Homemade Pumpkin Butter | GF Pumpkin Recipes, Tips, and FAQs (2024)

Why use homemade pumpkin butter to bake pumpkin recipes?

This smooth, spreadable and fragrant fruit butter is ideal for making pumpkin-flavored baked goods that have varying textures. That's an impossible task when baking with straight-up pumpkin puree, which adds so much moisture that it makes everything at least somewhat fluffy.

Baking with pumpkin butter, in recipes designed for it, will also add all the pumpkin flavor that we wish pumpkin actually had. So, make your entire fall season will be more flavorful, richer, and all your gluten free Thanksgiving and other holiday recipes more memorable and beautiful smelling!

How to make and use homemade pumpkin butter

Making pumpkin butter at home as really as easy as combining all the components in a large, heavy-bottom pan, then cooking while stirring until everything has thickened. It will thicken as the moisture from the pumpkin and juice or cider evaporates. Be sure to use a large enough pot, and stir frequently, to minimize the bubbling and spurting that can burn you.

Ingredients in pumpkin butter

• Plain pumpkin puree: The most well-known brand of 100% pure pumpkin puree in the U.S. is probably Libby's. It's a single-ingredient product that, in my experience, is safely gluten free. It typically is light in color, and varies in consistency from more watery to less. Sometimes, I'll buy Farmer's Market or Thrive Market brand organic pumpkin, which is typically darker in color, a bit more fragrant, and less watery. For these purposes, though, either works well since we are cooking most of the moisture out of the pumpkin.
• Pure maple syrup: Grade B maple syrup is generally what you'll find readily available, and it's what I buy. The grades of maple syrup don't necessarily indicate how dark they are, which should be indicated separately, but I find usually is not. Just be sure you're using pure, not imitation, maple syrup.
• Apple cider: Apple cider has a richer, thicker, more complex flavor than apple juice, so it makes a more complex pumpkin butter when cooked down with the other ingredients. But you can use apple juice, or even pineapple juice, here. You'll have to cook the mixture for longer to thicken it, and with pineapple juice, your flavor will be a bit different, but still delicious.
• Pumpkin pie spice: A rich-tasting blend of warm fall spices cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg, heavy on the cinnamon, this is what provides much of the pumpkin aroma we love. You can buy it already-blended, or make your own homemade pumpkin pie spice.
• Salt: Coarse salt enhances and balances the other flavors, and is used instead of table salt since it's easier to avoid overmeasuring. In its place, you can use lightly flaked sea salt.

How to roast a whole pumpkin

I've included instructions for roasting a whole pumpkin and making that into butter, or using canned pumpkin puree in its place. I've done both and they're both delicious in their own special way.

I can usually find these fabulous sugar pumpkins at Trader Joe's for about $2 each, and they're really easy to roast until tender, then scoop the flesh out and puree it.

Make the most of your pumpkin, then, and rinse, dry, sprinkle and toast those pumpkin seeds (instructions below in the recipe). They're ridiculously good for you, and my kids loved them even when they were small and extra picky.

How to use pumpkin butter in baking

Once you make your own pumpkin butter or buy a jar of it, you'll want to find as many ways as possible to use it. Here are some of the best gluten free recipes on the blog that make really good use of all the delicious, flavorful pumpkin butter.

Substitutions for pumpkin butter ingredients

Can you make pumpkin butter without pumpkin puree?

Most pure packed pumpkin is made with another winter squash, not pumpkin. Butternut squash works well, but its baked and pureed flesh will be less orange than had you used a sugar pumpkin.

You will need a starchy winter squash, though, that has flesh that is similar in texture to pumpkin, and ideally something with some flavor—which is why I don't recommend trying acorn squash (not enough flavor) or spaghetti squash (wrong texture). Even kabocha squash should work as a substitute for pumpkin, as it's similar in texture but even a bit sweeter and more fragrant than pumpkin.

How to make pumpkin butter without maple syrup

If you don't have maple syrup, you can try using honey, but honey is much thicker and more viscous. Honey also has a heavier and rather distinctive flavor. If you love honey, go ahead and use less (try 1/3 cup honey instead of 1/2 cup), and a bit more apple cider or juice.

You can also try using granulated coconut palm sugar, and add more cider to compensate for the lack of moisture. You are reducing the moisture by cooking the mixture, but you want to be able to cook the pumpkin puree for long enough to concentrate it without burning it.

How to make pumpkin butter without apple cider or apple juice?

If you can't have apple cider or apple juice, you can try using pineapple juice in its place. Pineapple juice is slightly more acidic than apple juice, but it adds really nice complexity to the pumpkin butter. If you hate the taste of pineapple, though, try white grape juice instead.

FAQs

Is pumpkin gluten free?

Yes, as with all fresh fruits and vegetables, all parts of a fresh pumpkin are gluten free. Canned pumpkin puree is also gluten free as long as there are no additives and no contamination with gluten-containing products during processing.

Can this pumpkin butter be canned?

This recipe is not properly formulated to be canned in a shelf-stable way. In fact, homemade pumpkin butter cannot be canned safely at home since it is not acidic enough.

Where to buy pumpkin butter

If you don't want to go through the trouble of making your own homemade pumpkin butter but you still want to enjoy it alone or in the recipes on this blog, you can buy it in a few different places.

Trader Joe's markets usually sell a jar of lovely pumpkin butter during the fall and holiday seasons. Green Jay Gourmet brand also makes gluten free pumpkin butter. Stonewall Kitchen Maple Pumpkin Butter is also gluten free, and really delicious. Be sure you're not buying pumpkin flavored nut butter; this is a fruit butter, not a nut butter.

How to make pumpkin butter with fresh pumpkin

To make pumpkin butter with fresh pumpkin, start with a raw sugar pumpkin or other small pumpkin. You can also use these general instructions to bake a butternut squash or even a kabocha squash.

Slice it carefully in half, remove the stem and seeds, and place the two hollow halves cut-side-down on a prepared baking sheet. Bake, plain, at 375°F until very tender. Allow the pumpkin to cool before removing the skin from the flesh, and then pureeing the flesh until smooth.

Always roast the pumpkin in the skin, halved, since we only want the flesh to be soft, and not at all browned.

You can then use this fresh pumpkin puree to follow the recipe for pumpkin butter just as it's written, measuring out the proper 56 ounces of puree as if you were using 2 28-ounce cans of puree.

Can you freeze homemade pumpkin butter?

Yes, pumpkin butter can be frozen. I recommend freezing it in 4- or 5-ounce portions, specific to whatever recipe you expect to use it in. You could also freeze it in an ice cube tray, then pop out the frozen cubes and place them in a sealed freezer-safe bag. That way you won't have to defrost all of it just to use some of it. I wouldn't refreeze it after it's been frozen and defrosted.