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Canning pumpkin puree isn’t illegal. AND homemade pumpkin puree is far superior to ANYTHING you’re going to buy in the store.  The flavor, texture, everything is unmatched.  I recently started growing my own pumpkins in the past couple years, which is hard since they completely take over the garden, but I will NEVER not grow them.  A couple seeds go a long way in growing several years worth of pumpkin for me!  

If you would like to painstakingly peel and cube a whole pumpkin and follow the approved instructions, check out the NCHFP site here. I also dooooo peel and cube pumpkin for my favorite soup… because it’s gooooood!

We aren’t giant pumpkin eaters, but give us a pumpkin pie made with my own pumpkin puree with homemade fresh milled spelt flour crust with butter and lard… OHH EMM GEEEEE.  Or maybe some pumpkin bread or pumpkin mac and cheese.  Ok.  Maybe we’re pumpkin people.  The store bought stuff will look unnatural and have the strangest flavor once you jump to home grown and canning pumpkin puree for yourself!  Have plenty of food you grew on hand and shelf stable for your favorite pumpkin recipes this fall.

If you’re weird and enjoy pumpkin butter, you can use the two methods below to “cook” the pumpkin to get it out of the skin before adding the spices and cooking it down to butter.  I ain’t sharing a recipe on that though because I’m normal and think it’s terrible (I jest).  I’ve heard it’s amazing to make pumpkin spice lattes and such, but I’m just not your girl for that.  Never been a fan and I just cannot force myself to enjoy the pumpkin train all that much past pie and bread.  

Rebel Canning

Now… onto explaining why this recipe is rebel canning because I believe in providing all the info, explaining it, and then allowing YOU, the reader, to make the decision for yourself on whether or not you want to follow how I can MY pumpkin in MY house.  Cause nobody’s making you.

This recipe can be considered rebel canning.  This means this exact recipe has not been evaluated nor approved by the USDA or NCHFP.  Does the mean this recipe is unsafe?  Sure doesn’t, as its one I and many others use and consume.  What it does mean is as with any home canning, you should can at your own risk and use common sense.  

Make your own decisions because what I do and say I’m doing in my own home should not affect what you do in yours.  If you are not comfortable with rebel canning, please don’t follow this recipe.   In the end, you will have canned something you are afraid of and you will not eat it or use it and you will have essentially wasted your time and money.  

Now, you may be wondering WHY is this rebel canning.  And I’ll tell you.  This method involves canning already pureed pumpkin.  The approved methodology of canning pumpkin involves peeling the pumpkin and cutting the flesh into 1-inch cubes, then heating it in boiling water for a couple minutes, hot packing into pint or quart jars, filling with boiling water, and then pressure canning.  

The claim to why you “can’t” puree or mash the pumpkin first is due to density.  They didn’t actually test pureed pumpkin to make sure the tHeRmAl PrOcEsS is completed with puree like it is with a whole cube.  If you would like to can pumpkin using the approved method, by all means find those instructions in a trusty canning book or on the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) website.

​Onto some common sense thinking here.  

First and foremost, I am NOT going through all the trouble to peel a pumpkin.  I can’t even cut a watermelon up without almost severing an appendage, so I’m not even going to try with a pumpkin.  Second…. I don’t want to can cubed pumpkin.  I want to can puree, as my pie recipe will use a quart of PUREED PUMPKIN… which would be different than dumping, draining a jar of cubed, and then pureeing that.  

This is simply for my convenience and the fact that I refuse to do all the work of destroying my kitchen with pumpkin guts just to have to turn around and destroy it again just to make puree with a boiled pumpkin cube in a jar. The flavor ain’t it.  This is, again, a personal preference and one that you don’t have to do.

Second.  The audacity to say that pureed pumpkin won’t conduct heat like 1 inch pumpkin cubes because it’s pureed?!  Did it lose all of the liquid within its fibers because we mashed it up a little?  Pumpkins average around 90% water.  NINETY PERCENT.  That’s a fricken lot of water dude.  It’ll heat quickly.  Promise.  And there is zero chance that a puree is that much denser than cubes.  Zero chance.  In my opinion.

With this all being said, it is FOOD FOR THOUGHT and not me forcing you to do anything.  It is simply my opinion and thought process behind why I, me myself and I, am okay with rebel canning.  This recipe has not been tested and found to be unsafe.  I consider generational knowledge testing enough and trust this recipe wholeheartedly.  Doesn’t mean you have to.

And if one more human tells me I have survivor’s bias because I rebel can and haven’t died of botulism yet, I’m gonna croak. If we wanna play that game, then each and everyone of us has survivor’s bias in everything we do. You got on a plane and didn’t crash? Survivor’s bias. They’re not safe. You drove your car to the store and lived to tell the tale? Survivor’s bias since car crash fatalities are far more frequent than botulism. You ate at McDonald’s and didn’t get E. coli sepsis? Survivor’s bias because that food is worse than going and eating slop with the hogs. Catch my drift?

We can call out survivor’s bias at something we don’t agree with, but at the end of the day, absolutely EVERYTHING we do comes with inherent risks. It doesn’t matter what. What does matter is what you decide and choose to do and who gives a flying flip what they think anyway. I don’t.

IF THEY CAN CAN IT FOR THE STORE, YOU CAN CAN IT AT HOME. 

The Best Pumpkins For Canning

• Sugar Pumpkins
• Pie Pumpkins
• Butternut Squash (shhhh don’t tell anyone)

Sugar and pie pumpkin varieties have been grown to be smooth fleshed, sweeter, and more tender than other pumpkins.  If you use other varieties, it’s fine, but don’t expect the same results as they lean toward being more bland, stringy, and very watery.  I know it’s tempting to want to get the big boys and think you’ll get more pumpkin out of one go but I promise you, the smaller pumpkins are better and much, much easier to handle.  The larger the pumpkin, the worse it will taste.  So repeat after me.  Large pumpkins are for carving and the goats.  Small pumpkins are for canning and pie.  Gosh, my goats LOOOOVEEEE pumpkins.

I’m gonna be honest.  If I have a butt ton of butternut squash (that’s a lot of squash for you non-rednecks), I’ll prep quite a bit for cold storage, but I will can some and mix it right in with my pumpkin.  Why?  Because it’s delicious!  And it gives the puree a vibrant orange color. Do you have to do that?  No, and I don’t always do it.  But this year I will because one vine of my butternut squash has approximately 900 million squash babies on it :D  

Many winter squashes work amazingly in place of pumpkins or alongside pumpkins.  But the type of squash and the type of pumpkins do matter, so choose wisely!  Sure, you can eat whatever pumpkin you come across, but some aren’t as sweet or tender as others, which is why I mentioned the two varieties above because the kind of pumpkin DOES MATTER.  In a pinch, I’ve used jack-o-lantern pumpkins I grew for carving and ended up eating a few and they were fine, but they’re just not as good as the sugar and pie varieties.

Rant over.  Let’s get to canning pumpkin puree!

Equipment You Might Want

• Large Sheet Tray
• Mixing Bowl
• Food Processor
• Pint or Quart Canning Jar (wide mouth best)
• Canning Lids & Screw Bands
• Jar Funnel
• Jar Lifter
• Pressure Canner

Ingredients

• Sugar or Pie Pumpkins

Step 1:  Prep

Plan on a touch over 2 pounds of pumpkin per quart jar.  Half that for pints

Start by rinsing ripe pumpkins under cold water and dry.  Cut in half with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds and guts.  Remember to save some seeds for pumpkins next year and dry the rest of the pumpkin seeds for snacking and such!

Now, pick a cooking method!  Oven or Pressure Cooker

Oven Method (the one I use the most)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lay pumpkins cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment (you don’t have to use parchment but it does help with sticking since the pumpkins I use are higher sugar.

Pierce the skin with a fork or knife several times.  Bonus points if you yell STAB STAB STAB STAB while you do it.  Cause why not.  It’s totally normal.

​Bake the pumpkins in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or til you can poke the flesh easily with a fork.  I sit the fork on top and if it falls into the flesh without me pushing it, they’re good and done!

​Remove the pumpkins from the oven, flip over so they’re flesh side up, and allow to cool for about 5 minutes so you don’t burn the crap out of your hands.  Because, you know, I don’t do that.  I is smort. 

Scoop out the cooked pumpkin flesh using a spoon, or an ice cream scoop which work FABULOUSLY, straight into a food processor with the puree blade on it.  OR, if you hate washing your food processor, you can just mush it with a potato masher in a big stock pot which is what I do.  A little punkin chunk never hurt nobody.

Puree in batches til it is pretty smooth, set aside.

Pressure Cooker Method

You can use an electric pressure cooker (like my Nesco or an Instant Pot) or your big pressure canner, depending on how many pumpkins.  I don’t really care to use my pressure canner because the pumpkins make an unholy mess, but if you’re hurried and you got a lot to do, go ham.  If I only have let’s say 1 pumpkin to process, I’ll use my Nesco canner and cook it quick so I don’t heat my house up with the oven for ONE SINGULAR PUMPKIN. 

Slice the pumpkin into quarters and fill your canner to the top.  They will shrink a whole heckin’ lot and you’ll think some disappeared.  Because, helloooooo, 90% water.  Add a little water to the pressure cooker just to get things moving and keep things from burning.

Cook for 10 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure (just use whatever pressure you can low acid food at), allow to depressurize naturally.

Remove pumpkin pieces with a slotted spoon (tongs are hard because it just falls apart… ahem, I meant THONGS), and place them on a sheet to cool a little to handle.

Scrape the pumpkin puree out into a food processor with the puree blade and puree til smooth in batches.  You can also add it to a bowl or stock pot and aggressively mash it with a potato masher or your fist.  It’s great therapy if you need it.   

Step 2:  Heat

Place large pot of pumpkin puree over medium low heat and heat until hot and bubbling.  You gotta stir this or it’ll mercilessly burn.  And I’m the self appointed queen of burning food to stock pots so just lissssen. 

While the pumpkin puree heats, wash your canning jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse well.  Set aside for filling.

Step 3:  Canning

Ladle hot pumpkin puree into clean jars to 1 inch of headspace.

Remove any air bubbles and add more pumpkin if needed to maintain headspace.  Err on the side of extra headspace rather than not enough since purees do like to swell during the pressure canning process.

Wipe the rim of the jar, add a canning lid, and secure with a screw band.

Pressure can pint jars for 75 minutes and quart jars for 90 minutes at your elevations recommended pounds pressure for low acid food.

Once canning time is complete, remove jars from canner and place on a heat proof surface lined with a towel to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours.

Step 4:  Storage

After cooling, remove bands and test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight.

​Any jars that did not seal may be reprocessed, refrigerated to use soon, or if you used a wide mouth pint jar, you can slap the jar in the freezer.

Shelf life is ’til you eat it.  Aim to rotate canned foods out every 2 years for maximum nutritional benefit and palatability, but they’ll last far longer if needed.  In my case, I grow pumpkins every 2-3 years and one year grows enough to be able to skip 2+ years of growing and taking up tons of garden space!

Step 5:  Preparing

Dump enough pumpkin puree out to make what you’re making and go!

Notes:

This recipe can be considered rebel canning due to canning pumpkin puree instead of 1 inch pumpkin cubes.  Please do your own research and understand basic canning “rules” and methods.  I cannot control what you do in your kitchen and am not responsible for any mishaps you may encounter.  Please do your own research on safe canning practices to understand how to can and do it safely.  

If you are not comfortable canning pumpkin puree, you can fill wide mouth pint jars to the freezer line and freeze that way or use any airtight container or bag you wish!

And that’s how I’m canning pumpkin puree in my kitchen!

Simple Guide to Canning Pumpkin Puree

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Canning Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 1 quart

Author: Ruby – Red Feather Farm

Equipment

• Sheet Pan
• Mixing bowl
• Food processor
• Pint or Quart Canning Jar (wide mouth best)
• Canning lids & screw bands
• jar funnel
• jar lifter
• Pressure Canner

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 pounds pumpkin

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

The ingredients in this recipe are for ONE QUART JAR to help you estimate how many jars you need. One sugar pumpkin will give you 2-3 pints worth.

• Start by rinsing ripe pumpkins under cold water and dry.
• Cut in half with a sharp knife and scoop out the seeds and guts. Choose between the oven and pressure cooker method to cook the pumpkin prior to canning.

Oven Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay pumpkins cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment. Pierce the skin with a fork or knife several times. Bake the pumpkins in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes or til you can poke the flesh easily with a fork.  I sit the fork on top and if it falls into the flesh without me pushing it, they're good and done!
• Remove the pumpkins from the oven, flip over so they're flesh side up, and allow to cool for about 5 minutes so you don't burn the crap out of your hands.

Pressure Cooker Method

• You can use an electric pressure cooker (like my Nesco or an Instant Pot) or your big pressure canner, depending on how many pumpkins. Slice the pumpkin into quarters and fill your canner to the top, don't worry about overfilling because they will shrink a whole heckin' lot. Add water to the canner.
• Cook for 10 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure (just use whatever pressure you can low acid food at), allow to depressurize naturally. Remove pumpkin pieces with a slotted spoon and allow to cool on a tray for about 5 minutes.
• Scrape the pumpkin puree out into a food processor with the puree blade and puree til smooth in batches.  You can also add it to a bowl or stock pot and aggressively mash it with a potato masher or your fist.  It's great therapy if you need it.
• Place large pot of pumpkin puree over medium low heat and heat until hot and bubbling.  You gotta stir this or it'll mercilessly burn.
• While the pumpkin puree heats, wash your canning jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse well.  Set aside for filling.
• Ladle hot pumpkin puree into clean jars to 1 inch of headspace.
• Remove any air bubbles and add more pumpkin if needed to maintain headspace.  Err on the side of extra headspace rather than not enough since purees do like to swell during the pressure canning process.
• Wipe the rim of the jar, add a canning lid, and secure with a screw band.
• Pressure can pint jars for 75 minutes and quart jars for 90 minutes at your elevations recommended pounds pressure for low acid food.
• Once canning time is complete, remove jars from canner and place on a heat proof surface lined with a towel to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours.
• After cooling, remove bands and test seals, wash jars, label, and store in a cool dark place away from direct sunlight.
• Any jars that did not seal may be reprocessed, refrigerated to use soon, or if you used a wide mouth pint jar, you can slap the jar in the freezer.
• Shelf life is 'til you eat it.  Aim to rotate canned foods out every 2 years for maximum nutritional benefit and palatability, but they'll last far longer if needed.  In my case, I grow pumpkins every 2-3 years and one year grows enough to be able to skip 2+ years of growing and taking up tons of garden space!

Notes

This recipe can be considered rebel canning due to canning pumpkin puree instead of 1 inch pumpkin cubes.  Please do your own research and understand basic canning “rules” and methods.  I cannot control what you do in your kitchen and am not responsible for any mishaps you may encounter.  Please do your own research on safe canning practices to understand how to can and do it safely.  

If you are not comfortable canning pumpkin puree, you can fill wide mouth pint jars to the freezer line and freeze that way or use any airtight container or bag you wish!

And that’s how I makin my own home-canned pumpkin puree!