The five-minute pumpkin carving hack I swear by for quick Halloween decorations

I love all things Halloween, whether that's ghoulish Halloween decorating ideas or grinning jack-o-lantern. However, what I do not love is hollowing out the inside of a pumpkin, until I discovered a genius hack for carving pumpkins quickly. 

While there are plenty of lovely no-carve pumpkin decorating ideas out there, I love to dot pumpkin vases around my house and light up my windows with jack-o-lanterns on the 31st October. If like me you find trying to dig the stringy pumpkin insides out with a spoon a painfully laborious experience, I promise this carving hack will be a game-changer.

The hack involves using an electric hand-held whisk to clear out the inside of the pumpkin with minimal effort and fuss. I discovered the hack last Halloween and used it to whip up a mix of pumpkin vases and jack-o-lanterns in record time as it takes just minutes to do. 

The hack is easy enough. You start by cutting off the top of the pumpkin as you usually would before carving. Once you have the lid off move the knife to a safe location in the kitchen and get your electric whisk ready. I use my trusty Salter hand mixer available on Amazon for £21.99.

I would recommend placing your pumpkin on a chopping board on a kitchen worktop, this will protect the surface and give you more control over the whisk. Then put the whisk inside the pumpkin and turned it to the lowest speed. 

To avoid being sprayed with pumpkin seeds angle the whisk slightly and keep the speed low. The goal is to use the whisk to detach all the seeds and stringy bits from the side so they're easy to scoop out. 

Go up and down all the sides to make sure you've reached every last bit. To avoid overloading the whisk I'd do this in ten-second bursts, overall it should take about a minute. 

Once you remove the whisk, you should be able to scoop all the seeds and pumpkin flesh out easily with a dessert spoon. You should have a perfectly hollowed-out pumpkin in under 5 minutes (even 2 minutes once you become a pro). 

All that is left is to decide on your pumpkin design or whether you want to keep things simple with a pumpkin vase. It speeds up the process so much that I found it easier to curate a full pumpkin display without relying on buying extra decorations. 

Never dread hollowing out pumpkins again.