Recipes with sunflower seeds and oil

Sunflower seed is more than bird food. The hulled kernel is a complete, protein- and fat-rich snack that is just as easy to work with as a pine nut or pumpkin seed, but a good deal cheaper. This kitchen guide sets out four recipes that build on one another: you start with roasted salted seeds, and then use those in a pesto, a bread and — less well known — a dish made from the young buds. If you first want to know why the kernel is so nutritious, or how sunflower oil is pressed, read the background at oil & food from sunflower seed. And if you want to use your own harvest, start with harvesting sunflowers and saving seed.

First this: raw, hulling and roasting

You can eat raw sunflower seeds, but two things matter. First: the hard, striped shell is tough and inedible. Use hulled seeds (the grey-white kernels you buy loose), or hull them yourself — with snack varieties that have a thin shell this is easier than with oil varieties. Second: seed used for eating must be clean and dry. Your own seed that dried too slowly can be mouldy; a musty smell or a film means throw it away. The American National Sunflower Association (2022) also points out that seeds in the shell contain a lot of indigestible fibre in large quantities, so for a snack hulled seeds or a thin-hulled variety are more pleasant.

Roasting almost always improves the flavour: it rids the kernel of its raw aftertaste and makes it crisp. It can be done dry in a frying pan or in the oven. One thing to remember — roasted or salted seed will no longer germinate, so keep seed for sowing and seed for eating apart, as the harvest guide also explains. Which varieties give large, tender snack seeds is covered in the variety overviews.

1. Roasted salted sunflower seeds

The basic recipe the rest leans on. For a crunchy snack or a topping over salad, soup and yoghurt.

Makes about 200 g (7 oz) · soak overnight · roast 15–18 min

• 200 g (7 oz / about 1½ cups) raw sunflower seeds (hulled, or in shell from a thin-hulled variety)
• 1 litre (4¼ cups) water
• 2 tablespoons salt, plus extra to finish
• 1 teaspoon oil (optional, only for seeds in shell)

Dissolve the salt in the water and let the seeds soak overnight; this draws the salt in. Drain and pat thoroughly dry. Spread the seeds in a thin layer on a baking tray and roast them for 15 to 18 minutes at 150 °C (300 °F), stirring halfway through, until light brown and crisp. Let them cool on the tray — they crisp up further as they cool — and sprinkle with extra salt to taste. If you want a quicker result without soaking, roast dry seeds straight away in a frying pan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, in about 4 to 6 minutes. Watch out: they burn quickly, so stay with them.

2. Sunflower-seed pesto

Pine nuts are expensive; sunflower seeds do their job in pesto at least as well and give a milder, nutty flavour. Lovely through pasta, on bread or as a dip.

Makes about 1 jar (250 ml / 1 cup) · 10 min

• 75 g (2½ oz) roasted sunflower seeds (see recipe 1, without extra salt)
• 50 g (1¾ oz) fresh basil (leaves)
• 40 g (1½ oz) grated hard cheese, or nutritional yeast for a plant-based version
• 1 clove garlic
• 100 ml (scant ½ cup) sunflower oil or olive oil
• juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper

Coarsely grind the seeds, basil, cheese and garlic in a food processor. With the machine running, pour in the oil until you have a smooth mass. Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Store in a sealed jar with a film of oil on top; in the fridge the pesto keeps for a few days like this. With sunflower oil instead of olive oil the flavour becomes more neutral and the colour lighter. To find out which oil is best suited to this, see oil & food again. The same base also works as a spread: leave out the basil, use a little more oil and a pinch of paprika, and you have a creamy sunflower-seed spread for bread or a cracker.

3. Wholemeal bread or crackers with seeds

Roasted or raw seeds give bread and crackers a bite and a nutty flavour. The simplest is a handful through your regular bread dough, but these flat crackers are ready without proving time.

Makes about 20 crackers · 10 min work · 20 min oven

• 150 g (5¼ oz / about 1¼ cups) wholemeal flour
• 60 g (2 oz) sunflower seeds (raw or lightly roasted), plus extra to sprinkle
• 3 tablespoons sunflower oil
• about 80 ml (⅓ cup) water
• ½ teaspoon salt, optionally seeds such as sesame or linseed

Mix the flour, seeds and salt, add the oil and knead into a firm, cohesive dough with a little water at a time. Roll it out thinly (2 to 3 mm) between two sheets of baking paper, sprinkle with extra seeds and press them in lightly. Cut into diamonds, prick with a fork and bake for 18 to 22 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F) until golden brown and crisp. For bread, instead mix 75–100 g (2½–3½ oz) of seeds through a standard dough of 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) flour and sprinkle the crust before baking — so the same seeds you keep for the birds you can just as easily bake yourself.

4. Young sunflower buds, cooked like an artichoke

Less well known, but the closed flower bud of the sunflower is edible and tastes mild, a little like artichoke or bitter asparagus. You harvest it well before flowering, while the bud is still firm and closed and the ray florets are not yet open. Open buds turn bitter and woody.

For 4 buds as a side dish · 15–20 min

• 4 young, closed sunflower buds
• water with salt and a dash of lemon juice or vinegar
• butter or sunflower oil, pepper, salt to serve

Cut the buds off with a piece of stem and remove the outer, scale-like leaves and any prickly tips. Boil them for 12 to 18 minutes in plenty of salted, lightly acidulated water until tender (a fork goes in easily). Drain and serve with melted butter or a dash of sunflower oil, pepper and salt — just like a small artichoke, of which you eat the soft base and the flower base. Note: only harvest buds from plants you are sure have not been treated with a plant protection product. If you want to do this with children, it is a fun experiment from the garden; more kitchen fun and experiments are on the kids' page.

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