How to cook a small whole pumpkin in the instant pot. This instant pot pumpkin recipe is easy to follow, is delicious and perfect for using up those small pumpkins.
You will love how easy it is to cook pumpkin in the instant pot, and then serve it with dinner tonight for a light veggie dish.
This is an updated post. We originally shared with you all about instant pot pumpkin for Halloween 2019. Today we have a better recipe with better tips and better photos and have upgraded our instant pot.
Instant Pot Whole Pumpkin
At Halloween nobody ever wants the small whole pumpkins, do they?
They get left in the supermarket, left in the field, as everyone wants to find the biggest pumpkin that they can take home and carve.
But those little whole pumpkins are cheap as chips because they are unwanted and will last quite a while in a cool pantry for you to enjoy at a later date.
Even better, those little pumpkins are fantastic for cooking whole in the instant pot. Just like you do with instant pot butternut squash.
You can then slice them up, remove the pumpkin seeds and tuck in.
It’s a delicious and simple way to enjoy pumpkin and even better, they make a fantastic vegetable for dinner and just load them up with instant pot sloppy joes filling for the perfect instant pot dinner.
Are You New To The Instant Pot?
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Can You Cook Pumpkin In The Instant Pot?
Yes, you can cook pumpkin in the instant pot, and you will love it.
Pumpkin is fantastic in the instant pot and pressure cooking, cooks the pumpkin much quicker than other methods and still keeps the flavour.
You can make instant pot pumpkin puree for our air fryer pumpkin pie, you can cut pumpkin into cubes and steam it, you can make pumpkin soup, or even use some pumpkin in a stew.
What Is Pumpkin In A Pressure Cooker Like?
Very flavoursome. What the instant pot does is steam your vegetables. This means that your veggies retain their flavour and don’t go bland like they do when you boil veggies on the stovetop.
Even better, you can just season your pressure cooker pumpkin with salt and pepper, and something seasonal like cinnamon and then its ready for eating.
The Instant Pot For Pumpkin
People often ask me why we have the 8 qt instant pot and not JUST the 6qt with us being a family of four and feeding 2 young kids every day.
Well, we have this 8qt instant pot because it will hold a whole pumpkin and pressure cook it to perfection, without having to force down the lid.
We also have it for other large items that wont fit in our 6qt instant pot, such as when we want to cook a large whole chicken or an instant pot turkey crown.
If you too, want to do a large whole chicken, or pumpkin at Halloween then note the instant pot size.
My Obsession With Instant Pot Veggies
This pumpkin instant pot recipe is not my first instant pot veggie and I doubt it will be my last.
The first thing we ever cooked in our instant pot, was instant pot broccoli and since then we have cooked more and more different veggies.
Such as instant pot cabbage, instant pot cauliflower, instant pot carrots, instant pot green beans, instant pot rutabaga, instant pot asparagus and instant pot brussel sprouts.
We also love our frozen veggies in the instant pot and our favourite is instant pot frozen broccoli, followed by instant pot frozen veggies mix and instant pot frozen corn on the cob.
The reason I am mentioning all these delicious veggies, is that you can learn one in the instant pot and then rinse and repeat and it’s a great skill to learn in the instant pot, especially if you are new to pressure cooking.
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Pumpkin Instant Pot Ingredients
Pumpkin – You will want any small whole pumpkin that you know will fit in the instant pot.
Seasoning – Then once the pumpkin is cooked, you will want your favourite seasoning to add to it before serving. If its Halloween time I love to add, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and some nutmeg.
Then for the kitchen gadgets that we have used in this pumpkin instant pot recipe it has just been our Instant Pot. We have this one and it’s my favourite and great for a lot of different instant pot veggie recipes.
Plus, we recommend you head over to our instant pot recipes category as we have many electric pressure cooker recipes and have been using instant pots for 5 years.
How To Cook Pumpkin In Instant Pot?
- Water. Place a cup of water (240ml) in the bottom of your instant pot and then sit your whole pumpkin in the instant pot on the trivet.
- Cook. Place the lid on the instant pot, set the valve to sealing and pressure cook your whole pumpkin for 17 minutes, followed by a quick pressure release.
- Finish. Remove the pumpkin and slice it in half lengthways and remove the seeds. Then season to your liking and then serve.
And I am sure you can see now how simple and easy it is to cook pumpkin in instant pot and why you should be doing the same.
How Long To Cook Pumpkin In Instant Pot?
I love the fact that cooking pumpkin in instant pot takes JUST 17 minutes. This is similar to the cook time of a whole butternut squash and its perfect for serving at mealtimes for a low carb alternative and for someone like me that loves the paleo diet.
What you can do is serve this with Bolognese (or something similar) in the seeds gap and it makes a fantastic fun dinner.
Listen To Instant Pot Pumpkin
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Can You Freeze Instant Pot Pumpkin?
If you are on Slimming World then spicy rice is ideal. There is only a small quantity of extra virgin olive oil in both the marinade and the spicy rice.
And beyond this, everything else is Syn Free.
More Pumpkin Recipes For Halloween
- Air Fryer Pumpkin Muffins
- Air Fryer Pumpkin
- Soup Maker Pumpkin Soup
- Thermomix Pumpkin Soup
- Instant Pot Pumpkin Pie Filling
Your pumpkin in the instant pot recipe is below, note you can print it out with or without photos, adjust servings, or click between metric and imperial depending on where you are in the world.
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Instant Pot Pumpkin
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets
Instructions
- Place 1 cup (240ml) of water into the bottom of your instant pot pressure cooker. Then add in your trivet and place your whole pumpkin on the trivet.
- Set the valve to sealing and cook for 17 minutes, followed by a quick pressure release, then remove the lid.
- Use the handles of the trivet to remove the pumpkin from the pressure cooker.
- Put the whole pumpkin on a chopping board and slice it lengthways.
- Remove the seeds with a spoon and then season.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Can’t make it now? Then save it for later!
Perfect i love pumpkin mash, better for you than potato as not as many carbs and mine came out just like yours did. Thanks.