🥣 Yayla çorbası (yogurt and rice soup)
Yayla çorbası is a Turkish soup of yogurt and rice, gently cooked until smooth and creamy, then finished with butter sizzled with dried mint. It is mildly tangy, comforting and fragrant, with soft grains of rice suspended in the warm yogurt. It is served hot as a starter, especially in cold weather.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 80 g short-grain rice, rinsed
- 1 litre water
- 400 g plain yogurt
- 30 g butter
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- Salt
Method
- Simmer the rice in the water for 15–20 minutes until very soft.
- Whisk the yogurt with a ladle of the hot liquid to temper it, then stir it slowly into the pot.
- Bring just to a simmer, stirring constantly in one direction so the yogurt does not split; season with salt.
- Melt the butter, add the dried mint for a few seconds and pour over the soup in the bowls.
How to make it lighter
- Use half the butter for the mint drizzle — 1 tbsp butter is about 100 kcal.
- Choose a low-fat plain yogurt; the soup stays creamy.
- Serve a 300 ml bowl as a starter and follow with a vegetable main.
History
The name means "highland" or "summer pasture soup", linking it to the yogurt-rich cooking of Anatolian upland villages where herds grazed in summer. It is a standard soup in Turkish homes and lokantas, the everyday cooked-food restaurants.
Count it in one photo
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →