17 Savory Pumpkin Recipes to Spice Up the Season (2024)

FAQs

What savory spices go with pumpkin? ›

Pumpkin is notorious for pairing well with warm winter spices – as found in a variety of Moroccan-inspired cuisines. Try incorporating cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cumin and chilli with your pumpkin dishes for flavour-packed feasts.

Ruth Reichl's Tip: Roast Your Pumpkin Purée

Not only does roasting deepen the flavor of the pumpkin, but it bakes off some of the moisture in the purée, ensuring a more custard-like pie with less risk of a soggy crust.

Raw pumpkin is mostly water — up to 90%! — so it really doesn't have much flavor. In fact, the flavor that we usually think of as “pumpkin” is actually pumpkin pie spice, a blend of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

To complement pumpkin with sweet flavor pairings, consider using spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and vanilla, or sweet ingredients like chocolate, maple, honey, cranberries or brown sugar. Create savory dishes by pairing pumpkin with spices like chilies, cajun, cayenne or pepper.

Herbes de Provence.

Savory is a main herb alongside marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Add it prior to or during cooking. Herbes de Provence are often sprinkled over meats and fishes before grilling or roasting, or added to oils to create a cooking base full of flavor.

Now if your pie tends to come out bland, you may not be letting your spices hit their full potential. Joy Wilson of Joy the Baker suggests, "To get the most festive flavor out of the spices in your pumpkin pie, bloom the spices with the pumpkin puree in a small saucepan before incorporating into the filling.

If the recipe doesn't use enough spice, or if the spices were old enough to have lost much of their flavour, or if the mixture isn't well balanced, then the pie is not going to taste right and could be quite bland.

Pumpkin Spice vs Pumpkin Pie Spice

Pumpkin pie spice is the same as pumpkin spice, just under different labeling. These two are interchangeable and feature the same base ingredients. The ratio of the ingredients may vary slightly from brand to brand.

What does cinnamon do for pumpkins? ›

Covering the inside of your pumpkin with cinnamon can help inhibit mold growth. The ingredients that make the spice flammable, cinnamaldehyde and eugenol, also have antifungal and antibacterial properties that prevent mold and bacteria growth. Cinnamon is also a great pest repellent, as bugs can't stand the scent.

Pumpkin pie spice, also known as pumpkin spice, is an American spice mix commonly used as a flavoring for pumpkin pie, but does not include pumpkin as an ingredient. Pumpkin pie spice is similar to the British and Commonwealth mixed spice.

The best type of pumpkin for cooking and baking

Instead, I recommend using a pie pumpkin or sugar pumpkin (pictured above). During the fall and winter seasons, most stores will have them available. Try to pick pumpkins between 3-6 pounds — that's usually when the flesh is best.

Every year around early September is the unofficial start of “pumpkin season.” You know, the time when brands trot out pumpkin-flavored everything, from desserts to hummus to yogurt to coffee to, I kid you not – pumpkin scented trash bags.

There are two main varieties of savory: summer and winter. We sell summer savory grown in Nova Scotia, which is similar in flavour to winter but is more subtle and delicate. Savory is pungent and peppery, which makes it perfect for long-cooked dishes. It is frequently paired with beans, especially in German cooking.

Since cinnamon is known for its place in baked goods, it's not surprising that cinnamon pairs excellently with other warming spices like cardamom, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.

For 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, substitute: ¾ teaspoon cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon ginger, allspice, cloves, or nutmeg (whatever you have!) ½ teaspoon cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon each of any of the two above.