30 Of The Best Foods in Antalya 

Exotic Antalya is an Ancient Greek city and port in the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Turkey. Situated on the Gulf of the same name, it’s viewed as Turkey’s the Capital of Tourism because its unique location makes it so attractive to visitors. You could, for example, take a dip in the sea in the centre of the city. And tasting the best food in Antalya while you’re doing this would make this experience that much more unforgettable!

Taste some of the dishes outlined here as you stroll through this ancient town taking in the beautiful architecture of days gone by. Turkish cuisine has a history as long as your arm and, through the years, has incorporated Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Kurdish, and Persian influences and come up with a taste as distinctive as its country is. 

Right, let’s get to it. Here are some of the local dishes you shouldn’t leave Antalya without trying!

1. Alanya Bohçası

Imagine a pancake as thin as a crêpe fried and then filled with cheese, minced meat, potatoes, or spinach and you’ve got some idea of what this food in Antalya tastes like. The edges are folded up once the pancakes have been filled and tied into a bohça, or bundle.

2. Arap Kadayıf

Tiny pockets of dough get fried on one side in hot oil and are then filled with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar, and walnuts, closed, and fried once more. They’re then left to cool, with the lukewarm dumplings finally drizzled with lemon-flavoured syrup and sprinkled with finely-chopped pistachio or walnuts. 

3. Bağaça 

Bağaça is especially popular during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim year, when practitioners observe strict fasting from dawn to dusk. A pastry flavoured with cinnamon and sesame, this treat is still made in the traditional way. 

4. Bergamot Marmalade

Bergamot is a manmade citrus, created from a cross between bitter oranges and sweet limes. It looks a lot like green lemon and has a slightly bitter, sour taste, and is popularly used in the West to flavour Earl Grey tea. The oil of its rind is also a popular ingredient in colognes and perfumes and it plays a starring role in good food in Antalya because it’s used to make a delicious marmalade. 

5. Burned Ice Cream

Made from ice cream created using the fatty milk of goats exclusively fed on wild thyme, burned ice cream in Antalya is flavoured with a dried wild orchid root flour concoction called sahlep. When making the ice cream, the milk is brought to the boil in a big kettle and stirred constantly because it can burn so easily. The result is an ice cream with a mouth-watering smoky, sharp flavour. 

6. Chicken Wings

If you think chicken wings begin and end with a tasty batter, think again. In Antalya, they’re marinated with a special sauce containing biber salcasi, a Turkish hot red pepper paste, and sumac, a lemon-ish flavoured spice. Throw in urfa biber, smoky, slightly sweet pepper flakes, extra virgin olive oil, Greek yoghurt, garlic, and cumin and you’ve got one of the best-loved fast foods in Antalya!

7. Cretan Kebab with Artichoke

Although these kebabs originated in Crete, they’ve become an Antalya speciality. Cubes of goat or lamb meat marinated in a garlic and lemon sauce are skewered with artichokes, onions, and tomatoes to make these kebabs. They’re then grilled over charcoal. 

8. Fresh Fish

Antalya’s location means the town and its visitors have unparalleled access to delicious fresh fish. You’ll be able to choose from barracuda, mackerel, sea bass, snout bream, and white grouper, among many others. 

Fresh fish is served alongside tarator sauce traditionally, a flavouring created by combining lemon juice, olive oil, salt garlic, tahini, and vinegar and must be tasted to be believed.

9. Gozleme

These Turkish pancakes are some of the most delicious street foods in Antalya. They’re cooked over open outdoor grills and you’ll be able to choose from a variety of stuffings, including bell peppers, lamb mince, lemon, mozzarella, and potatoes. They’re always served with cucumber, parsley, and tomato salad. 

10. Grilled Chicken

Although it’s relatively expensive, meat is a popular food in Turkey and once you get a mouthful of the grilled chicken Antalya is famous for you’ll understand why! Accompanied by bulgur or butter rice, chickens are roasted perfectly over charcoal to deliver a smoky flavour you won’t soon forget. 

11. Grilled Meat 

Due to its popularity, there’s a lot of variety when it comes to grilled meat in Turkey in general. Top choices include Kuzu tandır, slow-cooked lamb, and roasted veal, each accompanied by a rice dish that incorporates chopped liver, currants, and nuts known as iç pilavı.

12. Gülüklü Soup

This soup is one of the most common foods in Antalya and gets prepared using chickpeas, tiny meatballs, and rice cooked in a tomato sauce. Rumen, the largest stomach compartment in ruminant animals like cows, or chicken meat is then added to this mix before it’s seasoned with mint, red bell pepper, lemon, and pepper and served to drooling patrons.

Gülüklü soup is traditionally served at weddings and is actually on a list of geographically marked products. It’s even been registered at the Turkish Patent Institute! This was done in an effort to preserve Alanya’s cuisine, keeping it alive so that future generations can enjoy it with one another. 

13. Hibeş

This appetiser is made using cumin, lemon, garlic, paprika, and sesame paste. Arabs brought this dish to Antalya around the 7th century and it’s now popularly enjoyed as a spread or in sauces for chicken and meat dishes. 

14. Kulaklı Soup

Although the dumplings in Kulaklı soup are much smaller than ravioli, it’s sometimes referred to as ravioli soup. This excellent example of typical food in Antalya contains small dumplings filled with finely-minced meat and then cooked with chickpeas in a tomato sauce. After that, the whole shebang is flavoured with lemon, mint, and pepper. 

15. Leğen Kömbesi

We have the Yoruks, or Turkomen, who reside in the southern Turkish mountains, to thank for leğen kömbesi. These traditionally semi-nomadic shepherds came up with these large, thin flatbreads prepared using flour, grape syrup, poppy seeds, and yeast.

Once they’ve finished baking they’re kept in leğen, the oiled trays that give this dish its name. Although they were once baked in stone ovens, this method of creating them has kept up with the times and electric ovens are used to feed hungry mouths in Antalya!

16. Lentil Ice Cream

Don’t let the name of this dish get you craving something sweet. It’s not actually a dessert, but an appetiser. This mild, refreshing popular food in Antalya is a starter made with garlic, lentils, onions, peppers, and rice and is served cold. 

17. Meatball Skewers

This food is very appropriately named: it contains small meatballs placed on skewers alternating with peppers and onions and then grilled over an open flame. 

Known as köfte, Turkish meatballs are usually made of ground beef, ground lamb, or a combination of these two types of meat. You’ll usually find that they contain breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, onion, and different spices, all of which give them their one-of-a-kind taste and ensure that the meat sticks together during the cooking process.

18. Paça Soup 

An acquired taste, and one for the more adventurous eater, paça soup contains sheep brains and the meat obtained from the animal’s feet and head. This is then smothered in a variety of herbs and slowly simmered to ensure optimum flavouring and is also no doubt why it’s one of the most popular foods in Antalya.

Lion’s Milk, or Raki, is the national drink of Turkey. Made of twice-distilled aniseed and grapes, it can kick like a mule, but if you’ve imbibed too much, you’ll be glad to know that paça soup is a recommended cure for the hangover you’ll almost certainly be left with. This is why this dish is so popular as a breakfast item! 

Now you know an interesting fact about food in Antalya that’ll probably come in very handy on your travels.

19. Pide Salonu

Pide Salonu is a type of Turkish pizza. It’s a thin flatbread that’s been baked in a special oven and topped with cheese, meat, and vegetables. It’s a long, thick flatbread traditionally, but you may well find certain places making round pides nowadays. 

It’s very cheap because you can add or subtract toppings as you like, so if you’re on a budget remember this dish when hunger strikes.

20. Phrygian Stuffed Pepper

Phrygian stuffed peppers are created using minced meat which is soaked in water before getting fried with egg and flour. It’s a delicious light meal often served with plain yoghurt. 

21. Serpme Patty

Serpme patties are stuffed pastries made using a thin dough and filled with boiled potatoes, cheese, and minced meat. The pies get baked in an oven or deep fried after their tops are brushed with egg yolk and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

22. Shish Kebab

Whether or not you’ve ever been to Turkey, you’ve almost certainly had one of their famous shish kebabs. Created using lamb and chicken köfte, the meatballs on these skewers are roasted until they reach optimal juiciness and deliciousness before being skewered.

Besides being one of the most famous foods in Antalya, shish kebabs are also one of the most versatile. You can fill a bun with them or make a sandwich, and they’re a great starter, especially before curry. 

23. Stuffed Rack of Lamb

Imagine lamb ribs marinated in garlic, olive oil, rosemary, and thyme and served with seasoned rice. The two items are tied together, with the conches facing up, before being grilled and served to yet another hungry customer. 

24. Tahini Piyaz Salad

If you’re looking for vegan food in Antalya, this is the dish for you. Created using small, white beans and piled with tarator sauce which contains lemon juice, olive oil, salt garlic, sesame, and vinegar, even the most carnivorous traveller will enjoy this salad. 

Although tahini piyaz salad is enjoyed as such in most regions, in Antalya it serves as a main dish. It’s also on the list of products to be geographically labelled and was patented in 2017.

25. Tahini Pumpkin Dessert

This wonderful pudding is made of slices of pumpkin cooked in sugared water before being doused in tahini and served with chopped walnuts. It’s a taste sensation and features popularly on the list of recommended Turkish dishes to try. 

26. Tırmış

Tırmış is known as the wet snack and refers to the seeds of the yellow lupin bean. It’s traditionally seen as a food item to snack on between meals and the beans’ bitterness is removed by their being soaked in salt water, or seawater, for as long as two weeks before they’re eaten. 

27. Tomato Cive

One of the traditional foods in Antalya that tourists love, for tomato cive, the fruit is cooked in its own juice along with green peppers, olive-oil-fried onions, and plenty of garlic. It’s then served with bulgur or rice and can be eaten hot or cold. 

28. Toros Salad

First arugula, dill, green onions, mint, parsley, and tomatoes are chopped up and mixed together. Then they’re seasoned with chopped red peppers, olive oil, pomegranate syrup, salt, and sumac and you’ve got a toros salad! 

This dish is very popular as an accompaniment for meat dishes but is frequently eaten as a breakfast meal as well. 

29. Turkish Ice Cream

The ice cream served in Antalya is out of this world. Made from fresh goat’s milk, its thick consistency is a sweet tooth dream and there’s plenty of different flavours to choose from. The most popular options for this top food in Antalya include almond, caramel, melon, pistachio, and sour cherry.

30. Yenge

Yenge are scrumptious sandwiches concocted using sausage, melted cheese, salami, Sucuk or fermented sausage, pickles, and tomatoes. It’s usually served alongside french fries and is a wonderful lunch or early dinner option if you’re tired out from a long day of sightseeing. 

Eating Well in Antalya Is a Piece of Cake

What is the most popular food in Antalya? That question is tough to answer when you take into account how much deliciousness this city contains! Instead of hazarding a guess, we’re going to suggest you sample each one of the delicacies outlined here and then make up your own mind.

It’s difficult to separate a culture from its food and one cannot truly say that one has experienced a locale without trying the food it’s famous for. Travellers to Antalya are in luck in this regard, since there are such extraordinary dishes to enjoy in this city!

Sources:

Local Food in Antalya: 22 Dishes You Should Try

https://www.adequatetravel.com/blog/10-best-foods-in-antalya/

https://www.britannica.com/place/Antalya

https://www.bodrumnyc.com/blog/greek-turkish-cuisine-share

Top 12 Antalya Restaurants

https://meatwave.com/recipes/grilled-turkish-chicken-wings-kanat-recipe

Gozleme!

Gülüklü Çorba – Official Alanya Soup

https://www.discoverwalks.com/blog/istanbul/a-brief-guide-to-antalya-turkeys-most-famous-resort-city/

https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/yoruk

Turkish Meatballs (Kofte) with Lemon-Tahini Sauce

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/turkey-signature-drink-raki/index.html