Slow Cooker Pumpkin Butter Recipe - The Magical Slow Cooker (2025)

FAQs

Does pumpkin butter have to be pressure canned? ›

Yet year after year, people are disappointed to learn that they cannot can it at home, neither by water bath canning nor by pressure canning. The same holds true for unsweetened purées of pumpkin and winter squash. Pumpkin butter and purée can, however, be safely frozen.

To mimic a slow cooker, you can use a dutch oven or covered casserole dish in a very low oven preheated to 200° Fahrenheit (United States) or 95° Celsius. Some new wall ovens and ranges include a preset “slow cook” function, then automatically switch to “keep warm” when the cooking time is over.

Prepare for slow cooking the night before

Ideally the dish should be as close to room temperature as possible, so get it out of the fridge when you wake up and leave it for 20 minutes before turning the cooker on.

This pumpkin butter makes an excellent hostess gift. Spread it on toast and muffins, add it to baked goods, or drizzle it over vanilla ice cream. Keep it in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.

When we look at the material, it's evident that slow cookers and Crockpots consist of the same three components: Glass lid, pot, and heating element. However, Crockpots generally have ceramic or porcelain pots, while most slow cookers have a metal pot.

Oven cooking is often faster than slow cooking. As a general rule, a dish that takes 6–8 hours on a slow cooker's low setting might only need 2–3 hours in the oven at 325°F.

A slow cooker and a Crockpot are the same thing, essentially. A slow cooker is an appliance of which there are lots of brands. Crockpot is one brand of slow cooker. Crockpot popularized slow cookers when they launched their version in the 1970s.

The difference is the time it takes to reach that temperature. Low: 7-8 hours to reach the simmer point. High: 3-4 hours to reach the simmer point.

Put sturdy vegetables like onions, carrots, and potatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker. Place the meat on top. More fragile vegetables that cook quickly, such as peas, mushrooms, zucchini, or spinach, can go in towards the end of the cooking time.

Can you can pumpkin without a pressure canner? ›

Pumpkin must be pressure canned…you cannot safely water bath pumpkin. It must be pressure canned to prevent botulism. It is not recommended to can pumpkin puree as it is too dense to heat thoroughly and kill all the bacteria. Pressure Canning is easy to do.

The safest (and only) ways you should can are via the water bath and pressure canning process, as these are guaranteed to, done properly, destroy any potential Clostridium botulinum spores and prevent them from growing in the future.

How Do You Preserve Pumpkin in Cans? Preserving pumpkins in cans means adhering to the pressure canning method. If you try water bath canning instead, you won't successfully prevent botulism spores (a toxic bacteria) from growing on these low-acid foods.

REMEMBER: If you are canning low-acid foods such as vegetables, broth, and meats, you WILL need a pressure canner. However, if you are canning high acid foods like jams and jellies, fruits (like canning peaches), applesauce, pickles, etc., you can use safely and confidently water-bath canning.