Adana kebab

Name: Adana kebab
Prep time: 11 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 31 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 large Romano Pepper; 800g Lamb Mince; 3 tablespoons Red Pepper Paste; 1 tablespoon Pul Biber; 3 tablespoons Sunflower Oil

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Lamb recipe with Turkish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 33 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Step-by-step instructions

Finely chop the peppers in a food processor, then tip them in a sieve and press into the sieve so that the peppers release all of their juices. Tip into a bowl along with the mince, red pepper paste, pul biber, 1½ tsp flaky sea salt, and 2 tbsp of the oil. Mix together, kneading well for at least 2-3 mins. If you need to, wet your hands with cold water to prevent the mixture from sticking. The mixture should be sticky when ready. Cover and chill for at least 2 hrs, or up to 12 hrs.
When ready to cook, heat the grill to high or an oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 6. Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions, around 85g each. If you’d like to skewer them, divide into 8 equal portions and roll into balls. Using wet hands, thread the balls onto the end of the skewers, massaging the mixture down the skewers in between the palms of your hands, until evenly distributed. Ensure that the mixture is fully wrapped tightly around the skewers without any exposed metal. Alternatively, lay them on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper if cooking in the oven, or foil if cooking under the grill. Shape into 20cm-long köfte. Wet your fingers with a little cold water and make indents all along the köfte for the traditional shape.
Gently brush each köfte with the remaining 1 tbsp oil and cook under the grill, on the top shelf for 10-12 mins, turning regularly, or cook in the oven for 16-18 mins, until crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle.

Why this works on a weeknight

Adana kebab lands at about 31 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Sheet-Pan Dinners collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Adana kebab actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🍳 Sheet-Pan Dinners Lamb Turkish