This Turkish yogurt dip for chips can be made in seconds and is simplicity itself. The yogurt dip is smooth, tangy, and refreshing. It is seasoned with Turkish pantry staples: dried herbs and chili flakes, but you can easily substitute the Turkish ingredients! If you need a speedy snack that everyone will rave about, this is the recipe for you.
Curse of the discontinued chips
When I was living in Turkey, I would sometimes buy a specific bag of chips on my way home from college. I can’t remember the name of the ‘flavor’, but they were either Doritos or Lays chips. Anyway, inside would be a small packet of spices. You would mix this spice blend into a bowl of yogurt, and you would get a yogurt dip for chips in seconds!
I started craving it recently, but I remembered that that ‘flavor’ of chips was discontinued years ago. It sent me down a rabbit hole of old posts on Turkish message boards (still a popular way to communicate online in Turkey), trying to find a way to replicate my long-lost yogurt dip for chips at home. I found blurry photos of what I think was that particular bag of chips with the list of ingredients for the spice blend written on the back. And people who were lamenting the loss of these discontinued chips sure had a lot of opinions about how to make a homemade version.
Turns out that making it is just as easy as buying it, as long as you have the right spices in your cupboard. I actually found that the fewer types of spices I used, the more the dip tasted like the one from my memories. Which is weird because when you check the ingredients for the spice packet, it’s as long as your arm, but hey, lucky for us! Apparently, there is a new flavor of chips with a spice packet available in Turkey nowadays, but I haven’t tasted it. But it’s so easy to make yogurt dip for chips at home, and this copycat version is just as good, so I don’t think I would go back to shop-bought anyway!
Substitutions
I wrote the Turkish names in the ingredients list in case you get the opportunity to go to a Turkish store, but if you don’t, there are suitable substitutes out there.
- yogurt: Full-fat plain Greek yogurt works well with this recipe. The dip will be creamier and less tangy than if you had made it with Turkish yogurt, but it’ll still be delicious.
- aleppo pepper: Pul biber are mild chili flakes. They are even milder than crushed red pepper flakes. If your chili flakes are hot, only add ½ tsp, taste the dip, then add more if you’d like it spicier. If chili flakes are altogether unavailable, you can use 1 tsp of paprika and a pinch of cayenne pepper instead, but the dip will turn pinker.
- dried thyme leaves: Turkish dried thyme leaves are less leafy and less hard. They look more like flakes than actual picked thyme leaves that have subsequently been dried. I think regular dried thyme leaves would be too ‘spiky’ to use as a 1:1 substitute for the Turkish version. It would ruin the smoothness of the yogurt dip for chips. I would only put 1 ½ tsp of regular dried thyme leaves instead.
When my Turkish father-in-law was cooking for us in France, he was using dried oregano instead of dried thyme leaves to replace kekik. If you follow in his footsteps, you can use the full 3 tsp. - dried mint leaves: dried mint is very common in Middle Eastern cooking and widely available in French supermarkets, but I don’t know if that’s the case everywhere. Its flavor is different from that of fresh mint, so if you can’t find it, I think it’s better to omit it than to substitute fresh. If you absolutely want to add another dried herb to the dip, you could use parsley flakes, as fresh parsley (maydanoz) is widely used in Turkey.
“Instructions”
I feel weird calling these instructions since the recipe is so quick, hence my use of quotation marks. All you have to do is put all the ingredients into a medium-sized mixing bowl and whisk everything together. Your yogurt dip for chips is ready!
Types of Turkish yogurts
If you go to a Turkish store, you’ll spot 3 main types of yogurt in the refrigerated section:
- kaymaksız yogurt: This is the most common type of yogurt as it is used as a side dish, spooned next to every kind of homemade meal. It’s tangier and thinner than Greek yogurt.
- kaymaklı yogurt: This is the same yogurt, but with a thin ‘skin’ of dried yogurt on top that you can scrape off.
- süzme yogurt: It has a higher fat content than both kaymaksız and kaymaklı yogurts, making it thicker and creamier. It’s the preferred yogurt to cook with and is the one needed to make this yogurt dip for chips.
Corn tortillas
Usually, the Turkish yogurt dip for chips is served with tortilla chips, but you can use any chips you like! As long as the chips are sturdy enough to scoop up dip without breaking into a dozen pieces, you’re sure to have a delicious snack!
For a healthier spin, you could also serve it alongside an assortment of raw vegetables (peeled baby carrots, sliced cucumbers, halved radishes, romaine lettuce leaves, …).
Yogurt dip for chips
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: No-cook
- Cuisine: Turkish
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Turkish yogurt dip for chips is smooth, tangy, and refreshing. It is simplicity itself and can be made in seconds!
Ingredients
- 450 g Turkish süzme yogurt (2 cups or 1 pound), or use full-fat plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (pul biber), or use another kind of chili flakes
- 3 tsp dried thyme leaves (kekik)
- 3 tsp dried mint leaves (kuru nane)
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- tortilla chips, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, chili flakes, dried herbs, and salt. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding a bit more spices or salt if desired, but keep in mind that the chips will be salted too.
- Scrape into a serving bowl. Garnish with extra chili flakes and a drizzle of olive oil if desired. Serve with tortilla chips on the side.
Notes
You can keep any leftover dip stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of the dip
- Calories: 223
Do you have some leftover yogurt? Here are some of my favorite Turkish recipes to use it up:
Zadzi
Loved this , thank you! I drizzled some good olive oil on top too and it was perfect.
Amélie
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your comment!