While smaller 2kg pumpkins are extremely affordable right now (69p at Aldi, Β£1 at Tesco and the Coop), I thought I'd share with you my easy no-messin' hack on how to cook one with no effort!
Of course, if you don't have a slow cooker, you can roast one like I did a couple of years ago for this Syn Free delicious creamy pumpkin soup but you'll need to be very careful with a sharp knife.
However, with a slow cooker, there's only two things you need: a slow cooker and a pumpkin. That's it! You don't even need any elbow grease!
For this, I used a smaller 2kg pumpkin. But my slow cooker is probably one of the biggest ones available, so when you go shopping for one, you might want to take a tape measure with you, or eyeball it.
My pumpkin was 17cm tall pumpkin and 20cm diameter. So for the best results, make sure you know your slow cooker's internal dimensions.
The last thing you'll want to resort to is trimming off the bottom where it gets in contact with the heat, otherwise that bit will be tough and unusable. Slow cooking a pumpkin is best with the skin left on to retain the juices and slowly seep out when its ready.
So once you've slow cooked your whole pumpkin, just leave it to cool and cut in half with no effort!
You'll also find the guts are far easier to scoop out too. They're great as a nutritious snack if you roast them (although not free on Slimming World) and the rest of the flesh is seriously like knife through butter.
Yes, it's a much longer cooking method than roasting, but after just popping it in your slow cooker, you can get on with the rest of your day without keeping an eye on the oven.
If you haven't eaten pumpkin before, I personally think it tastes very similar to a butternut squash.
As for recipes, well, you can turn it into soups, a base for a pasta sauce, mash or a puree for perhaps say a crustless pumpkin pie!
(I'll be reporting back very soon with a new recipe using this method).
CAN'T MAKE IT NOW? THEN HERE'S A PIN TO SAVE FOR LATER!
π Recipe
How to Cook a Whole Pumpkin in the Slow Cooker
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 kg pumpkin Note these are usually Β£1 in supermarkets
- Seasoning if you wish
Instructions
- Place a small enough pumpkin to fit your slow cooker and set on low for 6-7 hours. Note I haven't added any water here. (My slow cooker is roughly 6.5 litres)
- Once cooked, leave to cool and slice in half.
- Scoop out the guts and discard if not using as a roasted snack. Then scoop out all the good flesh to keep. Throw any of the skin behind. It's that simple!
Disclaimer
*This is an unofficial page and has no affiliation or endorsement from Slimming World. Slimming Worldβs website can be found at https://www.slimmingworld.co.uk/. Any syn values are personal estimates and not verified by Slimming World.
Donna
OMG Thatβs so clever! We made a pumpkin pie last week, but Iβve never done anything else with one. #SlowCookedChallenge
vikkie
Thanks Donna π I'm yet to make pumpkin pie. Hopefully this week but so glad this worked out easily for the puree π
Sharon
Love this idea. I'm cooking that pumpkin now! It was only 1.7 kilos, but close enough! My old 3.3 quart round slow cooker is taller than the newer oval ones and it fit just fine! I've read some recipes for pumpkin puree that puts the cooked pumpkin flesh in a blender and adds a little water and salt. This makes it comparable to the canned used in most recipes for baking.
Lucy
Love this idea for cooking a pumpkin Vikkie! So easy to do and then use in recipes. If you ever do linkies, this would be great for the slow cooked challenge, just sayinβ π
Lucy
Thanks so much for linking up Vikkie!
vikkie
I think this'll be fun π Love my slow cooker π