Pumpkin seeds are edible seeds from pumpkins and other varieties of gourd squash. The seeds are cream colored, flat, and oval with a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. They are roasted, salted, and eaten as a snack in many parts of the world.
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You can scoop seeds out of a carving pumpkin and roast them yourself or buy roasted pumpkin seeds from a grocery or health food store. You may see them labeled "pepitas." Pumpkin seeds and pepitas are basically the same thing except that pepitas have their cream-colored shells (hulls) removed and they come from specific varieties of pumpkin.
Pumpkins are native to Central and South America, and have been used by Native Americans for centuries as food, as well as medicine. Pumpkin seeds are filled with nutrients, such as unsaturated fats like omega-3s and minerals like magnesium.
Because they are so nutritious, pumpkin seeds have a long history of use dating back to the Oaxaca Highlands of Mexico over 7,500 years ago. Across many cultures, they’ve been used as a folk remedy to treat:
Pumpkin seed oil
Pumpkin seed oil is either steam distilled or cold pressed from pumpkin seeds. It's a dark green oil that's a rich source of polyunsaturated fats and antioxidants (substances that fight cell damage), such as polyphenols and carotenoids. You can use it for cooking, baking, as well as in marinades and salad dressings. Or, you can find it as capsules to take as a supplement or serum to put on your skin or hair.
You can buy pumpkin seed oil in different forms from grocery and health food stores.
Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that may reduce your risk of getting chronic diseases, such as cancer.
Some potential health benefits include:
Anti-inflammatory effects
Pumpkin seeds are rich in many antioxidants, which protect your cells from disease-causing damage and reduce inflammation in your body. When they have their hulls, they’re also a great source of dietary fiber, which can boost this effect. Studies show that anti-inflammatory foods can help you prevent chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Anti-cancer properties
Laboratory studies show that pumpkin seeds can stop the growth of breast and prostate cancer cells. They may also kill cancer cells by triggering them to apoptosis, or cancer cell death. Researchers think that the anti-cancer activity of pumpkin seeds may be due to the high antioxidant levels in the seeds. But more research is needed to see how pumpkin seeds work in people to stop cancer cells from growing or to kill cancer cells.
Improved prostate health
Several studies have shown that pumpkin seeds may help ease the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is a condition where your prostate gland is swollen. This can cause it to press against your urethra and irritate your bladder. People with BPH may feel as if they have to pee all the time or they may be unable to completely empty their bladder.
But medicines that treat BPH, such as alpha-blockers and 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5ARIs), can have side effects like sexual function disorders that may not go away even if you stop taking the medicine. One study from included 130 people assigned male at birth (AMAB). This study showed that 500 milligrams of pumpkin seed extract twice a day reduced lower urinary tract symptoms from BPH and improved overall quality of life. Yet, it didn't change the scores on a sexual health satisfaction questionnaire.
Ease the symptoms of overactive bladder
A couple of studies have shown that pumpkin seed oil can improve the symptoms of overactive bladder. Overactive bladder makes you need to pee suddenly and often. Some people may need to get up from bed to pee several times at night. In one study, 45 people with overactive bladder took 10 grams of pumpkin seed oil per day for 12 weeks, and their symptoms improved on a questionnaire. In another study, 117 people who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) took a combination of pumpkin seed oil, sumac bark, and hops extract for 12 weeks. The number of times they needed to pee decreased, both during the day and at night, and their quality of life significantly improved.
Studies show that the antioxidants in pumpkin seeds also increase nitric oxide levels in your body. This molecule works to keep your blood vessels smooth, flexible, and healthy, improving blood flow and reducing the risk of heart and circulation problems.
Better sleep
Snacking on pumpkin seeds before bed may help you get a better night’s rest. Pumpkin seeds are a natural source of tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes sleep. The zinc, copper, and selenium in pumpkin seeds can also affect sleep duration and quality. Finally, studies show that magnesium can help reduce stress and anxiety, contributors to insomnia.
Improved sperm count
A study in mice that had lost the ability to produce sperm due to treatment with a chemotherapy drug showed that pumpkin seeds helped restore their ability to make sperm. The mice ate 200 milligrams of pumpkin seed extract per kilogram of body weight every day for 40 days. Researchers think that the antioxidants in the seeds helped prevent some of the damage from the chemotherapy drug. These results are promising as a way to help people who take chemotherapy keep their fertility. But more research is needed to see if it will work this way in people.
Pumpkin seeds are rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and polyunsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats are the "good" fats that the American Heart Association recommends as a replacement for foods with saturated and trans fats.
Polyunsaturated fats can help lower your bad cholesterol levels, which may help prevent heart disease and strokes. Polyunsaturated fats can also provide essential fats that your body needs but can't make, such as omega-6 and omega-3 fats. One serving of pumpkin seeds has about 2.5 grams of omega-6 and 22 milligrams of omega-3 fat. In addition, the protein in pumpkin seeds is a high-quality protein, like soy protein, that has all your essential amino acids.
One thing to be aware of is that pepitas don't have as much fiber as pumpkin seeds, since the hulls have been removed. Most of the fiber is in the hulls. Hulled seeds have about 1.8 grams of fiber per serving.
Portion sizes
Pumpkin seeds are tasty and easy to overeat. Because they're high in calories, limit your portions to the recommended serving size of 1 oz, which is a little less than a quarter-cup.
One easy way to make your own pumpkin seeds is to scoop the seeds from inside a whole pumpkin. Rinse or soak the seeds to get rid of the stringy orange flesh that surrounds them. You can eat the stringy flesh, too, if you want. But if you don't care for the texture, soaking the seeds for a couple of hours can make your job easier.
You can eat them raw, or, toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil, spread them out on a cookie sheet, and bake in a 300 F oven for 30-40 minutes. Roasting the seeds makes them easier to digest, increases their antioxidant levels, and makes them even more delicious.
You can also find pumpkin seeds with or without their hulls at grocery and health food stores. If you're buying them from the store, check the ingredients because they may have added salt and sugar. Eat pumpkin seeds out of hand as a snack or use them as a nutritious garnish for salad or soup. You can also substitute pumpkin seeds in any recipe where you might use sunflower seeds or pine nuts.
Some ideas for ways to add pumpkin seeds to your diet include:
Pumpkin seeds do have a lot of a chemical called phytic acid, which can bind to mineral nutrients in your digestive system and keep you from absorbing them as well. You can reduce the phytic acid content by soaking or sprouting your seeds before you eat or roast them.
To soak your seeds:
To sprout your seeds:
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Use soaked or sprouted seeds just as you would any pumpkin seeds. Roast or toast them in the oven and then eat them out of hand or add them to your favorite recipes.
Side effects may include:
Allergic reactions. Allergy to pumpkin seeds is very rare. It's only been reported a few times in people from 3 to 70 years old. The reported reactions range from mild to severe. Most have been mild with local symptoms in the mouth or throat. But a few people have reported vomiting, swelling in the face and throat, itching, flushing, wheezing, faintness, and shock. Food allergies usually happen after you've eaten the food a couple of times. Pay attention to how you feel the first few times after you eat a new food.
Potential drug interactions. Pumpkin seeds are high in vitamin K, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, and they also have diuretic effects. Diuretics help move extra fluid and salt out of your body by making you pee more. Because of this, if you're taking blood thinners (such as heparin), blood pressure medicine, or diuretics, ask your doctor before you add pumpkin seeds to your diet.
Pumpkin seeds are edible, nutritious seeds from pumpkins that are roasted, salted, and eaten as a snack in many parts of the world. They're very nutritious, with omega-3 fatty acids and lots of minerals, and they have anti-inflammatory effects that have many potential health benefits. These include anti-cancer properties and things that promote heart health. They may also ease the symptoms of overactive bladder and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and improve sperm count. The best way to eat them is to roast them yourself after soaking or sprouting to remove the phytic acid that may keep you from absorbing the nutrients. Add them to smoothies, salads, soups, or any of your favorite recipes. But because they're calorie dense, take care to limit yourself to a serving per day, which is about ¼ cup.
Anyone who has scooped out a jack-o-lantern around Halloween is familiar with the processing of pumpkin seeds. The flat, white seeds make a halfway decent snack after they’ve been removed from the gooey pulp, sorted, rinsed, dried, oiled, seasoned and baked at high heat. But even after these steps, the seeds can be a bit of tough chew — which has made this yearly tradition strictly seasonal.
But pumpkin seeds tap into several current trends that make them an ingredient not only with year-round appeal, but also one bred specifically for this moment. They offer high protein and omega-3 content for plant-based diets, have an allergy-friendly reputation, and a mild taste that works well with sweet and savory flavors to add a dynamic element to everything from smoothies to snacks. These qualities have also made the seeds in demand: Technavio projects the pumpkin seeds market to grow by $631.1 million from to , with a compound annual growth rate of nearly 13% during this time period.
Recently, growers have cultivated pumpkin varietals that produce hulless seeds, or pepitas, that are easier to chew and digest. In the Finger Lakes region of New York, several family farms have been growing pumpkins first bred in the Styria region of Austria. Greg Woodworth, co-founder of Stony Brook WholeHeartedFoods, a Geneva, New York-based supplier of squash seeds, oils and snacks, said these oilseed pumpkins have a rather distinctive shape and appearance.
“It looks a lot like an orange pumpkin with green mottled stripes and patterning on the outside,” he said. “And then when you cut them open … the seeds inside are green. They're not white, and there's no shell.” The green coating is a type of membrane around the kernel of the seed. Woodworth estimated that the pumpkins, which are bred specifically for their seeds and not their flesh, offer roughly half a pound of seeds in each 5-pound squash.
Stony Brook WholeHeartedFoods sources its seeds from Styrian pumpkins grown by its longtime business partner Martin Farms, Brockport, New York. It sells the seeds raw or as part of its own brined and roasted snack line direct-to-consumer and at local retailers, as well as powdered and cold-pressed into oil. Stony Brook also supplies the bulk bins at Wegmans, and it sells wholesale to small manufacturers such as Rockit Snacks, a provider of flavor-coated pumpkin seed snacks.
While China is the global leader in food pumpkins and pepitas, Stony Brook's pumpkin seeds are domestically grown. This means they also are priced at a premium to Chinese-grown pepitas, but Woodworth said customers seem to appreciate the local sourcing and transparent supply chain of the New York-grown Styrian pumpkin seeds.
Regardless of where they’re grown, pumpkin seeds are small but mighty in terms of nutritional value. According to the USDA’s FoodData Central database, each one-third cup, 33-gram serving of pumpkin seeds contains 10 grams of protein, more than 20 mg of calcium and 2.7 mg of iron. They are also a good source of omega-3s, which can provide vegans and vegetarians a way to add the essential fatty acid to their diet.
Mary Ellen Camire, a professor of food science and human nutrition with the University of Maine’s School of Food & Agriculture, pointed to pumpkin seeds’ fiber and magnesium content as especially notable. They are one of the best natural sources of magnesium, providing 37% of the recommended daily intake for the mineral, and supply 2 grams of fiber per serving, according to the USDA.
“Those are both nutrients that people need, especially if they have got Type 2 diabetes or prediabetes,” Camire said.
Medical studies have also found the high antioxidant content of pumpkin seeds may be effective against certain cancers, including breast and prostate cancers.
In addition, pumpkin seeds contain a small amount of tryptophan — the amino acid also found in turkey that has the potential to help with sleeplessness and anxiety, issues that many consumers are struggling with during the pandemic. In fact, pumpkin seed flour is the natural source of tryptophan in ZenBev, a drink mix that its manufacturer claims aids in sleep.
In its Snacking Solutions report, Cargill called out pumpkin seeds — along with CBD, matcha, turmeric and probiotics — as ingredients that can add a functional edge to the next generation of snacks. And manufacturers have been tossing pepitas in everything from snack mixes to granola to bars to cereals as a way to boost the nutritional profile of products.
In December, Ocean Spray introduced its first fruit and nut snack mix, Craveology. The farmer-owned cooperative picked pumpkin seeds for the visual and textural contrast they provide to its dried cranberries.
“Pumpkin seeds have a mild nutty flavor and provide a nice flavor balance when mixed with tart cranberries, nuts and different seasonings,” a company spokesperson said in an to Food Dive. “Also, the green color of the roasted pumpkin seeds provide a great color contrast to the bold-red color of dried cranberries, and the brown nuts and seasonings.”
The seeds also contribute to the protein content for the Tuscan Herb and Vanilla Chai varieties of the fruit and nut mixes, which contains 3 to 6 grams of plant protein per serving, respectively.
“Compared to almonds and other tree nuts, pumpkin seeds tend to be under-appreciated by consumers in the U.S. but are also just as nutritious,” said Ocean Spray's spokesperson.
Pumpkin seeds’ nutrition, taste and texture also won them a spot in Nature’s Path Grain Free line of hot cereals, which debuted in December. Nature's Path uses pumpkin seeds across its product portfolio, including its Organic Pumpkin Seed + Flax granola, which has been one of its long-time best sellers.
Arjan Stephens, general manager with the Canadian cereal and snack company, calls the seeds “nutritional powerhouses,” and cited their mono- and polyunsaturated fat content, including oleic and linoleic acids, which help lower “bad” cholesterol levels, while raising levels of good cholesterol.
“They have a delicious nutty taste that doesn’t overwhelm other flavors, but rather brings an additional depth to any product or flavor profile that they’re added to,” Stephens said in an . “Lightly toasting them only further enhances this, so their versatility in product development is just one more reason to love this superstar ingredient.”
That versatility and neutral taste opens up a range of flavor combinations for pumpkin seeds, taking them well beyond the traditional “pumpkin spice” realm.
Gr8nola, a California-based manufacturer of clean-label granolas, uses pumpkin and sunflower seeds in its Golden Spice variety. Founder and CEO Erica Liu Williams said the pumpkin seeds pair well with the warm, savory flavor combination of turmeric, black pepper, chili powder and cinnamon, for an overall taste profile that is more spiced than autumnal. “It doesn’t taste like fall at all,” said Liu Williams.
“When I think about pumpkin seeds, to me, it's no different than thinking about the inclusions of sunflower seeds or almonds or even like a nut. It's just like a nice extra texture and inclusion that adds ... like a dynamic bite,” Liu Williams said.
She also highlighted pumpkin seeds’ functional capabilities.
“They're an awesome inclusion because obviously there's less allergies to pumpkin seeds than there would be any kind of nut, and then [they are] a great source of plant-based protein and magnesium,” said Liu Williams.
Go Raw started with pumpkin seeds as it began building its product portfolio of healthy snacks in . In particular, the company uses sprouted pumpkin seeds. The seeds are soaked to make them sprout, and then dehydrated instead of roasted. CEO Tim Prager said this process helps break down phytic acid in the pumpkin seeds — a natural, protective plant compound — which helps “unlock” their nutrients and, according to some medical studies, makes them easier to digest.
In terms of nutrition, Prager noted that Go Raw’s pumpkin seed snacks “deliver on protein” with about 9 grams per serving, making them a much healthier alternative compared to potato chips, which offer less than 3 grams.
“Even though we’re in a pandemic, consumers are looking to … take care of some needs, have items that maybe they shouldn't have, because they want to make themselves feel good,” he said. “They also know that they've got to eat better. And we're finding consumers are buying pumpkin seeds to satisfy those needs and eat better.”
In May, Go Raw plans to launch a coconut clusters snack featuring three sprouted seed varieties: pumpkin, sunflower and watermelon.
Woodworth with Stony Brook WholeHeartedFoods sees other emerging applications for pumpkin seeds, especially ones that leverage their high protein content. This includes butters and powders, which can be used in baking applications, such as paleo-diet-friendly breads and crackers. Pumpkin seed powder can add a protein boost to shakes, smoothies and beverages. Pumpkin seed oil has application in dressings, snacks and nutraceuticals.
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