How to Cook Pumpkin in Instant Pot

This post may contain affiliate links which means that I may earn a small commission at no extra charge to you if you purchase something from one of my links. For more information please see our affiliate disclosure.

Have you ever wanted to use homemade pumpkin puree but it just sounded difficult to cook? I totally get it! I remember the first time I tried to cook a pumpkin it was a very lengthy process of trying to cut it open and cutting the stem. I also was trying to remove the seeds and oh it was so frustrating that I had given up on it for years. Seriously, I did. I knew there had to be a better way and there was! Learn how to easily cook a pumpkin in the Instant Pot.

Wait, did I say easily? Yes I did! Even me, the one who made it like a complicated surgery to cook it now loves making homemade pumpkin puree. In my defense, my pumpkin surgery days were before the Internet days. Yes, those days did really exist haha!

I read a post of somebody cooking it in the slow cooker and then removing the seeds – imagine that, I really didn’t have to remove the seeds first! So then I thought there just had to be an easy way to do it in the Instant Pot and well, there is. It doesn’t get any easier either!

Do you see that? I sliced through that just like if I was slicing through butter. I was so happy the first time I made it this way!

Cooking the Pumpkin in the Instant Pot

Here we go! First thing you want to do is pick out a pie pumpkin that will fit in the inner pot. This depends on the size of the Instant Pot you have. Most pie pumpkins should fit if you have a 6 quart or bigger.

I wash the outside of the pumpkin with a little vinegar and rinse it off. I don’t know where my pumpkin has been so I want to get the germs off. You don’t have to, but I like to use the trivet provided with the Instant Pot if your pumpkin will fit on it. I have done them both ways as some pumpkins are too big to fit on it.

Sometimes I have to cut the stems a little bit to get it to fit in there better. But that is the only fuss, I promise!

Set the pumpkin on the trivet and pour in the water. Place the lid on and make sure the vent is set to seal. Hit the pressure cook/manual button and set the time to 12 minutes. Allow to do a natural release which also took about 12 minutes for us. Once the pin drops, remove lid and let it sit for just a couple minutes to allow the steam to dissipate. Careful remove the pumpkin. This is where the trivet comes in handy since the pumpkin will be soft and easy to cut open.

See how easy the skin is coming off? I scoop the seeds out carefully first and then peel the skin off. You can put your pumpkin puree into a food processor to smooth it even more, but I find it to be pretty smooth for us as it is. Refrigerate anything you don’t use right away and use it all within a week unless you are freezing it.

Things we use the pumpkin puree in:

• Pumpkin whipped cream
• Layered pumpkin cheese cake
• No bake pumpkin cheesecake
• Pumpkin pasta sauce