Try these gorgeous Turkish Eggs for a tasty breakfast. Perfectly poached eggs on a bed of garlic yogurt covered in chilli butter sauce!
The sexiest egg dish ever!
Let me just say, I’m not a breakfast person and that’s because I loathe early mornings. If I could sleep in and skip breakfast, I would. However, I felt guilty doing this because our teachers harped on continuously about how breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
I can say goodbye to the luxury of sleeping in the mornings now. Having a 2-year-old, Kai, in the house, no one gets to sleep in, and that includes our kitties, Caviar and Teddie. For some bizarre reason, after mostly ignoring the kitties for almost a year, Kai has taken a sudden interest in them. When I mean interest, he’s chasing them around our house squealing in delight whilst our kitties are trotting away with their ears flattened, trying to escape from our little madman.
Anyway, back to me hating early mornings. It doesn’t help that regular breakfast menus don’t entice me to get up because I’m not a fan of breakfast food. However, we regularly go out for breakfast on weekends because it’s my husband’s favourite meal of the day. So, what I usually do is scroll through the breakfast menu and, umm and err about what to get. Then I settle for a big breakfast because it has a bit of everything.
One breakfast dish I love is Eggs Benedict, but I don’t order this often because it’s one of those dishes that’s hard to make perfect consistently! I could have a sensational serving of Eggs Benedict for one week and it’s average the next, and it’s from the same cafe!
Anyway, Eggs Benedict should be worried because there’s a new and sexier egg breakfast dish in town. Say hello to gorgeous Cilbir (Turkish Eggs). It’s prettier, lighter with fewer calories, and if I dare say it, it also tastes better than Eggs Benedict.
Are you a massive fan of eggs? If so, I’ve got you covered, so check these ‘egglicious’ recipes out:
Easy Overnight Breakfast Strata
No Knead Focaccia with Bacon, Egg and Sausage
Turkish Eggs (Cilbir)
What are Turkish Eggs? It’s a Turkish breakfast or brunch dish of poached eggs served with garlic yogurt and spices. It’s commonly served with melted butter and Aleppo pepper flakes.
This combination may sound a little usual, but everything works. Every element in this dish complements each other. Turkish Eggs are one of the most flavourful breakfasts I’ve ever had. For someone that loves spicy food, I wonder why I never thought of making this dish earlier!
All this for breakfast? Yes, and why not?! but let’s not stop there. This dish is utterly mind-blowing that I could happily have it at any time of the day. Besides, who needs labels on what’s suitable to eat at certain times of the day?
Perfectly poached eggs on a bed of room temperature garlicky yogurt with dill. Drizzled with vibrant green Parsley Oil and brown butter infused with smoky and aromatic Aleppo pepper flakes.
Aleppo pepper flakes, in my opinion, are quite mild. As a chilli addict, I need that extra heat to awaken my tastebuds. Krunchilli’s chillies did an amazing job of adding both heat and delicious crunchy textures to my Turkish eggs without overwhelming the dish.
Krunchilli gifted me with jars of their chillies to sample, but they didn’t ask me to post their chillies for them, but it’s the least I could do. They provided us with the ‘medium’ and ‘hot’, both were lovely and the adults in our family thoroughly enjoyed the unique texture and flavour. The ‘Krunch’ is from the oats and coconut. Their chilli range is also vegan-friendly.
Araluen Chilli Festival in Western Australia has awarded Krunchilli with a gold medal. Well deserved, we say! It always feels good to support a passionate family-owned business that is Australian made and owned. Krunchilli’s website is definitely worth visiting and as a bonus, they are currently offering free delivery Australia wide. Enter the code ‘KRUNCHILLIKREW’
Ingredients for Turkish Eggs
Greek yoghurt – Unfortunately for us, Turkish yogurt it’s not widely available over here, so I used plain full cream thick Greek yoghurt.
Aleppo pepper flakes are not very spicy, but they add beautiful colour to dishes with lovely smoky and aromatic flavours. I had trouble finding Aleppo pepper (chilli) flakes because they weren’t available in supermarkets or specialty shops, so I ordered mine online. The Aleppo pepper I’ve got is from Turkey but packaged here. If you can’t get a hold of these Aleppo peppers, you can substitute with 3 teaspoons of smoked paprika and 1/8 tsp (or a pinch) of cayenne pepper.
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Crispy chilli (optional) – To add some texture and give the dish an extra spicy kick, I used Krunchilli’s crunchy chillies that were gifted to me. You could leave this out, but I highly recommend them if you love heat and texture as we do!
Parsley oil (optional) – This is mostly for aesthetic purposes as the beautiful, vibrant green parsley oil gives the dish a stunning look. If you’re interested, check out my post on How to make Parsley Oil.
How to make Turkish Eggs
Step-by-step guide with photos
Place the room temperature yogurt into a bowl, then use a microplane to grate the garlic over the yoghurt. Add in the dill and salt, then mix well. Set the yogurt mixture aside for later.
Brown the butter slowly by melting it in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. It’s done when the butter smells nutty and the milk solids (dark bits) have sunk to the bottom. Keep your eyes on it because at this stage, the butter may burn. Remove the butter from the heat and stir in the Aleppo peppers and salt. The mixture will bubble, but this is normal. Leave the pan aside to cool, so the pepper infuses the butter.
Fill the saucepan 2/3 full with water, or enough to submerge the eggs. Place saucepan over high heat until it boils.
Whilst waiting for the water to boil, prepare the eggs. Crack an egg into a small sieve with a small bowl underneath. The runny part of the egg whites will drop through the sieve, doing this will get rid of whites that leave ugly strands when poaching. Transfer the egg from the sieve to a small bowl or teacup, then pour a teaspoon of vinegar straight onto the egg.
When the water reaches boiling point, reduce the heat to low. Let the water settle, so there’s no movement in it, then lower the egg carefully into the water. Poach the egg for 2 to 3 minutes or until whites have set, but the yolks are runny. I recommend poaching two eggs at a time because having too many eggs may cause the temperature of the water to drop, and this may cause the eggs to poach unevenly. Also, on your second batch of eggs, remember to increase the heat and bring the water to a boil again, then reduce it to low before placing the eggs in.
Divide the yogurt mixture into two and spoon it onto serving plates. Use a spoon to make a round bed for the eggs with the yogurt. Drizzle the parsley oil (if using) on top of the yogurt.
Remove the eggs out of the water with a strainer and wait until most of the water has dripped from the egg. Carefully lower 2 eggs onto each place on top of the yogurt, then sprinkle the eggs with some salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with the chilli butter, then garnish with dill and chilli crisps (if using). Serve immediately.
A Third-Party Application calculated the calories and nutritional information. Please use this as an approximate guide only.
Cooking measurements are in Australian standard spoon and cup measurements.
I would love to hear your thoughts or feedback on this post. If you have made this recipe, please show your support by commenting and rating this recipe. You can do this by scrolling down or by clicking the green circle on the left. To prevent spam on this site, an email address is required but it won’t be published.
Cheers (I’ll drink to that) – Cat Tre
Turkish Eggs
Ingredients
- 1 cup Greek yogurt (or Turkish yogurt at room temperature) (NOTE 1)
- 1 clove garlic (grated very finely)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp finely chopped dill
- salt and pepper to taste
For the chilli butter
- 50 gm unsalted butter
- 3 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (NOTE 2)
- ⅛ tsp salt (or a pinch)
For the poached eggs
- 4 large eggs
- 4 tsp vinegar
Optional garnish
- dill leaves
- crispy chillies (NOTE 3)
- parsley oil (NOTE 4)
Instructions
- Place the room temperature yogurt into a bowl, then use a microplane to grate the garlic over the yoghurt. Add in the dill and salt, then mix well. Set the yogurt mixture aside for later.
- Brown the butter slowly by melting it in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. It's done when the butter smells nutty and the milk solids (dark bits) have sunk to the bottom. Keep your eyes on it because at this stage, the butter may burn. Remove the butter from the heat and stir in the Aleppo peppers and salt. The mixture will bubble, but this is normal. Leave the pan aside to cool, so the pepper infuses the butter.
- Fill the saucepan 2/3 full with water, or enough to submerge the eggs. Place saucepan over high heat until it boils. Whilst waiting for the water to boil, prepare the eggs. Crack an egg into a small sieve with a small bowl underneath. The runny part of the egg whites will drop through the sieve, doing this will get rid of whites that leave ugly strands when poaching. Transfer the egg from the sieve to a small bowl or teacup, then pour a teaspoon of vinegar straight onto the egg.
- When the water reaches boiling point, reduce the heat to low. Let the water settle, so there's no movement in it, then lower the egg carefully into the water. Poach the egg for 2 to 3 minutes or until whites have set, but the yolks are runny. I recommend poaching two eggs at a time because having too many eggs may cause the temperature of the water to drop, and this may cause the eggs to poach unevenly. Also, on your second batch of eggs, remember to increase the heat and bring the water to a boil again, then reduce it to low before placing the eggs in.
- Divide the yogurt mixture into two and spoon it onto serving plates. Use a spoon to make a round bed for the eggs with the yogurt. Drizzle the parsley oil (if using) on top of the yogurt.
- Remove the eggs out of the water with a strainer and wait until most of the water has dripped from the egg. Carefully lower 2 eggs onto each place on top of the yogurt, then sprinkle the eggs with some salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with the chilli butter, then garnish with dill and chilli crisps (if using). Serve immediately.
