Learn how to clean out a pumpkin easily and quickly! You will get the inside of a pumpkin squeaky clean by carving a pumpkin with a drill. Yes, a drill!
I want to share a tip we have been using for years on how to clean out a pumpkin in 2 minutes. Yes, 2 minutes! Also, you don’t even have to touch any of the slimy guts! Seriously this is the easiest way to clean a pumpkin, you will love me after this. 🙂 Who would have ever thought we would be carving out a pumpkin with a drill? Check out our video at the bottom of the post to show you exactly how to do it!
Supplies you will need for cleaning out a pumpkin with a drill
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Here are the supplies you will need to do this:
- A drill – we use a Dewalt drill that came as part of a combo set. We use these all the time and love the Dewalt brand.
- A hand mixer beater
- A knife
One bit of advice, use an old mixer beater. We learned this the hard way after Mr. Wonderful broke one of my beaters one year after doing several pumpkins. Thankfully the beater was one we had for a long time anyway. After that, we just went to a thrift store to find some to use.
How to clean out a pumpkin
First thing you will do is cut your hole in the top of the pumpkin just like you normally would. Slice the pumpkin guts off the top.
Mr. Wonderful clamped a couple of 2×6″ wood boards to the work bench so he could stabilize the pumpkin. This also is a good way to keep hands out of the way. This is optional, you could have someone just hold the pumpkin down low. However, be careful to keep hands away from the beater and watch out for some occasional flying pumpkin guts. 🙂
Carving a pumpkin with a drill
Insert the mixer beater into your drill and run along the insides of the pumpkin to start clearing material. Start at the top and work your way down going around the pumpkin.
This is what you will be left with after your first pass around the pumpkin. Dump these pumpkin guts in the garbage or keep the seeds to be baked. The seeds will not be damaged in this process.
After dumping the pumpkin guts out, this is all that was left in the pumpkin after our first pass!
You will have some strings built up on the top of the beater after your first pass. Just hold the knife against the beater and slide it down to slice the strings off.
Make a second pass in the pumpkin with your drill
Now do another pass with the drill around your pumpkin and dump any remaining pumpkin guts. There should not be much at all.
Using the tip of the beater, Mr. Wonderful usually makes an indentation at the bottom of the inside of the pumpkin. This gives us a nice place to put a candle. This year we decided we are going to use some outdoor LED lights in our carved pumpkins so he drilled out a hole with the mixer beater. We will put the lights inside the pumpkin and let the cord run out of the bottom to be plugged in.
Look at the inside of that pumpkin! Can you believe how clean that baby is! 🙂
Here is a video we made to show you the process of how to clean out a pumpkin in two minutes! If you don’t see the video, turn off your ad blocker. 🙂
That is it, so much easier than using a spoon and less mess! A bonus tip…rub or spray a little bit of diluted bleach or vinegar on the inside of your pumpkin. This will make your pumpkin last a lot longer. It does not allow the bacteria to grow and decompose your pumpkin as fast.
Do you have any good tips to share about cleaning or preserving your pumpkins? I would love to hear them!
Hello! I am so glad you came to visit my site today. I hope you can take something from here to inspire you or just make you smile.
This is actually amazing – thank you!
You’re welcome! Glad it was helpful! 🙂
Kimberly ,
I think i can do this also with a kitchen hand mixer with Ine mixer ?
Or is this not strong enough ?
Best regards Vivian from Holland
We have never tried it but we think a drill is your best option due to both strength and size/shape to get into the pumpkin.
Thanx .. love the Pumpkin season can’t wait to carve 😍🎃
How “diluted” do you mean, for the bleach? What I use to sanitize toys, for instance, is quite different from what I use to sanitize change tables. 🙂
Hi Erica, we are never really specific, I just pour a little bit into a spray bottle with water but I looked it up and found this answer as a guideline for you. Use about 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of bleach in 1 qt. (946 ml) of water. Hope this helps! 🙂
can you still salvage the seeds to roast them, or do they get too beat up using this method? pardon the pun… seems like a helpful, time saving hint, but would hate to lose out on those tasty treats in the process.
Hi Diane! Yes, you can still salvage the seeds. 🙂 We love to roast them every year as well. They are not damaged in the process.
Awesome tip!
Thanks for sharing.
LOVE ❤️ THIS IDEA! You ROCK!
We do MANY pumpkins 🎃 as my brother in law & sister own a campground and we’re in charge of the “spooktacular” stuff. Great tip to pass along to our campers for their pumpkin carving contest!
Barb
Glad to help!! 🙂
My daughter carves multiple pumpkins every year with each of her children. She needs to know this!
With 4 boys we are the same, she will love you for sharing it with her! 😉
Have you ever tried to carve your pumpkin from the bottom? It makes carving easier because you don’t have to worry about the lid falling in and you can just lift the pumpkin up, place a candle or light on bottom then place the pumpkin over the candle or light
We never tried that. Great tip! Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
Pulling out the strings and seeds is the fun part! I love separating out the seeds from the pulp!!!!!
Ha! I have heard that from others too. Well you can still separate the seeds from the pulp this way too it just gets you to that step faster. 😉
Hmm, could you do this, bake the pumpkin, then re-use the drill/beater to remove the cooked pumpkin???
I am not sure Deb, I would think the pumpkin may be too soft after baking it so it would be safer to remove the cooked pumpkin with a spoon. Just a guess. 🙂
We learned that to save your nice sharp knives use a drywall saw (very inexpensive) at the local hardware store store to easily cut through the tough skin and flesh of pumpkins.
Thanks for this added information to my repertoire.
Great tip! Thank you!
What a cool idea! Gonna have to try this.
We always get extra large pumpkins and do the Pumpkin Master designs on them, so we scrape them out and make sure they’re clean and clear for the intricate carving. Thus drill with beater method would be great! We roast the seeds as well, so glad they stay intact.
Lid tip – like you, I cut the top/lid by inserting knife at an angle to prevent lid from falling in. I also add a notch to the lid on the back side of the pumpkin (opposite of carving design) to help quickly position lid in place.
After carving – I slather the entire pumpkin inside and on all carved surfaces in the designs with petroleum jelly. Once that’s done I put light coat on exterior surfaces as well to give it a polish. Keeps the pumpkin solid & preserved to last longer and no bugs (in Florida). I buy large tubs at the dollar store, Not the expensive name brand. But I did get odd look from cashier when I was buying so much p.j.. 🤣
I’m going to do an experiment this year with the vinegar method vs. petroleum jelly.
Thanks for the demo video! Very helpful to actually see it done live. Happy Halloween!
Thanks Cara, thanks for the tips and Happy Halloween to you too!