23 Ways to Use Up Leftover Pumpkin Purée

Written by Cheri of Kitchen Simplicity.

Last year Lynn gave a wonderful tutorial on how to make your own pumpkin purée. Whether you make your own or use a can, it seems you’re almost guaranteed to always have just a little bit left over. And, nobody likes to waste any precious pumpkin purée.

Today’s post is all about ways to use up that little bit of extra pumpkin so you can squeeze every last drop out of pumpkin season.

If you’re anything like me you like to find as many recipes as possible to help use up that last half a cup (or less) of pumpkin purée. I wanted to compile a list of recipes and ideas for doing just that and I thought I would share it with you. Make sure to tuck these ideas away for reference later. If you save them for that little extra, you’ll have something to look forward to and no reason to get bored of eating pumpkin the same way over and over.

Sometimes it makes sense to simply freeze the leftovers (especially when using canned purée) but if you already thawed your own pumpkin purée, you probably don’t want to stick it back in the freezer.

Here are a couple of ideas (and some recipes too) that use half a cup or less of pumpkin purée.

Stir it Into Your Favorite Beverage

It seems that this time of year, recipes for Pumpkin Spice Latte’s abound. But don’t limit it to just latte’s. Stir some purée into your favorite hot chocolate recipe, make a milkshake or smoothie, add it to some hot apple cider or even a cup of spiced tea. Just don’t forget to add some Pumpkin Spice!

Recipes:

Use it in Sweets and Baking

Not all sweets use a large amount of pumpkin. If you find a recipe that interests you, and uses a small amount of pumpkin, make note of it so you can reference it later.

Make sure to include it in some of your tried and true favorites as well. Stir some into rice pudding, frozen yogurt or ice cream, vanilla pudding or substitute it for some banana in banana bread.

Recipes:


Photo by the craving chronicles

Serve it Up for Breakfast

Mix it with cream cheese and spread it on a bagel, stir it into oatmeal or your favorite pancake recipe. Breakfast is the perfect vessel for including small amounts of pumpkin. Try mixing some into yogurt and layer it with granola to make a parfait or turn it into a spread and eat it with toast.

Recipes:

Use it for Dinner

Pumpkin isn’t only for sweets, it has it’s place on the dinner table too. Stir some into risotto or a creamy pasta sauce. Add it to soup to give it some body and warmth or use it as a substitute for squash to switch up an old favorite.

Don’t forget about mashed potatoes! Give them a well-buttered look by adding a few tablespoons of pumpkin purée in while mashing. Delicious!

Recipes

With a little bit of creativity no pumpkin need go to waste. Have fun experimenting and if something doesn’t turn out, don’t sweat it. That’s all part of the fun of experimenting in the kitchen.

What do you do with the little bit of pumpkin leftover?

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47 Comments

  1. This is a great collection of pumpkin recipes. I really want to try the Pumpkin Spice Latte & the Super Mac & Cheese recipes.

  2. What a great idea to assemble all of the ways to use up extra pumpkin. Seems I always have some left that I don’t know what to do with. Thanks for linking to my maple pumpkin pie breakfast parfait. I’m anxious to try many of these other recipes. I love all things pumpkin. 🙂

  3. Baked oatmeal — that’s our favorite – takes 3/4 C pumpkin puree (or sweet potato puree): http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/sweet-potato-baked-oatmeal.html.

    We also enjoy:
    Pumpkin Muffins (1/2 C) –
    http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/11/pumpkin-muffins.html

    Pumpkin Spice Granola (1/2 C) –
    http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-spice-granola.html

    Pumpkin Spice Bagels (1/2 C) –
    http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-spice-bagels.html

  4. I love my version of Starbucks Cream Cheese Muffins. But I’ve also made the super mac-n-cheese (so good), enchiladas w/ pumpkin sauce & pumpkin breads!

  5. Feed the pets! Pretty much all dogs, and at least some cats, love any mashed winter squash.
    In addition to nutrients, it’s full of fiber, so it keeps things moving along, useful for some critters.

  6. My favorite is probably pancakes. Just mix about 1/3 cup of pumpkin into any pancake recipe.

    Sourdough pumpkin pancakes –
    http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/11/sourdough-pumpkin-pancakes.html

    Curried Pumpkin and lentil soup-
    http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2011/10/curried-pumpkin-and-lentil-soup.html

    Pumpkin pound cake-
    http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2011/09/pumpkin-pound-cake.html

    Pumpkin chunkies- my boys love these especially!
    http://neo-homesteading.blogspot.com/2010/11/harvest-nugget-cookies-pumpkin-chunkies.html

    1. I tried pulling up the recipes you posted and it says closed..available by invite only. 🙁 was really curious as to what pumpkin chunkies were LOL…..

  7. These all sound yummy! Most could also be used with butternut squash puree we usually have a ton of it from our garden so we use it in everything. I have found that the two are pretty interchangeable just a bit of a different taste.

  8. i just made pumpkin mac & cheese & i always have pumpkin frozen in ice cube trays to pop out and blend with greek yogurt for pumpkin pie “ice cream.” i also loooove pumpkin “souffles” in the microwave or foodsofapril’s whole meal pumpkin pie!

  9. Thank you for all of these recipes to use up the last of my pumpkin purée; they’ll come in handy! And thanks for including one of my own as well!

  10. My kids are fond of using pumpkins as decors for Halloween. I have been searching other uses for its leftovers aside from pies. I am really grateful for your suggestions and tips. I am excited to give them a try especially adding them to a latte.

  11. Also can be used as baby food! All of my kids liked to eat pumpkin straight out of the can/jar. Those little leftover bits are perfect for this.

  12. thank you! I’ve got a cup in my fridge leftover from Pumpkin Waffles. There are so many new ideas here. Yum.

  13. For this holiday season I’m using my leftover pumpkin puree to make pumpkin spice french toast! yum…..! Just dip the bread in the puree and eggs and spices and fry like normal.

  14. Thank you for this great compilation! I’ve already used 2 of these recipes last night and that was with the limited ingredients I had in the house! It was so easy to just click through these and find recipes that I could make without a trip to the store.

  15. You can also used it as a face mask. Add whipping cream and honey. Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A, which is healing to the skin and is essential to maintain and repair skin tissue. It also helps reduce lines and wrinkles. Honey is a humectant. The cream moisturizes and helps soothe flaky skin.

  16. I faced the pumpkin gut dilemma yesterday! Roasted the seeds, then made soup, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin smoothies! Check it out: