Meze is a selection of food served as the appetizer course with or without drinks. Some of them can be served as a main course as well.

Aside from olives, mature kaşar kashar cheese, white cheese, various mixed pickles turşu, frequently eaten Turkish mezes include:

* Acılı ezme (hot spicy freshly mashed tomato with onion and green herbs)
* Acuka (A circassian meze prepared with walnut, tomato paste and garlic)
* Arnavut ciğeri (meaning "Albanian liver") (Fried small pieces of liver served with onion, parsley and hot pepper)
* Roka salad
* Patlıcan salatası (eggplant salad)
* Bakla Ezmesi (hummus prepared from broad bean)
* Barbunya
* Borani
* Börek (very thin dough layers staffed with cheese, meat or vegetables)
* Cacık (cucumber with yoghurt, dried mint and olive oil)
* Cevizli Biber (a meze prepared with walnut, red pepper, pepper paste, onion and cumin)
* Çerkez tavuğu (meaning "Circassian chicken")
* Çiğ Köfte (raw meatball prepared with bulgur and minced meat)
* Çoban salatası (a mixed salad of cucumber, tomato and pepper)
* Deniz Börülcesi
* Dolma (vine leaves, cabbage leaves, chard leaves, peppers, tomato, squash, pumpkin, eggplant or mussels stuffed with rice and/or meat)
* Fasulye pilaki (bean cooked with garlic, tomato paste, carrot and olive oil)
* Fava (broad/horse bean puree)
* Fried köfte (meatballs)
* Fried vegetables (fried eggplants, peppers and courgettes with yoghurt or tomato&garlic sauce)
* Gavurdağı salad
* Hardalotu (mustard plant salad)
* Haydari
* Hummus (a word coming from Arabic and prepared from sesame, chickpea, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice)
* İçli köfte (Also known as oruk or kubbeh, can be served either as a meze or a main dish; especially in the east of Turkey, when it is cooked through boiling in a pot, içli köfte is served as a main dish)
* Kabak Çiçeği Dolması (a kind of dolma, which you stuff a cabbage flower)
* Kısır (Also known as 'sarma içi', a very popular meze or side dish prepared with "bulgur", tomato paste, parsley, onion, garlic, sour pomegranate juice and a lot of spices).
* Muhammara
* Piyaz (white bean or potato salad with onion and vinegar)
* Semizotu salad (semiz plant served with yogurt)
* Şakşuka or another version Köpoğlu (fried and chopped eggplants & peppers served with garlic yogurt or tomato sauce)* Taramasalata
* Turp otu salad
* Kalamar (fried and served with tarator sauce, grilled)
* Octopus (ahtapot) (salad, grilled)
* Mussels (fried and served with tarator sauce or as midye dolma; mussles stuffed with rice filling)
* Shrimp (karides) (salad, grilled or cooked with vegetables in güveç-casserole)