Turkish Foods: 19 Must-Try Dishes & Essential Vocabulary
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Is Turkish food one of the main reasons you want to visit Turkey? I understand the temptation. The country's cooking changes from region to region, from olive-oil vegetable dishes around the Aegean to the kebaps of the southeast and Istanbul's mix of regional traditions.
No list of 19 dishes can cover the whole cuisine. Think of these as starting points, followed by the Turkish food words and restaurant phrases that will help you order them.
A note from the Fluent in 3 Months team before we get started: You can chat away with a native speaker for at least 15 minutes with the “Fluent in 3 Months” method. All it takes is 90 days. Tap this link to find out more.
Table of contents
19 Must-Try Turkish Dishes
Several names on this list describe whole families of food rather than one fixed recipe. That is part of the fun, but it also means ingredients can change by region, cook and restaurant.
1. Kebap (Kebab)
Kebap is the Turkish spelling of “kebab”. It covers many meat dishes and cooking methods, not only meat on a skewer. Here are three useful names to recognise:
- Adana kebabı: A registered speciality associated with Adana. Its minced mutton and tail fat are chopped together with a broad knife called a zırh, shaped onto a skewer and cooked over charcoal.
- İskender kebap: A Bursa speciality made with thin döner meat over pieces of pide, usually served with butter and often with tomato sauce and yoghurt.
- Şiş kebap: The word şiş means “skewer”. Cubes of meat are threaded onto skewers and grilled, sometimes with vegetables.
2. Döner
Döner comes from the verb dönmek, “to turn”. Layers of seasoned meat cook on a vertical rotating spit and are shaved off in thin pieces. You may find beef, lamb, chicken or a mixture, served on a plate, in bread or in a wrap. The accompaniments vary.
3. Lahmacun
Lahmacun is a thin round of dough spread with a finely minced mixture that commonly includes meat, tomato, pepper, herbs and spices, then baked. It is sometimes nicknamed “Turkish pizza”, although its dough, topping and way of eating are different. Parsley, salad leaves and lemon are common accompaniments, and many people roll it before eating.
4. Pide
Pide can mean several types of bread. On a restaurant menu, it often refers to an elongated or boat-shaped baked dough with a filling such as minced meat, diced meat, cheese, vegetables or egg. Look at the word before pide to find out which version you are ordering.
5. Köfte
Köfte usually means seasoned meatballs or patties in this part of a menu, with grilled, fried, baked and sauced versions across the country. The word also appears in meat-free dishes such as mercimek köftesi (lentil köfte), so the full name matters.
6. Mantı
Mantı refers to a family of small filled-dough dishes with strong regional variation. The well-known Kayseri style uses tiny parcels with a minced-meat filling, boiled and served with garlic yoghurt and a butter or oil sauce. Other places make different shapes, sizes, fillings and sauces, so there is no single national recipe.
7. Börek
Börek is another broad category. Layers or rolls of thin dough called yufka can hold cheese, spinach, potatoes or meat, then be baked or cooked in other ways. Names such as su böreği, kol böreği and sigara böreği refer to distinct styles rather than interchangeable fillings.
8. Dolma
The name dolma is related to dolmak, “to be filled” or “to become full”. A vegetable such as a pepper, aubergine or courgette is hollowed or opened and filled. The filling may contain rice, bulgur, meat, onion, herbs, dried fruit or spices, depending on the recipe.
9. Yaprak Sarma
Yaprak means “leaf”, while sarma comes from sarmak, “to wrap” or “to roll”. For yaprak sarma, a filling is wrapped in vine leaves. It can be made with meat or as a zeytinyağlı olive-oil dish without meat. The words dolma and sarma are often grouped together in conversation, but they describe filling and wrapping respectively.
10. Karnıyarık
Karnıyarık literally means “split belly”. An aubergine is split and filled with seasoned minced meat, onion, tomato and pepper before cooking. The exact preparation varies, but meat is central to the standard dish.
11. İmambayıldı
İmambayıldı means “the imam fainted”. It is an aubergine dish with onion, tomato, garlic and generous olive oil rather than a minced-meat filling.
The stories explaining its name are folklore, not settled history. It is often described as vegetarian, but recipes and restaurant kitchens differ, and some versions use meat stock. Ask about the cooking liquid if you avoid meat.
12. Menemen
Menemen is a soft egg dish cooked with tomatoes and green peppers, often eaten at breakfast with bread. Onion is a familiar but much-debated addition, so you will find versions both with and without it.
13. Bulgur Pilavı
Bulgur pilavı is a bulgur pilaf with many regional forms. Tomato, pepper, onion and tomato or pepper paste are common additions, but recipes may also use chickpeas, vegetables, meat or meat stock. Do not assume a vegetable version is meat-free without checking the stock.
14. Kısır
Kısır is a fine-bulgur salad mixed with tomato or pepper paste, herbs and something tart, often lemon or pomegranate molasses. Lettuce, spring onion, parsley and spices vary by cook. Şanlıurfa's dried red pepper, isot, is one possible seasoning rather than a defining ingredient in every kısır.
15. Kuru Fasulye ve Pilav
Kuru fasulye is both “dried beans” and the name of a white-bean stew. Onion and tomato paste are common; some versions are meat-free, while others contain beef, lamb, sausage or cured meat. It is often served with rice pilaf, giving the familiar pairing kuru fasulye ve pilav (beans and rice).
16. Midye Dolma
Midye dolma are mussels filled with seasoned rice, often including onion, herbs and warm spices, then served in the shell with lemon. They are a familiar street food in coastal cities. Despite the rice filling, this is shellfish, not a vegetarian dolma.
17. Gözleme
Gözleme is thin dough filled, folded and cooked on a hot griddle or sac. Cheese, spinach, potato and minced meat are common fillings. Ask for the full name because a cheese or vegetable filling does not describe what may have been used elsewhere on the cooking surface.
18. Baklava
Baklava is made from many thin layers of pastry with butter or clarified butter, nuts and syrup. The nuts differ by style and region. Antep baklavası or Gaziantep baklavası is a protected regional name associated with Gaziantep and Antep pistachios.
19. Simit
Simit is a ring-shaped, sesame-crusted bread sold in bakeries and from street stands. Many versions are dipped in a diluted grape-molasses mixture before baking, although methods and texture vary by city. A seller is a simitçi.
Essential Turkish Food Vocabulary for Language Learners
These words cover meals, ingredients and the phrases you are likely to need at a restaurant. Turkish uses a Latin-based alphabet, but letters such as ı, İ, ğ, ş, ç, ö and ü are meaningful parts of the spelling, not optional decorations.
Turkish Food Vocabulary
Use the audio to hear each word, then repeat it with the written form in front of you.
| English | Turkish | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| “Breakfast” | kahvaltı | |
| “Lunch” | öğle yemeği | |
| “Dinner” | akşam yemeği | |
| “Meat” | et | |
| “Chicken” | tavuk | |
| “Fish” | balık | |
| “Vegetable” | sebze | |
| “Fruit” | meyve | |
| “Bread” | ekmek | |
| “Spice” | baharat | |
| “Salt” | tuz | |
| “Black pepper” | karabiber | |
| “Olive oil” | zeytinyağı | |
| “Lemon” | limon | |
| “Tomato” | domates | |
| “Onion” | soğan | |
| “Tomato paste” | domates salçası | |
| “Yoghurt” | yoğurt | |
| “Cheese” | peynir | |
| “Salad” | salata |
Ordering Food in a Turkish Restaurant
These polite, neutral phrases work in an ordinary restaurant. Turkish often drops the subject pronoun, so the verb ending carries the meaning of “I”.
| English | Turkish | Audio |
|---|---|---|
| “I’d like to make a reservation.” | Rezervasyon yapmak istiyorum. | |
| “Can I have the menu?” | Menüyü alabilir miyim? | |
| “One lahmacun, please.” | Bir lahmacun, lütfen. | |
| “Do you have vegetarian options?” | Vejetaryen seçenekleriniz var mı? | |
| “Can I have some bread, please?” | Ekmek alabilir miyim, lütfen? | |
| “Is this dish spicy?” | Bu yemek acılı mı? | |
| “Can I have the bill, please?” | Hesabı alabilir miyim? | |
| “Enjoy your meal.” | Afiyet olsun. |
A dish that looks vegetarian may still contain meat stock. If you need to check, say Et yemiyorum (“I don't eat meat”) and ask Bunda et veya et suyu var mı? (“Does this contain meat or meat stock?”). For an allergy, name the exact ingredient rather than relying on the dish name.
FAQs
What is typical Turkish food?
There is no single typical plate for the whole country. Wheat, bulgur, bread, pulses, yoghurt, vegetables and meat appear in different combinations, while climate, agriculture and local history shape each region's cooking. Look for the city's own specialities as well as familiar names such as pide, börek, dolma and baklava.
What is Turkey’s Favourite Food?
There is no authoritative nationwide answer. Döner, kebap, pide, kuru fasulye, simit and baklava are all widely recognised, but preference depends on the person and region.
What is Turkey’s National Dish?
Turkey has no formally designated national dish. It does have registered geographical indications linking particular foods to places, including Adana kebabı and Antep baklavası. Those are regional associations, not city-level “national dishes”.
Is Turkish Food Similar to Greek Food?
There are similarities, especially in dishes shaped by the eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean and centuries of Ottoman history. Foods such as baklava, dolma and börek have related versions in several present-day countries. It is more accurate to describe that shared and intertwined history than to force every dish into a modern national ownership contest.
What is Commonly Eaten in Turkey?
Everyday meals vary by household and region. Soups, bread, rice or bulgur pilaf, beans and other pulses, yoghurt, seasonal vegetables, eggs and meat dishes all have a place in Turkish cooking. Street foods and restaurant specialities are only one part of that picture.
Continue Your Turkish Culinary Adventure
Choose one regional dish to try, learn its Turkish name, and use a complete sentence when you order it. You can broaden your vocabulary with these Turkish words for everyday conversations. If you want a structured course after the restaurant phrases, read our TurkishClass101 review.
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