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I made the Viral Turkish Pasta, also called a Manti, and wow, was it good! It is an easy, simple, and delicious pasta recipe that’s packed with flavor and makes for a perfect weeknight dinner that the whole family will love.
You may also like my Gigi Hadid Pasta or my Chicken Enchilada Pasta.

If you have been on TikTok, you probably know this viral Manti turkish pasta. It is also referred to as Anna Paul’s Turkish Pasta. In a viral video on TikTok she shows how her mom makes Turkish pasta and everyone has been recreating it. This Turkish pasta is also known as Manti or deconstructed Manti! It is a well-known Turkish dish that we all just learned about and I am here for it!
Turkish Pasta: Deconstructed Manti
I altered the recipe a bit. I have seen some add cumin powder to the seasoned meat but I personally don’t like cumin much so I decided to skip it. The ground beef is sauteed with some chopped onions and seasoned with onion powder, a small amount of tomato paste, paprika, salt, and pepper.
The idea is to serve with seasoned beef over cooked pasta, with a garlic yogurt sauce, and a drizzle of seasoned butter. It’s such a delicious dish and I will be serving this for my family for years to come. Yay.
Ingredients for the Turkish pasta
Below is a quick list of ingredients you will need. Hopefully, you have these all handy, and you can make it asap. Full measurements are listed further down below in the recipe card.
- Pasta: Use any pasta of your choice. Short Pasta works best like shells, elbows, bow ties, and so on.
- Lean ground beef: I used 90% Lean but you may use 80-85%
- Seasonings: onion powder, sweet paprika, dried mint, Salt and Pepper to taste
- Tomato paste: some recipes didn’t call for tomato paste, but I loved the addition.
- Yellow or white sweet onions
- Unsalted butter: The original recipe for the sauce to be drizzled over the pasta is made with butter. I assume you can make it with just olive oil.
- Mild pepper paste: This is found at almost every Middle Eastern market, and I use it a lot in my cooking. Whether you use a Turkish pepper paste or any pepper paste at the store, it should yield the same great flavor.
- Turkish chili flakes, or regular chili flakes: I used normal chili flakes and wasn’t going to go hunting for Turkish chili. Lol.
- Greek yogurt or plain yogurt: You can use plain or Greek.
- Garlic cloves, minced
- Minced parsley
- Cherry Tomatoes
How to make “Manti” Turkish Pasta
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. (Step 1).
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sear the ground beef until almost cooked through. about 2-3 minutes. Add in the chopped onions. Season with salt and pepper. The meat should release its natural oils, and no need to add oil. (Step 2)
- Next, add paprika, onion powder, and tomato paste. Mix again to combine (Step 3)
- Sear everything until the onions are translucent and cooked through. About 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. (step 4)
- To make the butter sauce, melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Add the olive oil, pepper paste, dried mint, paprika, and chili flakes. (step 5)
- Mix with a spatula to combine. About 1 minute. Set aside. (step 6)
- Next, Make the garlic yogurt sauce. In a bowl, add the yogurt, garlic, salt, pepper, and a bit of water (about 2-3 tablespoons) to thin it down if it is too thick. (step 7)
- Mix well to combine and set aside. (step 8)
- To assemble, place cooked pasta on a deep dish or plate. Then add 1/4th of the yogurt sauce. (Step 9)– you will be making 3-4 servings
- Top with seasoned beef (step 10)
- Drizzle some of the seasoned butter sauce over the seasoned beef. (step 11)
- Garnish with chopped tomatoes and parsley. Enjoy. (step 12)
Recipe Notes
- You can use any pasta of your choice. Consider using high protein pasta to cut down on the carbs.
- The recipe for Turkish pasta is made with ground beef. You could try ground turkey if you prefer.
- Turkish Mild pepper paste is easily found in Michigan at many Middle Eastern grocery stores. If this is something you can’t get your hands on, you can use any pepper paste. It will be almost the same flavor. You can also skip it for the butter sauce and add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste instead.
- I used Greek yogurt to make the yogurt sauce. To thin it down a bit, you can add about 2-4 tablespoons of water. If you are using plain yogurt, you will most likely not need to add water to thin it down.
- If you do not like a lot of garlic flavor, I suggest you use only one garlic clove. A couple of my kids said it was too much garlic, but I find that they just complain about everything 😁
Frequently asked questions
Yes, You can use ground turkey if you prefer that over ground beef. The classic dish calls for ground beef, but use what you like.
If you can’t find Turkish red pepper paste, you can use any red pepper paste you can get your hands on. If you can’t find any at all, replace it with tomato paste.
Short pasta works best for this dish, like bowtie, shells, elbows, Farfalle, penne, rigatoni, rotini, and so on.
If you have leftovers, place them in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4 days. You can reheat when ready to serve. If you plan on making extra, I recommend you store the garlic yogurt sauce separately.
More pasta recipes
- Marry Me Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Broccoli Chicken Pasta Casserole
- Chicken and Kale Pasta
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
- Baked Chicken Alfredo
- Southwest Chicken Alfredo
Pin this now to find it later
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Itโs so good! But is it really 617 calories per serving?!
Hi. You can use lean ground beef and a healthier pasta option. Pasta and beef do have high calories.
Very good, I made extra of the butter sauce. The meat needed more flavor. Added a bit more peprika and salt. Family really liked it as well.
Perfect! Glad you loved it.
Made this without the mint because I didn’t have any on hand. It still turned out great! It came together fairly quickly which I appreciated, especially during a busy work week.
glad you loved it
Made this tonight– it’s fantastic!
Glad you loved it!
Followed recipe to a T and it was way too much garlic!
Hi. I did add a note that even tho the original recipe called for 3 garlic cloves that most would want to do one or two small ones.
Do you use full fat Plain Greek yogurt or fat free?
Either one will work.
Amazing, must try.
Thanks for the feedback.
I followed this recipe exactly, except no mint or pepper paste. I also diced a bell pepper and tossed in with the onion. I used a high-protein pasta. This is delicious. The garlic yogurt sauce is amazing for how simple it is. I used two giant cloves so it has some kick. My coworkers will not be happy with me tomorrow but who cares. 10/10
Haha. Thats funny! Thanks a lot for the feedback. So glad you loved it.
Why call it Anna Paul’s viral Turkish pasta? You didn’t even follow her recipe. If you’re going to alter it, give it a new name at least.
I prefer to give credit for the original idea of the Turkish pasta since I recreated it from her video on TikTok. I only slightly altered it with the seasonings, otherwise its almost the same.
I was thinking the same thing.
This is our second time trying this recipe and this was a 10/10. I loved this recipe! It was creamy and delicious.
Hi there. I am so happy you loved it.
I love this pasta and havenโt gotten tired of it yet. I did not have mint nor the cherry tomatoes, but it was just good as is ..tried with pork sausage and that worked too
Perfect! This pasta is a winner for sure. Glad you’ve been loving it.
Hi your recipes look easy to prepare. Simple but tasty.
Thanks so much!
VERY YUMMY!! My family combied this recipe and Anna Pauls recipe and it was delish!!! Only problem is it makes your breath a little stinky
Thanks! hahaha Yes, I agree. I did mention in my post that my kids said less garlic would be better.
I noticed that two ingredients was missing from the dish (cumin and curry). Those are the flavors that will definitely enhance this dish to give it the Turkish flavor. Very good dish
Hi. I realize that the recipe originally calls for cumin. But I am not a huge fan, and I kept it out. It can certainly be added in.. Thanks for the feedback.
This was so good
Thank you
Iโm making this right now, I found the pepper paste but it was a huge jar so I minced a red bell pepper.
2 onions seems like a lot so using 1 large and triple the garlic! With warm pita