Easy Turkish Recipes (2024)

Turkish Eggs Cilbir

Turkish eggs recipe also known as çılbır has become very popular around the world recently. And this is for a good reason. Poached eggs are placed on a garlicky yogurt and then served with a good amount of spiced hot butter sauce.

This is such an incredibly tasty Turkish food for breakfast or brunch that you can’t stop dipping bread in it. So if you have pide bread to serve with cilbir, you are in heaven!

Turkish Menemen Recipe (Scrambled Eggs With Tomatoes)

Menemen is always the star of Turkish breakfast. It is basically scrambled eggs with tomatoes, green peppers and spices like black pepper and red pepper flakes. It is sometimes topped with some Turkish sausages called sujuk, which makes this egg dish even more irresistible.

It can be served on its own but often accompanied by other Turkish breakfast foods like white cheese or feta, black and green olives, honey, jam and butter.

And you can’t think of a breakfast without Turkish tea in Turkey.

If you are looking for the easiest Turkish food recipe, start with this easy menemen!

Homemade Turkish Meatballs Kofte Recipe

Kofte also known as Turkish Meatballs are our ultimate freezer friendly Turkish dinner food. We always make a big batch and store uncooked meatballs in the freezer for a later quick meal for your family or an appetizer for unexpected guests.

These meatballs are flavored with black pepper, thyme, cumin and red pepper flakes and they are always tender and juicy.

We always enjoy them with piyaz and sumac onions.

This is one of the EASIEST Turkish dinner recipes you have to know!

Turkish Gozleme Recipe

Have you ever visited Turkey for a vacation? If yes, you know how delicious Turkish gozleme is. It is one of the most loved street foods of Turkey.

It is made with a simple dough and various fillings. Roll out the dough thinly, stuff it with spinach and cheese or ground beef and cook in a pan.

We enjoy it with a glass of cold ayran.

If you have never tried it, you are missing a lot. You can easily learn how to make gozleme at home with our step-by-step pictures and videos.

We promise it will become one of your favorite Turkish foods.

Homemade Turkish Simit

Simit, also known as Turkish bagel, is the most popular street food from Turkey. You can find simit vendors everywhere around each city in the country.

It is a type of a ring-shaped pastry coated with molasses and sesame seeds. It is crunchy on the outside and a little chewy on the inside.

People buy it for breakfast on the way to work or for a snack when they feel hungry. Traditionally we enjoy it with tea for breakfast and with ayran for lunch.

Turkish Chicken Kabobs In Oven

Chicken kebabs are one of those easy Turkish recipes that can become a family favorite. Marinate chopped chicken breast or thighs in a spiced milk(or yogurt) mixture, thread them on skewers and then grill or bake them in the oven as we often do.

They always come out soft and juicy and packed with flavors. We often enjoy them with Turkish coban salad. This is always a family favorite Turkish dinner.

Also check out lamb shish kebabs.

Turkish Stuffed Eggplant Karniyarik

Karniyarik or Turkish style stuffed eggplant is a traditional Turkish dish that you can always find at local restaurants.

Eggplants are either fried or grilled and then stuffed with a flavor-packed ground beef mixture that is cooked beforehand. Then these stuffed eggplants are packed with tomato sauce and reach perfection.

It is often served with rice orzo pilaf and cacik like a menu at restaurants.

Also check out the vegetarian version called imam bayildi.

Turkish Manti Dumplings

Turkish dumplings manti is one of the most special Turkish recipes. Tiny dough squares are filled with a ground meat mixture, cooked like pasta and then served with regular yogurt (or strained yogurt that is thinned with water) and with a generous amount of spiced hot butter sauce.

Making manti needs a bit of work, so teamwork is always recommended. It is not a difficult one but takes some time, so getting help is also a part of Turkish culture when making this recipe.

Turkish Adana Kebab

Adana kebab is a unique kebab that takes its name from a city named Adana, which has its own amazing cuisine.

You need only 4 ingredients for this Turkish dish: ground lamb, salt, red pepper flakes and paprika. The mixture is mounted on flat wooden skewers and then cooked on the grill or in a grill pan.

The unique taste of this kebab comes from the simplicity, so try to find the best ground lamb to make it at home.

It is always served with lavash bread to make wraps and acili ezme (spicy Turkish salsa) as a condiment.

Also check out kofta kebab.

Homemade Lavash Bread Recipe

Lavash bread is what you traditionally see on the side of kebabs at kebab restaurants in Turkey.

It is a flat thin bread made with flour, yeast, salt and water. The dough is divided into equal pieces and each of them is rolled into a round disc and cooked in a non-stick pan.

We shared a really easy Turkish recipe for lavash here with step-by-step pictures and a video. Make it at home and enjoy it to make kebab wraps, wrap sandwiches or chips to dip into Turkish hummus.

Also check out bazlama bread.

Turkish Cig Kofte

Cigkofte is one of the most authentic foods in Turkey. It is made with bulgur wheat, tomato paste, pureed tomato and lots of spices. You can’t believe how tasty the result you get when you combine these ingredients in the right way.

It is one of the tastiest vegan Turkish foods and has become a popular street food in Turkey. It is sold either on a plate with lots of herbs and lemon or in a wrap made with lavash.

If you love bulgur and looking for a traditional way of using it, you should try this addictive vegan “meatball” and Turkish bulgur lentil balls.

Also check out our other bulgur recipes.

Turkish Stuffed Green Peppers With Rice

Biber Dolma, stuffed green peppers recipe is a Turkish way of stuffing and cooking bell peppers.

In Turkey, there is a special type of green bell peppers. They are really small and have thin skin. This recipe is always made with these special peppers. That being said, it is absolutely possible to use larger peppers too.

Peppers are stuffed with a flavor-packed rice mixture, cooked in a garlicky tomato sauce and then baked in the oven for perfection. It is up to you to make it with ground beef or turn it to a vegetarian recipe.

Also check out stuffed grape leaves and stuffed onions.

Easy Homemade Doner Kebab

Doner kebab is the world-famous Turkish food and we have its homemade version which is as good as the real thing.

We combine ground beef (15% fat) with pureed onion (minus the juice), yogurt, milk and spices. Make a log from this mixture, freeze it and then slice it thinly to give it the feeling of shaved doner meat from the traditional vertical doner rotisserie. Then melt butter in a pan and cook these slices in batches.

We always enjoy it with sumac onions in a wrap or in the form of sandwiches.

Also check out iskender kebab, which is made with doner meat.

Homemade Turkish Lahmacun

Lahmacun, also known as Turkish pizza, is the most loved fast food in Turkish cuisine. It is a thin and crispy flat bread topped with a spicy ground beef mixture.

It is always served with lots of herbs, onions and lemon wedges on the side. You just put a bit of each on your lahmacun and wrap it up. The best drink to pair with it is Turkish ayran.

We are so happy to share our homemade recipe for this amazing Turkish food with you here. We bake it on a baking sheet but you can use a pizza stone too if you have one.

Turkish Pide

Pide is the food that deserves the name Turkish pizza. The dough is very similar to pizza crust, not crispy but soft. You can get creative about the toppings but the traditional toppings are ground beef, cubed beef, spinach and cheese. It is optional to have an egg topping on your pide.

It is one of those easy Turkish dishes that you can enjoy with the whole family. It is flavor-packed and fun to make.

Also check out pide bread.

Turkish White Bean Stew

Bean stew, kuru fasulye, is one of the old-fashioned but much-loved dishes in Turkey. It is one of the easiest Turkish dinner recipes. White beans are cooked with beef, tomato paste and spices. It is one of the most comforting dishes that is perfect for chilly days.

This recipe can be made with navy beans, cannellini beans or even butter beans. And it is always served with Turkish side dishes like rice pilaf or bulgur pilaf.

Turkish Borek Recipe with Cheese and Herbs

Turkish Borek is a perfect savory pie that is easy to make. It is made with super thin phyllo sheets, cheese and herbs. Each phyllo sheet is brushed with an egg, yogurt and olive oil mixture so that they stick together and have a tender result.

We often have borek as a brunch food and it makes a great potluck or picnic food too.If you love savory pastries, you should give it a try.

Also check out sigara borek.

How To Make Homemade Tomato Paste

Tomato paste is a staple food in Turkish dishes. We use it very often in recipes for soups, pasta dishes, stews, spreads, casseroles and a lot more other dishes.

Did you know you can make your own tomato paste? You need tasty tomatoes and some patience for this. Either sun-dried or baked in the oven, homemade tomato paste is way better than the store-bought ones.

Turkish Stuffed Artichoke Bottoms (Vegan)

Looking for vegetarian Turkish recipes? Here is a very popular one: Stuffed artichoke bottoms or zeytinyağlı enginar as we say in Turkish.

Artichoke bottoms are stuffed with a mixture of diced carrots, potatoes and peas. They are cooked with a generous amount of olive oil and lemon juice.

These make a wonderful side dish or a food for mezze platter. They are so healthy and tasty. If you have no experience with artichoke bottoms, you should give this easy recipe a try!

Also check out celeriac with quince recipe.

Kumpir Turkish Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Kumpir is a Turkish style loaded baked potatoes recipe. It is a famous street food in Ortaköy, Istanbul.

You can easily make these creamy, cheesy, and flavor-packed loaded baked potatoes at home. Our favorite toppings are bulgur salad, spicy ezme, olives, red cabbage and pickles but you can top them with whatever you like from sausages to more veggies.

Homemade Turkish Delight Lokum Recipe

Turkish delight lokum is the most well-known sweet from Turkey. It is like a tradition for tourists visiting Turkey to take a box of lokum to their home country.

There are several online markets selling Turkish delight but you can make it at home too. Add your favorite flavoring in this sweet and enjoy it with your beloved ones!

Easy Turkish Baklava Recipe

We all have a weakness for Turkish baklava. Right? Thin and flaky buttered phyllo sheets are filled with nuts and sweetened with baklava syrup. So good!

We have a very easy homemade baklava recipe explained with step-by-step pictures. If you are a fan of this traditional dessert, you should definitely try it!

Also check out our kunefe recipe.

How to Make Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is a unique drink that all coffee lovers should taste. It is traditionally cooked in a copper coffee pot and served in traditional small cups.

What matters in this coffee is the amount of foams on the surface of your cup. No cream or milk is used in it and adding sugar is optional.

Turkish delight is often served on the side if you want to make your guests feel even more special.

Also check out Turkish tea.