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15 Foods You Must Try on Your Trip to Turkey

Delicious Turkish Foods Everyone Must Try on Your Trip to Turkey

Turkish cuisine uniquely features a fusion of flavors from different parts of the world. Many of them were hailed from a menu served explicitly among emperors only during the olden times. Apart from this illustrious influence, a wide range of Turkish meals were inspired by Ottoman cuisine and bore many Asian techniques. If you want to know more of the best food in Turkey, here’s the comprehensive list:

Doner kebabs

Doner kebab
Doner kebab

Turkish cuisine is famous for the mouth-watering kebabs. You will see many kebab stalls in Turkey, showcasing well-seasoned meat in an inverted cone shape that goes around a vertical rotisserie. Slowly, thin slices of really flavorful meat are sliced and served usually with flatbread. This doner kebab is said to have inspired the popular shawarma.

Simit

Simit paired with Turkish Tea
Simit paired with Turkish Tea

If you love bread, you will surely appreciate Simit. It is a circular bread that is usually topped with sesame seeds. Turkey has been making this type of bread since 1525, and they’ve mastered this one well. If you want to grab a quick bite during a hectic itinerary, this bagel and pretzel-like bread is the best pick!

Pickled juice

Pickles are a staple among Turkish meals, and it doesn’t always end up in just meals. If you’re feeling a little hungover or feeling aches on your body and forehead, pickled juice is such a magical find! Although the taste is not particularly smoothie or milkshake-like, the tangy freshness will refresh your taste buds and senses.

Pide

Pide Flatbread Turkey
Pide Flatbread Turkey

If you’ve come to Turkey to eat, this traditional homemade bread is a must-try for you. Pide is a flatbread baked that’s filled with meaty toppings and baked in a stone oven. Some variants are served with eggs, which makes a really nutritious meal if you’d ask us. It’s like a sandwich and pizza in one, and your taste buds will surely love every bite of it.

Midye dolma

Midye dolma photo via Depositphotos
Midye dolma photo via Depositphotos

Many tourists claim midye dolma to be the most delicious sea find in Turkey. This dish is made from fresh mussels, obtained from the beautiful coasts of Turkey, and stuffed with rice that’s made zestier and tastier by Turkish spices. If you love seafood and street food, their sanctimonious marriage produces a baby called midye dolma. It’s totally a gift from the heavens!

Balik Ekmek

Balik Ekmek photo via Depositphotos
Balik Ekmek photo via Depositphotos

One of the healthy meals you’ll ever see in Turkey is balik ekmek, a sandwich filled with grilled fish with lettuce and white onions. There’s a famous stall at Eminonou by the coastline. Good food and fabulous sights make a fantastic dining experience, and Turkey has precisely this for you.

Köfte

Kofte
Kofte

If you haven’t tried lamb meat, starting with Turkey’s köfte will give you a delightful experience. This dish is meatball in form and usually lamb in meat. You can eat it with rice or flatbread, raw sweet onions, and a refreshing garlic sauce on the side.

Menemen

Menemen
Menemen

Menemen is both a district and a popular dish in Turkey. Menemen, the dish, is basically a filling meal made with effs, onions, fresh tomatoes, and green peppers. Its burst of flavor comes from the spices that top this meal. If you want a meal that’s both basic and flavourful, this is your best bet!

Hunkar Begendi

Hunkar Begendi photo via Depositphotos
Hunkar Begendi photo via Depositphotos

This exciting meal literally means Sultan’s delight. Many dishes in Turkish cuisine were shared from the palace, and this impressive dish is one of them. This is made of lamb ragout, pureed eggplant, and bechamel sauce. Undoubtedly, its sauce is French-inspired. If you want a bit of background story, locals believe that the Sultan had French and Ottoman cooks in the palace who creatively fused two types of cuisine in one. If you want to be amazed by a discovery that’s a couple of millenniums years old, this dish is a must-try!

Kahvalti

This word translates to “before coffee.” According to locals, drinking coffee, especially in the morning, is discouraged without eating first. Hence, breakfast, in the form of kahlavati, is usually a prelude to coffee. A full breakfast in Turkey is especially typical during Sundays. It features different types of cheeses, black olives, clotted cream, honey, a variety of jams, eggs (boiled or omelet), sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, and bread. If you are not accustomed to full breakfasts, kahlavati is undoubtedly a must-try in Turkey, especially before a day full of traveling.

Manti

Manti Steamed Turkish Dumplings photo via Depositphotos
Manti Steamed Turkish Dumplings photo via Depositphotos

This extraordinary Turkish dish is made of lamb-stuffed dumplings generally topped with three different sauces and a range of spices. You get to enjoy a manti with sauces made of caramelized tomato, brown butter, and garlic yogurt.

Kuzu Tandir

This dish is among the most famous lamb meals in Turkey. If you’ve been wondering what meats do Turkish eat, this is the short answer. An ideal kuzu tandir features a soft texture of lamb meat that effortlessly falls off its bones and easily melts in your mouth. What makes this roasted lamb dish extra special and unique is the cooking technique used by the locals to achieve its perfect texture. Although kuzu tandir is ubiquitous in Turkey, it is rare anywhere else, making it a must-eat dish in the country!

Gobitte

Gobitte Burgers
Gobitte Burgers

The food industry in Turkey reached 110 billion in 2019, in Turkish Lira. One of the reasons behind this is that the government and the locals are highly supportive of new businesses. Gobitte is one of the most-liked fast-food chains in Turkey. Its Turkish twist in hamburgers is only available in this country. So, if you want something unique and easy to grab, this Turkish fast food is the dreamiest option.

Börek

Turkish style meat and cheese stuffed filo dough borek photo via Depositphotos
Turkish style meat and cheese stuffed filo dough borek photo via Depositphotos

This tasty-looking pastry can be served in variety of ways. It can be rolled with fillings of minced meat, spinach, and cheese. You can also have it as a puff or layered like a lasagna. You can have Börek any time of the day or three times a day even. This pastry is hard to forget, so make sure you grab the chance to fulfill your future cravings in just one trip.

Baklava

Baklava Turkish Sweets
Baklava Turkish Sweets

Your trip to Turkey is never complete without gorging on baklava. It is probably one of the most popular food from Turkey. Each layer of this sweet delight is rich in honest to goodness flavor, and it simply melts in your mouth. You try to enjoy it before it completely melts in your mouth, but you end up not having enough of it. Yes, it’s that good! The good thing is you can have a lot of it in Turkey. The not so good thing is if you want some baklava goodness at home an authentic-tasting one is difficult to make. If you do succeed in perfecting the recipe, do share it with us!

Turkey Food Tour Packages

To help you plan out your visit to Turkey, we listed some of the most delicious Turkish foods that you must try on your visit.

Searching for the best hotels, resorts, and affordable flights in the nearby Cities? Check out our list of affordable Mauritius hotels and resorts via Agoda, or you may also see available Airbnb properties in the city.

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Written by Melo Villareal

Melo Villareal is the Online Publisher of Outoftownblog.com. He is an Accountant by profession who left the corporate world at the age of 23 to explore his beautiful country and the rest of the world. Today, Melo works as a part-time Social Media Manager for local and international clients. His full-time work focuses on discovering interesting culture, explore different cuisines and take memorable photos from local and international destinations he's visiting.

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