Pumpkin Seed Oil substitute

Best substitute

Toasted Walnut Oil

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

Best for salad dressings

Close match

Toasted walnut oil is the closest widely available swap at 1:1, with the same rich roasted character in a thinner, less green form. Toasted sesame oil works if you use half as much and make up the volume with a neutral oil, though the sesame identity is unmistakable. The best homemade version is to toast pepitas, blend them with grapeseed or sunflower oil, steep for an hour and strain, which lands remarkably close. Understand what this oil is for: it is pure finishing aroma and colour, not a cooking fat. Never heat it, because the roasted aromatics that justify the price flatten and turn bitter in a hot pan.

Other pumpkin seed oil substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Roasted Pepitas Steeped In Neutral Oil
Close match
Use the same amount once strained
Toast hulled green pumpkin seeds until they pop and smell strongly nutty, blend them roughly with grapeseed or sunflower oil, leave to steep for an hour or more, then strain through a fine sieve or coffee filter.
What changes
Best for
finishing drizzle, dressings, soup garnish, dips
Flavour comes out genuinely close, because you are extracting the same aromatics from the same seed. What you cannot match is the concentration or the colour: expect a pale olive-green oil with maybe half the intensity, so use a little more.
3Toasted Sesame Oil
Different taste
Use half as much, topped up with neutral oil to the full volume
The one common oil with a comparable level of roasted intensity, which is why half the quantity is enough.
What changes
Surprisingly good drizzled over pumpkin or squash soup.
Best for
pumpkin soup, roasted squash, grain bowls, noodle dishes
It reads unmistakably as sesame, so it works where an Asian note is welcome and is plainly wrong on a Styrian potato salad or over vanilla ice cream. Used neat at full volume it will bulldoze the dish.
4Hazelnut Oil
Different taste
Use the same amount
A gentler, sweeter roasted nut oil that sits comfortably in the same role as a cold finishing oil.
What changes
Best for
salad dressings, roasted vegetables, desserts, finishing soups
Considerably softer and sweeter than pumpkin seed oil, with none of its savoury bite and none of the dark green colour. Lovely on its own terms, but it will not give a dish the earthy, almost umami note people specifically want from Styrian oil.
5Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Different taste
Use the same amount
The pragmatic fallback that nearly everyone has.
What changes
It is a proper finishing oil with genuine flavour, so the dish still works as a dish.
Best for
salad dressings, soup drizzle, tomatoes, roasted vegetables, bread
Flavour goes somewhere else entirely, to peppery, grassy and fruity rather than roasted and nutty, and the visual drama is gone. Use it when the alternative is nothing, and choose a robust green olive oil rather than a mild one so the drizzle still registers.
6Toasted Culinary Argan Oil
Close match
Use the same amount
Pressed from roasted argan kernels and used the same way, as a cold finishing oil with a strong roasted nut character.
What changes
Best for
dressings, dips, couscous, roasted vegetables, drizzling
Comes closest of any bottled oil to matching pumpkin seed oil's intensity, though it is warmer and more almond-like and can carry a faint smoky note. Make sure it is the culinary toasted kind and not the cosmetic version, which is unroasted and tastes of nothing.

What is Pumpkin Seed Oil?

Pumpkin Seed Oil is Pumpkin seed oil is a thick, opaque, almost black-green finishing oil pressed from roasted hulless pumpkin seeds, best known as Styrian pumpkin seed oil or Kernöl from Austria and Slovenia.

Cooking tips

Use it only as a finishing drizzle, added after cooking. It is superb over pumpkin or squash soup, warm potato salad, sliced tomatoes, pumpkin risotto and, most famously in Austria, over vanilla ice cream.
Never fry, sauté or roast with it. It is high in delicate polyunsaturated fat and its whole value is a roasted aroma that heat destroys, leaving behind a flat bitterness. If a recipe needs the pan, use a neutral oil and finish with the pumpkin seed oil off the heat.
Start with a teaspoon. It is far stronger than most people expect and it is easy to swamp a delicate soup or dressing, particularly since its colour makes small amounts look like less than they are.
It stains permanently. The pigment is intense enough to mark worktops, wooden boards and clothing, so pour carefully and wipe drips straight away.
It looks deep red in the bottle and green in a thin film on a plate. That colour shift is a normal optical effect of the pigments, not a sign the oil has gone off.
Store it in a dark cupboard or the fridge and use it within a few months of opening. It turns rancid noticeably faster than olive oil, and rancid pumpkin seed oil smells sharp and paint-like rather than roasted.

Frequently asked questions

Can I cook with pumpkin seed oil?

You should not. It is a cold finishing oil, high in fragile polyunsaturated fat, and the roasted aromatics you paid for break down quickly with heat, leaving a bitter, flat taste. Use a neutral oil for the actual cooking and add the pumpkin seed oil at the very end, off the heat, or at the table. This one rule matters more than any substitution question.

Can I use olive oil instead of pumpkin seed oil?

You can, and the dish will be perfectly good, but it will taste different rather than similar. Olive oil brings pepper, grass and fruit where pumpkin seed oil brings deep roasted nuttiness and a savoury, almost meaty note, and you lose the dark green drizzle entirely. If you have toasted walnut oil, that is a much closer match at the same 1:1 ratio.

Can I make pumpkin seed oil at home?

Not the real pressed oil, which needs proper equipment, but you can make a very usable infused version. Toast hulled pepitas until fragrant, blend them coarsely with a neutral oil like grapeseed or sunflower, let the mixture steep for at least an hour, then strain it through a fine sieve or a coffee filter. The flavour is genuinely close, if perhaps half as concentrated, and the colour is a paler olive-green.

Why is pumpkin seed oil so expensive?

It comes from a specific hulless pumpkin variety grown mainly in Styria and neighbouring regions, it takes a large quantity of seeds to press a single bottle, and the genuine Styrian product carries a protected designation with the growing and pressing standards that go with it. It is also sold in small bottles precisely because it goes rancid faster than sturdier oils.

Can I just leave pumpkin seed oil out?

Usually yes, because it is nearly always a finishing flourish rather than a structural fat. A soup, a salad or a plate of roasted vegetables will be fine without it. The exception is a dish built around it, such as the classic Styrian pumpkin seed oil ice cream or a simple dressing of only oil, vinegar and salt, where it is the entire flavour. In those, use toasted walnut oil rather than omitting.

Related substitutes

More oils & fats substitutes

Pumpkin Seed Oil substitute

Other pumpkin seed oil substitutes

2Roasted Pepitas Steeped In Neutral Oil

3Toasted Sesame Oil

4Hazelnut Oil

5Good Extra Virgin Olive Oil

6Toasted Culinary Argan Oil