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100+ Easy Turkish Recipes

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Living in Turkey means we get to indulge in lots of popular dishes at local authentic Turkish restaurants. But we also love to cook at home – with fresh, seasonal, local ingredients – trying out our next Turkish recipes.

This page is our recipe index, featuring all the easy Turkish recipes that are on our website.

A collage of many different Turkish recipes which we often make. There's pide, salads, soups, meze, desserts, börek and more...
We have lots of different Turkish recipes

It’s grouped into different sections with pictures so that you can quickly find the traditional turkish foods, main courses or easy dinners you want to try out.

Some of the Turkish recipes are completely traditional whilst others have our own little take on them.

Well, we do like to experiment in the kitchen.

All Of Our Turkish Recipes In One Place…

Turkish Soup

Soup is an integral part of Turkish cuisine and it’s eaten at all times of day and night.

Don’t be surprised to see Turkish people in 24-hour lokantas eating soup with a side salad and chillies at 4am, for example.

Turkish spicy red lentil soup in a white bowl.
Spicy red lentil soup is one of our favourite Turkish soups

It’s just what you do here. And why not? Just don’t forget to eat it with lots of delicious Turkish crusty bread!

We love homemade soups and still have quite a few Turkish soup recipes to work through…

Recipe For Sour Chicken Soup

A Recipe For Sour Chicken Soup – Ekşili Tavuk Çorbası

In Turkish cuisine, there are groups of dishes where a particular type of sauce or pastry might be used as the base, but then the ...
Potato And Courgette Soup Recipe

Courgette Soup With Potato – Turkish Patatesli Kabak Çorbası

Turkish cuisine has lots of well known soups, many of which you will see when you eat in lokantas and other traditional Turkish restaurants. This ...
Potato And Broccoli Soup Recipe

Potato & Broccoli Soup Recipe – A Steaming Bowl Of Winter Comfort

A comforting winter potato and broccoli soup recipe (patatesli brokoli çorbası). That's what's on the agenda. Well, it is winter! We need warm, we need ...
Pumpkin Soup Without Cream

Pumpkin Soup Recipe – A Taste Of Autumn

We're embracing seasonal eating again with this recipe. Pumpkin soup is a true taste of autumn. In some countries, this time of year marks Hallowe'en ...
Recipe For Turkish Red Lentil Soup

Red Lentil Soup Recipe – A Turkish Favourite

Admission: We've already polished off two separate full pans of our homemade Turkish red lentil soup! We're hitting that time of year. That time of ...
Mackerel Soup Recipe

Sebzeli Uskumru Çorbası – A Turkish Mackerel Soup Recipe

It's the perfect time of year, here in Fethiye. Pleasantly sunny, but not baking hot, and the nights are getting cooler, aiding a more comfortable ...
Tarhana Soup Recipe

Tarhana Soup – The Ultimate In Turkish Recipes?

Many Turks will be amazed that we managed to live in Turkey for over ten years before we had our first ever taste of what ...
Turkish Green Lentil Soup Recipe

Turkish Green Lentil Soup Recipe – The Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Eating

Bastions of Turkish cuisine: Both soup (çorba) and legumes most certainly sit comfortably with that description. And in this green lentil soup recipe, we bring ...
Turkish Tomato Soup Recipe

Turkish Recipes: Şehriyeli Domates Corbası

Anyone who knows Turkey will know that çorba (soup) is a staple of Turkish cuisine, and while there are some Turkish soups that might prove ...

Turkish Meze & Salad Recipes

When you’re sat round any dining area in Turkey, there will always be meze plates and fresh salad of some description.

A table full of Turkish food from one of our local BBQ restaurants. Salad, slow cooked lamb, beetroot, pickled aubergine and yoghurt with chilli.
Meze to share with friends

Because of the hot summers in Fethiye, we tend to experiment with lots of different meze recipes so we can have light foods in the fridge to graze on.

So, as you can see, our recipe section for Turkish meze and salads is quite sizeable and we’re always adding to it.

Coleslaw Recipe

A Homemade Coleslaw Recipe – Lahana Salatası

Is there a classic coleslaw recipe in existence? Well, probably not. Coleslaw salad is one of those universal dishes that's eaten in many countries around ...
Turkish Pickles Recipe

A Recipe For Turkish Pickles (Turşu) & Why You Should Be Eating Them…

Turkish pickles! Or turşu, to give them their Turkish name. Especially when it comes to food, we all have our own guilty pleasures. When we ...
Turkish potato salad with slices of spring onions, red peppers and chopped parsley leaves

A Turkish Potato Salad Recipe: Patates Salatası

Potato salad - it's a classic dish, isn't it? But never tastes the same wherever you go to eat. Each person who makes it has ...
Turkish Spicy Antep Ezmesi Recipe

Acılı Ezme Recipe – Spicy Antep Ezmesi

Spicy Antep Ezmesi: what can we say? Simply, that this ezme recipe is one of our very favourite dishes. We're fully aware that we're always ...
Antalya-Style Piyaz, White Bean Salad Recipe

Antalya Style Piyaz Recipe – Made With Love

A story of how we came to love the famous Turkish white bean salad, piyaz. But this is not just the regular white bean salad ...
A serving of baba ganoush yoghurt and aubergine salad. Jalapeno and black olives are on the side.

Baba Ganoush – A Turkish Meze Of Yoghurt & Aubergine

Today we're making delicious baba ganoush - or yoghurt and aubergine salad! Summer is well and truly underway now. And this is perfect weather for ...
Broad Bean Salad Bakla

Broad Bean Salad With Orzo – The Colours Of Springtime On A Plate

It's broad bean (bakla) season at the moment so we just had to buy a bagful of them to do a Turkish recipe for broad ...
Turkish Broccoli Salad Recipe

Brokoli Salatası – A Tempting Turkish Broccoli Salad

If you thought you weren't a fan of broccoli, this Turkish broccoli salad might well just change your mind! A salad packed with flavour From ...
Cacık - yoghurt and chopped cucumber topped with dried mint and olive oil. Garnished with fresh mint leaves and a slice of fresh lemon.

Cacık Recipe – Turkish Yoghurt & Cucumber Dip

We love cacık! It's so refreshing. Since 5,000 BC. That's how long natural yoghurt is said to have been a part of people's lives; at ...
Chickpea Salad Recipe

Chickpea Salad – Turkish Summery Goodness

Turkish cuisine has all manner of yummy salad dishes. So this chickpea salad recipe (nohut salatası) is just perfect for us. What are the best ...
Crispy Fried Morel Mushrooms

Crispy-Fried Morel Mushrooms Recipe

Have you ever tried a really expensive and rare food and then wondered what all the fuss was about? Can a food really be that ...
Kızartma Recipe

Domates Soslu Patlıcan Biber Kızartma – Fried Aubergines & Peppers In Tomato Sauce

Domates soslu patlıcan biber kızartma (fried aubergine and green peppers in olive oil and tomatoes) was one of the first home-cooked Turkish recipes we tried ...
Fasulye Ezmesi White Bean Dip

Fasulye Ezmesi – A Tasty Turkish White Bean Dip Recipe

Beans - both dried and fresh - are a much-used ingredient in Turkish cuisine and the dishes they produce, like this white bean dip, are ...
Kısır Bulgur Wheat Salad

Favourite Meze Dishes? Kısır Is There For Us

Question: When is tabbouleh not tabbouleh? Answer: When it is a Turkish bulgur salad dish made with slightly different ingredients and called kısır. What Is ...
Figs With Blue Cheese

Figs With Blue Cheese, Walnuts and Pastırma – A Seasonal Treat

What goes well with figs? That was the question we asked ourselves before we made this dish. And it didn't take us long to decide ...
Turkish Summer Barbecue Salad

Five Fab Summer Turkish Meze Dishes For Barbecue Season

"Ahhh, summer. My favourite day of the year..." This was stolen from our friend's status update on Facebook a few years ago and it made ...
Turkish Fried Chicken Livers

Fried Chicken Livers With Black-Eyed Beans – A Super Tasty Superfood Meze

Fried chicken livers as a cold meze dish. We can't remember where we were when we had this on our table at a restaurant one ...
Recipe For Garlic Yoghurt With Carrots

Garlic Yoghurt With Carrots – Sarımsaklı Yoğurtlu Havuç Salatası

Turkish garlic yoghurt with carrots (sarımsaklı yoğurtlu havuç salatası or havuç tarator) is a meze dish that we usually only have the pleasure to eat ...
Recipe For Gavurdağı Salad

Gavurdağı Salad – A Tomato & Walnut Salad Packed With Zing

Favourite Turkish salads: we love a çoban salad, a bulgur wheat salad like kısır never disappoints, chickpea salad fills a corner in the summer months ...
Yoghurt And Samphire Dip

Geren – A Yoghurt-Based Meze With A Taste Of The Sea

This is an updated post from the original so that the recipe is easier to follow and the photos are improved. It's also an update ...
Hummus Recipe

Haydari And Chilli Yoghurt – Two Meze Recipes Using A Turkish Staple

Life in Turkey doesn't happen without yoghurt. Even as a foreigner when you first move here, if you don't like yoghurt, it's not like you ...
Healthy Mung Bean Salad Bowl

Healthy Mung Bean Salad Recipe

A healthy salad, filling and - most importantly - completely delicious! We're doing a mung bean salad recipe in this article. Stick with us on ...
Chayote Squash Recipe

Hi, Chayote Squash. Or Should That Be Rodos Kabağı?

Have you heard of chayote squash? We hadn't until we saw it on the local markets. Chayote squash is called Rodos Kabağı or Dikenli Kabak ...
Melon Salad Recipe

It’s Melon Season – Time To Indulge In Refreshing Melon Salad (Kavun Salatası)

Time for refreshing melon salad! What to eat? The temperatures are soaring, it's humid, the appetite isn't up to much. But you know you've got ...
Pieces of lentil köfte laid on top of lettuce leaves. Slices of lemon are arranged in the centre.

Lentil Köfte Recipe (Turkish Mercimek Köftesi)

Whether you're someone who, like us, enjoys a bit of everything, or you're vegetarian or vegan, this Turkish lentil köfte recipe (mercimek köftesi) is great ...
Muhammara Recipe

Muhammara Recipe – A Tasty Red Pepper & Walnut Dip

Have you ever tried muhammara? Muhammara is a real treat If not, you're missing out. Whilst it's not a regular feature on our meze table, ...
Okra In Olive Oil Recipe

Okra In Olive Oil Recipe (Zeytinyağlı Bamya)

Okra in olive oil - zeytinyaglı bamya - is the recipe that is going to convince you to love okra! If you've read our article ...
Quick Turkish Spaghetti Recipe

Our Quick Turkish Spaghetti Recipe

Yes, we know spaghetti is a much loved Italian pasta used in many classic recipes. So what on earth are we doing writing about Turkish ...
Oven Baked Potato And Courgette Fritter

Oven Baked Potato & Courgette Fritters

Here's a recipe title for you: Fırında Patatesli Kabak Mücveri. That's what we're making in this post. It's a take on a classic Turkish dish ...
Turkish Purslane And Tomato Salad

Purslane & Tomato Salad Recipe – A Tasty Bowl Of Summer Colour

The vibrant summer colours - the stark contrast of the greens and red - and the zingy flavours of the sumac and the dressing; this ...
Roasted Brussels Sprouts Two Ways

Roasted Brussels Sprouts Two Ways – With A Turkish Twist

Brussels sprouts are no longer that unwanted, yet essential, side of veg on your Christmas dinner plate. If you haven't discovered roasted Brussels sprouts, read ...
Cauliflower And Yoghurt Meze

Roasted Cauliflower With Yoghurt Dip Recipe

Yoğurtlu Kozlenmiş Karnabahar - or roasted cauliflower with yoghurt sauce to those of us communicating in the English language. This Turkish roasted cauliflower recipe is ...
Turkish Şakşuka Recipe

Şakşuka Recipe – More Aubergine Love

A huge bowl of freshly made Turkish şakşuka (shak-shoo-ka) is such a treat. This Şakşuka recipe is best eaten freshly made and cold - but ...
A bowl of sauteed Swiss chard called pazı kavurma in Turkish

Sauteed Swiss Chard – Turkish Pazı Kavurma

We're back on the seasonal food train for this recipe - sauteed Swiss chard done the Turkish way: Pazı kavurma. Spring leafy greens are in ...
Turkish Shepherd Salad Recipe

Shepherd’s Salad – When Simple Is Genius

It's easily done. A simple - yet rightly much-loved - salad, like shepherd's salad, can easily fall off the radar. But do you know what ...
Spinach Stem Salad Recipes

Spinach Stem Salad Recipes – Ispanak Kökü Salatası

Why make a spinach stem salad, you ask? Let's keep things simple: Most traditional Turkish food is as food should be - you take your ...
Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe

Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe – Perfect For The Barbecue

We love this time of year, here in Fethiye; we're enjoying barbecue season - and, of course, we expect to be doing so for a good ...
Turkish Orzo Salad Recipe

Tasty & Easy Turkish Orzo Salad Recipe – Arpa Şehriye Salatası

Turkish orzo salad (arpa şehriye salatası) has become a bit of a staple in our house of late. Its versatility - it makes a perfect ...
Easy Hummus Recipe

The Best Quick & Easy Homemade Hummus Recipe

We're sharing our gorgeous hummus recipe with you in this article. As easy recipes go, hummus is right up there. So no need to buy ...
Close up of aubergine salad on top of a slice of toast

Turkish Aubergine Salad Recipe – Ideal For Summer

In the UK, we call them aubergines but a more common word for those plump, dark vegetables appears to be eggplant. However, as translations of ...
Borlotti beans cooked with onion and carrot in olive oil and tomatoes. The beans are topped with a curled slice of lemon

Turkish Barbunya Pilaki Recipe – Borlotti Beans In A Tomato & Olive Oil Stew

In Turkish cuisine there is a group of dishes known as zeytinyağlı yemekler (olive oil dishes). And, of these dishes, Barbunya Pilaki is definitely our ...
Süzme Turkish Yoghurt

Turkish Food – Mücver Recipe

Mücver (courgette / zucchini fritters) is absolutely gorgeous and the recipe is something I've been playing about with since we moved into this house. It's ...
Turkish Green Beans In Olive Oil Recipe - Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye

Turkish Green Beans In Olive Oil Recipe – Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye

Zeytinyağlı taze fasulye (fresh green beans in olive oil) was one of the first Turkish dishes I ever attempted. It was a recipe from a ...
Easy Green Lentil Salad

Turkish Green Lentil Salad Recipe – Ideal For Summer!

Summer is when dishes like this green lentil salad recipe really come into their own. What to eat when the weather is hot, hot, hot? ...
Turkish Pickled Red Cabbage

Turkish Pickled Red Cabbage

A true burst of vibrant colour. Just look at that pop of magenta! Pickled red cabbage is one side dish that we just can't get ...
Dolma Turkish Stuffed Peppers

Turkish Recipes: Biber Dolması (Stuffed Peppers With Rice)

The first time we came across biber dolması (Turkish stuffed peppers), we were staying with a Turkish friend and his family for a few days ...
wild radish leaf salad

Turp Otu Salatası – A Recipe For Wild Radish Leaf Salad

It's been a long winter in Fethiye, but the heat of the sun is finally starting to show signs of victory over the colder temperatures ...

Turkish Rice & Bulgur Wheat Recipes

As well as legumes, rice and bulgur wheat are also staples.

Steamed Turkish Rice with flecks of brown orzo
A serving of rice is common with Turkish meals

Whilst they are often served as accompaniments to other foods, there are also many Turkish dishes where rice or bulgur wheat is the star ingredient.

Here are our Turkish recipes using either of these two staples.

Bulgur Wheat And Ciris Otu

Cooking With Edible Wild Plants The Turkish Way – Bulgurlu Çiriş Otu Yemeği

There's something really satisfying about cooking with edible wild plants - that knowledge of eating something that has just sprung up at the side of ...
A serving of Turkish bulgur pilaf with tomatoes and onions

Domatesli Bulgur Pilavı – A Recipe For Turkish Bulgur Pilaf With Tomatoes

In this post, we're going to be giving you our staple bulgur pilaf recipe; domatesli bulgur pilavı. In Turkey, there is a type of restaurant ...
Kısır Bulgur Wheat Salad

Favourite Meze Dishes? Kısır Is There For Us

Question: When is tabbouleh not tabbouleh? Answer: When it is a Turkish bulgur salad dish made with slightly different ingredients and called kısır. What Is ...
Hamsili Pilav Recipe

Hamsili Pilav – A Black Sea Recipe Of Oven Baked Pilaf Encased In Fresh Anchovies

Hamsili pilav is a real seasonal treat that we love to make for friends. Those of you who read this blog a lot will be ...
Recipe For Turkish Rice

Our Turkish Rice Recipe

Turkish rice (şehriyeli pilav) - definitely one of the most famous dishes in Turkey! If you're familiar with Turkish food, you'll know that rice features ...
Rice With Chickpeas, Nohutlu Pilav

Recreating A Street Food Favourite – Our (Tavuklu) Nohutlu Pilav Recipe

Tavuklu nohutlu pilav - There's something special about stumbling across street food in Turkey when you're wandering the streets and exploring somewhere new. If you're ...
Stuffed Courgettes Kabak Dolması

Stuffed Courgettes Recipe – Kabak Dolması

At the moment, there are loads of these almost spherical courgettes on Fethiye market and we absolutely love them. Kabak dolması - stuffed courgettes - ...
Oven Baked Stuffed Peppers

Turkish Recipes: Baked Stuffed Peppers With Bulgur Wheat Filling

Back in January, we did a recipe for the classic Turkish dolma recipe, biber dolması. In that recipe, green bell peppers are stuffed with a ...
Dolma Turkish Stuffed Peppers

Turkish Recipes: Biber Dolması (Stuffed Peppers With Rice)

The first time we came across biber dolması (Turkish stuffed peppers), we were staying with a Turkish friend and his family for a few days ...
Bulgur Pilaf With Spinach Recipe

Turkish Recipes: Ispanaklı Bulgur Pilavı

Last Sunday, we were on our way to Çalış market and we were feeling the need for food - right now! Most of the time, ...

Turkish Meat & Seafood Recipes

It’s difficult to bracket each Turkish recipe into its own neat little box, so, in this section are all the dishes that fall into the meat and seafood category.

4 Köfte on a white plate with a side serving of potato salad
Köfte is a hugely popular dish in Turkey

Many of them are main meals such as grills and stews. And there are some Ottoman recipes, too.

Although Turkey has a huge coastline, Turkish cuisine isn’t often associated with seafood.

But more chefs are definitely experimenting with adapting Turkish dishes to find different ways to include seafood in their creations.

Fresh Anchovies Black Sea

A Celebration Of Karadeniz Hamsi – Fresh Anchovies From The Black Sea

If we said the word 'anchovies' to you, what is the image that immediately springs to mind? For most people, it will likely be a ...
Ali Nazik Kebab Recipe

Ali Nazik Kebab – Pure Indulgence On A Plate

Pure plated indulgence. That's our description for this oh-so-tasty dish; ali nazik kebab. If you like 'cooking light' then look away now. A Gaziantep ali ...
Chicken Shish Kebab

Chicken Shish Kebab Recipe – Authentically Turkish

The name's shish. Chicken shish. Tavuk şiş, if we're being authentically Turkish. Our authentic chicken shish kebab with the trimmings And it's high time we ...
Çıntar Mushroom And Sucuk Recipe

Eating Seasonally – A Recipe For Çıntar Mushrooms With Sucuk

We talk about seasonal foods in Turkey rather a lot on this blog. And, while some seasonal items tend to appear on Fethiye market on ...
A white bowl filled with fried bread croutons and topped with sauteed beef in tomato sauce. Fresh chopped parsley leaves garnish the dish.

Et Sote Recipe – A Turkish Beef Saute In Tomatoes

Et sote is a really popular dish in Turkish cuisine. A Turkish beef stew in tomatoes, it's proper comfort food. Because of this 'cosy comfort' ...
Recipe For Kapuska Cabbage Stew

Etli Kapuska – Turkish Cabbage Stew With Meat: Let Cabbage Reign

If you are anything like us and thought you didn't like cabbage (or you are not over keen on it), this Kapuska (Turkish cabbage stew ...
Sucuk Güveç Recipe

Güveçte Sucuk Recipe – Turkish Spicy Sausage Casserole

Güveçte sucuk (Turkish sausage in a casserole pot) was once made for us by our neighbour and, ever since, we've been making our own take ...
Hamsili Pilav Recipe

Hamsili Pilav – A Black Sea Recipe Of Oven Baked Pilaf Encased In Fresh Anchovies

Hamsili pilav is a real seasonal treat that we love to make for friends. Those of you who read this blog a lot will be ...
Hünkar Beğendi Recipe

Hünkar Beğendi Recipe – Ottoman Cuisine At Its Best

Hünkar Beğendi is an absolute classic of Ottoman cuisine. There are those moments in life where you peruse the menu in a restaurant, plump for ...
Iskender Kebab Recipe

Iskender Kebab Recipe – Turkey’s Famous Kebab Made At Home

Iskender Efendi; this is the chap who invented the Iskender Kebab in the northwest city of Bursa back in the 19th century. When we moved ...
Recipe For Karnıyarık Stuffed Aubergine

Karnıyarık – A Classic Turkish Stuffed Aubergine Recipe

Go into any lokanta in Turkey and you will be most unfortunate if you don't see karnıyarık as one of the choices in the bain ...
Homemade Köfte, Turkish Meatballs

Köfte Recipe & An Ode To One Of Turkey’s Favourite Foods

True bastions of Turkish cuisine: there's a few of those. And köfte is most certainly one of them. It's also a bastion of our own ...
Brussels Sprouts With Sucuk

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts With Chestnuts & Sucuk

We're talking sauteed Brussels sprouts in this article. Delicious sauteed Brussels sprouts with chestnuts and sucuk As you're no doubt aware (if you read this ...
Tekirdağ Köftesi Recipe

Tekirdağ Köftesi Recipe – A Famous Regional Dish

It was 2005 and we were in transit from Alexandroupoli in Greece, heading back to Istanbul by bus. Traffic was bad and it had been ...
Kanat Turkish Chicken Wings

Turkish Food – Saturday Night Chicken Wings

We've been writing this blog for two years now so it's surprising that it's taken us so long to get round to writing about this ...
Turkish Musakka Recipe

Turkish Musakka Recipe – A Dish For All Seasons

One of our readers contacted us as she wanted to know if we had a Turkish Musakka recipe so that she could make it herself ...
Domates Soslu Misket Köfte

Turkish Recipes: Domates Soslu Misket Köfte

Ahh, our love of köfte once more makes itself known on this blog. I wonder how many times we've written about it now...recipes for Tekirdağ ...
Recipe For Kadın Budu Köfte

Turkish Recipes: Kadın Budu Köfte (Lady Thigh Meatball)

Kadın Budu Köfte - Lady Thigh Meatball. Hmm, well, where does this name come from? Ladies, I can't help but think this particular type of ...
Turkish Recipe For Mantı

Turkish Recipes: Recreating Our Ankara Kayseri Mantısı At Home

Mantı - it's easy to wonder what all the fuss is about. The first time we saw it (and had no idea what it was ...
Yeni Dünya Kebab Loquats

Yeni Dünya Kebab – The Best Way To Celebrate Loquat Season

This time of year is abundant with spring fruits and vegetables, making trips to Fethiye market and Çalış market all the more pleasurable. And now, ...

Turkish Casserole & Stew Recipes

Turkish casseroles and stews are a famous and well loved part of the country’s cuisine.

Izmir Kofte - Baked Turkish Meatballs in a tomato sauce with green peppers and potatoes
For us, Izmir köfte is a favourite Turkish dish in winter

In Turkish recipes, these main dishes are known as ‘güveç’ and ‘tencere’ which is the name for the pots and pans used to cook them.

Tencere dishes are usually stew dishes cooked on the hob.

Turkish Fish Stew Recipe

Ekşili Balık – A Lemony Turkish Fish Stew Recipe

We absolutely love seafood and ekşili balık (eck-shee-lee balick) is our Turkish fish stew recipe that can be enjoyed all year round. I say 'our ...
Greengage Stew Erik Tava Recipe

Erik Tavası Recipe – Turkish Cooking With Seasonal Fruit

Seasonal cooking - it's just the best. The best because when the food markets are abundant in a particular seasonal fruit or vegetable for just ...
Recipe For Imam Bayıldı

Imam Bayıldı Recipe – A Darling Of Turkish Cuisine

Imam bayıldı; it's one of those dishes - along with shepherd's salad - that we always loved to eat when we first moved to Turkey ...
Recipe For Izmir Köfte

Izmir Köfte Recipe – A Regional Favourite & Home Favourite

We love this Izmir Köfte recipe. It's Turkish meatballs in tomato sauce with potatoes and peppers. It's been a long time coming this recipe. A ...
Turkish Cauliflower Stew Recipe

Karnabahar Yemeği – A Recipe For Turkish Cauliflower Stew

More seasonal eating for this article. It's cauliflower season and we've got a great recipe for you. Traditionally Turkish, very easy to make, seasonal, tasty ...
Turkish Lamb And Chickpea Stew Recipe

Lamb & Chickpea Stew Recipe – Perfect For Cold Winter Days

Freezing cold, blowing a gale outside and pelting with rain. That's when we love to make ourselves cosy and warm with a big steaming pan ...
Sour Aubergine Stew

Turkish Food – Ekşili Patlıcan (Sour Aubergine)

Somebody asked us recently whether we actually make / cook all the food that we put on this blog. Apart from the fact that we ...
Turkish Vegetable Güveç Recipe

Vegetable Güveç Recipe – Flavours Of The Season

For this Turkish recipe, we're going to be adding to our list of Turkish vegetarian and vegan recipes with a tasty vegetable güveç. As you ...

Turkish Bread & Börek Recipes

What is Turkish cuisine without bread and börek recipes?

Sigara Böreği (Cheese Rolls) in a plate and ready to eat
Cheese rolls are one of the most famous börek recipes

There are loads of different delicious Turkish recipes out there that centre around different types of dough.

And we’ve only just managed to scratch the surface.

There’s something really nice about going to the yufkacı to buy circular leaves of freshly made yufka (phyllo pastry) and taking it home to work with it and produce a börek meal.

Rolling out puff pastry or kneading a dough to make Turkish pide (aka Turkish pizza) and ekmek (bread).

All very comforting kitchen activities!

Definitely more Turkish börek recipes on the way…

A Serving Of Pide Topped with Spinach And Meat

For The Love Of Pide – Recipe & Favourite Fillings

Let's talk about pide! And also give you a fantastic, easy pide recipe which you can use and adapt to suit your own tastes. Why? ...
Puffy Balloon Bread With Accompaniments

Homemade Authentic Turkish Balloon Bread Recipe

Follow our Turkish balloon bread recipe and you're going to be transported right back to your Turkish summer holidays. Most people who know the country ...
Lahmacun Flatbread Topped With Meat And Salad

Homemade Turkish Lahmacun Recipe – Made With Love

A Turkish lahmacun recipe made with love? Very definitely yes! Add to that a generous sprinkling of patience, too! I'm grateful to be writing this ...
Recipe For Sigara Börek Cheese Rolls

How To Make Sigara Böreği (Turkish Cheese Rolls)

On returning home, most people who visit Turkey on holiday leave the country with memories of those delicious cheese rolls they ate nearly every evening ...
Kol Böreği Filo Spiral Recipe

Kol Böreği – A Spinach & Cheese Börek Spiral

A couple of days ago, we went to Fethiye market to buy some yufka (filo pastry) so we could make kol böreği - a filo ...
Paçanga Böreği Recipe

Paçanga Böreği Recipe – A Turkish Favourite

Do you remember in our post about making Turkish rice that we told you about a friend who is a great cook but her husband ...
Potato And Spinach Gül Böreği Recipe

Rose Börek With Potato & Spinach – Patatesli Ispanaklı Gül Böreği

Our gül böreği recipe is what we're going to be making in this article. One of life's simple foodie pleasures; the famous Turkish pastries; börek ...
Spinach And Mushroom Börek

Saffron Milk Cap Mushroom & Spinach Börek Recipe

This post is a continuation of the celebration of the lactarius deliciosus, the saffron milk cap mushroom, the çintar. This time, we're going to be ...
Seafood Filo Triangles

Seafood Filo Triangles – Turkish Pastry Pockets Filled With Flavours Of The Ocean

Turkish börek (pastries) play an integral role in Turkish cuisine, and, as well as the variety of fillings, there are also different types of pastry ...
Turkish Filo Pie Recipe

Sebzeli Kıymalı Tepsi Böreği Recipe – Minced Beef & Vegetable Filo Pie

Turkish cuisine has a whole raft of börek recipes - pastries of all shapes and sizes. For this börek recipe, we're going to be making ...
Potato And Spinach Rolls Recipe

Spinach & Potato Puff Pastry Rolls – A Dream Combination

Ahh, yes. We have discovered the joy of puff pastry. Or, to give it its Turkish name, we have discovered the joy of experimenting with ...

Turkish Legume Dishes

The posh (and shorter) explanation for all those lentil, beans and pea dishes (here’s a full list of the world’s edible legumes).

Legumes feature heavily in Turkish cuisine.

And the shelves of shops and supermarkets are usually packed with bags of dried legumes of all sizes.

A Bowl of Etli Kuru Fasulye (A Turkish White Bean Recipe)
We love etli kuru fasulye

You can also buy them loose from the local markets.

Here are our some Turkish dishes and healthy recipes featuring legume ingredients…

Antalya-Style Piyaz, White Bean Salad Recipe

Antalya Style Piyaz Recipe – Made With Love

A story of how we came to love the famous Turkish white bean salad, piyaz. But this is not just the regular white bean salad ...
Recipe For Kuru Fasaulye

Etli Kuru Fasulye Recipe – Turkish White Bean Stew With Meat

This kuru fasulye recipe, Turkey's famous and much-loved white bean stew, is a wonderfully comforting and tasty dish. It never challenges - you know exactly ...
Fasulye Ezmesi White Bean Dip

Fasulye Ezmesi – A Tasty Turkish White Bean Dip Recipe

Beans - both dried and fresh - are a much-used ingredient in Turkish cuisine and the dishes they produce, like this white bean dip, are ...
Healthy Mung Bean Salad Bowl

Healthy Mung Bean Salad Recipe

A healthy salad, filling and - most importantly - completely delicious! We're doing a mung bean salad recipe in this article. Stick with us on ...
Recipe For Falafel

Homemade Falafel Recipe

Is there anybody out there who doesn't love to indulge in a portion of freshly fried falafel? Okay, there probably is. But we've never met ...
Pieces of lentil köfte laid on top of lettuce leaves. Slices of lemon are arranged in the centre.

Lentil Köfte Recipe (Turkish Mercimek Köftesi)

Whether you're someone who, like us, enjoys a bit of everything, or you're vegetarian or vegan, this Turkish lentil köfte recipe (mercimek köftesi) is great ...
Broad Beans And Sucuk Recipe

Sucuklu Bakla – A Turkish Take On A Popular Broad Beans Recipe

We love to eat seasonally and March in Fethiye is the beginning of the broad beans season. Which means it's also broad beans recipe season! ...
Easy Hummus Recipe

The Best Quick & Easy Homemade Hummus Recipe

We're sharing our gorgeous hummus recipe with you in this article. As easy recipes go, hummus is right up there. So no need to buy ...
Borlotti beans cooked with onion and carrot in olive oil and tomatoes. The beans are topped with a curled slice of lemon

Turkish Barbunya Pilaki Recipe – Borlotti Beans In A Tomato & Olive Oil Stew

In Turkish cuisine there is a group of dishes known as zeytinyağlı yemekler (olive oil dishes). And, of these dishes, Barbunya Pilaki is definitely our ...
Turkish Green Beans In Olive Oil Recipe - Zeytinyagli Taze Fasulye

Turkish Green Beans In Olive Oil Recipe – Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye

Zeytinyağlı taze fasulye (fresh green beans in olive oil) was one of the first Turkish dishes I ever attempted. It was a recipe from a ...

Turkish Breakfast & Light Lunch Ideas

Mmmm, we love us a long, lazy Sunday out, enjoying a Turkish village breakfast.

But there are lots of other breakfast, light lunch & snack recipes out there, too.

Menemen - A Turkish egg & tomato dish served in an ornate pan
Menemen is a hugely popular & breakfast recipe

These are just some of the breakfast and light lunches we’ve done so far – definitely more to come!

Nectarine Recipe

A Simple But Oh-So-Satisfying Celebration Of Nectarine Season

We're eating seasonally again for this article, and, as the hot summer temperatures really begin to kick in and sap our energy, this simple but ...
Egg Muffins Recipe

Egg Muffin Recipe – A La Turka-Style

A couple of Christmases ago, we decided we'd have a go at making our own mince pies, which involved purchasing a non-stick muffin tray. The ...
Turkish Eggy Bread Recipe

Eggy Bread – Perfect Brunch Comfort Food

Turkish yumurtalı ekmek - eggy bread. Time for weekend brunch! We've no doubt all had those situations where we've not been able to go food ...
Garlic Mushrooms On Toast Recipe

Garlic Mushrooms On Toast

Mushrooms on toast is one of life's simple pleasures. And, when you can make this simple pleasure even more of a treat by adding garlic ...
Çılbır Recipe

How To Make Çılbır – Turkish Poached Eggs On A Bed Of Garlic Yoghurt

Some people don't like the sound of çılbır - but we think it's fantastic and you should definitely give it a go. Are you looking ...
Homemade Ketchup Breakfast Sauce

Kahvaltılık Sos – The Best Homemade Ketchup

At this time of year, as the hot summer weather slowly becomes more autumnal, the stalls of the local markets are piled high with cheap ...
Menemen Recipe

Menemen – A Recipe For Turkish Scrambled Eggs With Tomatoes & Vegetables

This is our traditional Turkish menemen recipe! The first time we came to Fethiye on holiday, a new Turkish friend we'd met described one of ...
Strawberry Tart Recipe

Puff Pastry Strawberry Tart Recipe – Success From Failure

This is how we came to produce our little Turkish breakfast sweet treat, puff pastry strawberry tart. Or, to give it a Turkish name, çilekli ...
Ispanaklı Yumurta Spinach And Eggs

Spinach & Eggs Recipe – Breakfast, Lunch Or Dinner

Eggs and spinach for breakfast, anyone? Or lunch or dinner, for that matter. If you've never tried this spinach and eggs recipe, we're sure you're ...
Sucuk And Eggs Sucuklu Yumurta

Sucuk & Eggs Recipe – A Dream Turkish Combination

Today we're going to make sucuklu yumurta; sucuk and eggs! Sucuk & eggs is a satisfying breakfast or brunch What you are about to read ...
Karışık Tost

Tost Recipe – The Ultimate Turkish Toastie

Tost: You can't come to Turkey - at least the west of Turkey - and leave without sampling tost. Tost is a big, tasty toastie ...
Turkish Fried Eggs In Butter And Chilli

Turkish Fried Eggs Recipe – Sahanda Yumurta

Of all the Turkish egg recipes that play such a big role in Turkish cuisine, sahanda yumurta (Turkish fried eggs) has to be one of ...

Best Turkish Desserts

The people of Turkey love their sweet foodie offerings, with Turkish Delight being an obvious contender for one of the country’s most famous exports.

A serving of Sütlaç (Turkish rice pudding) with a spoon inside
There’s something satisfying about breaking through the skin of the sütlaç

There’s a whole array of traditional Turkish desserts out there for those of you with a sweet tooth.

However, if you haven’t got a sweet tooth (like us), diving head first into those Turkish dishes which cheerfully celebrate mounds of sugar; it can all feel quite mind boggling.

As you can see below, our dabblings with the sweeter side of the recipes of Turkey are a tad on the rare side.

A bit easier on the sugar content, too.

Turkish Pumpkin Dessert Serving

Kabak Tatlısı – Turkish Pumpkin Dessert Recipe

'Tis the season! What food says 'autumn' better than the pumpkin? And in Turkey, pumpkin season means one thing: Time to make the Turkish pumpkin ...
Strawberry Tart Recipe

Puff Pastry Strawberry Tart Recipe – Success From Failure

This is how we came to produce our little Turkish breakfast sweet treat, puff pastry strawberry tart. Or, to give it a Turkish name, çilekli ...
Recipe For Revani Semolina Cake

Revani Recipe – A Semolina Cake Drenched In Zesty Syrup

Are you familiar with this revani recipe? A light, sponge semolina cake drenched in a zesty syrup. If you have a soft spot for tasty ...
Frozen Yoghurt Recipe FroYo

Summer Fruit Frozen Yoghurt – A Sweet Mix Of Seasonal & Local Ingredients

We've been using seasonal spring and summer fruits to play about with our new love; a frozen yoghurt recipe. This is a delicious treat on ...
Recipe For Sütlaç Rice Pudding

Sütlaç Recipe – Rice Pudding, Turkish-Style

First it was zesty revani. This time, it's a much-loved Turkish version of a classic Rice Pudding. Here's our Sütlaç recipe! What's this? Haven't we ...
Mosaic Cake With Blackberries And Strawberries

Turkish Mosaic Cake Recipe – A Yummy Chocolate Treat

Have you ever tried Turkish mosaic cake - mozaik pastası? It's our favourite Turkish chocolate cake. Biscuits, chocolate sauce and a serving of fresh fruit ...

Turkish Cookery – FAQs

How did Ottoman cuisine develop?

The culinary tradition of the Ottomans was largely the result of blending and enhancing a fusion of other culinary styles from the Mediterranean, Balkans, Middle East, Central Asia and Eastern Europe. The legacy of the Ottomans now forms a significant part of most traditional Turkish dishes.

What are some of the main ingredients used in Turkish cooking?

Turkish recipes use many of the same simple ingredients as other cuisines.

With many meze dishes and vegetarian or vegan recipes in Turkish cuisine, there’s lots of fresh vegetables such as white and red onions, fresh tomatoes, aubergines (eggplant), potatoes, courgette (zucchini) and green peppers or red peppers.

Turks also eat lots of fish, chicken and red meat such as lamb, beef and minced meat (ground meat such as ground beef).

To add extra taste to dishes you will also see lots of Turkish spices and herbs – such as chilli pepper (or chili powder), pul biber (Aleppo pepper), cumin, fresh dill and parsley – along with other ingredients such as lemon juice, salt, black pepper, tomato paste, pine nuts and sesame seeds.

What are the most famous Turkish foods?

We won’t go into great detail here as we have a separate article which is a more in-depth guide to the different varieties of popular Turkish food

But just some of the treasures that Turkish & Ottoman cuisine have given to the world include döner kebabs, Adana kebab, Hünkar Beğendi, Shish kebabs, pide, Imam Bayıldı, Tandır (slow-cooked tender lamb), beyaz peynir (similar to Feta cheese), Lokum (Turkish Delight) and Baklava.

Market and street vendors also sell popular street food such as simit, çiğ köfte, kokoreç and gözleme.

What do Turkish people drink with their food?

The most famous drinks of Turkey are probably Turkish tea (çay), Turkish coffee (Türk kahvesi), Salep, Şalgam, Boza, Rakı and the Turkish yoghurt drink Ayran.

More New Recipes Coming Soon…

Because of the size of the country, Turkey has many different climates and landscapes.

This means the cuisine varies from region to region, giving us a whole array of Turkish dishes to tickle your taste buds and experiment with.

Wherever we travel to in the country, even if it somewhere relatively close by, we usually come back armed with at least one new easy recipe to try out.

That’s because we’ve discovered a dish we’ve never seen before.

Slowly, slowly, each new Turkish recipe we do will appear on this page…

Happy cooking & Afiyet olsun!

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