There are dozens of types of pumpkins, and they’re not all big and orange. Some are white, blue-green, or deep red, and some are better for pie than others. Here’s a guide to my favorite pumpkin varieties, with pictures, plus which ones are best for cooking, baking, and carving.
Pumpkins belong to the Cucurbita genus, along with zucchini and butternut squash. Different species, including maxima, moschata, pepo, mixta, and ficifolia, give us pumpkins in every color and texture: orange, red, white, blue, and green, smooth, bumpy, ribbed, or striped.
Pumpkin is a type of winter squash, and botanically it’s a fruit, not a vegetable, because it holds the seeds. The easiest way to think about pumpkins is that some are best for eating, some are best for carving, and some work for both. Edible pumpkins go into classic pumpkin pie and other baked goods, as well as savory dishes, where they add flavor, color, and a creamy texture. Ornamental gourds look similar, but they’re grown for decoration, not eating.
Types of Pumpkins at a Glance
| Pumpkin | Color | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar Pie | Orange | Pie, puree, roasting, soup |
| New England Cheddar | Tan | Pie and baking |
| Long Island Cheese | Pale tan to cream | Pie, roasting, steaming |
| Hybrid Pam | Orange | Pie and decorating |
| Blue Doll | Blue-green | Pie and roasting |
| Porcelain Doll | Pale pink | Baking and soup |
| Lumina | White | Cooking (use it soon) |
| Flat White Boer Ford | White | Pie and fall displays |
| Cinderella (Rouge Vif d’Etampes) | Red-orange | Roasting, savory dishes, displays |
| Fairytale | Green to tan-orange | Pie and soup |
| Jarrahdale | Slate blue-green | Roasting and soup |
| Black Futsu | Dark green to chestnut | Roasting |
| Kabocha | Dark green | Roasting, soup, tempura |
Sugar Pie
Sugar pie pumpkins look like small jack-o’-lanterns. They’re sweeter and less stringy than big carving pumpkins, which makes them the most popular pumpkin for cooking. Roast them, or puree them for pies and soups. Here’s how to make pumpkin puree from a sugar pie pumpkin.
New England Cheddar
These medium-sized pumpkins are flattened like a big wheel of cheese, which is how they got their name. The skin is a creamy tan with light ribs. They’re sweet, so they’re best in baked goods like pie.
Long Island Cheese
Who knew so many pumpkins were named after cheese? These medium-sized pumpkins have deep ribs and pale, creamy skin, sometimes with green speckles. Like New England Cheddar, they’re sweet. They’re great for pie, but they also hold up well to roasting and steaming.
Hybrid Pam
Hybrid Pam is a classic orange pie pumpkin with the look you expect from a pumpkin. Use it to make pumpkin pie, or set a few around your porch for decoration.
Blue Doll
Blue Doll pumpkins break the mold with their blue-green skin, but the flesh inside is still orange. They grow to 15 to 20 pounds, and their sweet flesh is good for both roasting and pies.
Porcelain Doll
These pale pink pumpkins have deep ribs and look nothing like a typical jack-o’-lantern. They’re another excellent variety for baking, and they give soups a nice, creamy texture.
Lumina White
Lumina is a white pumpkin that grows up to 12 pounds. It’s tasty to cook with, but it spoils sooner than other varieties. If you plan to eat it, cook it soon and don’t leave it out on the porch.
Flat White Boer Ford
This white pumpkin is wide and flat, like it’s been gently squished. It has dense flesh that works well in pies, and it makes a beautiful fall display.
Cinderella (Rouge Vif d’Etampes)
Yes, this pumpkin looks just like the carriage in Cinderella. Its French name, Rouge Vif d’Etampes, means “vivid red from Étampes,” the town where this heirloom comes from. The pumpkins are large, wider than they are tall, with a deep reddish-orange skin. They make a stunning table display and taste best roasted or in savory dishes.
Fairytale
Also called Musquée de Provence, this French heirloom has deep ribs and a flattened shape. The skin turns from green to a tan-orange as it ripens, and it can grow up to about 20 pounds. The dense, deep orange flesh adds sweetness to baked goods and a creamy texture to soups.
Jarrahdale
Here’s another pumpkin that proves they’re not all orange. Jarrahdale pumpkins have slate blue-green skin and weigh around 8 to 10 pounds. The golden flesh is mildly sweet, which makes it a good choice for roasting and soups.
Black Futsu
This hard-to-find Japanese variety has bumpy, dark green skin that turns a chestnut color as it ages. The flesh tastes nutty and earthy and gets sweeter as it roasts, so roasting is the most common way to cook it.
Kabocha
Kabocha is a Japanese pumpkin with dark green skin and bright orange flesh. It cooks up nutty, buttery, and creamy, and the skin softens enough to eat. Try roasted kabocha as a side, or puree it into soup.
Carving and Decorative Pumpkins
Jack Be Little, Baby Boo, Galeux d’Eysines, Tiger, Casperita, and Orangita pumpkins all make great decorations. New Moon and Knucklehead pumpkins are fun to carve, while prizewinner, Crystal Star, and classic jack-o’-lantern pumpkins are bred for carving.
Are All Pumpkins Edible?
Technically, yes. The flesh of a fresh pumpkin is safe to eat. But big carving pumpkins are grown for size and thin walls, so their flesh tends to be watery, stringy, and bland. For cooking and baking, choose sugar pie pumpkins or one of the varieties above.
- Skip carved pumpkins: Once a pumpkin is carved and left out, it isn’t safe to eat, even if you don’t see any mold.
- Skip porch pumpkins: Don’t cook pumpkins that have been sitting outside as decorations for weeks.
- Check for damage: Bruises, soft spots, and cuts let in bacteria and mold, so leave those pumpkins for decorating.
- Save the seeds: Even if you won’t eat the flesh, the seeds from a freshly carved pumpkin are great for roasting.
How to Cook Pumpkin
Pumpkin is incredibly versatile. You can roast, steam, boil, or microwave it, then scoop the soft flesh right out of the shell. Firm pieces are delicious in pumpkin soup, stews, and pumpkin chili, or roasted alongside onions and other vegetables. Blend the cooked flesh into homemade pumpkin puree and use it in pumpkin pasta, gnocchi with pumpkin sage sauce, pumpkin bread, pancakes, muffins, and scones. Puree also freezes well, so you can enjoy it long after pumpkin season.
Pumpkin Seeds
Don’t toss the seeds! They make a wonderful crunchy snack. Here’s how to roast pumpkin seeds so they come out crisp and golden. Eat them plain or season them with salt, chili powder, or cinnamon. Hulled green pumpkin seeds, often sold as pepitas, are great sprinkled over granola, yogurt, oatmeal, and salads.
Pumpkin seed oil is another way to enjoy that flavor. It has a rich, nutty taste similar to roasted pumpkin seeds. Drizzle it over salads, roasted vegetables, eggs, or soups, or use it as a dip for bread.
Canned Pumpkin Puree vs. Pumpkin Pie Filling
Canned pumpkin puree is an easy way to cook with pumpkin all year. It’s simply cooked, mashed pumpkin, much like the puree you make at home. Pumpkin pie filling (sometimes labeled pumpkin pie mix) already has sugar and spices added, so it’s only meant for pie. For savory dishes, or when you want to control the sweetness and spice, look for a can that says 100% pumpkin.
Recipes with Pumpkins
Selecting and Storing Pumpkins
Pumpkins are at their peak in September and October, and you’ll usually find them in stores through November. Whether you’re carving, cooking, or decorating, choose a pumpkin that feels heavy for its size, with no soft spots and the stem still attached. Sugar pumpkins are one of the most common cooking varieties at the store, and Cinderella, Long Island Cheese, and New England Cheddar are other great choices for baking.
Whole pumpkins last best in a cool, dry spot, where they can keep for 1 to 3 months. In heat and humidity, they may only last a couple of weeks. Once you cut a pumpkin open, refrigerate it and cook it within five days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Technically, yes, the flesh of a fresh pumpkin is safe to eat. But large carving pumpkins tend to be watery, stringy, and bland, so sugar pie pumpkins and heirloom varieties are better for cooking. Don’t eat pumpkins that have been carved or left outside as decorations.
Sugar pie pumpkins are the most popular choice because they’re sweet, smooth, and easy to find. New England Cheddar, Long Island Cheese, and Fairytale pumpkins also make excellent pies.
You can eat a fresh, uncarved jack-o’-lantern pumpkin, but the flesh is usually watery and stringy, so it doesn’t taste as good as a pie pumpkin. The seeds, on the other hand, are great for roasting.
Yes. White varieties like Lumina and Flat White Boer Ford have orange or pale flesh that you can cook and bake with. Lumina spoils faster than most pumpkins, so cook it soon after you buy it.
Pumpkins and gourds are in the same plant family, but pumpkins are grown for eating as well as decorating. Ornamental gourds are grown for decoration and aren’t meant to be eaten.
Some pumpkins have skin thin enough to eat once cooked. Kabocha skin softens enough to eat when roasted. Most large pumpkins have tough skin, so peel them or scoop out the cooked flesh.
Mary Dhuivetter says
Ok I got a candy corn pumpkin did not see on list how to cook.?
Jessica Gavin says
Hi Mary! Check out my “how to make pumpkin puree article.” I roast at 400ºF until the flesh is easy to pierce with a fork, about 30-35 minutes depending on the size.
Jeanne E Meunier says
Candy corn pumpkin is it edible
Jessica Gavin says
I’ll have to give the candy corn pumpkin a try!
Ash says
I think jeanne may have been trying to ask you if the variety is edible.
And, as a note: pumpkins are usually a vegetable in the culinary sense and are a fruit in the botanical sense. Botanically speaking, there’s no such thing as a vegetable. “Vegetable” is a purely culinary term that we use to describe edible, fleshy, usually sweet plant parts that are typically used in savory applications. In culinary capacity, a fruit is a fleshy plant part prepared in a sweet application. Since this is a cooking blog, pumpkins could be both a fruit and a vegetable. And by culinary definitions, rhubarb is also a fruit.
Cathy says
Thanks so much. Looks like I have the Rouge Vif ‘d Etampes and the Long Island Cheese type pumpkins I used to decorate my Thanksgiving dining table. I was hoping they are edibe to try and make some mexican candy. The grocery store had these assorted beautiful pumpkins on sale only a dollar each because it was passed Halloween and almost Thanksgiving.
Jessica Gavin says
Wow, making mexican candy with pumpkins sounds amazing!
Susan Pownall says
Hell there . Last Dec 2022 we threw out 2 small white decorative pumpkins. It’s now Almost August we have a huge patch with many growing . Are these safe to eat ? Some are white and round . Others are yellow and oblong
Thanks for your input
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, white pumpkins are edible. If you cut one open, they tend to also have a range of orange skin. Let me know if you cook one and how it tastes! Would love to know if it’s Lumina, Valenciano, or possibly Polar Bear varitey.
pumpkinlover says
while that was a good article, there are a few pumpkin photos that are definitely not the variety you are talking about. I have been a commercial grower of all pumpkins for several years, these varieties are not the ones you have pictured. Blue doll, Rouge, and Jarrahdale are indeed good for eating but the pictures you have associated with them are certainly not those varieties.
Shelley says
I came to check all pumpkins are eatable; thanks for the breakdown of many kinds. was however shocked to see a culinary article saying basically ‘yes yes all pumpkins … but all gourds are not eatable’
Hard shell style Gourds are sold/grown to an immature stage (same as luffa) by some asian communities, and my understanding steamed or boiled and sometimes then fried i think. (I learned while looking for seeds to grow, and found plants/imature fruits sold locally, for use to eat 🤷♀️)
Pat says
Hi. We bought a pumpkin that looks like the one in the middle of the first picture; the one with the white on the top. Ours is called candy corn pumpkin. Is there any difference in that and a regular pumpkin?
Thank you.
Jessica Gavin says
The white and yellow pumpkins tend to be used for decoration or can be cooked or left uncooked to use as bowls. They tend not to yield as much flesh if you’re using it as an ingredient for a recipe.
Michael Keyes says
Are big max pumpkin edible so i can try making pumpkin puree for the first time?
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, big max pumpkins are edible. Would love to know how the pumpkin puree tastes! I have a guide for how to roast pumpkins for puree too!
Teri says
Is a citrouille pumpkin good to eat?
Is it a hybrid?
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, it’s delicious! It’s a variety of squash. Let me know if you try it.
Mary P. says
Great article, but I have two questions. Some pumpkins are considered inedible. Is this because they’re toxic, or simply that they don’t taste good?
And, I bought seedlings last spring intending to grow zucchini. But by mid-summer these were clearly some other squash, and by late August I saw that they were some kind of pumpkin. I ended up harvesting two, but I don’t know what they are. The outside is a pretty, even orange color. One was like a small soccer ball shape and the other taller and more oval and like a large rugby ball. Both sliced easily but the interior flesh is yellow and stringy very much like spaghetti squash. Flavor is really mild, maybe like a butternut squash but watery? I’ve roasted one, but it’s not what I wanted for soup.
Any idea what I grew? Thanks
Lizzi says
It sounds like you may have a hybrid or a cross pollinated squash.
Ruby says
My question is are the pumpkins with warts on them edible?
Jessica Gavin says
Yes, you can still eat pumpkins with the bumps on the surface.