Dehydrate Canned Pumpkin and Make Pumpkin Powder – Mom With a Prep

Dehydrating pumpkin is the perfect way to have your pumpkin spice addiction met all year round. Canned pumpkin can be dehydrated fairly easily and can be stored dried or in powdered form. 

This can work with a traditional pumpkin, winter squash, butternut squash and more. If you like to buy these when they are on sale, dehydration is a perfect way to extent their use life. The only type of pumpkin or squash that will not work are those that are meant for decorative use only. These are usually much smaller in size.

So, let’s get to it and show you how to do it so you can enjoy that shelf-stable pumpkin goodness all year round. 

How to dehydrate pumpkin puree

The below can work with canned or fresh homemade pumpkin puree.

• Open 1 can pumpkin puree*
• Pour on dehydrator sheet
• Smooth until the puree is in a single thin layer on the sheet
• Dry at approximately 125 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 hours (time will depend on your machine)

*How much you need will be dependent on your dehydrator. I use an Excalibur and approximately 1 can of pumpkin fits on one dehydrator tray. If using homemade pumpkin puree I would estimate 2 cups to place on tray.

If you are choosing to use fresh pumpkin then you will need to cut the pumpkin, peel the skin and remove the seeds. Slice pumpkin into small bits and blend until pureed. I did not do it for this article, but have done it in the past. 

Keeping the layer as thin as possible will help make the process go faster and make it easier to dehydrate.

Tip: In her book, The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook, Tammy Ganglott suggests using a pizza cutter to carve a checkerboard pattern into your puree to make it easier to break into pieces later. 

You‘ll see in the photo below that the pumpkin is pretty dark. I let the dehydration go for a bit too long. While it does not look too appetizing, it is still good and filled with nutrients.

Yours probably will not be as dark if you keep an eye on it and don’t over-dry it.

You’ll want to check how the pumpkin is drying after about 6 hours and flip the pumpkin sheets.

During the drying process the puree dries well on the top surface and the edges, but the parts that still touch the dehydrator sheets may still be wet. Turning the sheets over will help the pumpkin dry more evenly.

When the pumpkin is done drying you can store in an airtight container to rehydrate as needed.

I usually turn mine into a pumpkin powder which I am going to share instructions for below.

How to Make Pumpkin Powder

Once your pumpkin puree is dehydrated you can go on and make pumpkin powder with it. 

1. Add dried pumpkin to blender
2. Grind until you get as close to a powder consistency as possible
3. Pour ground pumpkin into a fine wire mesh strainer and let the powder fall into a bowl
4. Place remaining big chunks from strainer back in blender and grind 
5. Repeat until you have as much pumpkin powder as possible

I put mine through my blender three times before I felt it was as ground as it could be. I also ran a small amount through my manual coffee grinder to grab the last little bit I could. I hate wasting food! 

Rehydrating pumpkin powder

To rehydrate pumpkin powder, use a 4:1 ratio of water to pumpkin powder. For example, pour 4 cups of water into 1 cup of powder and let sit 20-30 minutes to allow time for rehydration. 

Then you can use the pumpkin puree as you normally would in pies, muffins and more. 

Ways to use pumpkin powder

You can use pumpkin powder in just about any recipe you can think of. But here are a few ideas if you need to feel inspired.

• Add as an ice cream topping
• Create a pumpkin/sugar blend and use to coat donuts
• Rehydrate and make pumpkin pie
• Use in butternut squash ravioli sauces

There is an endless way to use this magical powder. 

Have you made pumpkin powder and have ideas to share? Have any tips for dehydrating pumpkin I might have missed? Please leave a comment and let me know.