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Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)
Nuts & Seeds · Seeds
TLDRLast updated 4 September 2026
Pepitas go where a nut would cause trouble. Two tablespoons, 30 g, are rated green, on 0.05 g of GOS and a trace of fructans, and that is a proper scatter over a salad, a soup or a breakfast bowl. If you are handling a nut allergy alongside IBS, or you have simply run out of nuts you trust, this is the crunch that survives both problems at once.
Last updated 4 September 2026Serving sizes for pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Two tablespoons of pepitas, about 30 g, are rated green. It is the only tested portion, and a generous one.
2 tablespoonsabout 30 g
Tested serving sizes
| Serving | Amount | Main FODMAP | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 tablespoons | 30 g | GOS 0.05 g |
Breakdown for 2 tablespoons
0gFructose
0gLactose
0.02gFructans
0.05gGOS
0gSorbitol
0gMannitol
2 tablespoonsabout 30 g
Is pumpkin seeds (pepitas) low FODMAP?
The GOS reading is 0.05 g, half the amount at which a portion starts to count as moderate, with fructans at 0.02 g and nothing recorded under the other four groups. What makes that useful is the weight it applies to: 30 g of seeds is two and a half times the green almonds serve of 12 g, so you get considerably more volume for less fermentable load. One portion has been tested, so treat two tablespoons as the measured amount rather than assuming a whole bag behaves the same way.
Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas) and IBS: what to know
Seeds are mechanically rough in a way nuts are not, and a sensitive gut sometimes notices that before it notices anything fermentable. Hulled pepitas are the soft green kernels and suit most people; whole pumpkin seeds still in their pale shells are far more fibrous, and a bowl of those roasted after carving a pumpkin is a different experience from a spoonful over soup. Then there is the company they keep, because trail mixes pair pepitas with cashews, amber at ten nuts, and with dried fruit carrying fructans and sorbitol of its own.
Gut-friendly ways to eat pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Toast them dry in a hot pan until they pop and puff, salt them while they are still hot, and they stop being health-food decoration. From there they scatter over pumpkin soup, a grain bowl or roast vegetables, and they blitz into a green, faintly grassy pesto at a fraction of the cost of a pine nut version. They also let you build a breakfast bowl without buying granola, which is amber at two tablespoons, with fructans, excess fructose and sorbitol all appearing in that small serve.
Recipes with pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Frequently asked questions
How many pumpkin seeds can I eat with IBS?
Two tablespoons, about 30 g, is the green-rated portion, and it is the only one measured. In practice that is more than most recipes ask for, since a scatter over four bowls of soup uses less than one serve between everybody. Larger amounts sit outside the data, and a whole bag in an afternoon is a lot of fibre regardless of the rating.
Are pepitas a good replacement for nuts?
They are the closest thing to a like-for-like swap during elimination. You get salt, crunch and a green rating at a two-tablespoon serve, which is roughly what chopped nuts contribute to a dish anyway. They also work when nuts are off the table entirely for allergy reasons, which is not true of any nut-for-nut substitution.
Are pumpkin seeds in the shell the same as pepitas?
They are the same seed, but not the same mouthful. This entry describes hulled pepitas, the flat green kernels sold in bags. The whole seeds you scoop out of a pumpkin keep a tough, fibrous white husk, which adds a lot of insoluble fibre and takes real chewing. Nothing about the FODMAP figures changes; the roughage does.
Which other seeds can I sprinkle on food?
Sunflower seeds, hemp seeds and sesame seeds all have their own entries in this guide, each with its own tested portion, so a rotation is possible rather than eating pepitas on everything. Hemp seeds are the softest and disappear into yoghurt or porridge; sesame toasts fastest and burns quickest; sunflower seeds sit closest to pepitas in size and salt.
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