What to Do with Pumpkins After Halloween

I love pumpkins!

Carving pumpkins.
Eating pumpkin treats.
Slurping pumpkin soup.
Crunching pumpkin seeds.

And I am not alone.

Americans really love pumpkins.

By best estimates, 158,000,000 Americans planned on carving pumpkins in 2025! Whoa, that’s a lot of fruit on our front stoops. (Yes, pumpkin is technically a fruit.) Which equals close to a billion pounds of pumpkin!

Then November 1 hits, and you’re left wondering what to do with pumpkins after Halloween.

Let’s deal with the aftermath of our slaughtered Halloween pumpkins responsibly, and preferably before they’re all moldy and gross. (We’ve all been there, right?)

This is one of those times when, if we each do a little, it will make a big impact!

Don’t forget, all these pumpkins will come back to haunt us year after year… if we don’t use them well. 😉

Let’s break down some options.

Why You Shouldn’t Throw Pumpkins in the Trash

Think about the extra greenhouse gases emitted by adding 154,000,000 pumpkins to landfills across our country. Spooky. Some landfills have taken measures to capture the methane emitted by the organic matter, a step in the right direction, but far from any finish line.

Here’s my PSA for my Minnesota readers:
MN State law prohibits leaves, grass clippings, brush and other plant material from being mixed with your trash. (Minnesota Statutes § 115A.931)

What to Do with Carved Pumpkins After Halloween

• When you’re carving pumpkins, be sure to roast the pumpkin seeds!
• Roast and eat them. They’re great in curries.
• Puree roasted pumpkin for soups or freeze for baking.
• Add them to your existing compost pile (I do love some good composting). Chopping up into small pieces first is recommended.
• Bring the carved pumpkins to the county yard waste sites. Here’s a map of Ramsey County waste collection locations.
• You can also cut up the pumpkin into pieces and leave them out for wildlife or farm animals. In our case, we leave some out for our chickens!
• Make dog treats with the pumpkin puree (there are tons of great recipes online)
• Donate to a Food Shelf

Some farmers markets collect the ‘used’ pumpkins for feeding animals, or for bringing back to add to their farm’s compost pile.

Some grocery stores collect the carved pumpkins, usually in connection with a farmer who hauls them back for animal feed or compost. (Kowalski’s Market in White Bear Lake used to do this. If enough of us call, do you think they’d bring it back?!?)

Do you know of any local drop sites? Share with me and I’ll share here!

Can You Eat a Halloween Pumpkin?

Yes, you can eat a Halloween pumpkin, as long as you haven’t carved it yet. Carving pumpkins are less sweet than pie pumpkins, but they roast up well for soups and baking. Skip any pumpkin that has been carved and left outside. It can grow mold and bacteria quickly.

So if you didn’t slice into that beauty yet, roast the whole thing…

You can roast it whole, or slice it into chunks first (after saving the seeds). Then use the puree in soups, smoothie, and baking recipes. It’s so much better than the store-bought canned stuff! Making pumpkin puree is as easy as cooking or roasting it, then pureeing in a blender.

And then you can make my favorite pumpkin spice cake!

I will admit, pie pumpkins are more dense and sweeter, but I am a waste not, want not kind of gal.

Looking for a more flavorful variety to grow and/or eat try next year? Try Sugar Pie, Autumn Frost, or even Kabocha varieties. Seeds available from many online seed companies! Yum.

How to Roast Seeds from Fresh Pumpkin

When you’re carving pumpkins, be sure to roast the pumpkin seeds!

I love roasted pumpkin seeds for snacking. Tip: Boil  the seeds in salt water for a few hours (or up to a day) before roasting. There are also ‘naked’ seeds or hull-less varieties you can grow (like Kakai).

…Or just save some of the seeds for planting your own pumpkins next spring!

Think of it as your treat to the earth to give back what it already put into growing your Halloween carving pumpkin.

Hopefully this takes some of the scary out of Halloween cleanup. What do you do with your old Jack-O’-Lanterns once Halloween is over?

Dig In!

Michelle