Fast and Easy Plant-Based Meals for Fall
Fall is my favorite season, and with that, I’ve compiled “23 Delightful Vegan Instant Pot Recipes” here for those who like to get everything in a pot and forget about it.
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Cheap and Easy Vegan Meals Using One Large Pumpkin
I picked up a large pumpkin at the supermarket for $3 and decided to find make some cheap and easy vegan meals using only one large pumpkin and whatever staples I had around the house and in the fridge. It turned out to be quite a fun experiment and I made many dishes and snacks from it!
You can make any vegan pumpkin recipe all through the year, you don’t have to wait till the fall weather hits! I’m super excited to share cheap and easy recipes you can make with one large $3 pumpkin, whether you get it from your local store, farmer’s market, or your own garden!
So here we go! Make this a fun weekend pumpkin food prep!
Table of Contents
Thursday night prep
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Wash your pumpkin and cut off one side. Remove all the seeds and clean them out in a sieve under running water. They will still be a bit slippery. Just remove the pumpkin goop. Toss these in a bowl with just enough cooking oil to coat and sprinkle generously with salt.
Lay them in a cookie sheet and roast in 350F oven on middle rack for about 10 minutes. Keep watch on them as they can burn quickly. Toss them around a few times thru the baking process. Take them out and let cool once they are slightly crunchy.
How to Make Pumpkin Puree
In the meantime, cut your pumpkin in large chunks, no need to peel it.
Reserve about 3 cups of peeled and cubed pumpkin for another recipe. Put this in a container in the fridge.
Put the rest in a large roaster with an inch of water at the bottom. Don’t cover it.
Roast the pumpkin in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour. Shut off the oven. I let it cool overnight in the oven so it will be soft and ready in the morning.
Once it’s all cooled off, grab a big bowl and with your hands, scoop the flesh from the skin. It will slide right off. Gently mash your bowl full of pumpkin or pulse it until there are no lumps. Don’t over puree or whip. This large pumpkin made approximately 12 cups of puree.
Now that you have your pumpkin puree, you are equipped to start on some of my very favorite vegan pumpkin recipes.
How to Roast Pumpkin
I also got a second pumpkin to roast and can for future use.
This pumpkin cut in quarters on a cookie sheet based in a 400 degree F oven for 1 1/2 hours.
This large pumpkin made 5 jars of pumpkin mashed up. Canning pumpkin is not recommended by The National Center for Home Food Preservation. Freeze it instead for later use if you are not able to use it all up at once.
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What to do with pumpkin puree
Friday Prep
Vegan Pumpkin Lentil Soup
Enjoy a hearty vegan pumpkin soup with red lentils, spinach, and spices. Warm up on a cool day with a warm mug of this delicious fall soup.
Spaghetti with tomato, pumpkin and mushrooms
This creamy vegan pumpkin pasta is packed with vitamins. It makes a great light lunch, with a crispy side salad.
Saturday Prep
Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
This one-bowl easy vegan pumpkin muffins recipe will satisfy your moist pumpkin spice muffin cravings! Top these muffins with a pumpkin spiced buttercream, to make them extra special!
Fluffy Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes
You wouldn’t believe that pumpkin puree can make such delicious fluffy vegan pumpkin pancakes! This one-bowl recipe is so easy to make and is quite the crowd-pleaser!
Vegan Sriracha Pumpkin Burgers
These vegan sriracha pumpkin burgers will surprise you with their great texture and taste! You may find adding pumpkin puree to a burger sounds odd, but you will never know it’s there. The extra vitamins this burger punches out will make this a much healthier burger than anything you can buy on the market!
Sunday Prep
Vegan Pumpkin Mousse
Whip up this incredibly easy vegan pumpkin mousse in just 5 minutes. Just a few ingredients and some pumpkin spice, and you have a delicious dessert that looks fancy and thought out!
Vegan Instant Pot Pumpkin Jambalaya
Enjoy a hearty one-bowl meal with this vegan instant pot jambalaya. It is really an easy dish that can be changed to add any of your favorite vegetables. I usually check out what I have in my fridge and if it works, I add it into the pot. It’s a clean out my fridge, one-pot wonder that always tastes great!
Vegan Pumpkin Recipes for Weekend Prep
There you have it! One weekend of preparation gives you enough vegan pumpkin recipes for more than a week! So delicious and healthy! These meals and desserts are versatile and easy to make. You can freeze individual servings for lunches or quick dinners.
I had also made another recipe for oatmeal pumpkin cookies, but they have failed! They tasted great but fell apart and did not photograph well at all so I did not add them to this list! Therefore, if you have extra puree, make another batch of pancakes or muffins and freeze them, or just freeze the puree to use in a future recipe.
I suggest you get yourself another pumpkin while it’s in season and roast it up. Freeze the puree in individual containers of 2 cups for future recipes throughout the year!
Pumpkins and Halloween go hand in hand. Click below for a large list of vegan candies!
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These burgers will surprise you with their great texture and taste! You will love the extra vitamins this burger punches out which makes it a tasty and healthy option!