Air fryer pumpkin seeds (Easy & delicious!)

Salty, crunchy roasted pumpkin seeds are ridiculously good.

And while they can be roasted in the oven, what’s even better is cooking them in the air fryer.

Air fryer pumpkin seeds cook in less time. And they get perfectly crunchy on the outside for even better snacking.

Perfect for Halloween jack-o-lantern carving, or anytime that you’re cooking everyone’s favorite orange squash.

They’re ready to eat in just 30 minutes.

(Plus, it’s not just for pumpkins! You can roast the seeds of any winter squash in the air fryer with terrific success.)

In this post:

Pumpkin seeds: Pull these out of a carving pumpkin or sugar pumpkin.

Water + Salt: Boiling pumpkin seeds in salted water helps to infuse them with flavor & improve texture.

Avocado oil: Avocado oil works well with high heat. Or you can use your preferred neutral-flavored oil.

Seasoning salt: I like to use Cajun seasoning salt for a kick of heat.

But feel free to use the seasoning salt of your choice. Even just plain salt works!

Here’s how to make this recipe at a glance. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.

Remove seeds from a pumpkin.

Pull away as much pumpkin flesh and pulp from the seeds as possible.

Put seeds in a bowl of water. Swish them around, and discard any pulp that rises to the top.

Drain & rinse seeds in a fine mesh sieve to further clean the pumpkin seeds.

Transfer pumpkin seeds to a small pot. Cover with water & add a generous pinch of salt.

Gently boil for about 10 minutes.

Drain.

Put the drained pumpkin seeds into the air fryer basket.

(Some people dry the seeds first, but I don’t find it to be necessary. Hot air blowing in the air fryer will dry them plenty well. It’s the same reason I don’t dry air fried chickpeas.)

Tip the basket so that all of the seeds fall to one side. Drizzle with oil. Sprinkle with seasoning salt. Then shake the basket to evenly distribute the seeds across it in a single layer.

(If you’d prefer, you can oil & salt the seeds in a separate bowl before transferring to the air fryer basket.)

Air fry at 360 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes, stopping occasionally to shake the basket & check doneness.

Once they are perfectly toasted, move them to a bowl or container.

You can make this easy snack your own by varying the ingredients.

Vary the seasoning salt

You can really change up the flavors by varying the seasoning salts or spices.

Try any of the following:

• Garlic salt
• Onion salt (One of my favorite Trader Joe’s products!)
• Truffle salt
• Cajun seasoning salt
• Old Bay seasoning
• Lawry’s seasoning salt
• Smoked paprika
• Curry powder
• Chili powder
• Cinnamon sugar
• Plain salt

Vary the seeds

Replace the pumpkin seeds with another variety of squash.

I actually prefer the roasted seeds of smaller squash like delicata squash, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, or celebration squash.

The seeds are smaller & lighter, which makes for crispier, less dense snacking.

Just remember that they cook in less time than pumpkin seeds. About 5 minutes is usually enough.

Tips for doubling recipe

If you are carving several pumpkins, you might as well roast all of the seeds!

However, for best toasting, it’s best to air fry the seeds in batches of about 1 cup.

Overfilled baskets don’t toast as nicely.

Storage instructions

Store seeds in an airtight container at room temperature.

They will keep for about a week.