Turkish candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; so easy and scrumptious
We all have pumpkins in our minds at this time of the year; I love its natural sweetness and comforting, luscious flavor. This scrumptious candied pumpkin dessert is popular in Türkiye and it is so very easy to make. Pumpkin is baked here in its very own juice with sugar and the result is an exquisite dessert with the full flavor of pumpkin, also fancy enough to share with family and friends.
This lovely light dessert, Kabak Tatlısı, is wonderful served with crushed walnuts. In Türkiye , it is also served with our thick clotted cream, kaymak. If you can’t get kaymak, clotted cream also complements this dessert well. You can also add a few cloves or cinnamon sticks to its juice before baking, if you’d like to spice up this dessert. Butternut squash also works well in this recipe.
Luscious candied pumpkin dessert, Kabak Tatlisi; great for entertaining
I hope you can give this delicious, glistening pumpkin dessert a try; it may also be a lovely addition for your holiday entertaining and a great way to use up pumpkin leftover from Halloween, too. I like the Crown Prince variety, though I made this dessert successfully with regular pumpkin, as well as butternut squash too. For a delicious variation, drizzle a little tahini over the baked pumpkin when serving.
Why not also, have a go at my Pumpkin and Walnut Baklava, from my new book SEBZE? Inspired by our pumpkin dessert, I used luscious baked pumpkin pieces, combined with walnuts and cinnamon, in my festive version of baklava, so delicious, easy and lighter. You can get your copy of SEBZE here.
Serves 6 – 8
1kg/2 ¼ lb. pumpkin flesh, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunky cubes or rectangular blocks (about 3” long)
250gr/9 oz. / 1 ½ cup sugar
225gr/1 cup crushed walnuts to serve
Turkish clotted cream, Kaymak or clotted cream to serve (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
Sprinkle sugar over the pumpkin pieces evenly.
Line the bottom of a large baking dish with the prepared pumpkin pieces and sprinkle sugar over them evenly. Then layer the rest of the pumpkin chunks and pour the remaining sugar evenly over them. Cover the dish and let it rest overnight.
Let the sugar coated pumpkin pieces rest overnight; even after 30 minutes, you notice the juices coming up.
The next day, you will notice that the pumpkin has released all its juices and that the pieces are nearly covered with all that wonderful juice. This liquid is all you need to bake the pumpkin, no need to add any extra water.
Baked, candied pumpkin, utterly delicious.
Bake the pumpkin in the preheated oven, uncovered. Every 20 minutes, spoon the syrup in the baking dish over the pumpkin pieces so that they all absorb the syrup and start glistening. After 45 minutes of baking, check the sweetness of the pumpkin; if you like it sweeter, you can sprinkle a few more tablespoonful of sugar. Also, after 45 minutes of baking, turn the pumpkin pieces around so that all pieces keep moist with the juice. Bake for about an 1 hour to 1 ¼ hours in total, until all the syrup is absorbed and the pumpkin pieces are cooked and candied.
Luscious candied pumpkin dessert with crushed walnuts; Cevizli Kabak Tatlisi
Let the pumpkin dessert cool down. Decorate the candied pumpkin pieces with crushed walnuts just before serving; you can serve this delicious dessert as this way or also with Turkish thick clotted cream, kaymak or regular clotted cream aside.
Afiyet Olsun,
Ozlem
i’ve never seen pumpkin prepared like this but it sure does look delicious!
That’s the way my mother makes her pumpkin dessert Jaz, baking adds a nice candied touch to pumpkin. Some folks also simmer the pumpkin chunks in its own juice with sugar in a pan on the stove top – glad you liked the look of them, taste is delicious too : )
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Özlem, Once again, your recipe comes just in time. My husband and I just had pumpkin soup for dinner and he happened to mention to me that he wanted me to learn how to make “that sweet pumpkin dessert.” Thanks to you, I can get right on it, especially since I know now that it’s so easy.
Merhaba Jolee, thanks a lot for your kind comment, I hope you enjoy it; the only tough part of this dessert is really cutting and prepping the pumpkin pieces! It is a delicious, light dessert, and I love the fact that it is baked in its own juice; do hope you both enjoy it – afiyet olsun : )
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This sounds a much better recipe than the local one here where the pumpkin is boiled in syrup.
Thank you; pumpkin releases so much of its own juice once rested over night, and that is enough to cook in; it also has its own natural sweetness, so I don’t overdo the sugar. This is the way my mother prepares her pumpkin and I like my desserts on a lighter side, so this hits the spot : ) Glad it sounded good to you : )
This is definitely unlike any way that I’ve used pumpkin in the past. It sounds lovely, especially if I can find some really good walnuts. There’s certainly no shortage of pumpkin at the moment.
Walnuts and pumpkin go well here Phil; an easy but delicious dessert, thought it would be good to share how we enjoy pumpkin as a dessert in Turkey, especially at the Southern part, glad you enjoyed the post.
Oooh, this is so yummy and perfectly candied:) Ozlem, love this new use for pumpkin, since it doesn’t work with everything:) and such a unique dessert idea too…keep them coming! XxPeri.
Thanks a lot Peri, glad you liked the look of it : ) it is almost effortless – apart from prepping pumpkin pieces!- and delicious – pleasure to share! xx Ozlem
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This is a marvelous pumpkin recipe, perfect for Gluten Free Tuesday in the face of Halloween and other holidays. I like its simplicity – the pumpkin itself does most of the work. lol Also, the textures are quite nice.
thanks for the share!
I love this ‘pumpkin’ dish. The first time I tried it was about 25 years when I for the first time went to visit my in-laws in Izmir and my MIL made this. I had never had anything like this before, it was so yummy.
I’m going to see if I can find any ‘sugar’ pumpkins here and make your recipe…thanks for sharing this Blast from the Past for me.
Merhaba Erica, you are very welcome – glad it brought back some happy memories. We greatly enjoy it too, hope you can give it a go, my best wishes, Ozlem
This does sound yummy and looks easy to do! I love the taste of pumpkin! Next autumn I will be trying this for sure and thinking of you! Thanks!!
How very kind of you Lowrie, lovely to find your note here! So glad our roads crossed, hope you enjoy the recipe!:) Ozlem x
I am a Belizean American, and love pumpkin, it is a dessert from my country of Belize.
We do it differently, but will try your method ,which looks very good!
Thanks!!
Merhaba Yvonne, many thanks for your kind note – hope you enjoy our way of making pumpkin dessert, afiyet olsun!
Looks delicious! Thanks for the recipe, I featured it on my blog: http://www.colorfulcanary.com/2015/10/dont-just-carve-it-eat-it-15-perfect.html
Many thanks for your note and featuring my recipe, hope you enjoy it!
Hello, I see some tiny green pieces on your candied pumpkin. What are they?
Thanks. Looks so delicious!
Hello Joanna, they must be my walnuts and perhaps the left over bits of pistachio nuts : ) Hope you enjoy it!
If you can’t get pumpkin, I wonder if this would work with squash?
Hello Sharon, butternut squash would work – it would be good to adjust the sugar level to your taste, hope you enjoy it.
Hello Ozlem,
Kabak Tatlisi is one of my favorite desserts. My mom used to make it ( stove top version) all the time. I never tried to make it when I was in Turkey. Now I’m trying with Canadian pumpkin or butternut squash but I keep failing to make it taste the same as Turkish ones. The problem is pumpkin pieces don’t absorb the sweet juice and it takes many hours to soften. The result is less sweet pumpkins with less pumpkin flavor. It just doesn’t taste the same as the ones I have in Turkey. What could be the reason? I do everything as told in the recipe. So far I used different recipes and different types of pumpkins ( basically they are the same) the result is the same flavourless, less sweet pumpkin dessert. I would like to hear your thoughts. Thank you.
Merhaba Pinar, many thanks for stopping by and your note; I am afraid we Turkish food lovers living abroad all suffer from the same thing, it is very had to achieve exactly the same taste as it is back home, purely because the ingredients we access don’t taste the same; I experienced that with aubergines/eggplants and many other things. I haven’t tried Canadian pumpkin, it could be a different variety than found in Turkey. I found cutting pieces of the pumpkin, sprinkle sugar over them evenly then letting it rest overnight really help with absorption. You may need to add more sugar to your variety perhaps? Living abroad, I learned to make do and make the most of ingredients I could get hold of, nuts also add a lovely flavor and texture, hope this helps. Selamlar, Ozlem
Thanks for your response Ozlem. Next time I will make it with more sugar and make sure that the sugar is sprinkled evenly on the pumpkins. Also will leave it overnight before start cooking. Thanks again for your time.
You are very welcome sevgili Pinar, persevere, each trial will get better : ) Cok selam ve sevgiler, Ozlem
Özlem, I tried this pumpkin recipe with pie pumpkins and after leaving the cut up pieces coated in sugar over night while it released some juices it really was not enough I felt. What’s the best type of pumpkin to use for this recipe. My mom keeps telling me to use a white colored pumpkin. Could this be a valenciano pumkin? Did I not use enough sugar? I remember this dessert being delicious when I was younger and I’d love to make it for my family to try.
Merhaba dear Gizem, thank you for your note – I use regular, orange pumpkin for this dessert and it worked well. Depending on where you are, i guess they may vary – by all means use a white colored one and see what happens, maybe a small one to try. You can also add a little bit – perhaps 120ml/4fl oz extra water to the tray if the released water not enough. I do hope it helps, afiyet olsun, Ozlem
So excited for your book Özlem! I have been waiting for several years . Can I purchase on Amazon?
Merhaba dear Hulya, thank you so much for your kind note – we are getting ready for pre-orders shortly!! You will be able to buy through my website and it will be shipped worldwide, so look forward to sharing with you all, many thanks, cok tesekkurlerimle, Ozlem x
Hi, I just came back from Turkey and I am going to try this for our Thanksgiving with Adana kebab and your salad. Just FYI, I am going to try it with kobocha pumpkin (the round dark green thin-skinned Japanese type). I will let you know how it goes. My favorite preparation in Turkey used THINLY sliced pumpkin and it must have not been cooked too long since it was not mushy at all. I loved that so I am also going to try thin and watch I don’t overcook it.
Does it seem like this would work well as a variation?
Merhaba Laura,
So lovely to get your note – do hope you enjoy Kabak Tatlisi here, it is a popular recipe and I think your version will work well – it will be crispier being thinly sliced; Afiyet olsun, Ozlem
Well after many years I’ve finally made this recipe. It was delicious. I think I cut the pumpkin pieces too small as it took a long time to cook. Also some of the pieces were candied & others were like toffee apples. So I think I over cooked in the end. The guests didn’t know what it was but they all enjoyed it. I will definitely make this again
Merhaba Melanie,
Many thanks for your kind note; happy to hear you enjoyed making the Pumpkin dessert. It helps if all the pieces are on one layer and mixing a few times during baking and pouring the syrup over. Afiyet olsun, Ozlem
Merhaba dear Gizem, thank you for your kind note – yes butternut squash works great too : ) Afiyet Olsun, Ozlem x