Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin)
A whole pumpkin packed with rice, dried apricots, walnuts, and honey, baked until the shell is a spoonable bowl.
Armenian · medium · serves 6
prep 25 min · cook 90 min
~512 cal · 10g protein · 67g carbs · 27g fat · 5g fiber · 33g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ghapama is a festive Armenian dish, a whole pumpkin hollowed out, packed with rice, dried apricots, raisins, walnuts, and honey, then baked until tender and dramatically brought whole to the table before being cut open. Sweet and celebratory, it is a centerpiece of Armenian Christmas and New Year feasts.
The dish celebrates the autumn harvest and Armenia's abundant dried fruits and nuts, the pumpkin steaming the sweet, spiced rice within until it's fragrant and soft. It is beloved enough to have its own folk song, sung as the dish is served.
Opened at the table so the jeweled rice spills out, ghapama is a dish of hospitality and holiday joy in Yerevan and across Armenia.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1 (about 4 lbs) small round pumpkin
1.5 cups rice, par-cooked
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup prunes
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup honey
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1 a pinch of salt
Instructions
1
Cut a lid from the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds, leaving the walls intact.
✎ Chef’s note
Choose a firm, evenly shaped pumpkin and leave the walls thick enough to hold their shape, since it has to survive a long bake and being carried whole to the table.
2
Mix the par-cooked rice with the dried fruit, walnuts, honey, half the butter, cinnamon, and salt.
3
Pack the filling into the pumpkin, drizzle with the rest of the butter, and replace the lid.
4
Bake at 350F (175C) for 80 to 90 minutes, until a knife slides easily through the pumpkin wall.
5
Carry it whole to the table and cut down into wedges, so each serving has sweet rice and soft roasted pumpkin together.
Yerevan celebration tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Yerevan. Yerevan turns autumn into ghapama, a whole pumpkin stuffed with rice, dried fruit, and nuts and baked until collapsing. Armenian cooking rests on lavash bread, apricots, herbs by the handful, grilled khorovats meats, and cracked wheat.
🗺️
Armenia. The apricot carries Armenia's name in Latin, Prunus armeniaca, but genetic work points to Central Asia rather than Armenia as the centre of origin, and the name reflects the route by which the fruit reached Europe. What is not in doubt is how deep it runs here: it is the national fruit, its colour sits on the flag, and the duduk is carved from apricot wood.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Armenia
KhorovatsArmenian barbecue: marinated pork or lamb grilled over vine coals with fire-roasted vegetables.
Zhingyalov HatsThin flatbread stuffed with a dozen or more chopped herbs and greens, griddled until blistered.
SpasA warming yogurt-and-wheat soup fragrant with mint and herbs, a soothing Armenian everyday bowl.
Browse all Armenia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Armenia meal
KhorovatsDinner
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin)?
A whole pumpkin packed with rice, dried apricots, walnuts, and honey, baked until the shell is a spoonable bowl.
Where does Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) come from?
Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) is a Armenian dish from Yerevan, Armenia.
Can Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ghapama (Stuffed Pumpkin) take to make?
About 115 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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