Turkish Side Dishes

1. Turkish Shepherd Salad

Shepherd salad is the most famous salad in Turkey and is made with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. It is served with a delicious tangy vinaigrette and makes an excellent side to virtually any meaty dish.

The key to making a good shepherd salad lies within the tomatoes. You absolutely have to use the freshest tomatoes you can find to give the salad the best possible blend of flavors. This salad is one of the best chicken kebabs side dishes and also works for shish kebabs.

2. Ezme

This spicy Turkish salsa will definitely work best alongside equally spicy kebabs, like Adana kebab or as alongside some other chicken kabob side dishes. If you aren’t a fan of spicy salads, you can either leave out the chili or serve the salad with a  yogurt dressing to help neutralize it.

This salad consists mainly of fresh and juicy tomatoes, onions, and green peppers. The quality of the tomatoes is extremely important and they should be packed with flavor, just like with the shepherd salad. This is why this salsa is mostly made in the summer when tomatoes are at their most flavorful.

3. Sumac Onions

Can you think of anything better than a fresh sumac onion salad? This is another delicious staple especially at kebab restaurants and is almost always added as sides for shish kebabs. You will also see that it is often added to kebab sandwiches or wraps to make them more filling and add more flavor.

This fresh salad gets most of its flavor from the sumac, a traditional south-eastern Turkish spice, where we are from. It gives the salad a mild lemony flavor and helps balance out the spiciness of the red onions.

4. Roasted Onion Salad

If you run out of ideas on what to serve with your main course, a simple and effective side is definitely some roasted onions.

Onions are a staple ingredient that accompanies many kinds of kebabs in Turkey. They can either be served raw, like the onion salad mentioned above or roasted like this. Roasted onions are more common at authentic kebab restaurants than they are at street vendors or in Turkish homes.

Sumac is the key ingredient for this dish and pairs wonderfully with the sweetness of the roasted onions. This is an incredibly easy side dish that doesn’t require a ton of work.

4. Piyaz

This is a very easy and extremely nutritious vegetarian salad made from white beans, tomatoes, onions, and parsley. A generous amount of lemon juice and olive oil is used in the dressing to add a balanced tanginess to the entire flavor of the dish.

You can make this salad with or without hard-boiled eggs and some restaurants also like to add a tahini dressing (a sesame seed dressing). This white bean salad pairs incredibly well with Turkish kofte and kofta kebab.

5. Cig Kofte

This is one of Turkey’s most traditional sides with kabobs that are very popular in kebab restaurants and Turkish homes alike. It is a dish made using fine bulgur, raw ground beef, and spices. You also get versions that are completely vegetarian due to the health concerns surrounding people eating raw meat.

While this is a labor-intensive process that also takes quite a while to make, the flavors you get from this dish are unmatched! And, you can even play around with the spices to match the flavors of your kebabs. Sides with chicken kabobs generally need more flavor, making cig kofte the perfect choice!

6. Bulgur Pilav

It is one of the most popular bulgur recipes in Turkey. This dish is the traditional Turkish substitute for rice pilaf. It is made with coarse bulgur, tomatoes, green pepper, onion, and dried mint. The ingredients are slowly cooked inside hot water and essentially, their own flavor.

The key to this pilaf is using coarse bulgur to get a nice texture. Overall, this accompaniment has a very deep and complex flavor that still doesn’t overpower the flavor of the main dish.

Bulgur pilaf is often paired with Turkish Green Beans and yogurt. It is also one of the best side dishes for chicken kabobs because of how flavorful it is.

Also check out: How to Cook Bulgur

7. Turkish Eggplant Salad

Usually, roasted vegetables like eggplants, onions, green peppers or red peppers are common side dishes. You can find a variety of recipes with these. This flavor-packed eggplant salad is one of them.

This is a very easy accompaniment to make that is vegan, gluten-free, and packed with nutrients! Roasted eggplants are combined with fresh tomatoes and parsley. All these come together in a bowl with a garlicky lemon, olive oil, vinegar dressing. So good with kebabs and other main dishes!

Also check out: Karniyarik

8. Baba Ganoush Without Tahini

Speaking of eggplants, babaganoush is arguably the worlds’ most well-known eggplant dish. Unlike traditional baba ganoush that is made with tahini, this recipe doesn’t contain any tahini and is also combined with roasted peppers to add some sweetness.

It will make an excellent addition to your mezze platter as one of the Turkish side dishes. It has definite smoky and garlicky notes with a ton of refreshing flavors. It also goes well with other sides like hummus or a yogurt dipping sauce.

Also check out: Hummus without Tahini

9. Cacik

This cucumber yogurt dip is one of those that pair well with virtually any dish. And, when served alongside kebabs it helps elevate the meaty flavors while also adding a refreshing touch.

Cacik is an incredibly easy dip to make and only requires fresh yogurt (which we highly recommend making from scratch) or strained yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and seasoning ingredients. You can of course add more spices or herbs, but the simplicity of this dip is why so many love it as is!

10. Lavash Bread

Lavash bread is a staple at kebab restaurants. It goes great with döner kebap or spicy ground lamb adana kebab. You can tear a piece of lavash, top it with a little kebab and gobble it up or put the whole kebab in a whole lavash, roll it up and enjoy as a wrap.

To make lavash at home, you only need 4 simple ingredients and within a few simple steps, you have an incredibly soft and flexible bread. You can use it as a dipping bread on your mezze platter with your kebabs.

11. Pide Bread

This is another staple bread served next to many traditional Turkish dishes, including kebabs. In fact, some kebabs, like iskender kebab, cannot be made without it! Iskender kebabs are served on top of chopped pide bread and served as a plated dish.

Pide breads are also fantastic shish kabob sides because they can help hold the meat chunks together with the other ingredients.

This deliciously soft and fluffy bread is fun to make, relatively easy and doesn’t take up a ton of time. If you thought it couldn’t get any better, think again! This is one of the best breads to make in advance. You can simply store it in the fridge, or keep it frozen for up to three months!

Also check out: Pide with Fillings

12. Bazlama

Bazlama breads are mostly served as a starter with butter on the side. Also, this simple fluffy flatbread can be used to make a type of sandwich and is often stuffed with kebab meat.

You can also add some salad and the cucumber yogurt dipping sauce to make it more filling or help balance out the overall flavor of the dish. No matter what you use, the simple and quick-to-make bread will work great with any type of dish.