Turkish food - 20 classic dishes you must try

Writer: Helena Bergström

Turkish food offers wonderful Mediterranean flavours and a wide variety of dishes. You can enjoy delicious meze dishes and lots of tasty sweets. In this article, we present tips on Turkish food.

What to eat in Turkey - a quick overview

We have previously written about Greek food and Italian cuisine, and now we turn our attention to Turkish cuisine! In Turkey there is a huge variety of dishes. Here are some typical examples of what to eat in Turkey:

• Meat: Kebabs in many flavours
• Small dishes: Meze like hummus and dolma
• Bread: Pide and lavash
• Potholes: Slow-cooked meat dishes
• Sweet: Baklava and Turkish delight

We have made several trips to Turkey and we particularly like the small dishes - meze - which are often served before the main course.

Typical Turkish food: 20 classic dishes

Here we list Turkish dishes that are interesting to try, including appetizers, desserts and sweets.

1. Turkish breakfast

In Turkey, it is common to eat bread, olives, cheese, cucumber and tomato for breakfast, and if you have time, you can also cook eggs.

Turkish breakfast is available in restaurants, kahvalti, which contains this but usually more, such as sausages, batters and dried fruit. Often everything is served in different small bowls, and looks very tempting.

If you eat breakfast in a hotel in Turkey, you will usually be served a buffet breakfast, which includes both Turkish and international breakfast dishes.

2. simit

A Turkish bread similar to a bagel, but a little bigger, a little crispier and covered in sesame seeds. These are often bought in small stalls on the street, as street food, and are really good.

3. Meze - Turkish starters

When eating out in Turkey, it is customary to start the meal with meze, or small Turkish appetisers, which tend to be plentiful and are often placed all over the table for the party to share. Meze can include, for example:

• Bread and various types of mixes
• Salads and vegetable dishes
• Pickled sardines
• Vine leaf dolphins
• Deep-fried cheese rolls

4. Hummus, babaganoush and other mixtures

Stir-fries of various kinds are almost always part of Turkish meze, but because they are so common and important, they deserve their own heading. Some common stirs:

• Hummus (chickpea scramble)
• Baganoush (aubergine scrambled)
• Yogurt scramble
• Ezme (tomato paste)

5. lahmacun

A small Turkish minced meat pizza, with a thin base. This dish can also be served among the meze dishes, and if you want, you can eat it as a roll filled with vegetables.

6. pide

An open boat-shaped pirogue often filled with minced lamb. The pirogue can also be filled with cheese, for example, as in the picture below.

7th Dürum

A Turkish wrap usually filled with typical kebab ingredients. We had dürüm with lamb mince at the popular street food place Dürümzade in Istanbul. Very tasty! Vegetarian versions of dürüm can also be found, for example with cheese and vegetables.

8. fish sandwich

In many places, including Istanbul, you can stop and buy a fish sandwich as a form of street food. A common filling seems to be mackerel. We tried a sandwich with salmon, tarama (fish roe mix), red onion and salad. Perfect for replenishing some energy while walking the streets!

9. Grilled corn and chestnuts

One thing you can try when walking around the streets of Turkey is grilled corn and chestnuts. Among other things, there are many stalls around Hagia Sofia in Istanbulbut also in many other places. We have tried the chestnuts, and they are really good.

10th Mücver

A steak or raw rakka made from courgettes, which can be served among the meze dishes. We were served many varieties of courgette steaks during our recent trip to Istanbul and these were all very good.

11. manti

Manti are a type of dumplings, i.e. small dough dumplings, which are cooked in several countries, such as the Balkans, the United States and the United Kingdom. Armenia and in Uzbekistan. In Turkey they are often served with a yoghurt sauce.

12. Çiğ Köfte

A type of raw meatball served mainly in Turkey, but also found in some neighbouring countries such as Syria. It can be made with either ground beef or ground lamb.

13. quiver

A common Turkish dish, they can be described as meatballs, which can be made in different sizes and shapes. Meatballs are usually made from ground beef or ground lamb, but there are also variants made from ground chicken or vegetarian ingredients, such as chickpeas, broad beans or lentils.

14. kebabs

Kebab is extremely popular in Turkey and actually means 'grilled'. There are lots of different types of kebab and the one called "döner kebab" is what we usually call kebab in Sweden. Here are some kebabs to try in Turkey:

• Döner kebab - pressed meat which is rotated and grilled, and from which strips are cut.
• Iskender kebab - sliced kebab meat topped with hot tomato sauce, sheep butter and yoghurt
• Shish kebab - pieces of whole or minced meat that are marinated and grilled on small skewers

15. Hünkârbeğendi

Hünkârbeğendi is an aubergine and meat dish that originated in Ottoman cuisine. A meat stew, made with lamb or beef, is served together with aubergine puree. This became a favourite during our last trip. Very good Turkish food!

16. Fresh fish

There is plenty of this in Turkey, at least if you are near the sea. In markets and restaurants we saw lots of fish and seafood, among other things:

• Bluefish
• Albacore tuna (white tuna)
• Salmon
• Seabream
• Seabass
• mackerel
• Squid
• Blue mussels
• Rum and the rum pipe ”tarama”

Restaurants sometimes serve whole fish and sometimes fillets, often accompanied only by lemon and some salad.

17. baklava

One delicacy you won't want to miss is baklava. This sweet pastry is common in several countries around the Middle East and in the Balkans. It is perhaps particularly popular in Turkey and in fact it is believed to have originated in the imperial kitchens of the Ottoman Empire. The pastry is made from filo dough and nuts and is very sweet.

18. Turkish Delight

Another sweet that you don't want to miss in Turkey is Turkish Delight. This is a kind of sweet marmalade confection that usually contains pistachios, among other things, and is very sweet and tasty.

19. Halva

This is another type of confectionery that might be interesting to try. It includes tahini, a sesame paste, and is available in many countries in Western Asia, the Middle East and the Balkans.

20. Fresh and dried fruit

Both fresh and dried fruits are plentiful in Turkey. Depending on the season, you can indulge in delicious fruits and berries such as:

• Citrus fruit
• Quince
• cherry
• Plum
• Apricots
• Dates
• Figs
• Grapes
• Dried fruit and berries

Turkish food in restaurants in Turkey

Want to try Turkish food in a nice local restaurant? In the report below you'll find tips on both food tours and restaurants in Istanbul and restaurants in Cappadocia.

• 9 restaurants in Istanbul you don't want to miss
• Food Tour in Istanbul - for all food lovers
• Cappadocia in Turkey - sights and experiences

Combining Turkish food with drink

So what should you drink with your food, or in other contexts? If you like wine, try Turkish wine. There are also plenty of delicious juices made from various fresh fruits. Perhaps the most famous drinks are Turkish coffee and Turkish tea.

Turkish coffee

Turkish coffee has a long tradition in Turkey and in the past, in the palaces of the Ottoman Empire, its serving was associated with special ceremonies.

Even today, coffee is made in a special way, and the strong drink is served in small cups, where a relatively large part of the drink is made up of the grounds. The coffee can be served with or without sugar, and this is chosen before the drink is served, as sugar should not be added afterwards.

Turkish tea

Turkish tea is also a popular drink in Turkey. Traditionally served in a tulip-shaped glass, Turkish tea can be enjoyed at any time of the day.

More about food in other countries

Here you can find more stories about food in different countries:

• Cypriot food - 20 dishes in Cyprus
• Greek food - 25 Greek dishes
• Italian food - 25 Italian dishes
• Lebanese food - 25 Lebanese dishes
• Tunisian food - 17 Tunisian dishes