What is Gaziantep food? More than 400 dishes and 73 registered specialties

Gaziantep food covers the soups, kebabs, yogurt-based home dishes, oven dishes and pistachio desserts of Gaziantep cuisine. The number of Gaziantep dishes exceeds 400. On December 11, 2015, Gaziantep joined the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Creative Cities Network for its cuisine. Gaziantep has 112 geographical indications at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, and 73 of them are dishes, breads and desserts. The registered Gaziantep dishes include beyran, yuvalama, ali nazik, simit kebab, içli köfte, lahmacun, chickpea wrap, katmer and baklava. In 2013, Antep Baklavası became the first Turkish product placed under protection in the European Union. Künefe is made in Gaziantep too, but the registered künefe is Hatay's Antakya Künefesi.

What are the famous dishes of Gaziantep?

The famous dishes of Gaziantep are soups such as beyran and yuvalama, kebabs such as ali nazik and simit kebab, and home dishes such as içli köfte and şiveydiz. Oven dishes such as lahmacun and chickpea wrap, and desserts such as baklava and katmer, are among them too. All of them are registered in Gaziantep's name at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. The best-known dishes of Gaziantep cuisine are listed below by group.

Group	Dishes
Soups	beyran, yuvalama, lebeniye, börek soup
Kebabs	ali nazik, simit kebab, küşleme, onion and eggplant kebab
Home dishes	şiveydiz, içli köfte, ekşili ufak köfte, allı yeşilli dolma, firik pilaf
From the oven	lahmacun, tırnaklı pide, chickpea wrap
Desserts	baklava, katmer, şöbiyet, künefe
Breakfast	beyran, katmer, chickpea wrap, muhammara

How many Gaziantep dishes are there?

Gaziantep cuisine has more than 400 dishes. The Gaziantep Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism groups this cuisine into thirteen dish groups.

Gaziantep leads in registrations too. 112 geographical indications are registered in Gaziantep's name at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office. Of these, 53 are dishes and soups and 20 are breads, pastries and desserts. The rest are farm products such as the Antep pistachio and bulgur, and crafts such as kutnu fabric. Gaziantep is the first province in Türkiye by number of geographical indications.

What are the soups of Gaziantep?

The best-known soups of Gaziantep are beyran, yuvalama, lebeniye and börek soup. All four are registered in Gaziantep's name at the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office.

• In the registered recipe, beyran is made with the shoulder and neck of the sheep. The meat cooks with marrow bones for 10-12 hours, and beyran arrives boiling in a copper pan with rice, garlic and red pepper flakes.
• In yuvalama, tiny meatballs of 5-6 millimeters made with meat and rice cook with boiled meat and chickpeas. Strained yogurt and egg are added, and mint butter is poured on top. In Gaziantep, yuvalama is the traditional dish of Eid al-Fitr and is eaten at breakfast on the first morning of the holiday.
• Lebeniye is a yogurt soup made with strained yogurt, minced meat, chickpeas and rice.
• Börek soup cooks with mutton, chickpeas, strained yogurt and egg, and small pieces of dough filled with minced meat are added. These pieces are called börek, and butter with mint and black pepper is poured over the soup.

Which kebabs are part of Gaziantep food?

Gaziantep food includes nine kebabs registered in Gaziantep's name. Some of them, such as loquat, keme and garlic kebab, are cooked only in season, and the most distinctive feature of Gaziantep kebabs is that vegetables go on the same skewer as the meat.

Among these kebabs, ali nazik is registered under the name Gaziantep Alenaziği. In the registered recipe, roasted seedless eggplant is warmed with strained yogurt and garlic in a tin-lined copper pan. Charcoal-grilled minced or cubed meat goes on top, followed by clarified butter or butter with ground red pepper. Ali nazik is especially popular in the summer months.

What are the yogurt and vegetable home dishes of Gaziantep?

The registered yogurt and vegetable home dishes of Gaziantep include şiveydiz, içli köfte, ekşili and akıtmalı ufak köfte, allı yeşilli dolma and firik pilaf.

• Şiveydiz is made with fresh garlic, spring onions, mutton, chickpeas and strained yogurt. The registration document counts it among the most famous vegetable and yogurt dishes of Antep cuisine.
• In içli köfte, an outer shell of bulgur and minced meat is filled with browned minced meat, Antep pistachios and walnuts, and the köfte is fried or boiled. What sets the registered Gaziantep içli köfte apart is the walnut and pistachio inside.
• Ekşili and akıtmalı ufak köfte are made with fine bulgur, minced meat, pieces of meat and chickpeas. The ekşili kind takes its name from its sour sauce, the akıtmalı kind from the buttery filling that runs as it melts in the mouth, and the köfte is served on special days and to guests.
• In allı yeşilli dolma, eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, vine leaves, zucchini and acur cucumbers are filled with the same stuffing and cooked in a single pot. The dolma takes its name from the colors that come out of the pot and is made at Hıdırellez, Nowruz, weddings and holidays.
• Firik pilaf is made with registered Antep firiği (green wheat) and Antep bulgur. It is one of the best-known dishes of Gaziantep cuisine.

What are the oven dishes of Gaziantep?

The registered oven dishes of Gaziantep are lahmacun and tırnaklı pide. The registered chickpea wrap is also made by rolling it in tırnaklı pide.

The topping of Antep lahmacun is made with lamb minced with a zırh knife, parsley, garlic, tomato, fresh pepper and spices. The topping is spread on dough no thicker than 3 millimeters, and the lahmacun bakes in a stone oven. There is no onion in the topping. The registration document also records that Antep lahmacun was mentioned as "lahm-ı acinli börek" in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname in the 17th century.

Tırnaklı pide is an oval bread about 20 centimeters wide and 39 centimeters long. In Gaziantep it is made to order in neighborhood bakeries and eaten hot.

In the chickpea wrap, boiled chickpeas enriched with spices, plain or with pepper paste, are rolled in tırnaklı pide with parsley and tomato. It dates back to the 19th century, is eaten at breakfast and lunch, and counts among Gaziantep's most famous street foods.

What are the desserts of Gaziantep?

The registered desserts of Gaziantep include baklava, katmer and şöbiyet. Künefe is made in Gaziantep too, but its registration belongs to Hatay.

• Today, baklava is made in 16 varieties in Gaziantep. Antep Baklavası was registered in Türkiye in 2008 and placed under protection in the European Union by a European Commission regulation dated December 18, 2013. It is the first Turkish product to receive this protection.
• Katmer is a dessert filled with Antep pistachios, sugar, kaymak and butter, folded into a square envelope and baked. No syrup is poured over it; its sweetness comes from the melting sugar. In Gaziantep it is eaten at breakfast and on special days, and on the morning after a wedding the groom's best man sends it to the bride's home.
• Şöbiyet is a dessert in syrup, baked with 12 layers of baklava pastry filled with a cream of semolina and milk and with Antep pistachios.
• Künefe is made in Gaziantep too, and the provincial culture directorate's list names pistachio, walnut, kaymak, ağızlı, cheese and rolled künefe. The registered künefe, however, is Hatay's Antakya Künefesi (No 101, 2008).

What is cooked in Gaziantep on special days?

In Gaziantep, yuvalama is cooked on the first morning of Eid al-Fitr, katmer on the morning after a wedding, and allı yeşilli dolma at Hıdırellez and Nowruz. Ekşili and akıtmalı ufak köfte is served to guests, and lahmacun comes to the table at ceremonies and funerals. The dishes by occasion are as follows.

Occasion	What is cooked
First morning of Eid al-Fitr	Yuvalama, at breakfast
Morning after a wedding	Katmer, sent by the best man to the bride's home
Hıdırellez, Nowruz, weddings and holidays	Allı yeşilli dolma
Guests and special days	Ekşili and akıtmalı ufak köfte
Ceremonies and funerals	Lahmacun
Winter mornings	Beyran

Why is Gaziantep a city of gastronomy?

Gaziantep is known as a city of gastronomy because it joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its cuisine on December 11, 2015. Kültür Portalı writes that Gaziantep cuisine formed as people of different languages, religions and origins met in a shared taste.

Gaziantep cuisine has habits of its own. It uses seven kinds of sour, chosen according to the dish: lemon, citric acid, unripe grapes, unripe grape molasses, ground sumac, sumac sour and pomegranate sour.

The winter preparations described by the provincial culture directorate are also a source of this richness. From spring to late autumn, dried vegetables, pepper and tomato pastes, bulgur and pickles are prepared. The Antep pistachio has been registered as a designation of origin since 2000 and appears under its own name in registered recipes such as katmer and içli köfte.

Where can you eat Gaziantep food in Istanbul?

In Istanbul, Gaziantep food is served in restaurants that offer Gaziantep cuisine. In Başakşehir, one of them is Lezzet-i Şark Gusto, beneath Fatih Terim Stadium at Block C No: 5. The Gaziantep dishes on Gusto's menu include beyran, yuvalama, ali nazik, onion kebab, thin-crust lahmacun, içli köfte, simit katmer and künefe. Gusto is open every day until midnight, and until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

Current prices, with their date, are on our menu page.