Pumpkin Halwa | Kaddu Ka Halwa
Updated: August 19, 2022, By Swasthi
Pumpkin Halwa also known as Kaddu Ka Halwa is an Indian halwa variety made with pumpkin, milk and sugar. It is usually prepared during festivals or the season when pumpkins are flooded in the market. There are a lot of recipes in Indian cuisine that uses pumpkin. Like it is added to the curries, stews, sambar and stir fry dishes. Pumpkin halwa is not a traditional Indian dish but it had been featured in a lot of televisions shows & magazines.
This pumpkin halwa or kaddu ka halwa is simple to make. It needs only few ingredients and gets done under 20 minutes.
I have mentioned 2 options to use pumpkin: grated or pressure cooked. Halwa made using grated pumpkin retains most nutrients as it is lightly cooked and only for a while.
However it is a matter of convenience. If you find it hard to grate, go for the other option mentioned in the step by steps.
Pumpkin halwa tastes light, delicious and can be served as a good after meal dessert or an evening snack. I have used a golden pumpkin. Sometimes I also add khoya/mawa to make this pumpkin halwa. It tastes great and rich, a special sweet that can be made during festivals.
You can also make a kasi halwa using this recipe. Kasi halwa is made using white pumpkin and no milk is used.
More halwa recipes
badam halwa
papaya halwa
moong dal halwa
gajar ka halwa
Photo Guide
How to Make Pumpkin Halwa (Stepwise Photos)
Preparation
1. There are 2 options to use pumpkin, choose one of them. Wash pumpkin, cut to half.
- a. Pressure cook halved pumpkin without peeling for one whistle by placing in a bowl inside the cooker. Once the pressure cools down, scoop off the pumpkin flesh and discard the skin. Or
- b. Peel the pumpkin and then grate it. A food processor does the job easily.
Fry nuts & sauté Pumpkin
2. Heat a pan with ghee (or coconut oil), add chopped cashews and fry till lightly golden. Set aside.
3. Add the pumpkin in any form grated or cooked and scooped. I have used grated pumpkin. Fry the pumpkin for 4 to 5 minutes in ghee. The raw smell should go away.
Make Kaddu ka Halwa
4. If you do not want to use milk, just skip this step. Pour the milk and cardamom powder. Allow it to absorb the milk. Do not use water, it will dilute the taste of the halwa. If you do not want to use milk just skip it.
5. Add sugar and stir. Moisture begins to release.
6. Keep stirring till the halwa thickens.
Garnish with fried cashews.
Related Recipes
Recipe Card
Pumpkin Halwa | Kaddu Ka Halwa
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 2 cups pumpkin grated or ½ kg
- ¼ cup sugar + 1 to 2 tbsp. (adjust slightly)
- cashews or pistachios chopped, Few
- 1 to 2 tbsp ghee
- 1 pinch cardamom powder
- ¼ cup milk (optional)
Instructions
Preparation
- Rinse pumpkin and cut to two.
- Peel the skin and grate it or steam cook the entire pumpkin until soft.
How to make Pumpkin Halwa
- Add ghee or coconut oil to a hot pan and fry the nuts till golden. Keep them side.
- To the same pan, add grated pumpkin or cooked pumpkin (refer image step by step one). Fry for about 4 to 5 minutes till the raw smell goes off.
- Pour the milk if using and add cardamom powder. Cook until the milk is absorbed.
- Add sugar and cook till the sugar melts and the halwa thickens.
- Add fried cashews and garnish. Serve pumpkin halwa hot or warm.
Notes
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Hi Swasti, Can orange sugar pumpkin be substituted for golden pumpkin in this halwa recipe?
Hi….. Green pumpkin will be good or not…. Also can I use jaggery instead of sugar…. Please help
Hi Srivani
I have never cooked with green pumpkin so don’t know. But it should work. Not sure about jaggery
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I cooked the halwa dish but not sure about the consistency. It stayed a bit wobbly. Is this how it should be?
Thanks
Hi Rekha,
You are welcome. Usually halwa is moist when done. If there is lot of moisture then cook it further to dry up a bit. It turns a bit more dry when it cools down.The consistency should be similar to carrot halwa. Hope this helps.
Very sweet and tasty resipy cooked easily so nice and thanks for share the recipe with us
Welcome Shalu
Glad to know you liked it
Awesome site ..I love cooking ,specially ur dishes ..it’ll b very yummy …but I wanna know d method of doing white pumpkin halwa …i searched many times …
Nikitha
Thank you.
YOu will have to squeeze off the juice from pumpkin first by tying it in a cloth, then measure the grated pumpkin and saute in lot of ghee. Then when the raw smell goes off, add sugar (1:1) and cardamom powder. Cook until the moisture evaporates completely. But it is a lot of arm work. Add more ghee towards the end.
Awesome swasthi it’s too cool and easy to make I love bengali sweets so here I’m ready with it by thank you so much. ????
Welcome Rakesh,
Sorry was late in posting your comment.
Thanks for share for recipe
Very good and nice recipe to prepare Pumpkin (Kaddu/Kumro)halwa.
Thank you Dipak ji