The street food of Turkey has it all. It’s diverse, delicious, healthy, junky, and most of all tasty. You can find various varieties on the streets while you’re just pondering around the cities. Turkey has so many options which you shouldn’t miss that it was difficult for us to make a list of just a few of them. We’ve tried to include the popular, delicious and easily available street foods for you to drool on.
- Borek
A Turkish dish stuffed with spinach, meat, vegetables and mostly cheese. It’s a filled pastry with either puff or shortcrust dough. Locally it is eaten usually in breakfasts, even though Turkey is home to many different borek, some of the best ones are available in Karakoy and Sariyer neighbourhoods of Istanbul.
- Tantuni
A popular street food stuffed with beef or lamb stir-fried on a traditional Turkish sac, a thin pan used for cooking. You’ll find this cooked meat wrapped in the thinnest tortillas with tomatoes, onions and parsley. The cheaper versions of tantuni can be found with chicken, but are equally tasty. Do sprinkle some lemon juice before having a bite of your tantuni.
- Lahmacun
A Turkish pizza with a very thin crust with toppings of minced meat, onion and red pepper mixture and is served hot directly from the oven. It’s sprinkled with parsley and drizzled with lime juice. But remember, this pizza is supposed to be rolled into a wrap and then enjoyed with a cup of cold ayran. You can find it very easily on the streets of Turkish cities.
- Simit
A classic yet a very famous street food which can also be called Turkish Bagel. It’s a ring shaped crusty bread topped with sesame or poppy seeds, filled with cream cheese or feta cheese with parsley, tomatoes and other ingredients. It also goes very well with yogurt, tea or any drink. It is loved by all Turks and is a staple breakfast for them.
- Islak Burger
This burger available in Turkey, is quite different from a normal burger and is quite a unique one. It is a steamed burger stuffed with beef patty and sauced with garlic and tomato. They are steamed in a box and slightly wet. These wet burgers are a very popular street after a long party. You can find many food stalls selling wet burgers in Taksim Square of Istanbul.
- Kokorec
Filled with spiced sheep’s intestines, and served with a bread loaf, kokorec is one of the most controversial street foods of Turkey. It’s finely chopped and mixed with oregano, red pepper, tomatoes, and salt. It is often loved to be savoured after drinking. It is not cheap street food, rather it is a Turkish delicacy which you can enjoy. One of the most popular places you can have korokec is Sampiyon Kokorec, which will not disappoint you.
- Kumpir
A tasty dish made out of baked jacket potatoes with grated cheese and butter with optional toppings of corn, mayonnaise salad, carrots, red cabbage, boiled mushroom, olives, sausages and ketchup. This street food is mostly loved by all teenagers and is undoubtedly loved by all, tourists and locals. The best place to have kumpir is at Ortakoy in Istanbul.
- Midye Dolma
A snack made with mussels on the half shell and stuffed with rice, onion, black pepper, cinnamon, and pine nuts. It is a traditional street food loved with freshly squeezed lime, enhancing the flavour of rice and spices. Being surrounded by Black Sea, these mussels are usually fresh and available all around the year on the corners of streets.
- Maras Dovme Dondurmasi
The world famous Turkish ice creams are very obvious to have when you are in Turkey and Kahramanmaras is one of those cities which has some mouth watering ice creams to offer. It’s made with creamy goat milk and orchid roots that helps it to not melt. It is the best to have during the Turkish summers. You can even eat this dondruma with a fork and knife, which is best accompanied with Turkish coffee or tea. You will find it easy to eat while pondering on the streets of Turkey.
- Doner Kebab
Made with lamb, beef or chicken, kebab is the most common street food of Turkey. The speciality of this kebab is that it is slowly roasted on a rotating vertical skewer. It is combined with pita and then sprinkled with salads and loads of vegetables like cucumber, tomato, lettuce, cabbage, onions. It’s a filling yet a healthy food which can be savoured at any time of the day.