How to make instant pot pumpkin puree in 30 minutes! No peeling, cutting or preparation required, just simple pumpkin puree in the instant pot or multi cooker. Perfect for pie, bread or soup!
It’s been about 6 months since I’ve had my multi cooker (or instant pot) and I keep figuring out amazing things to do with it all the time!
So far cooking rice, beans and porridge/oatmeal are an almost daily occurrence but since our gigantic pumpkin harvest, cooking a whole pumpkin in the multi cooker is my new favourite thing!
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I love cooking up a whole pumpkin for soup, adding to granola and pumpkin bread. It’s also great for homemade baby food. But cutting and peeling a whole pumpkin can be super awkward…and hard! Enter the instant pot (or multi cooker).
Put the rack in the bottom of the multi cooker, add 1 1/2 cups of water and add the whole pumpkin. Yes! Just like that. The pumpkin cooks evenly the whole way through and the skin even starts falling off.
Set the timer to 30 minutes (or 10 minutes per kilo of pumpkin) and leave it to cook! Once it’s done, the skin will peel right off, you can scoop out the seeds and mash up the pumpkin. Perfect pumpkin puree every time!
Can I cook a whole pumpkin in the slow cooker?
Yes! If you don’t have an instant pot or multi cooker, you can definitely cook it like this in the slow cooker or oven. I would cook it in the slow cooker on high for 5 or 6 hours until the pumpkin is soft and you can pierce it easily with a knife. In the oven, cook it at 180°C for 2-3 hours or until soft.
No more putting your whole body weight behind your sharpest knife to try and hack your way into a huge pumpkin, no more sweating over peeling and cutting into chunks, just simple cooking. That’s what I’m talking about!
How to use the pumpkin puree:
- Pumpkin Spice Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Granola
- Thai Spiced Pumpkin Soup
- As a base for baby food
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Instant Pot Pumpkin Puree
Equipment
- Instant pot/Multi cooker
Ingredients
- 1 x 3kg pumpkin
- 1 1/2 cups water
Instructions
- Wipe the pumpkin clean with a damp cloth and cut the stalk if needed to fit in the instant pot/multi cooker. Add the rack to the bottom of the multi cooker pot and pour in 1 1/2 cups water.
- Place the pumpkin on the rack, close lid, set valve to sealed position and select “pressure cook” setting on high pressure. Set time for 30 minutes and press start. If using a different sized pumpkin, I work on 10 minutes per kilo of pumpkin
- Once cooked, manually release the pressure and allow the pumpkin to cool slightly before removing from the cooker, peeling, deseeding and mashing into puree.
Nutrition
If you tried and loved this recipe, please leave a comment and a rating below!
Hi there,
If doing this in a slow cooker would I still add the water?
Thanks
Hi Jenner, no need to add water if you are using the slow cooker. Laura
Thanks so much for this tip – I’ve just tried it and it worked a treat! This is so handy as I often cut up a whole pumpkin to roast for various meals. This will make life so much easier now, plus save all the wasted pumpkin due to my horrendous cutting. I’ll be using some to make your pumpkin spice bread this afternoon 🙂
Haha I used to waste so much too!! It’s perfect doing it this way, enjoy your pumpkin bread! Laura
Hi Laura! Just read this and love the idea of being able to cook a whole pumpkin in a multi cooker. Was wondering if you had written anything about multi cookers vs slow cooker? I just always use a slow cooker but I see they can do quite a few things and interested to see what your thoughts would be on them. Thanks Narelle
Hi Narelle, I haven’t written anything about that but I LOVE my multi cooker! Here are a couple of thoughts: 1. The multi cooker has a slow cooker function so really it’s a 2 in 1! I use it often as a slow cooker and you can set the delayed start timer and it flicks over to “keep warm” once it’s finished cooking helping you avoid the over cooked slow cooker taste! 2. It makes a lot of meals much faster for instance I can cook lamb shanks in 1 hour, soup in 30 minutes and chicken breasts in 8 minutes just to name a few of my favourites. 3. I use it as a rice cooker ALL the time! It’s also great for porridge (2 minutes) and I love being able to get it all ready and then hit start when I’m ready for it to start cooking. 4. As mentioned about, the delayed start timer and keep warm function are amazing. Those are just a few things I love about it, I am totally converted so if you have any other specific questions, feel free to email me – laura @ thekiwicountrygirl.com 🙂