If you love eggplant and ground beef, you need to try our Turkish Karnıyarık recipe. Tender roasted eggplants are filled with a rich ground beef mixture and baked with a tomato paste sauce until everything comes together beautifully.
What is Karniyarik?
Karniyarik is one of the most popular eggplant recipes in Turkish cuisine.
It's a classic comfort food that you'll find everywhere, from home kitchens to traditional esnaf lokantası (casual Turkish restaurants serving homemade dishes).
When we were living in Türkiye, karnıyarık was one of our favorite lunch choices. We'd often stop by an esnaf lokantası during our lunch break and order it with a side of rice and a bowl of cacık. It was one of those meals that never disappointed.
To put it simply, karnıyarık is a Turkish stuffed eggplant made by filling roasted eggplants with a savory mixture of ground beef, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs. The stuffed eggplants are then baked in a simple tomato sauce until everything comes together beautifully.
The name karnıyarık literally means "split belly," referring to the slit made in each eggplant before it's filled.
If you want a meat-free version, check out our imam bayildi recipe!
About the Ingredients
Turkish karnıyarık is made with three simple components: eggplants, a flavorful ground beef filling, and a light tomato sauce.
Eggplants: Choose medium-sized eggplants so each one can hold plenty of filling without becoming too large to serve. They should feel firm and have smooth, shiny skin.
Ground beef filling: The filling is made with ground beef, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and a few pantry spices. It's simple but incredibly flavorful, and it's what makes karnıyarık such a comforting meal.
Tomato sauce: A quick mixture of tomato paste and water is poured around the stuffed eggplants before baking. It keeps the eggplants moist while creating a delicious sauce to spoon over them when serving.
You can find the full list of ingredients with their exact measurements in the recipe card below.
How To Make Karnıyarık
Don't let the number of steps fool you. While karnıyarık takes a little time to prepare, most of it is hands-off, and the result is well worth it.
Roast the eggplants. Peel the eggplants in alternating strips, leaving some of the skin intact. Make a slit down the center of each one without cutting all the way through, brush with olive oil, and roast until completely tender.
Prepare the filling. Sauté the onions, then cook the garlic and ground beef until the beef is no longer pink. Let the meat absorb most of its juices before adding the peppers, tomatoes, and seasonings. Stir in the chopped parsley at the end for freshness.
Stuff the eggplants. Once the roasted eggplants are cool enough to handle, gently open the slit with a spoon to create a boat for the filling. Fill each eggplant generously with the ground beef mixture.
Add the sauce and bake. Mix the tomato paste with water and pour it over and around the stuffed eggplants. Bake until the sauce is bubbling. Finish with fresh parsley and serve hot.
You can find the full step-by-step instructions in the recipe card below.
Serving Suggestions
We almost always serve karnıyarık with orzo rice pilaf or bulgur pilaf, plus a bowl of Turkish cacik or plain yogurt.
A fresh coban salatasi (Turkish shepherd's salad) is another favorite that pairs beautifully with this dish.
While the stuffed eggplants finish baking, you can easily prepare the side dishes.
Don't forget some crusty bread. The tomato sauce at the bottom of the baking dish is too good to leave behind.
For more inspiration, have a look at our favorite Turkish side dishes.
Storing
Refrigerator: Let the karnıyarık cool completely, then store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the oven or microwave until heated through.
Freezer: Freeze the cooked stuffed eggplants for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating in the oven.
Make ahead: You can prepare the ground beef filling 2–3 days in advance and keep it refrigerated. When you're ready to cook, simply roast the eggplants, fill them, and bake as directed.
Why We Roast the Eggplants
Traditionally, karnıyarık is made by frying the eggplants before stuffing them. We prefer roasting them because it's easier, less messy, and uses much less oil while still giving you soft, tender eggplants.
If you'd like to make it the traditional way, pat the soaked eggplants very dry before frying. Then shallow-fry them in enough oil to cook both sides until tender. There's no need to deep-fry them.
Want to Make It Vegetarian?
It's easy to turn karnıyarık into a vegetarian meal. Simply replace the ground beef with cooked green lentils or use a combination of lentils and extra vegetables, such as mushrooms or finely chopped zucchini.
The rest of the recipe stays exactly the same. The stuffed eggplants are just as delicious served warm or at room temperature.
If you're looking for a traditional meat-free alternative, try our İmam Bayıldı recipe, another classic Turkish stuffed eggplant dish made with onions, tomatoes, and olive oil.
FAQs
You can definitely fry the eggplants and traditionally they are actually prepared in this way. However, we prefer roasting them as it is a much healthier cooking option and is also much less work.
You can also make these on the stove, however, again, baking them in the oven is much easier and allows you to prepare accompaniments in that time. Roasting them also creates a nice caramelized flavor and gives an overall better-tasting dish.
These stuffed eggplants can be frozen and they freeze very well. Wrap each stuffed eggplant in plastic wrap, then foil, and place them inside a freezer-safe container. Store them in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
These are not the same dishes. They have almost exactly the same ingredients, but they are prepared in different ways. Moussaka uses chopped cooked eggplants that are then combined with a ground beef mixture – it isn’t a stuffed recipe. It can also be cooked on the stovetop or baked in the oven.
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📖 Recipe
Turkish Stuffed Eggplant Recipe Karniyarik
INGREDIENTS
For eggplants:
- 5 pieces eggplants
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
Filling:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 200 g ground beef
- ¼ cup green pepper finely chopped
- ½ cup tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ cup parsley finely chopped
Sauce:
- 1½ cups water hot
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
INSTRUCTIONS
Eggplants:
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.
- Peel the eggplants lengthwise, leaving some stripes of the skin. Using a knife, make a slit on each eggplant but don’t cut it all. Don’t remove the stems.
- Place the eggplants on an oven grill or on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush them with olive oil, about 1 tablespoon olive oil for each. Bake them until tender, for 30 minutes.
Filling:
- Prepare the filling when you put the eggplants in the oven. Heat olive oil in a pan. Cook onions until translucent. Add in garlic and then ground beef. Stir well and press on the ground beef so that there won’t be any blocks left.
- Then cover the pan and let it release its juice first and then absorb most of it.
- Now add in chopped peppers and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Let them cook for 5 minutes over low heat.
- Remove from heat and add in chopped parsley.
Assemble:
- Now remove the eggplants from the oven. Make some space for the filling in each eggplant by pushing the edges of the slit using a spoon. Make a boat shape.
- Stuff the eggplants with the filling and place them in a baking pan.
- Whisk together the tomato paste and water. Pour the sauce over and around the stuffed eggplants.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and garnish with chopped parsley before serving.
NUTRITION
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
KC Çıtak says
Do I Cut the eggplants in half before soaking, before the first baker, or right before filling them?
Zerrin & Yusuf says
No, the eggplants are not cut in half. As mentioned in step 2 of the recipe, you just make a slit on each eggplant without cutting all the way through. Once they are baked, you gently open up that slit a bit more and fill it with the prepared filling.
Hope that helps. Let us know if anything else is unclear!
MaryAnne Korkut says
We use baby eggplants and lamb. This is one of our favorite family dishes!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
So glad it’s a family favorite! Baby eggplants and lamb make such a perfect combo.
Debbie Guida says
I was recently in Turkey for the first time on vacation and wanted to try some traditional food while there. Karniyarik is what I had gotten at a restaurant that I happened to come by, and I’ve never had it before. It was the best thing I ate during my entire vacation and couldn’t wait to look up a recipe to try at home! As soon as I saw your recipe and read through it, I knew this would be the one and was I right! This recipe is absolutely delicious! It’s exactly what I had eaten in Turkey. Your instructions were spot on and I wouldn’t change a thing! Thank you for sharing this and giving me a new favorite recipe to keep and share with my family ☺️❤️
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Debbie,
We're so glad to hear that you had a wonderful experience trying Karniyarik in Turkey and that our recipe brought those delicious flavors right to your home. 😊 Thank you for letting us know how much you enjoyed it! If you ever need more recipes or tips, just let us know. Happy cooking!
Irene says
Although salt and pepper are listed on the ingredients, you are not told when to use them during the process of making the dish. Thankfully I remembered to season the filling but the eggppants themselves remained unseasoned leading them to be bland.
Not a bad recipe by any means, it's "ok" for me.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Irene,
Thank you for the heads up. We've just added the seasoning in the recipe instructions. We find the amounts of salt and pepper in the filling are enough, so we don't add any seasoning to the eggplants. But if you find them bland, you can sprinkle some salt while roasting them.
Cheryl Viands says
About what size eggplant should I use? Thank you.
Zerrin & Yusuf says
You can use standard eggplants (about 7-8 inches long).
Abu Aqillah says
Hummn looks so yummy,
I wish i could eat it when I can go to Turkiye
Even Me and My Beloved can make it in a team, but enjoying it in it origin place is going to be exiting experience.
Jamee says
Excellent dish. Just the right amount of heat. It was delicious. Will be making this again, and again!
Zerrin & Yusuf says
Hi Jamee, so glad you liked our karniyarik recipe. One of our favorites. So good with yogurt or cacik!