Left with a mountain of pumpkin seeds after pumpkin carving? Don’t throw them out! Clean ‘em, season ‘em and roast ‘em. Voilà! You have a new tasty fall snack!

For this recipe, I deshelled ALL the pumpkin seeds to get to the softer green kernel inside. Now this is definitely not necessary as the whole seed is edible and the recipe will even still work the same. But on this particular day, I decided to punish myself and chose to sit for 4 hours peeling away the white husks. In the moment it was long and torturous but now that it’s done, I feel like it may have been worth it. 

The tender kernels are much easier to incorporate into salads, which I do a lot, not to mention easier to snack on. I can really taste the nutty flavor of the pumpkin seeds and the beautiful smokiness of the paprika. There’s no distraction from the hard shell, just the pumpkin seeds' delicious flavor. In all likelihood, I would probably put in the extra effort again. After all, I only make these seasoned seeds once or twice a year.

Paprika Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 cup Raw Pumpkin Seeds (shelled or unshelled)

1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Combine all ingredients into a bowl. Mix until all the pumpkin seeds are coated in oil and spices.

Spread your seasoned seeds out in a single layer on a baking sheet. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes, the pumpkin seeds should be lightly roasted with a nutty aroma. 

Cool completely before storing in a glass jar.