• The Insider
  • Planning
  • Sightseeing
  • Transportation
  • Food & Drinks
  • Going Out
  • Shopping
  • FAQ
  • Tours

Istanbul Insider

Istanbul travel guide and advice by locals.

What Does a Typical Turkish Breakfast Look Like?

Turks love eating. And since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they know how to extend and add variety to it. Covering a not so small amount of land, we can see some local differences in for instance the type of the cheese, olives or even the bread. Yet all regions have one or more things in common.

Picture of a typical Turkish breakfast plate in Istanbul, Turkey
typical Turkish breakfast plate in Istanbul. © Photo by Pocketcutures

Basic Elements of a Turkish Breakfast

For starters a well prepared tea is a must. Turkish coffee has its name from this nation, but when it comes to breakfast, Turks are definitely tea people.

The most common type of bread is white bread. However, in an attempt to eat healthier, different kinds of grain breads like rye became widespread.

The rest of the ingredients are white cheese (similar to feta), old cheese (kaşar peyniri), black and/or green olives (zeytin), butter, honey, jam, an omlette or boiled eggs (yumurta), sliced tomatoes and/or cucumbers.

Spice It Up With Sucuklu Yumurta

For the ones who like to spice it up, a Turkish breakfast favorite is sucuk cooked on a pan mostly with eggs (sucuklu yumurta). Sucuk is dried sausage made of ground beef with garlic and a variety of spices like red pepper, cumin and sumac. It may be somewhat spicy and fatty, but it sure is awfully delicious.

Order a Turkish Breakfast Plate

You can enjoy a Turkish breakfast almost everywhere in Istanbul. From cafes to pastry shops as well as most of the restaurants serve breakfast. Either on a breakfast plate (kahvaltı tabağı) or as a buffet meal with more variety added to the items listed above.

Some people also serve börek on the side. Börek is made of thin sheets of dough, filled with cheese, minced meat and/or vegetables, wrapped and baked or cooked.

The word for breakfast in Turkish is kahvaltı. It can be translated as kahve–altı being under-coffee, meaning the food you eat before drinking coffee. So a nice long Turkish breakfast should of course end with a cup of well-made Turkish coffee.

If you would like to learn more about Turkish food and taste it yourself, check out my detailed review of the Taste of Two Continents food tour by Yummy Istanbul.

Further Recommended Reading

  1. Turkish Tea, an Offer You Can’t Refuse
  2. What Does a Typical Turkish Breakfast Look Like?
  3. Bebek, Istanbul’s Trendy Village along the Bosphorus

Filed Under: Food & Drink Tips, Food Tips, Travel Tips

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Best Sellers

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Twitter

About Us

About
Contact
Frequently Asked Questions
Sitemap

Popular Attractions

Hagia Sophia
Topkapi Palace & Harem
Dolmabahçe Palace
Bosphorus Tour
Whirling Dervishes

Travel Tips

Accommodation & Locations
Airport Transportation
Istanbul Kart, Museum Pass, Tourist Pass
Public Transportation
Taxi’s in Istanbul

© 2011–2023 The Istanbul Insider – Terms of Service • Privacy Policy • Affiliate Disclaimer
Istanbul Insider
Data and Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site.
Click below to consent ('Accept') to the above or make granular choices
Manage Cookie SettingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.

Your choices on this site will be applied only for this site. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by going to the Privacy Policy page of this site.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
_gat1 minuteThis cookies is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the colllection of data on high traffic sites.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.
visitor_id5 yearsThis cookie include cookie name plus the unique identifier of the visitor account. The value stored is the unique ID of the visitor which is used for tracking the visitor.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.