Kumpir

Name: Kumpir
Prep time: 7 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 21 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 2 large Potatoes; 2 tbs Butter; 150g Cheese; 1 large Onion; 1 large Red Pepper; Pinch Red Chilli Flakes

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

A one-pot Side recipe with Turkish flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 38 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

If you order kumpir in Turkey, the standard filling is first, lots of butter mashed into the potato, followed by cheese. There’s then a row of other toppings that you can just point at to your heart’s content – sweetcorn, olives, salami, coleslaw, Russian salad, allsorts – and you walk away with an over-stuffed potato because you got ever-excited by the choices on offer.
Grate (roughly – you can use as much as you like) 150g of cheese.
Finely chop one onion and one sweet red pepper.
Put these ingredients into a large bowl with a good sprinkling of salt and pepper, chilli flakes (optional).

Why this works on a weeknight

Kumpir genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Skillet & One-Pan 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. Kumpir 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 🥘 Skillet & One-Pan Side Turkish ⚡ 30-Min Dinner SideDish