is extremely easy. Just put the whole pumpkin in Instant Pot along with 1 cup of water and pressure cook on High pressure for 25 minutes, followed by a quick release. That’s all there is to it!
An awesome thing about cooking pumpkin in the Instant Pot is that you don’t have to cut raw pumpkin. Those pumpkins can be quite hard, and who wants to struggle with cutting it :) You don’t even need to cut holes in the pumpkin for steam escape like you do when baking it in the oven. When Instant Pot finishes cooking the pumpkin, it’s soft like butter and the skin is already split and comes off effortlessly!
Of course, in order to cook the whole pumpkin in the Instant Pot, it needs to fit in the Instant Pot :) If the pumpkin fits but the stem prevents the lid from closing, just cut off the stem. If your pumpkin is so big that it doesn’t fit, just cut it into quarters (or as small pieces as necessary) and then put pieces in the pot. If cooking pumpkin pieces instead of the whole pumpkin, use the pressure cooking time of 15 minutes on High pressure.
Once the pumpkin is cooked, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, then separate pumpkin flesh from the skin.
To make pumpkin puree, simply process the cooked pumpkin flesh in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Looking for yummy baked goodies to make with this homemade Instant Pot pumpkin puree? Here you go:
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup – so creamy and delicious, this is a perfect soup for Fall!
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Cheesecake – even if you never make cheesecake before, this recipe is so easy and always turns out perfect! Everyone loves this pumpkin cheesecake!
Click here for more recipes that use pumpkin puree.
Looking for more Instant Pot recipes? Check out my Instant Pot recipes collection!
Instant Pot Whole Pumpkin
Ingredients
- 1 pumpkin
- 1 cup water
Recommended Kitchen Tools (click the links below to see the items used to make this recipe)
Instructions
- Put a whole pumpkin and water in the Instant Pot. Close the lid (trim off the pumpkin stem if it gets on the way) and turn the valve to a Sealing position. Press the "Pressure Cook" or "Manual" button and set the time to 25 minutes on High pressure.
- When the Instant Pot is done cooking, quick release (QR) the steam.
- Remove cooked pumpkin from the Instant Pot. The cooked pumpkin will be split and the skin will separate easily. Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the pumpkin seeds with a spoon. Separate pumpkin flesh from the skin.
- To make pumpkin puree, process the cooked pumpkin flesh in a food processor or blender until smooth.
Notes
Nutrition
Did the whole pumpkin & it turn out wonderful!!
Will definitely do it again!!!
This recipe is super easy! Thanks for sharing!! I followed the instructions exactly up until the point of the quick release, I forgot about it and it accidentally sat for another 12 minutes naturally releasing. When I finally did the QR and opened it up, my pumpkin wasn’t split like you said it would be. Does that mean that it needs to keep cooking?
I cut it opened, skinned, and removed the seeds, but some parts of the pumpkin were a bit firm still, I’m unsure if it needs more cooking or if I should just blend it up and it’ll be fine! Thank you!!