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Meze and Salads

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Meze is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks. Some of them can be served as a main course as well.
 
Aside from olive, mature kaşar kashar cheese, white cheese, various mixed pickles turşu, frequently eaten Turkish mezes include:
 
  • Acılı ezme – hot spicy freshly mashed tomato with onion and green herbs
  • Acuka (also known as muhammara) – a spread having both Circassian and Syrian origins, prepared with from Aleppo pepper paste, ground walnuts, tomato paste, bread crumbs, garlic, and spices
  • Arnavut ciğeri (literally "Albanian liver") – fried liver cubes served with onion, parsley and hot pepper
  • Roka (arugula) salad
  • Patlıcan salatası – eggplant salad
  • Piyaz – white bean or potato salad with onion and vinegar
  • Şakşuka or in another version köpoğlu – fried and chopped eggplants and peppers served with garlic yogurt or tomato sauce
  • Bakla ezmesi – hummus prepared from broad bean
  • Barbunya pilaki – borlotti beans cooked with garlic, tomato paste, carrot and olive oil
  • Borani
  • Börek – very thin dough layers staffed with cheese, meat or vegetables
  • Cacık – cucumber with yogurt, dried mint and olive oil
  • Cevizli biber – a meze prepared with walnut, red pepper, pepper paste, onion and cumin
  • Çerkez tavuğu (literally "Circassian chicken")
  • Ahtapot (octopus) – On seatowns served as a salad or grilled
  • Çiğ köfte – raw meat patties, similar to steak tartare, prepared with ground beef (sometimes lamb) and fine-ground bulgur; a vegetarian version using tomato paste is known as etsiz çiğ köfte (literally "meatless raw meatballs")
  • Çoban salatası – a mixed salad of tomato, cucumber, onion, green peppers, and parsley
  • Deniz börülcesi salatası (Salicornia europaea, also called common glasswort or marsh samphire)
  • Dolma – vine leaves, cabbage leaves, chard leaves, peppers, tomato, squash, pumpkin, eggplant or mussels stuffed with rice and/or meat
  • Fasulye pilaki – white beans cooked with garlic, tomato paste, carrot and olive oil
  • Fava – broad/horse bean puree
  • Gavurdağı salad
  • Hardalotu – mustard plant salad
  • Haydari
  • Humus (from the Arabic for "chickpea") – a spread prepared from sesame tahini, chickpeas, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.
  • İçli köfte (also known as oruk) – served either as a meze or a main dish; especially in the east of Turkey, when it is cooked through boiling in a pot, içli köfte is served as a main dish
  • Kabak çiçeği dolması – stuffed zucchini blossoms, a kind of dolma
  • Kalamar (calamari) – fried or grilled, served with tarator sauce
  • Karides (shrimp) – served as a salad, grilled, or stewed with vegetables in a güveç (a casserole)
  • Kısır (also known as 'sarma içi') – a very popular meze or side dish prepared with fine-ground bulgur, tomato paste, parsley, onion, garlic, sour pomegranate juice and a lot of spices
  • Kızartma, various fried vegetables (eggplants, peppers, courgettes) served with yogurt or tomato-and-garlic sauce
  • Hamsi or Anchovy.
  • Köfte – meatballs
  • Midye (mussels) – In istanbul or seatowns fried and served with tarator sauce or as midye dolma (mussels stuffed with rice filling)
  • Muhammara: see Acuka
  • Oruk: see İçli köfte
  • Semizotu (summer purslane) salad – served with yogurt
  • Tarama – a spread made with fish roe
  • Turp otu salad
  • Zeytin piyazi - olives and green onion salad