How to Harvest and Roast (In Shell) Sunflower Seeds

Growing sunflowers? Harvest and roast the seeds the right way.

By
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.
Learn about Simply Recipes' Editorial Process
Updated November 16, 2023
Elise Bauer
How to Harvest and Roast Sunflower Seeds
Elise Bauer

Looking out my living room window one afternoon I saw the strangest sight, a squirrel, about 8 feet off the ground, upside down, with his tail sticking straight up in the air.

Quietly walking closer to investigate, I found that the squirrel had climbed up one of my tall sunflower plants, the top of which was bending over due to the weight of the squirrel, who, clutching the plant stalk with his hind legs, now greedily was digging into the sunflower flower to eat the ripening seeds.

Oh, where is the camera when you need it? By the time I had retrieved mine, the squirrel was already heading down the plant.

Squirrel on Sunflower Plant
Elise Bauer

But that did get me thinking, why leave all the sunflower seeds to the squirrels? The sunflower variety the squirrel was enjoying produces small seeds, too small for me to bother with.

But I had other sunflowers, the mammoth variety, which produces big seeds, the kind that can easily be roasted.

Reveal sunflower seeds in sunflower
Elise Bauer

By the time I got around to it, the squirrels and birds had already eaten all the seeds from every flower except one. The seeds were clearly visible, I pulled one out to check to make sure the size was big enough, cracked it open and ate the raw seed inside. Perfect!

I then placed the flower head on a table (outside, it's rather messy) and rubbed out as many of the big seeds as I could. This would be a fun activity to do with kids if you grow big sunflowers in your garden.

I then boiled the seeds in salted water, drained them, laid them out in a roasting pan, and roasted them.

Sunflower seeds and a flower
Elise Bauer

The question that you may have, and I certainly did, is, is there any way to easily shell the seeds, so you don't have to go through the painstaking process yourself for each nibble?

There is, but it requires expensive commercial machinery. Oh well. The good news is that in-shell, these seeds are hard to overeat! You have to work for it.

The Best Sunflower Seeds for Roasting

Larger varieties of sunflowers, such as Mammoth, produce lots of large seeds and are the best (and easiest!) to roast and eat.

Why We Boil the Seeds First

Boiling the sunflower seeds in salted water infuses the salty flavor into the seeds.

If you don't want salted sunflower seeds, you can skip the boiling step and simply roast them for a few minutes less than if you'd boiled them.

From the Editors Of Simply Recipes

How to Harvest and Roast (In Shell) Sunflower Seeds

Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 35 mins
Total Time 40 mins
Servings 4 servings
Yield 1 cup

If you grow your own sunflowers, the flowers will tell you when they are ready. They'll be droopy, and the petals around the center will be dried. The seeds should be clearly visible.

The best seeds for eating come from the larger varieties of sunflowers.

Just cut away the flower head from the stalk, place the flower head on a flat surface, and rub the center to dislodge the seeds from the flower. If squirrels and birds can get to these seeds, so can you!

These directions are for salted, roasted sunflower seeds. If you don't want them salted, just rinse them off and roast them. Because they aren't soaked through with water, they'll roast much more quickly, perhaps only a few minutes at 400°F.

Add more or less salt to taste, up to 1/4 cup kosher salt for 1 quart of water.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw in-shell sunflower seeds

  • 2 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt, or 2 tablespoons table salt

  • 1 quart water

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Boil sunflower seeds in salted water:

    Place sunflower seeds, salt, and water into a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

    roasted-sunflower-seeds-method-1
    Elise Bauer
    roasted-sunflower-seeds-method-2
    Elise Bauer
  3. Spread seeds on a sheet pan and roast:

    Drain the water from the seeds and spread the seeds out in a single layer in a sheet pan. Place in the preheated oven on the top rack and roast for 10 to 20 minutes.

    roasted-sunflower-seeds-method-3
    Elise Bauer

    Starting at about 10 minutes, I recommend taking a few out of the oven to test. If they are not roasted yet to your satisfaction, return them to the oven for another 2 to 5 minutes, or as long as it takes until they are dry enough and roasted to your satisfaction. Keep checking every few minutes

    The seeds can quickly go from done (dry and easy to bite to open) to charred (browned on outside and black on the inside). So as the time gets closer, keep an eye on it.

    Simple Tip!

    Some of our readers in the comments needed to bake their seeds longer, up to 35 minutes. Your total time will depend on your oven and the size/variety of your sunflower seeds.

    How did you like the recipe? How do you roast your seeds? Leave us a comment and tell us all about it!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
87 Calories
8g Fat
2g Carbs
3g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories 87
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8g 10%
Saturated Fat 1g 4%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 5331mg 232%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 1g 5%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 3g
Vitamin C 0mg 1%
Calcium 21mg 2%
Iron 1mg 4%
Potassium 137mg 3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.