Turkey does some really tasty vegetarian food. Travelling for three months through the Balkans, it was a welcome change to have the hit of spice that Turkish vegetarian food brings to the table. We did find it a little difficult to find much variety of vegetarian food at restaurants (especially the further east we ventured), but what we did have, we loved. Our favourite thing to do was to have a huge Turkish breakfast spread (serpme kahvalti) that would keep us going for the whole day!

Read what to expect and recommendations of where to eat it throughout the country here.

There is a lot of sweet food; pastries, ice cream, doughnuts. It is common to have sugar in your tea and coffee too.

Loosen your belt (I’ve definitely had to move the prong of my belt buckle down a notch since visiting Turkey!), and get ready for all the Turkish vegetarian food this beautiful country has to offer.

Try Out Our Favourites!

Menemen

The classic. Onions, peppers, tomatoes are cooked into soft scrambled eggs. Eat with some bread and a few cups of cay. Mainly served as breakfast, but can be eaten throughout the day.

Scrambled Eggs with Alacati Herbs

Now, I doubt this is a mainstream breakfast, but it deserves a special mention. Avula in Alacati serves a big portion of perfectly seasoned scrambled eggs full of local herbs and it is beautiful.

Cig Kofte

Originally made out of room temperature raw minced meat, cig kofte was making a lot of people sick. Nowadays, the majority of cig kofte that you will find, is made with a vegan alternative of bulgur wheat. The grain is kneaded with salt, spices, tomato and pepper pastes and pomegranate syrup. It can either be served with dipping sauces or wrapped up in a flatbread with mint, parsley and salad.

Muhlama

Found mainly in the northern parts of Turkey, this is a rich and gooey cheese fondue style meal. It is made from butter, cornmeal and cheese and is served with bread. This is a perfect breakfast when it’s a little cooler outside and you need something warming and comforting.

Gozleme

Traditional Turkish pancake which is generally savoury, though we did find one sweet version. Often filled with potato, spinach or cheese, the pancake is folded into a package and then fried on a domed plate. We had a tahini, walnut, grape molasses and brown sugar, and it was our favourite gozleme from our entire six-week trip through Turkey. Find it here at Yavuz’s Restaurant in Selcuk, just outside Ephesus Ancient City. There is a small room off the side of the restaurant where you can see the gozleme being made by hand.

Lentil Soups – Mercimek Çorbası and Ezogelin

Mercimek is a gentle lentil soup which is hearty and warming. Ezogelin is similar but has more spicing to it.

Pide

Known as Turkish pizza, pide is bread flattened and topped with cheese, mushrooms, veg, eggs, meat before being baked. You’ll be able to find several vegetarian options of pide.

Simit

Simit is a bagel topped with sesame seeds. It is very often eaten as a snack or breakfast with some cay. You will find simit everywhere from restaurants, to simit stands to onboard ferries.

Bostana

A salad from Sanliurfa in the east of the country, it is often described as a ‘juicy’ salad because of the amount of liquid. Tomato, cucumber and onion are diced up finely and sit in a juice of lemon and pomegranate with a bit of a kick.

Hangel

Hangel is a dish of empty ravioli, similar to atria in Georgia. You’ll likely only see it in the north east of Turkey, close to Kars. The pasta sheets are cooked and then topped with buttery, caramelised onions and yoghurt.

Syrian Food

Turkey shares a border with Syria in the south east of the country, and we found really tasty falafel, hummus, moutabel etc. in Gaziantep and Mardin in particular.

Kumpir

Who’d have thought that loaded jacket potatoes would be so popular throughout Istanbul? There are loads of Kumpir shops that are laid out a bit like a Subway. Order your potato and then have as many toppings as you like. Cheese, spicy bulgur, salads, mushrooms, whatever takes your fancy. There is a usually a flat fee for the potato and you can have as many toppings as you like.

Bal-Kaymak

Bal-kaymak is an absolute beauty. A dollop of thick, rich, clotted cream sat in a sea of sticky honey. Rip off some bread and dip it in the two. Oh, so decadent.

Katmer

If you are heading out to Gaziantep (which is an amazing idea by the way), you have to eat katmer. It is a seriously thin pastry that is filled with cream, pistachios and sugar. It is rich and decadent and the pistachio flavour is outrageous.

Baklava/Kadaif

This sweet treat is made of filo pastry sheets layered with nuts and drenched in syrup. Kadaif is similar, but the filo pastry is shredded into noodles. This means that the surface area for soaking up the syrup increases, and in my opinion, creates a nicer texture (though I am big fans of both!).

Dondurma

Turkish ice cream. You’ve likely seen the videos of the Turkish ice cream sellers messing around with people trying to buy the ice cream. Dondurma is usually so thick that you could eat it with a knife and fork if you wanted.

Halva Ice Cream Pudding – Dondurmali Irmik Helvasi

A layer of thick dondurma ice cream sit underneath or inside semolina halva. We had a pistachio flavoured halva and a plain halva topped with tahini and nuts. So rich and filling, but so so tasty. I had never had a flavour or texture like it before.  If the seller hadn’t told me what it was, I wouldn’t have known by just tasting it!

Kunefe

For me, this was a combination of textures and flavours that I hadn’t experienced before. My first taste of kunefe was in Amman, Jordan; and I wasn’t sold on it. When I saw it being sold all over Turkey, I decided to give it another go, and it started to grow on me. A savoury, stretchy cheese is served warm with crispy pastry noodles on top that have been drenched in syrup.

Sutlac

Turkish rice pudding is served all through the country. It is usually flavoured simply with vanilla, but we managed to find a rose flavoured sutlac that was really good.

Lokma

Little deep fried donuts drenched in syrup and served with nuts sprinkled on top.

Masala Chai

In Balat’s Café Dora, an authentic Pakistani masala chai is served. We loved masala chai when we were in India, and were hopeful that this would be great too. And it is. It really is. Creamy, spicy and warming.

The full Turkish breakfast spread is honestly one of our top reasons for loving Turkey. I would fly back to Istanbul or Van, in particular, just to eat their phenomenal breakfasts. 

Different regions of the country have different takes on the individual dishes that make up a Turkish breakfast. The beginnings of this breakfast tradition seems to be traced back to Van in the very east of the country, home to a huge Kurdish population and close to the border with Iran.

Since the popularity of the Van breakfast has increased, more restaurants have opened up in other areas of the country, notably Istanbul.

A full Turkish breakfast spread, called serpme kahvaltı in Turkish, is a way to bring people together, socialise and enjoy life at a slow pace. It is a common occurrence at the weekends when people have more time than during the week.

People get together and enjoy a leisurely breakfast over a few hours, tucking into the huge variety of small dishes (usually at least fifteen!) and sipping tea (cay). 

The word ‘kahvaltı’ literally means ‘before coffee’ in Turkish. The breakfast is accompanied with plenty of cay, and then can be finished off with a thick and dark Turkish coffee.

It’s a traditional, cultural and wholesome activity, and I really feel that you haven’t properly experienced Turkey until you have had yourself a proper serpme kahvaltı. 

Loosen your belt, you are in for an absolute treat.

Looking for more Turkish vegetarian food options? Take a look at this post.

The Main Elements of a Full Turkish Breakfast Spread

Cay

Cay (pronounced chai) is Turkish black tea that is served with all breakfast spreads. If you go to the right places, you might even get unlimited cay. But make sure you check before you order more cay.

Made from black tea leaves, cay is a Turkish institution and is drunk by Turks all day every day. Maybe add a cube of sugar to your dainty tulip-shaped glass of the amber liquid. Without cay, it’s not breakfast.

Bread

Turks know how to do bread; whether it be a flatbread, a sesame seed topped bagel called simit or a regular loaf, you’ll need plenty of this to mop up the juices and use as a vehicle to carry all of what’s to come.

Eggs

This is likely to be the only hot element of the breakfast. This can come in several different forms – fried, omelette, scrambled, boiled – but our favourite is the classic menemen. Menemen is a Turkish scrambled egg with peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and spices mixed in.

Some breakfasts serve the eggs with sucuk which is a spiced sausage, so if you are vegetarian, specify beforehand and opt for a menemen or just the egg without the sausage.

Cheeses

You’ll find at least three different types of cheese usually. Very often a string cheese (dil peyniri) which is mild in flavour, and then whatever the local specialities are.

Acuka

This is punchy paste made of red peppers, chilli, herbs, salt and walnuts. Spread a small amount on some bread with some of the cheese.

Olives

Black and green olives are always served. Sometimes they have been marinated in herbs and spices to really give them a kick.

Za’atar and Olive Oil

A small pot of za’atar is served alongside a small pot of oil. Dip your bread into the oil and then into the za’atar spice mix of sumac and toasted sesame seeds.

Tomato and Cucumber

This keeps things light and fresh. They are often topped with salt and herbs to really bring the flavours out.

Bal-kaymak

Bal-kaymak is a rich clotted cream that is served with honey. This was my absolute favourite part of the spread. It is so indulgent, creamy, rich, sweet and sticky. Spread on to a piece of bread of fried dough (pisi).

Jams

The jams that we received in our breakfast spreads were always very different to those we have back home in the UK. They are generally very sticky and contain a lot of whole fruit. You’ll usually have a selection of three. Our favourites were fig, apricot and cherry.

Extra Elements of the Full Turkish Breakfast Spread

Sigara Borek

Filo pastry is wrapped around a stretchy cheese and deep fried, leaving a crunchy exterior and a gooey centre. These are great dipped in acuka (spicy red pepper paste).

Tahini Molasses

Rich and creamy sesame seed paste is mixed with a grape molasses to sweeten it up.

Pisi

Pisi is a fried dough that is a perfect match with the bal-kaymak (honey and clotted cream) or a fruit jam.

Nutella and Nut Butters

Nutella and nut butters add a sweet and creamy richness. Again, a great combination with the pisi fried dough. We received a hazelnut paste on a couple of occasions that tasted just like the creamy part inside a Kinder Bueno.

Regional Variations

Gaziantep/Syrian influence

We had a homemade breakfast spread made by our AirBnB host in Gaziantep who is Syrian. He made aubergine spreads, moutabel and a thick aubergine and garlic paste; and a herby and spicy yoghurt dip.

We finished off the breakfast with a pistachio coffee instead of a Turkish coffee as Gaziantep is the home of the tastiest pistachios!

Van

We received two dishes that we couldn’t even distinguish either by looking or tasting them so had to ask for clarification. Murtuga is egg and flour fried in oil, and Kavut is a halva that is more liquid and quite sandy in texture. These two are very specific to this region and I would put them in the ‘acquired taste’ category. We weren’t 100% sold on them.

However, Van cheeses are beautiful and so distinctive as they are packed full of strong tasting local herbs. You will have otlu peynir which is a softer cheese full of herbs and then a crumbly feta textured cheese which is really punchy.

Our Favourite Spots for Full Turkish Breakfast Spreads

Matbah-ı Van in Van

Fresh bread made on site by a couple of women baking in the restaurant, honey on the comb with a beautifully rich clotted cream, four different types of cheeses with herbs running through, menemen and fried eggs, whole fruit jams and cay served in traditional stacked teapots (which was unlimited), as well as all the other elements.

Phenomenal food, authentic and beautiful setting. Take me back!

Velvet Cafe in Balat in Istanbul

Definitely the classiest place we had a Turkish spread. The restaurant has a vintage feel about it with old telephones and vases, and tables decorated with lace doilies.

Expect nut butters, jams, acuka, flavoured butters, hot peppers with cheese, tahini molasses, fried dough and plenty more.

Bumba Breakfast Club in Alaçatı 

This place is dangerous. It’s an ‘eat as much as you possibly can’ type place, so there are unlimited refills of everything. Along with all the other elements, this place serves mini pancakes and other savoury spreads also.

The restaurant is home to many tortoises that roam the grounds, so watch where you put your foot!

Portafari in Istanbul

I wouldn’t put this one in the traditional category because it comes with chips, but aside from that, this breakfast was beautiful. You’ll get a huge selection of sweet spreads – jams, Nutella, hazelnut spread; as well as sigara borek and unlimited tea alongside the other elements.

Cakmak Kahvaltı Salonu on Breakfast Street in Beşiktaş, Istanbul

Yes, there is a street full of eateries specialising in breakfast. Cakmak was the one we went for. There were less elements than what we were used to, but everything was really tasty and they provide unlimited tea.

Mardin Galatist Kafe & Kahvaltı in Mardin

This place has a phenomenal view over the plains of Ancient Mesopotamia (it’s actually the picture we use for our main image on our home page). The spread included most of the main elements and also came with a cold fried potato dish, creamy vegetable spreads and unlimited tea.

Thick, dark, strong and aromatic. Slowly sipping Turkish coffee from a small and intricately-decorated porcelain cup is an experience all by itself. It has even been given UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. Walking around Turkish cities, you will smell the pungent aromas as coffee houses roast and finely grind the beans before cooking them up in to the deliciousness that is Turkish coffee.

When we arrived into Turkey and started searching for the real deal Turkish coffee, we found that there were tons of different varieties and flavours that we had never even heard of before. We honestly had no idea what we were ordering half the time! So, we tried them all out (for research purposes, obviously) and put together this Turkish coffee guide to reveal our findings and recommendations.

Fancy some Turkish breakfast before your Turkish coffee? Find everything you need to know in this guide.

A Short History of Turkish Coffee

Turkish coffee is understood to have been brought to Turkey from Yemen during the 16th century while the country was under Ottoman rule (so is technically Yemeni coffee). It was a hit with the Ottoman sultans and coffee houses quickly sprung up and became an integral part of daily life with regular Turks too.

An Ottoman ruler who came into power later on, was concerned that people congregating in coffee houses may be conspiring against him, and so coffee houses were banned. Drinking coffee had become so embedded into daily life that Turks continued to meet and drink in the coffee houses even though there were at risk of severe punishment. The ban obviously didn’t last.

Coffee Preparation

Before making the coffee, you will be asked if you want sugar. Sugar cannot be added to the coffee after heating, as to incorporate it into the coffee requires stirring and heating. Stirring is a big no no when it comes to Turkish coffee.

Coffee beans are very finely ground and placed into a cezve, which is a copper coffee pot with a long handle. They are combined with water and, optionally, sugar, before being placed over heat. Once over a flame, the mixture is brought to a near boil to create a foam. Before the coffee overheats and overflows, the cezve is removed from the heat. The foam is spooned into small porcelain cups (fincan), before the cezve is added back to the heat to create more foam. This is repeated, maybe, twice before the full contents of the cezve is decanted into the porcelain cups.

There are many coffee stalls where they cook their coffee over sand. A huge plate of sand is placed over heat. This is a traditional practice that gives full control over the heat to which the coffee is exposed. Placing the cezve on top of the sand keeps it warm, while burying the cezve into the sand heats it quicker.

Serving the Coffee

Turkish coffee is traditionally served in fincan, which are small, porcelain cups. A small glass of water and a sweet treat are usually placed alongside the coffee. The water is used to neutralise the palate before drinking the coffee, and the sweet treat to balance out the bitterness from the coffee. Lokum (Turkish delight) or chocolate were what we most often received with our coffees in Turkey. Sometimes we’d get a little glass of rose syrup!

Drinking the Coffee

Let the coffee sit for a few minutes to let the coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the cup. (Don’t stir the coffee because that will distribute the grounds throughout the coffee again!) Take a sip of your water to clear your palate, and then slowly sip your coffee. Turkish coffee is best savoured and drunk at a leisurely pace, don’t it shot it back like an espresso.

Different Types of Turkish Coffee

Ottoman

Ottoman coffee is lighter in colour than Turkish coffee as it is mixed with flavours such as cardamom, chocolate etc. It is a beautifully light and aromatic alternative to Turkish coffee.

This is a great option if you’re looking for a gentler, less punchy coffee.

Dibek

Dibek coffee differs from Turkish coffee due to the grinding process of the coffee in a stone pestle and mortar. This is recognised as bringing a more powerful flavour to the coffee.

Honestly, if I had a regular Turkish coffee and a dibek coffee, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Damla Sakizli

This is a Turkish coffee flavoured with mastic resin. The resin from the mastic tree is often used to flavour lokum (Turkish delight) also. It gives a light, pine flavour to the coffee.

The mastic works really nicely with the coffee, and was a flavour that we hadn’t experienced before. 10/10 would recommend.

Menengic

This isn’t technically coffee because coffee beans are not used. Instead, wild pistachios/pistachio berries are used to create a drink that looks like Turkish coffee but has no caffeine content. It is richer, creamier and not bitter; and is also known as pistachio coffee or Kurdish coffee.

Fragrant and creamy, we ordered this on several occasions because it really is delicious. Not ideal if you’re looking for the pick-me-up coffee effects though.

Mirra

The strongest of them all. Mirra coffee is typically drunk in Sanliurfa in the south east of Turkey.

The name derives from the Arabic for bitter, mur. Coarser grounds are used than in Turkish coffee, and so to extract the flavour, the coffee is fully brought to the boil a couple of times. The result is thick, syrupy, very strong and bitter. A tiny amount is served in tiny cups. That really is all that you need!

This is blow-your-face-off strong coffee. Perfect to get you going for the day, but wow, it is shockingly strong. We only ordered it once.