Trail Pumpkin Butter
Spiced pumpkin spread cooked down in one pot, built from dry pumpkin powder instead of a can.
- calories
- 150
- weight
- 1.8 oz
- cal / oz
- 83
- protein
- 2 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 3 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 18 min
- water
- 180 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Breakfast
- Snack
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Pumpkin powder | 1/2 cup | dehydrated pumpkin puree, ground fine |
|---|---|---|
| Apple cider drink powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for the apple juice |
| Brown sugar | 1/4 cup | packed |
| White sugar | 1 tbsp | |
| Pumpkin pie spice | 1 tbsp | |
| Vanilla powder | 1/4 tsp | extract works if you already carry it |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp |
Method
- Pour the whole bag into a pot with 180 ml of water. Whisk or stir hard until no dry lumps remain.
- Bring it to a bare simmer over a low flame. High heat scorches sugar onto the pot bottom.
- Stir for ten to fifteen minutes until it pulls away from the spoon and holds a line.
- Take it off the heat and let it sit five minutes. It thickens more as it cools.
- Spread it on tortillas or stir it into oatmeal. Eat it the same day.
The original is a canned-pumpkin recipe that finishes in a pressure cooker and lives in a fridge for weeks. Neither of those travels. Dehydrated pumpkin powder carries the same solids at a fraction of the weight, and rehydrating it with the sugar and spice already mixed in means the pot does the reducing work the Instant Pot used to do.
Sugar is not decoration here. It pulls water out of the pumpkin and gives the spread body, which is why the mixture stiffens as it cools. Cider powder replaces the apple juice and adds the acid that keeps it from tasting flat. Without a cooler this is a same-day food, so cook the amount you will actually eat.
Packing
Mix everything dry into one bag at home. At camp it is one pour and one pot.
Variations
- Thin it with more water and stir it into breakfast oats instead of spreading it.
- Swap half the brown sugar for maple sugar if you want a darker flavor.
- Skip the sugar entirely and use it as a sauce alongside dinner.
https://domesticsuperhero.com/instant-pot-pumpkin-butter-3-minute-recipe