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Easy Pumpkin Dip : Healthy Halloween Recipes

Please share with your friends!

This easy Pumpkin Dip is a seriously healthy Halloween treat! It’s naturally gluten & dairy free. It’s also vegan, paleo, Whole30 and (most importantly!) utterly delicious.

It’s the perfect savoury balance for all the usual sugary Halloween treats.

Cute Halloween pumpkin head buffet with pumpkin brain dip!

This recipe originally published in 2017

A quick search for Halloween recipes and you’ll appreciate how much this is THE season for eating sugar.

However this year, as my Pinterest feed fills up with recipe after recipe for sickly sweet bakes, I’ve been turned in the opposite direction.

I wanted to celebrate in a more wholesome, healthy, but no less fun way.

Woman in grey holding a large orange pumpkin

So this healthy pumpkin dip recipe combines vegetables, tahini, avocado oil and seasonings.

And whilst it won’t stop anyone from devouring their own body weight in sweeties, hopefully it’ll help balance out those blood sugar levels.

If only a little! ;)

Woman in grey cutting into a pumpkin with a large Japanese knife

Prepping your pumpkin for use in a recipe.

You have a few options when it comes to using pumpkin in this recipe…

Woman’s hands slicing the skin from a large orange pumpkin

1/ Firstly, you could use the flesh of the pumpkins you carve this year.

2/ Secondly, you could buy a pumpkin (or butternut squash) specifically to make the dip. Just remove the skin and seeds from your sacrificial pumpkin like I have in the pic above. Dice up the flesh and roast.

3/ However, if you’re in need of a shortcut, you can also buy bags of frozen butternut squash or pumpkin. In this instance you simply chuck it straight into the roasting pan. You don’t even need to let it defrost first.

4/ Finally, you could also try making this recipe with a canned (unsweetened) pumpkin. I haven’t tried this, so if you do, please let us know if it worked for you!

Woman’s hands slicing quarter of an orange pumpkin with a. Large Japanese knife

How to Make an Easy Pumpkin Dip

To make this dip with fresh or frozen pumpkin you first need to roast it.

If you’re trying this recipe with the canned variety, the pumpkin is already cooked so you can pick the recipe up at stage 2.

Woman in grey pouring avocado oil into a baking tray of chopped pumpkin

1/ roasting your pumpkin

Once your pumpkin is all cut up, pile it and the garlic cloves into a large baking tray.

Pour in the oil and toss well to coat all the pieces. I used avocado oil, but you could use your favourite cooking oil.

Sprinkle with a little salt, then roast in the preheated oven.

White enamel roasting tin with chucks of orange roast pumpkin and garlic cloves

2/ blend your roast pumpkin

Once your pumpkin is cooked, remove from the oven and let it cool a little.

Tip it into a food processor or blender, along with the roast garlic.

Woman in grey scraping chunks of roast pumpkin into a food processor

Next, add in the lemon juice and tahini and whizz until smother and creamy.

Woman in grey squeezing half a lemon into a food processor filled with pieces of roast pumpkin flesh

If you’ve never used tahini before, you can find it in most large supermarkets with ease.

It’s a paste from the Middle East made from ground sesame seeds.

It’s what gives hummus its creamy texture and is absolutely delicious.

Woman in grey pouring a spoon of tahini into a food processor filled with cubes of pumpkin flesh

3/ dish up and serve

Once the dip is creamy and smooth, scrape into a serving bowl. Keep reading if you want to serve it as Pumpkin Brains!

I sprinkled the top of my dip with a little smoked paprika.

However you could add chilli, chopped spring onions or fresh herbs like coriander or parsley for a different flavour profile.

Woman’s hands sprinkling smoked paprika from a white tub with a red lid onto a bowl of homemade pumpkin dip

Disguise your healthy pumpkin dip as Pumpkin Brains!

I don’t really go in for themed holiday recipes, but there’s something about Halloween that brings out my inner 12 year old.

And this bad haired, stroppy 12 year old wants to decorate!

Healthy Halloween recipes includes dip labelled pumpkin brains, served in a scooped out pumpkin with a smiley face drawn onto it and crudites in glasses around it

Long-time readers may remember these cute Halloween biscuits I made a couple of years back. Oh boy, they were fun.

And yes, there’s a cookie as big as my head!

Step by step process for piping a pumpkin dip brain, served in a scooped out pumpkin with a smiley face for halloween!

If you’re going for the whole Pumpkin Brains look (and honestly, why wouldn’t you?!), you’ll need to buy 2 pumpkins. One for the dip, and one for the ‘bowl’.

Slice the top 1/3 off your fresh pumpkin. Pop it on a plate and place an upturned bowl over the cavity.

Then fill a piping bag with your yummy dip.

Finally, swirl your pumpkin dip round and round.

Voila! One perfectly gory pumpkin brain!

Cute Halloween pumpkin head overflowing with pumpkin dip, surrounded by vegetable crudites

Savoury Halloween food ideas

For my spooky Halloween spread, I cut out little tombstone shapes from cardboard and labelled them ‘Pumpkin brains’.

Bowls of jalepenos and radishes sitting on a table labelled jalepeno roulette and bloody eyeballs for Halloween food buffet

I might have a got a bit carried away and made up daft names for all the other party foods too!

If you give this, or any of my other recipes a go, please be sure to tag me in any pics you share online!

You can find me pretty much everywhere as @hedgecomber!

It gives me the biggest buzz when I see my recipes made all around the world!

Happy Halloween friends!

PS If you you’d like more healthy snack ideas, check out this healthy flapjack recipe. It contains no added sugar (or Golden Syrup!) and still tastes GREAT!

Cute smiling Halloween pumpkin with colourful vegetable crudites and pumpkin dip 'brains'!
Print
Healthy Halloween Pumpkin Dip
Prep Time
30 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
cooling time
20 mins
Total Time
1 hr
 
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: British
Keyword: halloween
Servings: 6 +
Calories: 73 kcal
Author: Jane Sarchet
Ingredients
  • 500 g pumpkin or butternut squash
  • 10 cloves garlic cloves separated and peeled
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp tahini
Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180/350/Gas 4.

  2. Toss the pumpkin and garlic together in the oil in a baking tray, then sprinkle with salt.

  3. Gently roast for 20- 30 minutes, or until the flesh is soft and lightly golden around the edges. Do not let the garlic burn, remove it from the pan sooner if necessary.

  4. Remove from oven and let cool a little.

  5. Tip the pumpkin and garlic into a food processor. Add in the tahini and lemon juice and whizz until smooth and creamy.

  6. When smooth, taste and adjust the seasoning. If it tastes very sweet, add a little salt.

    If it tastes flat, add a little more lemon juice.

    Whizz again, then taste again.

  7. When you are happy, tip into a serving bowl, or continue below if you'd like to make the 'Pumpkin Brains'.

To make Healthy Halloween Pumpkin Brains

  1. Scrape into a piping bag with no nozzle. I used a disposable bag so I had control over how large the piping hole could be. If you only have a fabric piping bag you may prefer to make a disposable one from baking paper.

  2. Pop the dip filled piping bag into the fridge, and let cool for about 20 minutes. This will firm the dip up, making it much easier to work with.

  3. Meanwhile, slice the top 1/3 off of a small to medium sized pumpkin. If there is a large gaping cavity, you may wish to lay a small plate or bowl across the gap and pipe directly onto that as I have done in the photos.

  4. When the dip is nice and firm, pipe onto the pumpkin ‘head’ in long, smooth coils.

    Feel free to practise first and scoop any dip back into the bag to pipe properly.

  5. Serve with your favourite crudites, crackers or chips.

Nutrition Facts
Healthy Halloween Pumpkin Dip
Amount Per Serving
Calories 73 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Fat 5g8%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Sodium 9mg0%
Potassium 306mg9%
Carbohydrates 7g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 7094IU142%
Vitamin C 10mg12%
Calcium 25mg3%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Please share with your friends!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  3. Diana says

    The pumpkin dip sounds amazing and I love the presentation! Iceland’s party food is really good and convenient, the Mummy prawns are my favourite!

    Reply

  17. mydeliciousmeals says

    Such a beautiful serving idea ) this will work perfect for our Halloween party. I’m also borrowing your Halloween biscuits recipe, I’m sure the kids will love these. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  18. Lucy says

    Just love this idea! My kids will adore it and I’ll feel good when I serve them something healthy for Halloween! What a fab idea to serve it this way.

    Reply

  25. Janice @FarmersgirlCook says

    What a amazing recipe. I love that you were able to use frozen squash for a speedy and healthy dip.

    Reply

  27. Charlie Mace says

    Yes! This sounds like my perfect dip! I’m loving all the pumpkin recipes around at the moment – I posted 5 ideas for using up leftover pumpkin on my blog this week, and included things like soup etc but I love the sound of this – to be honest anything containing tahini is a winner in my book. I love the way you’ve presented it – so fun! We did the puking pumpkin thing with guacamole this year, which obviously the boys LOVED and thought was hilarious! :-) Lovely recipe, thanks for sharing! Charlie x

    Reply

    • Jane Sarchet says

      Hey thanks Charlie! The puking pumpkin was my first thought, but you know, I find it kinda gross!
      Not sure why pumpkin brains are any less gross, but there ya go!
      Thanks for stopping by Charlie :)

      Reply

  30. Dawn Conklin says

    Halloween is my favorite holiday so this is something I definitely have to try! I am sure I will make the dip more often then just Halloween tho. Love how you did the whole set up :)

    Reply

    • Jane Sarchet says

      Thank you Dawn! It’s such an easy, healthy and tasty dip that I make it loads throughout the winter months :)

      Janie x

      Reply

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