Each year during the Halloween season, I repost Noel’s World Famous Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe as a Public Service. You are welcome. It’s truly the least I can do.
I am a bit of a Pumpkin Seed Purist. I don’t like anything to get in the way of their lovely taste. My recipe, therefore, is incredibly simple.
Step 1) Take the seeds out of the pumpkin. This is a very important step. You can fit more seeds in the oven that way.
Step 2) Kinda rinse the seeds. Not too much, because you want to leave traces of pumpkin gunk on the seeds. I find throwing them into one of those colander deals works pretty well. Then, run water through there a bit and you are good.
Step 3) Do not soak them in saltwater like the pagans do.
Step 4) Spread your seeds all over a baking sheet (or 2 or 3, depending on the number of seeds). It helps to keep them in a pretty thin layer.
Step 5) Oh crap, you forgot to preheat the oven. Now you have to wait. Preheat it to 250 degrees or so. [UPDATE 2010: This year I cooked them in a convection oven at 325 degrees and it cut the cooking time in half.]
Step 6) Put the pan in the oven. Once it’s in the oven, remember you have to salt them lightly. So pull the pan back out partially, and salt the seeds. If you aren’t careful you’ll burn your hand on the top of the oven. That’ll teach you to not salt them earlier. [UPDATE 2013: This year, I used Cajun seasoning on one panful. (My favorite seasoning is Slap Ya Mama.) It was OK…I still like the plain salt the best.] [UPDATE 2019: We’ve been using Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning the last couple of years and it’s pretty good.]
Step 7) Cook the seeds for a couple of hours, stirring the seeds every 20 minutes or so. When you stir them, some of the seeds will jump out of the pan into the bottom of the oven, where they will burn. The smell in your house will remind you of the seeds for a couple of days. Salt them periodically as you stir them.
Step 8) Keep tasting and stirring until they are nice and crunchy, not chewy at all.
Step 9) Ta-da! They are all done! Put them in a ziplock bag and keep the air out, they will last for quite a long time that way.
Step 10) Take some to your office so your kids won’t eat them all.