Red kubbeh

Red kubbeh is a kubbeh soup built on tomato paste and paprika, with zucchini, celery and carrot, and beef stuffed semolina dumplings cooked in it. Many Kurdish and Iraqi families in Israel make it, and it sits right in the middle: less sour than hamusta, less sweet than beet kubbeh, with the depth of fried tomato paste.

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Dairy freeMeatAllergens:GlutenCelery

Updated

Red kubbehIllustration
Time2 h 35 minCook 1 h 5 min
Pot8 bowls3.2 litres
Per bowl466 kcal18.8 g protein · a 400 ml bowl
Cost of the pot₪45for the pot, about ₪5.6 a bowl

The story of Red kubbeh

Kubbeh has no single soup. The same filled semolina ball goes into beet soup, a sour green soup, pumpkin soup or an okra stew, and the soup changes with the season and with what is in the house. The red soup, with tomato paste and paprika, is the version you can cook in any month of the year: no fresh beets or Swiss chard needed, just onion, celery, zucchini and a tin of paste.

In Israel it goes by several names: red kubbeh, tomato kubbeh, red kubbeh soup. Kurdish families sometimes make it more sour, with plenty of lemon, and Iraqi families sometimes add dried limes, which give a deep, slightly bitter sourness. The principle is the same everywhere: the soup cooks first, and the kubbeh go in only once its flavour is already deep.

What makes Red kubbeh itself

The secret of red kubbeh is the paste. Tomato paste fried in oil for two minutes, until it darkens to the colour of brick, loses the metallic taste of the tin and gains an almost meaty depth. Paprika brings colour and a gentle sweetness, and the lemon and sugar only steer the soup towards balance, not towards an obvious sweet and sour. The zucchini go in as thick slices and soak up the red.

Red 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
₪45Cost of the pot
₪5.6per bowl
466kcal per bowl
18.8g protein per bowl
IngredientAmountCost
The red base
Canola oil30 ml₪0.5
Large onion, chopped200 g · 1 pcs₪1.2
Celery stalks, sliced200 g · 4 pcs₪3.9
Carrot, sliced150 g · 1 pcs₪0.7
Garlic cloves, chopped15 g · 5 pcs₪0.5
Sweet paprika8 g₪0.7
Turmeric2 g₪0.2
Tomato paste70 g₪2.5
Liquid and vegetables
Crushed tomatoes400 g₪5.0
Water2.2 l
Zucchini, in 2 cm slices500 g · 4 pcs₪6.5
The balance
Fresh lemon juice80 ml₪1.6
Sugar20 g₪0.1
Salt14 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
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 Red 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.

Red kubbeh has 117 calories per 100 ml. A 400 ml bowl made with our recipe has 466 calories: 18.8 g protein, 14.9 g fat and 62.1 g carbohydrates. A 250 ml cup has 291 calories.

Lighter

Ingredients, for the whole recipe

  • 30 ml30 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs10 kcal per serving
  • 4 pcs4 kcal per serving
  • 1 pcs8 kcal per serving
  • 5 pcs3 kcal per serving
  • 8 g3 kcal per serving
  • 2 g1 kcal per serving
  • 70 g12 kcal per serving
  • 400 g16 kcal per serving
  • 4 pcs10 kcal per serving
  • 80 ml2 kcal per serving
  • 20 g10 kcal per serving
  • 14 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
  • 5 g0 kcal per serving
  • 1 g0 kcal per serving

What each add-on adds to Red 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 Red 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 and baharat, add the parsley and cool completely.
  3. Soup: in a wide 6 litre pot, fry the onion, celery and carrot in the oil for 8 minutes over medium heat, until the onion is soft and golden.
  4. Lower the heat slightly, add the garlic, paprika and turmeric and stir for half a minute, then immediately add the tomato paste. Fry for 2 minutes, stirring, until the paste darkens and starts to catch on the bottom.
  5. Add the crushed tomatoes and water, scrape the bottom well, bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes over medium low heat.
  6. 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.
  7. Add the zucchini, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and taste. The soup should be slightly saltier and more sour than seems right, because the kubbeh will absorb some of it.
  8. 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, without stirring with a spoon. Frozen kubbeh need 10 extra minutes.
  9. Turn off the heat and let the pot rest for 10 minutes. Serve 4 kubbeh per bowl, with zucchini slices and vegetables from the pot.

The science of Red kubbeh

Kitchen science

What happens to tomato paste when you fry it

Tomato paste is tomatoes cooked down and concentrated, rich in sugars and amino acids. A short fry in oil sets off Maillard reactions and some caramelisation: new flavour compounds form, the colour darkens, and the sharp, metallic taste of the tin disappears. Paste simply stirred into water gives a red soup that tastes flat.

Kitchen science

The colour of red kubbeh depends on the oil

The red of tomatoes and paprika comes from carotenoids, lycopene in tomato and capsanthin in paprika. They dissolve in fat, not in water, so paprika thrown straight into water gives a cloudy, pale soup, while paprika fried for half a minute in oil tints the whole pot a deep, clear red.

Kitchen science

Why it needs less lemon

Tomatoes bring their own acid, and tomato paste is about as acidic as the fruit, around pH 4 to 4.5. That is why a red kubbeh soup needs far less lemon than other kubbeh soups. Here the lemon should not taste sour on its own; it only sharpens the tomato.

Kitchen science

The kubbeh thicken the soup

As they cook, a little starch leaves the surface of every shell and goes into the soup. Thirty two kubbeh thicken the soup slightly and round off the acidity of the tomatoes, so a soup that looks thin before the kubbeh comes out right after them. Add kubbeh to a pot that has already reduced and you get a thick sauce instead of a soup.

Red kubbeh in every kitchen

Kurdish, more sour

More lemon and less sugar, lots of celery, and sometimes a handful of chopped Swiss chard. Close to hamusta, only red.

Iraqi, with dried lime

Two or three dried limes, pierced with a fork, simmer in the soup and give a deep, bitter sourness. Before serving, press them against the side of the pot with a spoon.

With chickpeas

Cooked chickpeas go in with the zucchini, and the soup becomes a full meal.

With pumpkin or sweet potato

Cubes of pumpkin or sweet potato add sweetness and thicken the soup a little, so halve the sugar.

Spicy

Hot paprika or a fresh chilli fried with the onion, for those who like a red soup with some burn.

Common Red kubbeh problems and how to fix them

The soup tastes bitter

The paprika or garlic burned while frying. Lower the heat before adding them and add the paste almost straight after. If the soup is already bitter, a teaspoon of sugar and a squeeze of lemon soften it but will not remove it.

The soup is too sour

Strong paste plus lemon adds up. Add a teaspoon of sugar or thin with a cup of hot water, and next time add the lemon only after tasting.

My kubbeh fall apart in the soup

Dough too dry and cracking, air left inside, a wet filling, or a hard boil in a crowded pot. A soft dough that does not crack, a cool dry filling and a gentle simmer in one layer solve most cases.

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.

The soup stuck to the bottom and burned

Paste and crushed tomatoes sink and stick, especially in a thin bottomed pot. Scrape the bottom right after adding the water, and once the kubbeh are in, shake the pot instead of stirring.

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 in the fridge, so add a little water and adjust the salt and lemon.

Nutrition of Red 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 bowl46618.814.962.16.8
Our recipe, 100 ml1174.73.715.51.7
Typical Red kubbeh, 100 g2159.24.832.62.1

What the ingredients of Red 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
Zucchini, in 2 cm slices₪13 per kg₪6.5Greengrocer
Crushed tomatoes₪12 per kg₪5Supermarket
Celery stalks, sliced₪6.9 each₪3.9Greengrocer
Semolina₪5.8 per kg₪2.9Supermarket
Tomato paste₪35 per kg₪2.5Supermarket
Large onion, chopped₪5.9 per kg₪2.1Greengrocer
Fresh lemon juice₪20 per litre₪1.6Supermarket
Parsley, chopped₪4.9 each₪1Greengrocer
Carrot, sliced₪4.9 per kg₪0.7Greengrocer
Sweet paprika₪86 per kg₪0.7Supermarket
Canola oil₪15 per litre₪0.7Supermarket
Garlic cloves, chopped₪34 per kg₪0.5Greengrocer
Black pepper₪139 per kg₪0.4Supermarket
Baharat₪119 per kg₪0.4Supermarket
Turmeric₪86 per kg₪0.2Supermarket
Sugar₪5.5 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 Red kubbeh needs

Pantry

Baharat

Price and where to buy

Make Red 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 Red kubbeh

Serve in deep bowls with white rice on the side, and for those who like it, fresh chilli or a little zhug on the table.

The cuisine behind Red kubbeh

Kurdish

Kurdish cuisine

Kubbeh has no single soup. The same filled semolina ball goes into beet soup, a sour green soup, pumpkin soup or an okra stew, and the soup…

Kurdish cuisine
Iraqi

Iraqi cuisine

Iraqi cuisine

Red 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₪141
50201₪282
100402₪564
200803₪1,127
5002008₪2,818

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

Order Red 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 Red kubbeh

Order Red 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 red kubbeh?

A kubbeh soup based on tomato paste and paprika, with zucchini, celery and carrot, and beef stuffed semolina kubbeh cooked in it. It is also called tomato kubbeh or red kubbeh soup.

What is the difference between red kubbeh and beet kubbeh?

Red kubbeh gets its colour from tomato paste and paprika and tastes of tomato, balanced and savoury. Beet kubbeh gets it from beets and is more sweet and sour.

Can I make red kubbeh without tomato paste?

Yes, with 800 g of grated fresh tomatoes cooked for 15 minutes before the water. The colour is lighter and the taste fresher, so add a little more paprika.

How long do kubbeh cook in tomato soup?

35 minutes over low heat from the moment they go in, and 45 minutes for frozen kubbeh. Check that the dough is soft right to the filling.

Can I use shop bought kubbeh?

Yes. Frozen shop bought kubbeh go straight into boiling soup without thawing and cook until the dough is soft to the filling. Homemade kubbeh win on a thinner shell and a richer filling.

Is red kubbeh Kurdish or Iraqi?

Both communities make it, and it has no single name. Kurdish versions are often more sour, and Iraqi versions sometimes include dried limes.

Can I freeze red kubbeh soup?

Yes, for up to a month, but the kubbeh soften after thawing. It is better to freeze the uncooked kubbeh and the soup separately and cook them together on the day.

How many calories are in Red kubbeh?

A 400 ml bowl of Red kubbeh made with our recipe has about 466 calories and 18.8 g of protein. Per 100 ml: 117 calories.

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

A pot of 8 bowls costs about ₪45 at Israeli shelf prices in October 2026, about ₪5.6 a bowl. The calculator above works it out for any number of people.

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