Kumpir recipe: Turkish loaded baked potato
Kumpir is a jacket potato taken to its limit. A very large potato is baked until fluffy, split open, and its insides mashed right there in the skin with butter and grated cheese until creamy and stretchy. Then come the toppings, as many as you like: sweetcorn, olives, pickles, Russian salad, sausage, peas, ketchup and mayonnaise. The Wikipedia overview of Turkish cuisine describes it simply as a baked potato served with kaşar cheese and many other toppings.
In Istanbul, kumpir stalls set out long counters of toppings to choose from. It is fun food, and making it at home is mostly about having a good potato and laying out a spread so everyone can build their own.
What is kumpir?
The name has an unexpected history. According to Wikipedia’s kumpir article, it comes from the Palatine and Alemannic German word Grumbier, meaning potato. Danube Swabian settlers took the word to south-eastern Europe, and Balkan Turks brought the dish to Anatolia. It is also a popular fast food across the Balkans.
What makes kumpir different from a British jacket potato is the mashing. The cheese and butter are worked into the hot potato inside its skin so the whole thing becomes one creamy, stringy base before any toppings go on.
Popular toppings
Classic choices include sweetcorn, green and black olives, pickled gherkins, pickled red cabbage, Russian salad (Rus salatası), sliced sausage or sucuk, mushrooms, peas, carrots and chilli flakes, finished with ketchup and mayonnaise. There is no fixed rule.
Kumpir at home
The only real secret is the potato. Stalls use enormous, floury potatoes baked for a long time, so the inside is dry and fluffy enough to soak up a generous amount of butter and cheese. At home, pick the largest baking potatoes you can find, give them the full time in a hot oven, and have everything else ready before you open them.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
For the potatoes
- 4 very large baking potatoes (about 350–400g each), such as Maris Piper or King Edward
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp coarse salt
For the filling
- 60g butter, softened
- 160g kaşar cheese, grated (or 100g mozzarella and 60g mild cheddar)
- Salt and black pepper
Suggested toppings
- 150g sweetcorn, drained
- 80g pitted green and black olives, sliced
- 100g pickled gherkins, chopped
- 100g pickled red cabbage
- 200g Russian salad (potato, peas, carrot and pickles in mayonnaise)
- 150g sucuk or frankfurters, sliced and pan-fried
- Ketchup, mayonnaise and pul biber, to finish
How to make kumpir
1. Bake the potatoes
Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Scrub and dry the potatoes, prick them a few times with a fork, rub with the olive oil and salt and put them straight on the oven shelf. Bake for 1 hour–1 hour 15 minutes, until the skin is crisp and a knife slides easily into the centre.
2. Prepare the toppings
While the potatoes bake, fry the sucuk or sausage slices in a dry pan until browned, and set out all the toppings in small bowls.
3. Open and mash
Wrap each hot potato in a clean tea towel to protect your hands and cut it lengthways along the top, without cutting through the base. Push the ends towards the middle to open it up.
4. Add butter and cheese
Add a quarter of the butter and a quarter of the cheese to each potato. Using a fork, mash and stir the inside vigorously, working the cheese and butter in until creamy and stringy. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5. Load it up
Pile on the toppings while the potato is still very hot, finishing with squiggles of ketchup and mayonnaise and a pinch of pul biber. Eat straight away.
Watch: how to make kumpir
This video shows the mash-in-the-skin technique and how to build a kumpir.
Tips for the best kumpir
- Choose the biggest, floury potatoes you can find. Waxy potatoes will not mash smoothly.
- Bake directly on the oven shelf rather than wrapped in foil, so the skin crisps and the potato stays dry and fluffy.
- Mash the cheese in while the potato is piping hot, or it will not melt properly.
- Kaşar is a mild, stretchy Turkish cheese sold in Turkish grocers. Mozzarella mixed with mild cheddar is a good substitute.
- Set out toppings like a buffet and let everyone build their own: it is half the fun.
What to serve with kumpir
Kumpir is a meal on its own, but a cold glass of ayran is the classic drink. Add a fresh çoban salatası or a spoonful of acılı ezme for heat. For a Turkish street-food night at home, serve it alongside tantuni wraps.
Where to eat kumpir in London
A handful of London cafés and takeaways specialise in kumpir, and others offer it alongside wraps and grills. Browse our Turkish street food listings, or see our guide to cheap Turkish food in London.
- Tantunim Enfield – Turkish çiğ köfte in Enfield
- İstanbul Kokoreç & Hatay Döner – Turkish kebab & döner in Enfield
- The Munch – Turkish kebab & döner in Shoreditch & Hoxton
- Durak Tantuni – Turkish kebab & döner in Tottenham
- Gürbüz Street Food – Turkish kebab & döner in Clerkenwell & Farringdon
- Rose’s Kitchen – Turkish gözleme & mantı in City of London
See all 23 Street Food places in London
Kumpir FAQs
What cheese is used in kumpir?
Traditionally kaşar, a mild, semi-hard Turkish cheese that melts and stretches well. Mozzarella and mild cheddar together are the closest substitute.
Can I make kumpir in a microwave?
You can microwave the potatoes for 10–12 minutes to speed things up, then finish them in a hot oven for 20–25 minutes to crisp the skin.
Is kumpir vegetarian?
It can easily be. Leave out the sausage and use vegetable toppings such as sweetcorn, olives, mushrooms, peas and pickles.
What is Russian salad?
Rus salatası is a mayonnaise salad of diced potato, peas, carrot and pickles. Turkish grocers sell it ready-made, and it is one of the most popular kumpir toppings.
Photo: Atilim Gunes Baydin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
