I may have harvested a lifetime supply of sunflower seeds.
For some reason, the sunflowers grew like gangbusters this year, even while everything else struggled.
(Funny story: all of my sunflowers were volunteers this year, and when they first popped up, I thought they were bean plants… so I transplanted them into a nice little square in one of my beds, and then was promptly embarrassed when I realized I’d planted 9 sunflowers extremely close together in the midst of my bean patch.)
So, while no one will be calling me a gardening expert this year (or probably any year), a few weeks ago the kids loaded up wheelbarrows full of our volunteer sunflowers so we could harvest the seeds.
(If you didn’t grow sunflowers this year, check out all these different sunflower varieties you can try growing next year from True Leaf Market.)

How to Harvest Sunflower Seeds
With little effort on my part, my sunflowers reached insane heights this year, and the huge, cheery yellow blooms against the blue prairie sky were the prettiest part of my garden. Not to mention that they attracted pollinators all summer long. Score.
If you plan to harvest the seeds from your sunflowers, it’s important that you wait until the right time (otherwise, you’ll just have empty shells!)
1. Keep an eye on your sunflowers.
The flower itself will start to fade when the seeds inside mature. As the flower fades and the ripening seeds get heavy, the sunflower’s head will begin to droop. Soon after that, the petals will start to curl in and turn brittle.
To get to the seeds, you’ll first need to brush off the hundreds of tiny dead flowers that stand above the hundreds of seeds in each flower head. (Even though we call each sunflower bloom a flower, in reality each bloom is made up of hundreds—sometimes thousands—of teeny tiny flowers in the center. The sunflower seeds are actually the mature ovaries of all those teeny tiny flowers.)
The seeds start developing first along the edges, with the seeds in the center of the sunflowers maturing last. In fact, often times the ones in the center may never reach maturity. That’s totally okay. You can just use all the seeds that do. And you’ll easily know the difference. If it’s not a mature seed, it won’t easily pop out.
You will also need to watch your sunflowers closely because birds and squirrels may want to enjoy the tasty snacks before you get a chance to. If you find critters are really determined to get your sunflower seeds, you could cover the flower heads with cheesecloth or burlap to protect the seeds from the birds while they dry naturally on the stalk.
2. Harvest the flowers.
If you’ve been watching the transformation of your sunflowers, you’ll probably know when they’re ready, but if you aren’t sure, you can always give them a taste test. Gently pry a few seeds from the flower heads and give them a try to see if they are ready to harvest.
If you’ve never eaten sunflower seeds before, you may not know that the part we eat is the tiny kernel inside the outer shell. To expose the kernel, just pop a seed in your mouth and gently pry the shell open with your front teeth.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you’re harvesting sunflowers:
- Wait till the flowers are nice and dry. Never harvest them on a rainy day, or they will turn moldy instead of drying out.
- Cut the flower head off of the stalk and leave about a foot of stem on the flower head if you can, so that you have something to hold and an easy way to hang them to dry.
- Use some good-quality gardening shears. The stalks can be super thick and maybe a little prickly, so good shears are pretty much imperative.
- Place the flower heads gently in a large container or wheelbarrow that can catch any of the seeds that fall out of the heads. I have a wagon that I use for my garden produce, and that makes it super easy to wheel them right to the house. (You’d be surprised how heavy those suckers can be!)
3. Dry the sunflower heads.
If your weather cooperated for you, you might be able to skip this step. Your sunflower heads might be perfectly dry and mature right there on the stalks. If not, you can hang your sunflower heads up to dry by wrapping some twine around the remaining flower stalks and hanging them in closets or on hooks in a place in your house with good air circulation and where they are out of direct sunlight.
You might want to hang them over a basket, bucket, or bowl in order to collect any seeds that fall out as they hang. Or, cover the heads with burlap or cheesecloth to catch any fallen seeds as they hang upside down.
After a week or two, your sunflower heads should be fully dry. You’ll often know they are dried and matured if the seeds come out rather easily when you run your hand along the head. But some varieties of sunflowers hold onto their seeds better and you may find you want to bend back or break the flower head in order to pop the seeds out easily.
4. Remove the sunflower seeds.
There are many different ways you can remove the sunflower seeds from the heads. Here are a few of the most popular ways to remove sunflower seeds:
- Rub two sunflower heads together over a bucket or a paper bag. The seeds of fully-dried and mature sunflowers may fall right off.
- Hang the sunflower heads up somewhere to dry more and wait to remove the seeds until you need them. You might want to put a burlap bag around them to catch any seeds that fall off as they dry.
- Rub the dried seed heads over a coarse wire screen that is on top of a bucket. The seeds will fall out into the bucket.
- Sit on your back porch and remove the seeds by hand in a bucket. Possibly on a rocking chair. This is about as old-fashioned and relaxing as you can get! On the other hand, it’s a nice mindless thing to do when the family is watching a TV show together or you’re talking on the phone. ( We wore rubber gloves as the flowers are sticky and the rubber also helps you grip the seeds and pull them out)
5. Thoroughly dry the sunflower seeds.
Whether you’re saving them for planting in next year’s garden or for eating, those sunflower seeds need to be completely dry before you store them. Of course, if you’re roasting them right after you pick them, no need to dry them first.
To dry your seeds, simply spread them out in a single layer on your kitchen counter or a baking sheet for a few days, removing any debris you may have collected with the seeds. Occasionally, you should mix them up a bit, to make sure they get dried on all sides (no need to be too meticulous about it). If you have an old screen around that you can spread them out on, for nice air circulation, even better.
You’ll know they are completely dry if you pick some up and shake them. If you hear the seed rattling around inside, you know they’re ready for storage. Sunflower seeds sunflower seeds have a long shelf life if kept dry, in a cool, dark place at a constant temperature.
Except mine. They won’t have a long shelf life because Christian is already mowing through them. Here’s how we roasted and salted ours:
How to Roast Sunflower Seeds
Ingredients:
- 2 cups raw and shelled sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup salt (This is the coarse sea salt I love)
- 8 cups water
Directions:
- Rinse the seeds well.
- In a large pot, bring the sunflower seeds, salt, and water to a boil. Reduce the temperature and let them simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Drain the seeds in a colander for a minute or two.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spread the drained seeds onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Place on the top rack in your oven for 10-15 minutes. After 10 minutes, start keeping an eye on the seeds so that they don’t burn and give them a stir with a spatula. Continue to roast and stir until the seeds are dry and crisp. (But not burnt!)
- Let them cool off and enjoy them either warm or at room temperature.
- Store in an airtight container.
Roasted Sunflower Seeds Notes:
- This recipe can easily be double or quadrupled if you have a bunch of seeds like we did
- You can also just soak the seeds in the salt water overnight without simmering first– it just takes a little bit longer.
- The simmering water turned bright purple when we boiled the seeds– I think some of our seeds were black-oil sunflower seeds, which added the extra color.
How to Harvest and Roast Sunflower Seeds
Ingredients
2 cups raw and shelled sunflower seeds
1/4 cup salt
8 cups water
Instructions
- Rinse the seeds well.
- In a large pot, bring the sunflower seeds, salt, and water to a boil. Reduce the temperature and let them simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- Drain the seeds in a colander for a minute or two.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spread the drained seeds onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Place on the top rack in your oven for 10-15 minutes. After 10 minutes, start keeping an eye on the seeds so that they don’t burn and give them a stir with a spatula. Continue to roast and stir until the seeds are dry and crisp. (But not burnt!)
- Let them cool off and enjoy them either warm or at room temperature.
- Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- This recipe can easily be double or quadrupled if you have a bunch of seeds like we did
- You can also just soak the seeds in the salt water overnight without simmering first– it just takes a little bit longer.
- The simmering water turned bright purple when we boiled the seeds– I think some of our seeds were black-oil sunflower seeds, which added the extra color.
More Fall Preserving Tips:
- How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds
- Canning Apple Slices: A Tutorial
- Canning Made Easy: My step-by-step canning process walkthrough– perfect for beginners or nervous canners!
- How to Braid Onions
- A Guide to Quick Pickled Vegetables
Hi! The sunflower seeds I buy from my bulk store are a pale grey colour. Is this a varietal thing or perhaps the way that they’ve been processed? XSkye
I have no way of knowing for sure, but I think they could just be a different kind of sunflower that has different colored seeds.
Hi, these sound delicious. Did I miss how you were shelling them ready for cooking? I’m hoping it’s not all with my teeth. Lol
Yes, I missed the part about how to shell also.
I’m pretty sure she used the wrong word when she said (shelled) in the recipe. The description says *with the shell on* and all of her pictures show shells on.
OMG such VERY detailed instructions on how and when to extract seed from the sunflowers, but NONE on how to shell them. Since there were NO instructions on how to remove the shell from the seeds prior to boiling them and then roasting them, I Thought perhaps the process either softenend the shell enough to make them edible or they would crack and fall off. Neihter happend. The shells are quite inedible. I was ready to toss them out. I then went to ANOTHER site, and found that to remove shells enmass, you do not have to bite into EVERY one, but put them in a ziplock bag and roll over them with a rolling pin a few times. THEN put them in a pan of water. The seeds will float, the shells will sink. I will try that next year. In the meantime, I am trying to decide what to do with the seeds I roasted shell on. I will try the rolling pin , but if that fails now that they are cooked I may decide that like chicken wings, they are too much work for what I get out of it.
So awesome–thank you very much! I couldn’t believe how they came out, just like the ‘real deal’ you could get at the store.
My dad is a sunflower seed addict and he suggested roasting them just a bit more at 200f after they were ‘done’ (I wasn’t sure about it) but about a half hour more at half temp and they’re so perfectly crispy you can eat the shell and all. Thanks again so much for the recipe!
Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Time-out! Lacking any place to comment about the article on olive oil giveaway (10-21-2019), you made a comment, Jill, about canola oil not being a whole food, and calling it and its cousin oils, rancid. Please elaborate!!
I second PammiKimm – you left out what in my opinion is the most crucial part – how to shell all of those seeds before washing and roasting them in a timely manner. Please provide a detailed post on that!
My mom always grows beautiful sunflowers and then she picks the heads and dries them. She stops there though. She says they are so pretty that she just wants to display them. Thanks for the tips on how to harvest them. I will have to share with her so we can roast them up instead!
Hey, displaying them is awesome too! But roasting them is yummy. 🙂
While you’re waiting for your sunflowers to mature enough to harvest, make sure you protect them from critters. Birds and squirrels like sunflower seeds too.
Can you roast them in the shell to take as whole seed to munch on like the quick shops have. If so what’s the recipe for that please.
Worked like a charm! Thank you for an easy recipe. I’m excited to use it on more of our sunflower seeds once I’ve harvested them. I may even mix it up a bit and try some different seasonings on them.
Please advise how to store for winter and plant again next year
Ten minutes was way too long for shelled seeds. By the time I drew near to turn off the timer, I could smell them. So many scorched to be thrown away. Wish I had followed another recipe that I now see says to only bake seven minutes.
Just dry them as usual, and then toss them inside a freezer bag, or any bag for that matter (it could be paper too) then put them in the freezer over the winter to “Stratify” the seeds. Stratifying he seeds just tells the seeds that Winter has come and gone when You take the seeds out to use the next year. I leave my seeds in the freezer for at least a month, as I will also use new seeds produced with some plants, because I can grow them more than once in a season….
OMG such VERY detailed instructions on how and when to extract seed from the sunflowers, but NONE on how to shell them. Since there were NO instructions on how to remove the shell from the seeds prior to boiling them and then roasting them, I Thought perhaps the process either softenend the shell enough to make them edible or they would crack and fall off. Neihter happend. The shells are quite inedible. I was ready to toss them out. I then went to ANOTHER site, and found that to remove shells enmass, you do not have to bite into EVERY one, but put them in a ziplock bag and roll over them with a rolling pin a few times. THEN put them in a pan of water. The seeds will float, the shells will sink. I will try that next year. In the meantime, I am trying to decide what to do with the seeds I roasted shell on. I will try the rolling pin , but if that fails now that they are cooked I may decide that like chicken wings, they are too much work for what I get out of it.
I agree with the other commenters- paragraphs about how to deal with the flower heads, absolutely nothing about the only really difficult bit- how to get the seeds out of the shell. And no reply to any of the questions about it either.
Very disappointing.
Thanks LOADS!!! That was far simpler than I thought that it would be… Sunflowers are fun, and easy to grow, and propagate… I Grew (3) three kinds this year. Now I need to figure out what they actually were… LoL 😉