This Amish Pumpkin Butter recipe is easy enough to make large batches and can, delicious enough to eat on gluten-free bread sandwiches all fall and winter, and unique enough to hand out as hostess gifts at fall parties!
My husband is a sweet potato and winter squash lover in the extreme, and every year, he loves to plant a variety of new-to-him potatoes and squashes.
This year, one of his new squashes was a small pie pumpkin variety called New England Pie, and we just started harvesting them about two weeks ago.
For the record, I am NOT a sweet potato and winter squash lover. As I’m mostly Irish, I feel like my love for white potatoes is perfectly justified, and as I’m very, very white, despite also having Cherokee heritage, I’m not embarrassed at that I only love pumpkin if it’s heavily accompanied by pumpkin spice and well, not necessarily a latte, but definitely other ingredients that mask the texture of the pumpkin. #basicwhitegirltastebuds
With that in mind, I’m loving this variety of pumpkins.
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- They’re on the small side, which make them easy for me to cut in half, deseed, and roast 1-2 per baking pan in the ever. Easy handling. Essential to the small homestead homemaker.
- They actually do taste really good. Like I said, I’m not a wintersquash/pumpkin lover, but I did taste these (for research purposes), and was surprised by how sweet they were.
So if you’re putting pumpkin in your garden next year 10/10 would recommend New England Pie pumpkins.
But that said, of course you can make this Amish Pumpkin Butter Recipe with any variety of pumpkin you wish – even canned pumpkin, which will definitely shorten the process up.
But if you’re a purist like me (only because we grew so many though tbh), grab a couple a small pie pumpkins, split them in half, deseed, and roast, cut side down, at 350º for, I dunno, an hour?
I have a tendency of not being very precise about chores like that – I put them in to roast while I’m doing school work with the kids at the kitchen table, and take them out when they’re soft enough to stick a fork through.
While I may not be a huge fan of pumpkin itself, you can bet I LOVE my pumpkin spice desserts. Like I said, white girl, even if I do stop short of Starbucks lattes (I just can’t get hyped about $5 coffee).
And this Amish pumpkin butter recipe?
This is the epitome of pumpkin spice.
So warm and spicy – much more spicy than pumpkin crunch cake, or sugar-free pumpkin cheese cake – and that makes it perfect to spread on toast or biscuits in the morning, because it’s deep spiciness carried through the butter, into every corner of your mouth.
Who knew that this perfect fall replacement for our usual jams and jellies would be as easy as stirring a few ingredients together, and ladling it into jars.
If you’ve made Crockpot pear butter, you’ll see that this recipe is very similar. Both are warm and spicy, but where pear butter is slightly tart and fruity, the pumpkin butter is smoother, warmer, and of course, have the distinct flavor of pumpkin to boot.
PrintAmish Pumpkin Butter Recipe (With Canning Instructions)
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 4 cups of pumpkin purée (or two 15oz cans)
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice mix
Instructions
- Stir ingredients together in a 4 quart of larger pan
- Heat over low or medium-low heat
- Continue cooking until pumpkin butter is thick and deep brown.
- Ladle into clean jars and seal
How to can:
- Use litmus paper to ensure your pumpkin butter is at a ph of 5.4 or lower before canning
- Transfer pumpkin butter to pint or half pint jars (I really like these jars)
- Wipe rims to insure there is no debris between rim and lid
- Top with flat and ring, and twist lids on fairly tightly
- Place into a pressure canner with a canning bottom so that jars are not in direct contact with heat source
- Fill pot with you canner’s recommended amount of water (mine is 2 quarts).Make sure that the water is as close to the same temperature as the pear butter as possible – if the butter is hot, use hot water, if the butter is cold, use cold water – to avoid jars breaking
- Secure lid, and heat over medium-high heat until steam begins to escape from steam valve
- Set your timer for ten minutes and continue to let canner steam
- Place pressure weights on the ten pound setting over steam valve
- Bring to pressure for 30 minutes
- Remove from hear and allow to cool inside canner for an hour or more if possible to avoid jars breaking when they come into contact with cool air
- Leave rings on sealed jars at least 24 hours before removing to clean and dry jars for storage
- Store in a cool dark place.
- Enjoy!
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karen says
sounds delicious but what spices do you recommend for the pumpkin spice mix?
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Laurie says
The directions for canning say pear butter, is it ok to use thesame canning directions for pumpkin butter recipe? I always thought that canning pumpkin butter was a no no.
Elise says
Oh, ugh. I’ve got so many of both right now I think I’m getting confused. Those *are* the pumpkin butter canning instructions.
Canning pumpkin purée is not recommended because of its low acidity and density, however, pumpkin butter with its added sugar is much safer.
Jodie Phillips says
You are the only one that says it’s safe to cann pumpkin butter, why is that? I would hate to get someone sick or heaven forbid die from botulism poisoning. Why is your recipe safe to can!0
Elise says
Waterbath canned food needs to have a ph of 4.5 or lower. This pumpkin butter should reach that. However, if you’re uncomfortable with canning pumpkin butter, I suggest freezing it instead.
Ginger says
Actually you can’t can it due to the density, please check your sources.
Silver says
https://www.fda.gov/food/guidance-documents-regulatory-information-topic-food-and-dietary-supplements/acidified-low-acid-canned-foods-guidance-documents-regulatory-information
Darlene Hryn Stainbrook says
Made a half batch… and WOW!! Will be making again. Add 1 tbsp of molasses. Heat on the stove for about 5 minutes before placing mixture into a casserole dish and placing mixture into the oven at 300 degrees F for about 35 – 45 minutes. Became a deep pumpkin colour. Stirring occasionally. 10/10 May 29, 2019
★★★★★
Coryn says
You said to use litmus paper to be sure oh is below 4.5 I believe. What do I need to add if it’s not? Thank you.
Elise says
You can add lemon juice or vinegar.
Kay Toler says
How long should I put it in a crockpot for ?????????? Not canning .
Deborah says
I can’t wait to try your recipe. I have been researching a lot about canning the pumpkin butter and from what I gather it’s all about the process time. Your recipe calls for 1 hr. and that’s what the other recipes call for also. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Lori says
I am reading conflicting information about if you can or cannot can puréed pumpkin.
Silver says
You cannot safely can pumpkin puree. You can process pumpkin butter IF it is 4.5 or less PH, as Elise says. I am going to invest in a PH meter at some point. Adding lemon juice should acidify it enough, but doing your research is always wise 😊
Letitia Pepper says
I haven’t made this recipe yet but it sounds good, and I like the info about the pumpkin variety that is gives, so I’ll give it a 4. However, I usually like to make things that can be canned, so I did a little research on the pH level that’s safe when working with low-acidic materials, and I think the pH should be lower.
According to the research below, the bacteria that can cause botulism can actually survive and reproduce at pH levels below the level mentioned in this recipe, which is a ph of 5.4 or lower The basic rule about pH is “The pH scale goes from 0 to 14: 0 is the most acidic and 14 is the most basic.” So to be lower than .4, the recipe indicates you would be okay with a pH of anywhere from 5.4 to 0. In fact, it looks like 5.5 down to 4.?? might be too high a pH for safety if canning the pumpkin butter.
The article, whose link is below, says that these researchers’ study shows “that the general assumption that C. botulinum does not grow below pH 4.6 is incorrect. We have observed that growth and toxin formation by C. botulinum can take place in homogeneous protein rich substrates (containing 3% or more soya or milk protein) at pH values lower than 4.6.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39257/
This recipe contains no protein, so I wouldn’t worry about 4.6 not being low enough. But people who want to can pumpkin butter might want to plan on making sure that their litmus strips show a pH of 4.6 instead of 5.4, just be be extra safe.
This might mean adding extra lemon juice. However, other government sources, like extension programs, warn against canning because pumpkin butter is so thick that home-canned products could end up with pockets of butter with too high a pH, which would support botulism. So if additional lemon juice made the butter thinner, it could also mean the pH level will be consistently low throughout the product.
★★★★
Letitia Pepper says
I saw a few typos after I hit publish. “I like the info about the pumpkin variety that IT [not “is”] gives, . . . .”
and
”So to be lower than 5.4 [not “.4,”], the recipe indicates you would be okay with a pH of anywhere from 5.4 to 0. In fact, it looks like 4.6 is probably the safest pH for which to aim if canning the pumpkin butter. [not “5.5 down to 4.?? might be too high a pH for safety if canning the pumpkin butter.”]
Letitia Pepper says
I finally made this recipe (after researching whether it’s safe to can pumpkin butter and deciding only if the pH is at least as low as 4.6). I increased the amount of lemon juice to lower the pH as I stated in an earlier comment. It came out really well.
To add more lemon juice, I put the pumpkin in a blender and added 1/2 c. lemon juice which made it easier to purée the pumpkin. Then after it cooked down to a good thickness, I stirred in a little more lemon juice just to be safe.
To lower the pH to 4.6, you could also try adding ascorbic acid (usually sold in a canister near other canning supplies.
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