Roasted Pepita Seeds Recipe

By What Are Pepitas Editorial Team · Updated 2026-09-14 · Part of Pepita Seed Recipes: Roasting, Seasoning and Sauce Guides

This is the base recipe to return to: 300 g of raw hulled pepitas, one tablespoon of neutral oil, a quarter teaspoon of fine salt, and sixteen to twenty minutes at 325 degrees F. It produces about 285 g of roasted kernels, which is ten 28 g snack portions, and it works with any hulled pepita, dark Styrian kernels or the paler mechanically de-hulled kind.

Everything else on the site builds from this method. Once you can produce a reliably crisp, evenly golden batch, the variations are simply a matter of what goes in the bowl with the oil and what goes on after the oven. Weights are given because volume measures for seeds vary by ten percent or more depending on how the kernels settle. For the reasoning behind each temperature and timing choice, see the master roasting method.

Ingredients, Weights and Yield

Start with 300 g of raw hulled pepitas, which is roughly two and a quarter cups. Use kernels that look uniform in size and colour; a bag with a lot of broken pieces and dust will roast unevenly, because the small fragments scorch well before the whole kernels finish. If your kernels have been open for a while, smell them first: a sharp or bitter note means the fats have oxidised and no amount of roasting will fix it.

The oil is one tablespoon, about 14 g, of something neutral: sunflower, grapeseed or a light olive oil. That is enough to coat 300 g of kernels thinly and give salt something to cling to. Fine sea salt is a quarter teaspoon, about 1.5 g, which supplies roughly 575 mg of sodium across the whole batch. Smoked paprika is optional at one teaspoon and goes in with the oil.

Yield is about 285 g of roasted kernels from 300 g raw, a loss of roughly five percent that is almost entirely moisture. That divides into ten servings of 28 g, or about three tablespoons each. The recipe scales cleanly, but do not exceed four cups on a single sheet pan; if you need more, roast two batches in sequence rather than piling the kernels up. A condensed version of the same method is at recipe for roasted pepitas.

Method: Six Steps

The two details that matter most in this recipe are the preheat and the single layer. A full preheat of at least fifteen minutes after the oven signals it is ready means the kernels begin toasting immediately instead of slowly drying, which is what produces an even colour. A single uncrowded layer means every kernel is in contact with hot metal rather than with the steam coming off its neighbours.

Stirring is not optional and it is not decorative. Three stirs over twenty minutes, at roughly six, twelve and seventeen minutes, redistribute the kernels nearest the pan edge, which can run twenty degrees hotter than the centre, and they also let you read the colour and aroma as the batch develops. If your oven has a known hot corner, rotate the pan once at the twelve-minute mark as well.

Pull the pan slightly before the kernels look ready. They carry enough residual heat to keep cooking for two to three minutes, and they continue to crisp for ten to fifteen minutes as they cool on the pan. Salting while hot, with the surface still tacky from the oil, is what makes the seasoning stay on the seed instead of in the bottom of the jar.

• Heat the oven to 325 degrees F with a rack in the upper-middle position, and preheat a full 15 minutes.
• Toss 300 g raw pepitas with 1 tablespoon of oil and the optional smoked paprika until every kernel is glossy.
• Spread in a single layer on a rimmed half sheet pan; you should see bare metal between the seeds.
• Roast 16 to 20 minutes, stirring at 6, 12 and 17 minutes and rotating the pan once at 12.
• Pull at light gold with a nutty aroma and a few pops, a shade before they look finished.
• Toss with 1/4 teaspoon fine salt while hot, cool on the pan 15 minutes, then store airtight.

Nutrition per Serving and Variations

A 28 g serving, about three tablespoons or a scant quarter cup and roughly one tenth of the batch, supplies about 157 to 163 kcal, 8.5 g of protein, 13.9 g of fat, 6 g of carbohydrate including 1.7 g of fiber, and about 156 mg of magnesium. Sodium depends on how much of the quarter teaspoon actually clings to the kernels: expect roughly 30 to 60 mg per serving, against about 72 mg for a typical commercial roasted and salted product.

Variations are mostly about timing. For a spiced batch, bloom one teaspoon of chili powder and half a teaspoon of cumin in the oil before tossing, or add a teaspoon of smoked paprika and a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder with the oil. For a sweet version, skip the salt, toss the hot kernels with one teaspoon of cinnamon, half a teaspoon of cocoa and a tablespoon of maple syrup, and cool completely before storing; the syrup will make them sticky for the first hour.

For a salt-free batch, leave the salt out entirely and finish with the zest of one lime and a squeeze of juice once the kernels have stopped steaming. For whole seeds rather than kernels, the same recipe needs a much longer bake; see baking pumpkin seeds in the oven. Stored in a sealed jar, this batch keeps its best quality for two to three months at room temperature, about six months in the refrigerator and up to a year in the freezer. More serving ideas are in the pepita recipe collection.

This page is part of the Pepita Seed Recipes: Roasting, Seasoning and Sauce Guides guide.