A staple of every Turkish eatery and the perfect first recipe for beginners.
Soaked dried white beans slowly simmered with beef, onion and pepper paste, the comforting stew that Turks pair with rice pilaf.
A beloved Turkish summer dish of fried eggplants split open and baked with a savory ground-beef and tomato filling.
Soft eggs cooked into a juicy sauce of peppers and tomatoes, the star of the Turkish breakfast table, made for dipping bread.
Creamy Turkish rice pudding baked in individual bowls until the top is spotted dark brown, then served chilled.
Fluffy, separate-grained Turkish rice pilaf cooked in butter, with optional toasted orzo-style vermicelli.
Eggplants stuffed with slow-cooked onion, tomato and garlic and braised in olive oil, a Turkish classic served warm or cold.
Flat green beans slowly braised with onion, tomato and plenty of olive oil, a Turkish summer dish served at room temperature.
A light yet comforting Turkish soup of rice and yogurt, finished with dried mint sizzled in butter.
A hearty soup from Gaziantep made with red lentils, bulgur and rice, flavored with tomato and pepper paste, mint and chili.
Thin slices of marinated beef seared doner-style in a pan, served over pide with buttery tomato sauce and yogurt.
A tomato-braised lamb stew served over a creamy, cheesy purée of fire-roasted eggplant, a classic of Ottoman palace cuisine.
Tiny meat-filled dumplings from Kayseri, made from paper-thin dough and served with garlic yogurt and spiced butter.
Thin flatbreads spread with spiced minced meat and vegetables, baked crisp in a home oven and rolled up with lemon and parsley.
A fresh Turkish salad of diced tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion dressed simply with olive oil and lemon.
Crisp, golden Turkish pastry rolls made from yufka filled with feta-style white cheese and parsley, then fried.
Crisp-edged, tender Turkish fritters made from grated zucchini, white cheese, eggs and plenty of fresh herbs.
A tangy, spiced salad of fine bulgur kneaded with pepper paste, pomegranate molasses and fresh herbs, served in lettuce leaves.
A cooling mix of yogurt, cucumber, garlic and dried mint, ready in minutes and served with almost every Turkish summer meal.
Juicy Turkish meatballs seasoned with cumin and pepper flakes, kneaded, rested and cooked on a grill or a hot cast-iron pan.
Chunks of beef or lamb browned in butter with tomato paste and slowly simmered with chickpeas, a classic served with rice pilaf.
Bite-sized chicken seared over high heat and quickly simmered with peppers, tomatoes and thyme, an easy weeknight dinner.
Peppers filled with a minty ground-beef and rice stuffing and gently simmered in a light tomato broth, served with garlic yogurt.
Vine leaves rolled finger-thin around a spiced rice filling with pine nuts and currants, cooked in olive oil and served cold.
A light, fluffy semolina and yogurt sponge soaked in lemony syrup and finished with a sprinkle of coconut.
Pumpkin slices slowly cooked in their own juice with sugar, served cold with tahini and walnuts.
Semolina slowly toasted in butter with pine nuts, then steamed with sweetened milk into a fragrant, crumbly traditional halva.
Soft butter and semolina cookies topped with an almond, baked golden and soaked in cold syrup, a Turkish holiday favorite.
A Turkish spring classic of artichoke hearts braised in olive oil with peas, carrot and potato, served cool with plenty of dill.
Borlotti beans slowly cooked with carrot, potato and tomato in generous olive oil, then served cool as a meze or light summer meal.
A Turkish winter favorite of leeks braised in olive oil with carrots and a little rice until silky, finished with lemon and served cool.
Celeriac braised with carrot, potato and peas in olive oil and fresh orange juice, a bright Turkish winter dish served cool.
Okra cooked with cubed beef or lamb in a lemony tomato sauce, a beloved Anatolian summer stew where the okra stays tender, not slimy.
Young broad beans cooked whole in their pods with dill and olive oil until meltingly soft, served cool with garlic yogurt.
Fried eggplant and peppers tossed in a garlicky tomato sauce, a classic Turkish meze served at room temperature.
Meatless Turkish patties of red lentils and fine bulgur kneaded with sautéed onion, pepper paste and herbs, eaten in lettuce leaves with lemon.
Dried split broad beans cooked with onion and olive oil, puréed until silky, set and sliced, a classic Aegean meze.
Fresh purslane folded into garlicky yogurt and finished with olive oil and walnuts, a cooling Turkish summer salad.
A hearty Turkish winter dish of spinach cooked with ground beef, onion and a little rice, served with garlic yogurt.
Boiled white beans in a thick tahini, lemon and garlic sauce, topped with egg, tomato and onion, the famous bean salad of Antalya.
A classic Turkish stew of cubed beef or lamb slowly braised with onions and tomato paste until meltingly tender, made to be eaten with rice pilaf.
A colorful, hearty one-pot Turkish stew of tender beef with carrots, potatoes, peas and pearl onions.
Bone-in lamb wrapped and slow-roasted for hours until it falls off the bone, a home-oven take on Anatolia's traditional pit-oven tandır.
Fine bulgur kneaded at length with Urfa pepper, pepper paste and spices into a tangy, spicy mixture that is eaten wrapped in lettuce or flatbread with lemon.
Shells of fine bulgur and semolina filled with spiced beef and walnuts, then poached in water for a soft, light take on Turkish kibbeh.
Spicy lamb kebab made with fat-rich ground lamb and red pepper, shaped on skewers or as long patties and cooked under the oven grill or in a hot pan.
Juicy chicken kebabs marinated in yogurt and tomato paste, threaded onto skewers and cooked in the oven, in a pan or on the grill until charred at the edges.
A classic cold meze of poached, shredded chicken folded into a creamy sauce of walnuts, bread and garlic, finished with a drizzle of paprika butter.
Homemade thin dough sheets briefly boiled, then layered with butter and cheese and baked: soft inside, crisp on top, and the most labor-intensive treasure of the börek family.
Thin unleavened dough folded around a cheese and spinach filling and cooked in a pan with butter, the star of Turkish village breakfasts and roadside griddles.
Pieces of soft yeasted dough fried until puffed and golden, a classic of the Turkish breakfast table served with cheese and jam.
Bakery-style Turkish buns of soft, fluffy yeasted dough filled with white cheese and baked golden with an egg-yolk glaze and nigella seeds.
A warming Turkish winter soup made from tarhana, a sun-dried fermented mix of yogurt, flour and vegetables, finished with butter, tomato paste and dried mint.
A clear, comforting Turkish chicken soup made from a homemade bone-in broth with toasted vermicelli, carrot and shredded chicken.
A silky Anatolian celebration soup of slow-cooked lamb or beef broth and shredded meat, thickened with a yogurt, egg yolk and lemon liaison and topped with chili butter.
A velvety Turkish tomato soup thickened with a butter-and-flour roux, softened with milk and finished with grated kaşar cheese.
A sizzling Turkish breakfast pan of spicy beef sucuk crisped in its own fat with eggs cracked over the top.
A Black Sea breakfast of cornmeal cooked in plenty of butter with stretchy melted cheese, eaten straight from the pan with bread.
A light Turkish Ramadan dessert of paper-thin starch sheets soaked in sweetened milk, layered with walnuts and topped with pomegranate.
A Turkish milk pudding whose bottom is caramelized on the stove until deep golden, then rolled up and served cold, in a home-style version without chicken.
A classic Ottoman milk pudding enriched with plenty of ground almonds, silky and fragrant, topped with pistachios and coconut.
Bite-sized balls of yeasted batter fried until golden and plunged into cold syrup, crisp outside and fluffy inside, a favorite of the Aegean coast.
Quince halves slowly poached with their own seeds and cloves until ruby red, served with kaymak clotted cream and walnuts.
A traditional Turkish halva of flour slowly toasted in butter, then steeped in hot sweetened milk until soft and fragrant.
Turkish cuisine has its roots among the nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia. For communities living on horseback, yogurt, ayran, dried meat and simple doughs were central to daily life. Many trace today's love of thin yufka pastry, filled dumplings and dairy back to this era, although the exact lineage of individual dishes is debated.
As Turks settled in Anatolia, steppe cooking met the Byzantine, Persian, Arab and Mediterranean traditions. This fusion peaked in the Ottoman era, in the vast kitchens of Topkapı Palace. Palace cooks used ingredients from across the empire to refine pilafs, stuffed vegetables, helva and sherbets, and over time these recipes spread to mansions and ordinary households alike.
Thinking of Turkish food as a single cuisine misses a lot. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts favour olive-oil dishes, wild greens and seafood. The Black Sea region lives on anchovies, cornmeal and collard greens. Southeastern Anatolia is famous for its kebabs, spices and baklava, while Central Anatolia sets a hearty table of mantı, flatbreads topped with meat and pulse dishes.
The building blocks are onion, tomato or pepper paste, butter or olive oil, yogurt and seasonal vegetables. Red pepper flakes, cumin, dried mint and sumac are the most common seasonings. The "zeytinyağlı" method, gently braising vegetables in olive oil and serving them at room temperature, is one of the cuisine's most elegant techniques, while patiently sautéed onion and paste form the flavour base of countless stews.
If you are new to cooking, red lentil soup and menemen (Turkish scrambled eggs with tomatoes and peppers) are perfect first dishes: they teach basic sautéing and simmering with very few ingredients. Next, try green beans in olive oil