The 20 most famous dishes of Türkiye
Turkish cuisine is heir to the Ottoman kitchen that stretched from the Balkans to the Levant, famous for kebabs, pastries and pistachio sweets, blending Central Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours.
1Döner Kebab
Slices of seasoned meat roasted on a vertical rotating spit, served in bread or on a plate with rice and…
2İskender Kebap
Döner slices over cubed pide bread, drenched with tomato sauce and sizzling browned butter, served with…
3Adana Kebab
Hand-minced lamb with tail fat and hot red pepper, shaped onto wide skewers and grilled over charcoal.
4Lahmacun
A very thin, crisp flatbread spread with minced meat, tomato and peppers, rolled up with parsley and lemon.
5Pide
Boat-shaped bread filled with minced meat, cheese or egg, baked and brushed with butter — Turkey's pizza.
6Mantı
Tiny meat-filled dumplings served with garlic yoghurt and red butter with chili and mint — from Kayseri.
7İnegöl Köfte
Small fingers of beef and lamb mince with onion, grilled and served with onion-parsley salad.
8Menemen
Eggs softly cooked with tomatoes, green peppers and butter — a beloved Turkish breakfast eaten with bread.
9Mercimek Çorbası
Smooth red lentil soup with mint and chili, served with lemon in every Turkish restaurant.
10İmam Bayıldı
Aubergines stuffed with onion, tomato and garlic, cooked in olive oil and served cold — the name means "the…
11Karnıyarık
Fried, split aubergines stuffed with minced meat, tomato and pepper, baked and served with rice.
12Hünkâr Beğendi
Lamb stew in tomato over a smoky aubergine-cheese cream — "the sultan was pleased", from the Ottoman palace…
13Kuru Fasulye
White bean stew with tomato, pepper and meat or sucuk, served with pilaf and pickles — Turkey's everyday…
14Simit
Bread rings dipped in grape molasses and coated in toasted sesame, sold from carts on the streets of Istanbul.
15Su Böreği
Layers of boiled pastry sheets with butter and a white cheese and parsley filling, baked until golden — the…
16Gaziantep Baklava
Gaziantep's famous baklava: forty paper-thin layers with clarified butter and green pistachios, soaked in…
17Künefe
Hatay's künefe: shredded kadayıf browned in butter around stretchy melted cheese, soaked in syrup and topped…
18Lokum (Turkish Delight)
Soft, chewy cubes of starch and sugar flavoured with rose water, lemon or pistachio and dusted with icing…
19Fırın Sütlaç
Rice pudding baked until a browned skin forms on top, served cold with cinnamon.
20Testi Kebabı
Meat and vegetables slow-cooked in a sealed clay pot that is cracked open at the table — a Cappadocian…