Canned pumpkin puree is a convenient addition to pumpkin bread, soup, pie and other desserts, but stores may not stock the puree year-round. If you don’t have any canned pumpkin tucked away in your pantry and you can’t find any to purchase, substitute other vegetables or make homemade pumpkin puree.
Frozen Squash
Thaw frozen winter squash in a cheesecloth-lined colander. Mash the thawed, drained squash if necessary and then use it in your desired recipe. Butternut squash serves as a very close substitute to pumpkin with almost no taste difference. Hubbard, calabaza and buttercup squash also make fine substitutes. Acorn squash is lighter in color with a milder flavor, so you may want to adjust the spices in the recipe accordingly.
Fresh Pumpkin
You can bake your own pumpkin and turn it into puree if canned pumpkin is not available. A 4-lb. pumpkin will give you about 1 1/2 cups of mashed pumpkin. Choose a small sugar or pie pumpkin, one with dark-orange flesh. Cut it in half and scoop out the stringy pulp and seeds. Place the halves cut-side down in a shallow pan and cover it with foil. Bake the pumpkin at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour or more, until tender when pierced with a fork. Cool the baked pumpkin, scoop it out of the skin and mash it. You could bake winter squash such as butternut in a similar manner for use in place of pumpkin.
Fresh Sweet Potatoes
Available year-round, sweet potatoes offer a convenient substitute for pumpkin puree. Poke the sweet potatoes with a fork and microwave them until the skin shrivels and they become soft. Peel and mash the cooked sweet potatoes, adding a little milk or cream to make them about the same consistency as pumpkin puree. This substitution works especially well in quick breads, but is also suitable for pies. Because sweet potatoes tend to be a little sweeter than pumpkin puree, you may want to reduce the sugar in the recipe slightly.
Canned Sweet Potatoes
Quicker than baking your own, you can use canned sweet potatoes. Simply drain and puree the sweet-potato chunks in a blender. Most of the time, canned sweet potatoes are packed in syrup, so this substitute won’t work well in savory recipes. In baked goods, reduce the sugar in the recipe significantly to account for the sweetener that has already been added.
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