How To Cook A Whole Pumpkin In An Instant Pot

Ingredients and Tools

With this easy method you need only:

• A Whole Pumpkin: a pie or sugar pumpkin is recommended. These pumpkin are about 2-3 pounds and you'll find them in the vegetable section of the grocery store, at local pumpkin patches and farmers markets in September or October. Long Island Cheese and New England Pie are also fantastic.
• Instant Pot: this works best in a 6 to 10 quart Instant Pot.
• Steamer basket: a trivet with handles also works. While I highly recommend using one of these to easily lift the pumpkin out of the Instant Pot, you can also cook it directly in the inner pot.

How Long Does A Whole Pumpkin Take To Cook In An Instant Pot?

A whole pumpkin will take approximately 8 minutes per pound to pressure cook with a quick pressure release. I had a 2.5 pound pie pumpkin and pressure cooked it for 20 minutes, with a quick controlled release at the end. The result was a soft and tender pumpkin with skin that was beginning to peel off.

Can I Use A Jack O' Lantern Style Pumpkin?

Field pumpkins, the "regular" pumpkins that are found in pumpkin patches and used for carving and decorating, are not ideal for cooking. Not only are they likely to be too large for your Instant Pot, they have watery, stringy flesh. These pumpkins are not recommended for eating.

How Much Cooked Pumpkin Does This Recipe Make?

You'll get approximately 1 cup of cooked pumpkin per pound of pie pumpkin. So for a 2.5 lb pumpkin, this recipe created 2.5 cups of cooked pumpkin.

Does Timing Change If I Cut My Pumpkin Into Pieces?

If you slice the pumpkin into halves, quarters or cubes, the timing will change slightly. You don't need to cook it based on weight.

Halved/Quartered: 15 minutes total

Cubes/Chunks: 5-7 minutes total

Place the pumpkin pieces into the Instant Pot with the water and pressure cook for the time above.

Ways To Use Cooked Pumpkin

There are many ways to use a whole pumpkin

• Add to pastas and rice dishes, like Instant Pot pumpkin pasta and Instant Pot pumpkin risotto to give them a thicker, creamier texture.
• Make pumpkin soup or a hearty pumpkin chili.
• Instant Pot pumpkin cheesecake or oven baked pumpkin cheesecake.
• Mash it like you would sweet potatoes and serve it with cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar. Mashed pumpkin is so sweet that it's even delicious served plain or with just a little salt and pepper.
• Make bread: chocolate pumpkin bread, Instant Pot pumpkin bread, and bread machine pumpkin cranberry bread.
• Muffins! Pumpkin cream cheese muffins and pumpkin spice muffins are delicious with fresh pumpkin.
• Make pumpkin cornbread for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Chewy pumpkin cookies
• Creamy pumpkin pudding
• Use as a substitution in recipes that call for sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

Instructions

1. Wash your pumpkin, scrubbing away any dirt. Add water to the inner pot and place the trivet or steamer basket inside. Put the washed pumpkin on the trivet or in the basket. The stem easily comes off once the pumpkin is cooked, so don't worry about removing it beforehand. If it's too tall for the lid to close, tilt the pumpkin on it's side or cut the stem off. *For the pot to come to pressure correctly, use the amount of water according to the manual for your size. A 6 quart needs 1 cup of water, an 8 quart needs 1.5 cups water and a 10 quart needs 2 cups water.
2. Close the lid, seal, and set to pressure cook on high for 8 minutes per pound (20 minutes for a standard 2.5 pound pie pumpkin). When done cooking, complete a controlled quick release by lightly pressing on the pressure releasing valve to prevent hot water from spraying out (rather than pressing all the way down on the valve to release the pressure at full force). *Because the pumpkin will be soft after pressure cooking, a steamer basket makes removal from the inner pot the easiest. If very soft it could slide off a trivet, so be very careful!
3. Transfer the pumpkin to a chopping board and let cool.
4. Cut the pumpkin in half. Using a spoon, scoop out the fibers and seeds. Discard stringy fibers and reserve the seeds for later use if desired.
5. Peel the skin off using your hands or tongs. Use a knife to cut away any skin that is hard to peel off with your fingers. Discard or reserve for later use. Cut into cubes, mash, or puree. For more ideas on how to use your pressure cooked pumpkin, see the section below.

How To Store

If not serving immediately, store in the fridge for up to 7 days in an airtight container or freeze in plastic freezer bags for up to 6 months.