Syrup-soaked pastries, milk puddings, stretchy ice cream and Turkish delight — what each dessert is, which region does it best, and what to order where.
Last reviewed on 27 September 2026.
Turkish sweets fall into a few broad families: pastries soaked in syrup (şerbetli tatlılar), milk puddings (sütlü tatlılar), confections such as lokum and helva, and a handful of fruit and ice-cream specialities. Many took their classic form in the Ottoman palace kitchens, where a separate confectionery (helvahane) served the court, and then spread to shops across the empire. Each family has its own kind of shop: syrupy pastries at a baklavacı, puddings at a muhallebici, and lokum and sugar confections at a şekerci. Knowing which is which is the quickest way to eat well.
Baklava is layers of paper-thin dough (yufka) brushed with butter, filled with nuts, baked and soaked in syrup. Good baklava is crisp on top, moist but not soggy underneath, and not cloyingly sweet; it should crackle when cut. Pistachio is the prestige filling, walnut is the everyday one, and some shops use hazelnut.
The capital of baklava is Gaziantep, in the pistachio-growing southeast. Antep baklavası became the first Turkish product registered as a protected geographical indication in the European Union, in 2013. It is made with the region's green pistachios, clarified butter and very thin dough, and it is traditionally eaten fresh — ideally the same day it is baked.
Ottoman tradition linked baklava with Ramadan: on the fifteenth day of the month, trays were sent from the palace to the Janissaries in a procession known as the baklava alayı. Baklava is still a standard gift when visiting homes during the bayram holidays.
Kadayıf is shredded dough in fine strands. Baked with nuts and syrup it becomes tel kadayıf, a sweet sold alongside baklava. Künefe uses the same strands wrapped around a layer of unsalted, stretchy cheese, cooked in a small round copper pan until crisp, then soaked in hot syrup and topped with crushed pistachio. It is served hot, as soon as it is made, with the cheese still pulling.
Künefe is the speciality of Hatay (Antakya) near the Syrian border, and it is shared across the wider Levant. Another southeastern pastry worth seeking out is katmer, a Gaziantep breakfast speciality of thin dough folded around clotted cream (kaymak) and pistachio.
Lokum is a soft, chewy confection of starch and sugar, flavoured with rosewater, mastic, lemon or bergamot, or packed with pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts, and dusted with powdered sugar. The modern product took shape in Istanbul in the late 18th and 19th centuries, when refined sugar and starch made a smoother texture possible. Hacı Bekir, a confectioner who set up shop in Istanbul in the late 18th century, is widely credited with popularising it; the business still trades under his name.
Good lokum is soft and springy, not rubbery, and tastes clearly of its flavouring. Shops in Istanbul's Eminönü and old-city districts, and specialist producers, are more reliable than pre-packed souvenir boxes at airports. Safranbolu and Afyon are known for their own versions, including Afyon's lokum with clotted cream.
The muhallebici — pudding shop — is an Istanbul institution, open from breakfast into the evening. Puddings are made fresh daily and are lighter than most Western desserts.
Rice pudding. Fırın sütlaç is baked in clay bowls until the top browns; it is a staple at muhallebicis and home cooking alike.
A dense, chewy milk pudding made with very finely shredded chicken breast. It tastes of milk and cinnamon, not chicken, and descends from medieval palace cookery.
"Bottom of the pot": the same pudding deliberately caramelised on the base of the tray, then cut and rolled so the browned side is on top.
Plain milk-and-starch pudding, often with rosewater; keşkül is enriched with almond or coconut and topped with pistachio.
Ramadan brings güllaç, thin wafer-like sheets of starch layered with sweetened milk, rosewater and nuts, and often decorated with pomegranate seeds. It is light enough for breaking the fast and is sold mainly during that month.
Aşure, often called "Noah's pudding", is a thick, lightly sweet mixture of wheat, chickpeas, beans, dried fruit and nuts. Tradition says Noah made it from the last provisions on the Ark. It is cooked in large quantities during the Islamic month of Muharram, especially around the tenth day, and shared with neighbours, which is the essence of the custom: it is a dish of giving rather than of restaurants. Alevis prepare it at the end of their Muharram fast. Some muhallebicis sell it year-round.
Turkish ice cream, dondurma, is thickened with salep — flour from the tubers of wild orchids — and flavoured with mastic resin. Pounded with paddles as it freezes, it becomes dense, chewy and stretchy, and melts slowly. The style is named after Kahramanmaraş in the southeast, where it is sold in solid blocks cut with a knife and eaten with a knife and fork. Street vendors elsewhere in Türkiye are known for playful tricks with the long paddle as they hand over a cone.
Because wild orchids are protected and their export restricted, genuine salep is expensive, and much commercial ice cream uses substitutes. In Kahramanmaraş, a plate of dondurma served with baklava is a local classic.
Helva covers several quite different sweets:
Semolina and flour helva carry social meaning: they are cooked and shared after a death, on the holy nights called kandil, and for gatherings. Being offered helva at a condolence visit is a gesture of community, not a treat.
Revani is a semolina sponge soaked in lemon syrup, often topped with coconut or pistachio. Şekerpare are small semolina biscuits in syrup, and tulumba are fried ridged batter fingers, similar to churros, soaked in syrup and sold hot in the streets. Kemalpaşa tatlısı, from the Bursa region, are small cheese dumplings simmered in syrup.
Autumn and winter bring kabak tatlısı, pumpkin cooked slowly in sugar until glossy and served with tahini and walnuts, and ayva tatlısı, quince poached in syrup and served with kaymak. Dried figs and apricots stuffed with walnuts or cream are also common. These are often the best choice after a heavy meal.
Almost every province has a sweet it is proud of, and many are hard to find outside their home region. Cezerye, from Mersin, is a chewy bar of cooked carrot, sugar and nuts, usually rolled in coconut. Höşmerim, associated with Balıkesir and the Marmara hinterland, is a soft sweet made from fresh unsalted cheese, semolina and syrup. Trileçe, a milk-soaked sponge with a caramel top, arrived via the Balkans and became a fixture of Turkish patisseries in recent decades. Along the Black Sea, where hazelnuts are the main crop, hazelnut appears in everything from baklava to spreads. When travelling, asking "buranın meşhur tatlısı ne?" — what is the famous sweet here? — usually produces an enthusiastic answer.
| Place | Order |
|---|---|
| Gaziantep | Fresh pistachio baklava, şöbiyet, katmer for breakfast |
| Hatay (Antakya) | Künefe, straight from the pan |
| Kahramanmaraş | Block dondurma eaten with a knife and fork |
| Istanbul | Lokum from a specialist shop; tavuk göğsü and kazandibi at a muhallebici; güllaç in Ramadan |
| Bursa region | Kemalpaşa tatlısı; candied chestnuts (kestane şekeri) |
| Afyon | Kaymak (clotted cream) with honey, and cream-filled lokum |
| Safranbolu | Lokum and helva |
Baklava is shared across the former Ottoman lands and the Middle East, and several countries have their own versions. Türkiye's best-known style is Gaziantep baklava, which in 2013 became the first Turkish product registered as a protected geographical indication in the European Union.
Baklava is the best known, especially the pistachio baklava of Gaziantep. Turkish delight (lokum), künefe, milk puddings such as sütlaç and kazandibi, and stretchy Maraş ice cream are also classics.
Künefe is a hot dessert of shredded kadayıf dough wrapped around unsalted melting cheese, cooked until crisp in a small pan, soaked in syrup and topped with pistachio. It is the speciality of Hatay (Antakya) and is eaten immediately while the cheese stretches.
Dondurma is thickened with salep, a flour made from wild orchid tubers, and flavoured with mastic, then beaten as it freezes. This makes it dense, chewy and slow to melt. The style is associated with Kahramanmaraş, where it is cut with a knife.
Tavuk göğsü is a traditional milk pudding made with very finely shredded chicken breast. The chicken gives it a chewy texture but no meaty taste; it is flavoured with milk, sugar and cinnamon. Kazandibi is its caramelised variation.
Istanbul's historic confectioners are the classic source, and Safranbolu and Afyon are known for their own versions. Fresh lokum from a specialist shop is much softer and more fragrant than pre-packed souvenir boxes.