Pumpkin Seed Butter substitute

Best substitute

Sunflower Seed Butter

Use the same amount as the pumpkin seed butter you are replacing

Best for nut-free baking

Close match

Sunflower seed butter is the closest swap at 1:1 and keeps the recipe nut-free, which is usually the whole point. Tahini also works 1:1 and is easier to find, though it is thinner and more bitter. Almond or cashew butter give the best texture and the mildest flavour but are not nut-free. Make your own by toasting pepitas until they pop and grinding them warm with salt and a teaspoon of oil. What pumpkin seed butter is doing in a recipe is supplying fat, binding the mixture together, and adding a savoury, faintly earthy green flavour, and in some recipes it is also supplying the green colour, which nothing else on this list can do.

Other pumpkin seed butter substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Homemade Pumpkin Seed Butter
Close match
Use the same amount
Toast hulled green pepitas in a dry pan or a moderate oven until they puff and pop, then grind them warm with a good pinch of salt and a teaspoon of neutral oil per cup until smooth.
What changes
Best for
spreads, bars, sauces, baking, dips
Takes five to ten minutes of grinding and needs the oil, because pepitas are drier than peanuts and stall into a stiff paste otherwise. Grinding while warm makes a large difference. Salt is essential; unsalted pumpkin seed butter tastes noticeably flat.
3Tahini
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Nut-free, widely stocked, and behaves much the same way as a binder in bars, dressings and sauces.
What changes
Best for
nut-free bars, dressings, sauces, dips, cookies
Thinner and runnier, so a bar recipe may need slightly less other liquid or an extra spoonful of oats to firm up. Flavour swings from earthy-green to distinctly sesame-bitter, which is excellent in savoury food and more noticeable in a sweet bake.
4Almond Butter or Cashew Butter
Different taste
Use the same amount
Both are smoother, sweeter and creamier than pumpkin seed butter, and both drop into any recipe without adjustment.
What changes
Best for
baking, bars, spreads, smoothies, frostings
The obvious problem is that they are tree nuts, so if the recipe exists to be school-safe or allergy-safe they defeat the purpose entirely. Where allergies are not a factor, cashew butter in particular gives a silkier result than pumpkin seed butter ever does.
5Natural Peanut Butter
Different taste
Use the same amount
Mechanically the closest match of all: same thickness, same oil, same behaviour in cookies and bars.
What changes
Best for
cookies, bars, sauces, smoothies
Peanut flavour dominates completely, so the recipe becomes a peanut recipe. And again, if the reason you were using pumpkin seed butter was peanut allergy or a nut-free classroom, this is the one option you cannot use.
6Hemp Seed Butter
Different texture
Use the same amount
Another seed-based, nut-free option with a similar green colour and a similar earthy character.
What changes
Best for
nut-free spreads, smoothies, bars, dressings
Softer and looser than pumpkin seed butter and more grassy in flavour, so a bar may set less firmly. It is also expensive and hard to find, which is usually why people are searching for a pumpkin seed butter substitute in the first place.

What is Pumpkin Seed Butter?

Pumpkin Seed Butter is Pumpkin seed butter, also called pepita butter, is hulled green pumpkin seeds roasted and ground to a smooth unsweetened paste, and it is a completely different product from the sweet spiced pumpkin butter made from puréed pumpkin.

Cooking tips

Use hulled green pepitas, not whole white pumpkin seeds scooped from a pumpkin. The fibrous white hulls will never grind smooth, and they turn the butter stringy and a dull brownish grey instead of green.
Roast the seeds and grind them while they are still warm. Cold pepitas take roughly twice as long to break down, and many people give up and add too much oil at that point.
It is naturally drier and stiffer than peanut butter, so add a teaspoon of neutral oil per cup during grinding. Without it you get something closer to a thick crumbly paste than a spreadable butter.
Salt is not optional here. Pumpkin seed butter tastes oddly flat and dusty without it, and a good pinch transforms the same batch into something you would eat off a spoon.
The green colour dulls in the oven, and in anything containing baking soda it can shift to olive or khaki. This is an ordinary pigment reaction, not a sign anything has gone wrong, but do not build a recipe around a bright green crumb.

Frequently asked questions

Is pumpkin seed butter the same as pumpkin butter?

No, and they are not interchangeable in any recipe. Pumpkin seed butter, or pepita butter, is ground roasted pumpkin seeds: thick, savoury, high in fat, unsweetened. Pumpkin butter is a sweet spiced spread made from cooked puréed pumpkin flesh with sugar and cinnamon, containing almost no fat and no seeds at all. Swapping one for the other changes both the flavour and the entire structure of whatever you are making.

Is pumpkin seed butter nut-free and school safe?

Pumpkin seeds are seeds rather than tree nuts, so pumpkin seed butter is generally suitable where nuts are banned, and this is the main reason people buy it. Always check the specific jar for shared-equipment warnings, and check your school's own policy, since some settings restrict all butters that resemble peanut butter regardless of ingredients.

Can I substitute pumpkin seed butter for peanut butter 1:1 in cookies?

Yes, with one adjustment. It is drier and stiffer than peanut butter, so if the dough feels crumbly add a tablespoon of oil or milk. The cookies will taste earthier and less sweet, and they may take on a greenish or khaki tint from the reaction between the seed pigments and baking soda, which is harmless.

Can I just leave pumpkin seed butter out?

Only where it is a flavouring, such as a drizzle or a spoonful in a smoothie. In no-bake bars, bliss balls and many cookie recipes it is the fat and the binder holding everything together, so omitting it leaves a dry crumbly mixture that will not hold. Swap in another seed or nut butter at 1:1 instead.

Why did my homemade pumpkin seed butter turn out gritty?

Usually one of three reasons: you used unhulled seeds, whose fibrous shells never break down; you ground cold seeds, which release oil reluctantly; or you stopped too early. Roast hulled pepitas, grind them warm, keep going for a full five to ten minutes with regular scraping, and add a teaspoon of oil once it has clumped into a ball.

Related substitutes

More nuts & seeds substitutes

Pumpkin Seed Butter substitute

Other pumpkin seed butter substitutes

2Homemade Pumpkin Seed Butter

3Tahini

4Almond Butter or Cashew Butter

5Natural Peanut Butter

6Hemp Seed Butter