Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Soup Joumou
A golden squash soup with beef, pasta, and root vegetables, Haiti's soup of freedom, eaten every New Year's Day.
Haitian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 90 min
~423 cal · 27g protein · 54g carbs · 12g fat · 8g fiber · 10g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Soup joumou is the most meaningful dish in Haiti. Under French colonial slavery, the enslaved were forbidden from eating this rich squash soup, which was reserved for their enslavers. When Haiti won its independence on January 1, 1804, the first free republic born of a slave revolt, freed Haitians made and ate it in celebration.
Ever since, every Haitian household cooks a pot on New Year's Day, and the tradition is so central to national identity that UNESCO added it to its list of intangible cultural heritage in 2021. To eat it is to taste freedom itself.
The soup is built on joumou, a West Indian pumpkin blended smooth into a golden broth, simmered with beef, pasta, potato, cabbage, and carrot, and seasoned with the herb-and-citrus base called epis. Hearty and celebratory, it is shared with neighbours and anyone who passes.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg-, nut- 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
2 lb kabocha or butternut squash, peeled and chunked
1 lb beef stew meat
1 cup small pasta (rigatoni or )
2 potatoes, chunked
2 carrots, sliced
1 turnip, chunked
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cups cabbage, shredded
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lime, juiced
1 pepper, whole
1 handful fresh thyme and parsley
5 whole cloves
Instructions
1
Marinate the beef in lime, garlic, and herbs (epis), then brown it in a large pot.
2
Boil the squash separately until soft, blend smooth, and add to the pot with plenty of water.
3
Add the potato, carrot, turnip, celery, onion, cloves, and whole scotch bonnet, and simmer until the beef is tender, about 1 hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the scotch bonnet whole and lift it out before it bursts. It should scent the golden broth, not set it on fire.
4
Add the cabbage and pasta and cook until the pasta is done and the soup is thick.
5
Season well, remove the pepper, and serve hot to everyone who arrives.
Haitian Independence Day tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ouest (Port-au-Prince). The first of January is independence day, and the first meal of the year is soup joumou, a squash soup that colonists once kept for themselves. UNESCO added it to the intangible heritage list in 2021, for what it stands for as much as for how it is made.
🗺️
Haiti. Soup joumou is drunk on 1 January and means what it is drunk for. The squash soup was associated with French colonists and became, after independence in 1804, the dish that marks the anniversary of freedom, eaten by everyone that morning. UNESCO inscribed it in 2021, Haiti's first inscription.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Haiti
Diri Kolé ak PwaHaiti’s national rice and beans: red beans cooked into coconut-scented rice with thyme, clove, and Scotch bonnet.
Espageti AyisyenHaiti's famous breakfast spaghetti tossed with smoky herring, onions, peppers, and a hit of epis and ketchup, savory morning comfort.
Pen PatatA dense baked pudding of sweet potato, banana, and coconut milk, warmly spiced, a Haitian Sunday sweet.
Browse all Haiti recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Blender.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Haiti meal
KremasDrink
Pen PatatDessert
Diri Kolé ak PwaDinner
Similar dishes from around the world
FrittatensuppeAustria
GuiamboCuraçao
KhinkaliGeorgia
Miyan Taushe (Pumpkin and Groundnut Soup)Niger
Pyongyang MandugukNorth Korea
Scotch BrothUnited Kingdom
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Soup Joumou?
A golden squash soup with beef, pasta, and root vegetables, Haiti's soup of freedom, eaten every New Year's Day.
Where does Soup Joumou come from?
Soup Joumou is a Haitian dish from Ouest (Port-au-Prince), Haiti.
Can Soup Joumou be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Soup Joumou 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 Soup Joumou 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 Soup Joumou take to make?
About 120 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.