Homemade Pumpkin Butter

How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Butter using Fresh OR Canned pumpkin. It’s such an easy fall recipe, only 20 minutes to make. Perfect to spread on toast!

I very distinctly remember my first encounter with pumpkin butter. It was back during my college years when I was strolling the aisles of the grocery store…a hobby of mine, that still holds true today (I’m such a food nerd). A line of jars labeled ‘pumpkin butter’ caught my eye, as did the jars of apple butter next to it. I was very curious about what on earth this stuff was, as I realized that there wasn’t actually any butter in it. I put both jars into my cart and went home.

I took a spoonful out of each jar and was instantly obsessed. What was this magical stuff I had never known for the first 20 years of my life?!

Purchasing small $5 jars of pumpkin butter and apple butter quickly had me searching on the internet to see if I could make it myself instead, and I was delighted to see how easy it is. Plus, making it at home gives you the bonus of the wonderful smells it fills your house with. Warm spices…maple syrup…pumpkin…all my favorite things!

Pumpkin butter can be made with either canned or fresh pumpkin, whichever you prefer.

And if you’ve never read my Fresh vs. Canned Pumpkin post, you totally should. I did a blind taste test of both, making two identical pies with each kind, then compared the results.

Anyway, for the pumpkin butter you’ll need pumpkin puree, brown sugar, maple syrup, some spices, and a flat top spatula:

Put everything into a heavy bottomed saucepan:

Give it a stir, and it will look bright orange, like this:

Cook the pumpkin puree for 20 minutes over medium low heat, stirring often, until the mixture gets dark, caramelized, thick, and shiny, like this:

The pumpkin butter is now ready to use! Spread it on toast, biscuits, etc, stir into yogurt, oatmeal, etc, or can and give it to friends. The recipe is below, and I also made a video tutorial on how to make homemade pumpkin butter:

Enjoy!

Homemade Pumpkin Butter

Yield: about 2 cups

Prep Time:5 minutes

Cook Time:20 minutes

Total Time:25 minutes

For this easy fall recipe you can use canned or fresh pumpkin. Spread the pumpkin butter on toast, stir into oatmeal, yogurt, and so on!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh (about one 15oz can)
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp ground ginger
• ⅛ tsp ground cloves
• ⅛ tsp ground allspice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over medium low heat for 20 minutes, stirring often, until the pumpkin has become caramelized and dark brown, with a thick and shiny consistency. As long as you stir every couple minutes and use a heavy-bottomed pan, it shouldn’t burn. Pumpkin butter can be stored in the fridge for at least one week.

All images and text ©Fifteen Spatulas.