Pumpkin kubbeh

Pumpkin kubbeh is an orange, sweet and sour pumpkin soup with semolina dumplings stuffed with beef. Iraqi Jewish families call it kubbeh qara, and it is a soup for autumn and winter, when pumpkin is at its sweetest.

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Dairy freeMeatAllergens:Gluten

Updated

Pumpkin kubbehIllustration
Time2 h 35 minCook 1 h 5 min
Pot8 bowls3.2 litres
Per bowl453 kcal17.5 g protein · a 400 ml bowl
Cost of the pot₪40for the pot, about ₪5 a bowl

The story of Pumpkin kubbeh

Qara is Arabic for pumpkin or squash, and in Iraq the orange pumpkin was called qara ahmar, the red pumpkin. Kubbeh qara was one of the regular kubbeh soups of the Iraqi kitchen, alongside beet soup, okra stew and the sour soups, and like all of them it followed the season: when pumpkin was in the market, it was in the pot.

In Israel the soup stayed in homes more than on menus. It is made with local orange pumpkin or butternut squash, a little tomato paste to deepen the orange, and lemon and sugar in amounts every family tunes its own way. Some Iraqi families sour it with the juice of bitter oranges, which gives a rounder, more fragrant sourness than lemon.

What makes Pumpkin kubbeh itself

Pumpkin kubbeh is the sweet one in the kubbeh soup family. The pumpkin gives both sweetness and body: some cubes stay whole and some melt into the soup and thicken it without any flour. The lemon is there so the sweetness never feels heavy, and the real skill is deciding when the pumpkin stays in cubes and when it falls apart, which is a matter of acid and timing.

Pumpkin kubbeh for any number of people

Change the number of people and the bowl size, and every ingredient updates in grams, with the cost, calories and protein per bowl.

Bowl size
Units
3.2litres in the pot
4Pot to use, litres
₪40Cost of the pot
₪5.0per bowl
453kcal per bowl
17.5g protein per bowl
IngredientAmountCost
The base
Canola oil30 ml₪0.5
Large onion, chopped200 g · 1 pcs₪1.2
Carrot, sliced150 g · 1 pcs₪0.7
Garlic cloves, chopped10 g · 3 pcs₪0.4
Sweet paprika5 g₪0.4
Turmeric2 g₪0.2
Tomato paste30 g₪1.1
The pumpkin
Orange pumpkin, peeled, in 3 cm cubes900 g₪12
Water2.2 l
Sweet and sour
Fresh lemon juice, in two parts100 ml₪2.0
Sugar, in two parts30 g₪0.2
Salt13 g₪0.0
Black pepper2 g₪0.3
Kubbeh dough
Semolina500 g₪2.9
Lukewarm water320 ml
Salt6 g₪0.0
Kubbeh filling
Ground beef350 g₪16
Onion, finely chopped150 g · 1 pcs₪0.9
Canola oil15 ml₪0.2
Parsley, chopped20 g₪1.0
Baharat3 g₪0.4
Cinnamon1 g₪0.1
Salt5 g₪0.0
Black pepper1 g₪0.1
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Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026. Nutrition from the ingredients in grams, before cooking.

How many calories in Pumpkin kubbeh? Nutrition facts and calorie calculator

Change the amount of any ingredient, drop one, or pick a lighter version, and the numbers per serving update at once: calories, fat, carbs, protein, sodium and fibre.

Pumpkin kubbeh has 113 calories per 100 ml. A 400 ml bowl made with our recipe has 453 calories: 17.5 g protein, 14.6 g fat and 61.7 g carbohydrates. A 250 ml cup has 283 calories.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 30 ml30 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs10 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs8 kcal per serving
  • 3 pcs2 kcal per serving
  • 5 g2 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving
  • 30 g5 kcal per serving
  • 900 g20 kcal per serving
  • 100 ml3 kcal per serving
  • 30 g15 kcal per serving
  • 13 g0 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving
  • 500 g225 kcal per serving
  • 6 g0 kcal per serving
  • 350 g108 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs8 kcal per serving
  • 15 ml15 kcal per serving
  • 20 g1 kcal per serving
  • 3 g0 kcal per serving
  • 1 g0 kcal per serving
  • 5 g0 kcal per serving
  • 1 g0 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Pumpkin kubbeh

Values for the amount in the row, from the national food database.

Add-onCaloriesProtein, gFat, g
A tablespoon of oil122013.8
A slice of white bread792.50.5
A slice of challah12641.1
A side cup of cooked rice, about1823.50.3

How to make Pumpkin kubbeh

In cook mode the screen stays on, tap a step when it is done, and the timers run next to each step.
  1. Dough: mix the semolina and salt, add the water gradually and knead for 5 minutes, until the dough is soft, slightly tacky and does not crack when pressed. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
  2. Filling: fry the onion in the oil for 8 minutes over medium heat, add the beef and break it up for 8 minutes until the liquid evaporates. Season with salt, pepper, baharat and cinnamon, add the parsley and cool completely.
  3. Soup: in a wide 6 litre pot, fry the onion and carrot in the oil for 8 minutes over medium heat. Add the garlic, paprika and turmeric for half a minute, then the tomato paste for another minute.
  4. Add the pumpkin cubes, the water, half the lemon juice and half the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes over medium low heat, until the pumpkin starts to soften but still holds its shape.
  5. Meanwhile shape 32 kubbeh: with wet hands, 26 g of dough and 14 g of filling each. Seal well, press gently to push out the air and roll into a smooth ball.
  6. Season with the rest of the lemon and sugar, the salt and pepper, and taste. The soup should be clearly sweet and sour and slightly saltier than you would like.
  7. Lower the kubbeh into the gently boiling soup one at a time, in a single layer, and cook for 35 minutes over low heat with the lid half on. Do not stir with a spoon, or you will break both kubbeh and pumpkin. Frozen kubbeh need 10 extra minutes.
  8. Turn off the heat and let the pot rest for 10 minutes; the soup will thicken a little. Serve 4 kubbeh and a few pumpkin cubes per bowl.

The science of Pumpkin kubbeh

Kitchen science

Why the pumpkin in pumpkin kubbeh falls apart or stays whole

Pumpkin cell walls are glued together by pectin. With heat in neutral conditions pectin breaks down quickly through a reaction called beta elimination, and the pumpkin melts. In acidic conditions, around pH 4, that reaction almost stops. So lemon added at the start keeps the cubes whole, and lemon added only at the end lets the pumpkin melt and thicken the soup.

Kitchen science

Sugar holds the cubes too

Sugar slows the softening of pumpkin: it binds water and reinforces the cell walls, the same way fruit poached in syrup keeps its shape. That is another reason to add half the sugar at the start, together with half the lemon.

Kitchen science

The orange travels through the oil

The colour of pumpkin, carrot and paprika comes from carotenoids, and turmeric's yellow from curcumin. All of them dissolve in fat, not water. That is why the spices are fried in oil for half a minute before the liquid goes in, and the whole soup turns a deep, clear orange instead of a pale yellow.

Kitchen science

Why winter pumpkin is sweeter

A pumpkin that has been picked and stored for a few weeks is sweeter than one fresh from the field, because some of its starch turns into sugar during storage. Midwinter pumpkin needs less sugar, so always taste before adding the second half.

Pumpkin kubbeh in every kitchen

Iraqi, kubbeh qara

Large pumpkin cubes in a fairly thin orange soup, sweet and sour, with a little tomato paste and sometimes a pinch of cinnamon in the filling.

With bitter orange juice

Bitter orange juice in place of some of the lemon. The sourness is rounder, with a scent of citrus peel.

With butternut squash

Butternut is sweeter and melts faster. Cut it into bigger cubes and use a little less sugar.

Thick, half blended

Blend a third of the cooked pumpkin with a little soup and return it to the pot before the kubbeh. The soup turns velvety, almost creamy, with no cream or milk.

With zucchini

Thick zucchini slices added with the kubbeh bring green colour and texture and balance the pumpkin's sweetness.

Common Pumpkin kubbeh problems and how to fix them

The soup is too sweet

A very sweet pumpkin plus sugar. Add lemon a spoonful at a time and a little salt, and next time add the second half of the sugar only after tasting.

The pumpkin fell apart completely

The cubes were too small, the lemon went in too late, or the pot was stirred with a spoon. Cut 3 cm cubes, add half the lemon with the pumpkin, and shake the pot instead of stirring.

My kubbeh fall apart in the pumpkin soup

A thick soup boils in big bubbles that knock the kubbeh about. Cook over the lowest heat that keeps a gentle simmer, in a single layer, and make sure the dough is soft and uncracked and the filling cool and dry.

The soup stuck to the bottom

Pumpkin that has broken down sinks and catches easily. Cook over low heat in a heavy bottomed pot, and if the soup gets too thick before the kubbeh, add a cup of hot water.

The kubbeh came out hard

A shell that is too thick, dough that is too dry, or cooking that was too short. A thin round of dough, 26 g per kubbeh, and 35 minutes of cooking give a shell that is soft right to the filling.

Storing, freezing and reheating

3 days

In the fridge

3 months for uncooked kubbeh, 1 month for the soup with kubbeh

In the freezer

2+4

To cool

Bring it from 60 to 21 °C within two hours and down to 5 °C within four more. Split a big pot into shallow boxes.

75 °C

Reheating

Reheat over low heat with the lid on, without stirring with a spoon. The soup thickens a lot in the fridge, so add hot water and adjust the lemon and salt.

Nutrition of Pumpkin kubbeh

From our recipe, per bowl and per 100 g, next to the national food database.

ServingkcalProtein, gFat, gCarbs, gFibre, g
Our recipe, a 400 ml bowl45317.514.661.74.8
Our recipe, 100 ml1134.43.615.41.2
Typical Pumpkin kubbeh, 100 g230.50.93.50.4
Typical Pumpkin kubbeh, 100 g (2)2159.24.832.62.1

What the ingredients of Pumpkin kubbeh cost

What each ingredient costs in one pot, and where to buy it.

IngredientPriceIn this potWhere to buy
Ground beef₪46 per kg₪16Supermarket
Orange pumpkin, peeled, in 3 cm cubes₪13 per kg₪12Greengrocer
Semolina₪5.8 per kg₪2.9Supermarket
Large onion, chopped₪5.9 per kg₪2.1Greengrocer
Fresh lemon juice, in two parts₪20 per litre₪2Supermarket
Tomato paste₪35 per kg₪1.1Supermarket
Parsley, chopped₪4.9 each₪1Greengrocer
Carrot, sliced₪4.9 per kg₪0.7Greengrocer
Canola oil₪15 per litre₪0.7Supermarket
Sweet paprika₪86 per kg₪0.4Supermarket
Black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.4Supermarket
Baharat₪119 per kg₪0.4Supermarket
Garlic cloves, chopped₪34 per kg₪0.3Greengrocer
Turmeric₪86 per kg₪0.2Supermarket
Sugar, in two parts₪5.5 per kg₪0.2Supermarket
Cinnamon₪140 per kg₪0.1Supermarket
Salt₪2.1 per kg₪0.1Supermarket

Shelf prices at a large Israeli chain and specialty shops, October 2026, VAT included. Vegetable prices change with the season.

From the pantry: what Pumpkin kubbeh needs

Pantry

Baharat

Price and where to buy

Make Pumpkin kubbeh a meal

Shabbat

Ready Shabbat food

Soup, hamin, mains and sides, with a quantity calculator and prices.

Plan Shabbat
Hosting

Hosting trays

9 trays to go with the soup, with a planner by number of guests.

Tray planner
Events

Catering

A whole menu in grams per guest, with a reheating table.

Menus

What to serve with Pumpkin kubbeh

Serve in deep bowls with white rice on the side. Many Iraqi families put rice on the plate, set kubbeh and pumpkin on top and pour over a little soup.

The cuisine behind Pumpkin kubbeh

Iraqi

Iraqi cuisine

Qara is Arabic for pumpkin or squash, and in Iraq the orange pumpkin was called qara ahmar, the red pumpkin. Kubbeh qara was one of the…

Iraqi cuisine

Pumpkin kubbeh in large quantities: events, offices and communities

How much of everything by number of guests, at a 400 ml bowl. For institutional pots, catering and community kitchens.

GuestsLitres30 l potsCost of ingredients
25101₪125
50201₪251
100402₪501
200803₪1,002
5002008₪2,506

Every ingredient for any number of guests is in the calculator above: type the number of people.

Order Pumpkin kubbeh

A ready pot for Shabbat, an event or the office, ordered ahead.

  • Cooked to order, for Shabbat, an event or the office.
  • Tell us how many people and when, and we send a quote.
  • Delivery in Tel Aviv from ₪35, free over ₪750.
Ask for a quote for Pumpkin kubbeh

Order Pumpkin kubbeh for a large event

Large orders in Israel and abroad: events, offices, synagogues, communities and institutions.

  • In Israel: cooked in Tel Aviv and delivered to events in the area, and to large events anywhere in the country on a quote.
  • Abroad: for communities, events and restaurants. Tell us where, how many and when, and we come back with a quote and options.
  • Institutional quantities and a shopping list for any number of guests, in the calculator above.
Ask for a large-order quote

Frequently asked questions

What is kubbeh qara?

The Iraqi name for pumpkin kubbeh: an orange, sweet and sour pumpkin soup with beef filled semolina kubbeh. Qara means pumpkin or squash in Arabic, and qara ahmar is the orange pumpkin.

Which pumpkin is best for pumpkin kubbeh?

A regular orange pumpkin or butternut squash. Orange pumpkin holds its cubes better; butternut is sweeter and melts faster, so cut it larger.

How long does pumpkin kubbeh cook?

The pumpkin cooks for 15 minutes on its own, then the kubbeh for 35 minutes over low heat, or 45 minutes if frozen. Then 10 minutes of rest.

Can I use frozen pumpkin?

Yes, but frozen pumpkin melts quickly. Add it only 5 minutes before the kubbeh, and expect a thicker soup with fewer whole cubes.

Is pumpkin kubbeh sour or sweet?

Sweet and sour, leaning sweet. It is the sweetest of the kubbeh soups, and the lemon is there to balance the pumpkin, not to make a sour soup.

Can I freeze pumpkin kubbeh?

Freeze the uncooked kubbeh for up to 3 months and cook them straight from frozen. The soup with kubbeh keeps a month in the freezer, but the pumpkin and kubbeh soften.

Is pumpkin kubbeh Iraqi?

Yes, the name kubbeh qara comes from the kitchen of Iraqi Jews. In Israel today it is cooked in homes from every community.

How many calories are in Pumpkin kubbeh?

A 400 ml bowl of Pumpkin kubbeh made with our recipe has about 453 calories and 17.5 g of protein. Per 100 ml: 113 calories.

How much does it cost to make Pumpkin kubbeh at home?

A pot of 8 bowls costs about ₪40 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪5 a bowl. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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