Cut pumpkin
It’s really easy with this trick!
© Viktory Panchenko / Shutterstock
Cutting pumpkin is not only exhausting, it can also be quite dangerous. We’ll show you an ingenious trick how you can easily cut and peel pumpkin despite the hard shell.
Autumn is pumpkin time and therefore also the time for warm pumpkin soup, fresh pumpkin bread or crispy pumpkin. If it weren’t for the hard shell you have to struggle with every time you cut pumpkin. From broken knives to sweaty attempts at sawing to injuries, anything can happen. But what to do when you’re hungry for pumpkin? You need a brilliant hack!
Cutting pumpkin: this is how it works
In order to be able to cut the pumpkin better and, if necessary, peel it, it should be cooked beforehand. This is pretty quick and the skin becomes softer, so it is not so difficult to slide the knife through when cutting the pumpkin. There are three different ways to pre-cook the pumpkin as a whole.
There are three options:
- In the pot
- In the oven
- In the microwave
No matter which method you choose – with this kitchen hack every pumpkin is super easy to cut and peel. You can find more tips on how to peel your pumpkin more easily here.
Preparation in the pot:
- Pour a glass of water into a large saucepan and then bring the water to a boil. In the meantime, wash the pumpkin and then place it in the pot.
- Put a lid on the pan and cook the pumpkin for five to ten minutes. This makes the pumpkin nice and soft on the outside and after a short cooling it can be cut and peeled wonderfully easily.
- It can then be chopped up and prepared as usual.
Preparation in the oven:
The trick with pre-cooking to make slicing pumpkin easy also works in the oven. However, it takes a little longer there. Easy for the pumpkin to prepare in the oven Place on a baking sheet for 20 to 30 minutes at 150 degrees and cook.
Preparation in the microwave:
The fastest way for the pumpkin-cutting kitchen hack is the microwave. Depending on the size of the device, however, only smaller pumpkins fit in. Pumpkin easy for Microwave for three to four minutes and cook softly at 700 watts.
Good to know: which types of pumpkin do you need to peel?
Except for the Hokkaido pumpkin, it is advisable to remove the skin from the pumpkin. Nutmeg squash, butternut squash, and spaghetti squash are probably the best known strains. With them, it is worth removing the peel before eating. Because it is very hard and therefore inedible. But with our trick, it should be safe and just work.
If you want to find out more about pumpkin, take a look at the pumpkin varieties at a glance, everything about the Hokkaido pumpkin, everything about the nutmeg pumpkin, everything you should know about pumpkin preparation or find your favorite pumpkin recipe.