Menemen (Turkish Scrambled Eggs With Tomato)
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 4tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1medium white onion (about 10 ounces), peeled and diced
- ½teaspoon dried oregano, plus more as needed
- ¼teaspoon Aleppo pepper, plus more as needed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1mild but flavorful long green pepper (such as Turkish carliston, Hungarian banana or Anaheim), stemmed, halved lengthwise, seeded, then diced
- 1cup peeled, chopped fresh heirloom tomato (about 7 ounces) or canned diced San Marzano tomatoes with their juices
- 4large eggs
- ¼cup chopped fresh parsley, plus 2 tablespoons for garnish
- 1tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)
- Flatbread, toasted or untoasted, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
311 calories; 23 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 539 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat the oil in a nonstick medium skillet over medium-high. Add the onion, oregano and Aleppo pepper, season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, 7 to 9 minutes. Stir in the green pepper and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Step 2
While the onions and peppers are cooking, purée half the tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Once the onions and peppers are soft, add the remaining chopped tomatoes to the onions and peppers. Crack the eggs into a medium bowl, add the puréed tomatoes and whisk until foamy.
- Step 3
Once the mixture in the skillet comes to a simmer, stir in the ¼ cup parsley and the butter, if using. Reduce heat to low, add the egg mixture on top and cook, stirring occasionally, until the eggs are set but still soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Taste, adding a little more salt, oregano or Aleppo pepper, if needed. Sprinkle with remaining parsley and serve directly from the skillet, with flatbread alongside.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
foodalchemist
This is how my father, a terrific cook who was born in Jerusalem, made eggs for us growing up. Shakshuka's all the rage everywhere, it could use some competition. Turkish food, pardon the pun, is a delight. When he was retired my dad made every stuffed vegetable imaginable in the Turkish style. He told us we'd never find it in a restaurant as it's too labor-intensive, the women working for free in the family owned restaurants were responsible for this dish. More authentic Turkish restaurants!
elle
Halve the oil. It serves two. Only serves 4 as an appetizer.
Susan
I also like to add some feta cheese sprinkled in toward the end, and some za'atar spice.
Isil
One of the best breakfast dishes. I am Turkish and this is something we cook on a regular basis and loved by everyone. We cook it for breakfast or some days for weekday dinner. Any artisan bread with a good crust and a spongy interior is a great company for this dish. After all the juice is delicious and you really should dunk your bread in it.
Jean from NC
I think you mean Hungarian WAX peppers. People don't recognize these peppers--one of the best for cooking--so with no demand, grocery stores and even farmers' markets around here don't carry them.
Sara
You can certainly halve the oil, as another commenter suggested, but Turks love their olive oil and practically stew vegetables in it. If you have good oil, what's suggested is good.
themodprofessor
I just cooked this dish this morning! I used a small 8 inch cast iron skillet which was perfect for this recipe. I skipped the step where half of the tomatoes are puréed as I didn’t want to have wash my blender or food processor. I used high quality eggs and ingredients from my CSA and excellent Aleppo pepper from a grower on Long Island. Adding this egg repertoire!
GAfromCA
Or include all the olive oil, optional butter, top with sour cream, leave out the side of bread and you have a perfect keto meal!
juleezee
Having grown up in the Eastern European influence zone of the Ottoman Empire, this was a well known dish to make in the summer: with all oil, ripe, delicious tomatoes (no pureeing necessary, just chop them up and use it all) and whatever thin peppers we found at the markets. Definitely use feta, if you can, the kind made from sheep's milk, it will add another dimension to the dish. And have crusty bread available to sop up everything in your plate and in the pan.
Steve
Yawn, just another riff on eggs with fired vegetables. You can make this with whatever you got in the bottom of your vegetable drawer. Onion, pepper, eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms. You can top with cheese, ketchup or just plain salt and pepper. Butter give a nice taste or use a neutral oil.
Brigitte
It tastes still better if you mix the pureed tomatoes with the eggs before you add them to the onions and peppers. I would not use wax peppers but normal mild green ones - the wax peppers overpower the creamy taste of the eggs-with-tomato-mix. I learned in eastern Turkey to stir this dish continuously as soon as you have added the eggs-with-tomato-mix until the eggs have set. This makes the dish really creamy and wonderful...
Elias
Love Hungarian wax peppers, on the grill, delish. I buy them in small flats from a special nursery, very easy to grow in planters. They love the sun.
Figaro
We don't eat a lot anymore so this dish was a nice dinner, served with toasted Naan bread. (Actually, there's enough left over for another meal.) I used a Hatch pepper which was quote hot, so I omitted the Aleppo. BTW, a medium onions weighs 4-6 ounces; 10 ounces is a huge onion!
BerkeleyGirl
I'll have to try this, but I'll skip the blender, and just use San Marzano puree.
VJBortolot
If a medium onion is 10 oz, I have been skimping on onion my whole life. I'm not sure I could lift a large one.
Anna
Very fast and filling breakfast even with less oil
GiGi
It’s called a banana pepper because at its best, it’s yellow. I don’t know about the Turkish pepper, but the Hungarian banana can be absolutely fiery, not at all like an Anaheim.
acreativename
breakfast january 12, 2024 was pretty good but took longer than expected due to the low heat and long steps (using a food processor), etc. was tasty but not spicy enough for my tastes so i added more crushed red pepper when eating (don’t know how to delete or edit old note rip)
Glen
Made this recipe, but not a big fan of it aesthetically it is not very pleasing
melissa
Excellent even though I skipped the processing step for speed of getting hungry household fed. Served 5 generously with 10 eggs/doubled the other ingredients.
Jo F.
Double the parsley, omit the onion (or at least halve), use the ripest tomatoes you can find. Most importantly, use free-range (or running-around) eggs (village eggs in Turkey, where I was taught this simply but flavourful recipe). That way the full flavour of the tomatoes and eggs shines through. You can easily double the tomatoes and Carliston peppers too, and don't sweat it if you don't have Aleppo pepper on hand: black pepper works just as well. Turks use that much oil. I don't.
Jo F.
My husband and I made this while visiting a chum in Virginia when surprise guests arrived for Sunday brunch. A trip to the Amish market provided the wherewithal . . . only, I know my Turkish peppers, and I know what I can get at home in the UK . . . and what looked very much like a sweet, mild Carliston turned out to be MUCH, MUCH hotter . . . and we'd used a lot! My host manfully cleared his plate. The guests and us . . . well, not so much. Quite put me off menemen for a while!
Angela
I made this for one and just used what I had: a quarter-eighth of an onion, a quarter kf a green bell pepper, and two eggs. I used a few spoonfuls from a can of diced tomatoes, skipped the blending and added them all in after the veggies had some time to soften. Didn't have oregano so I used zaatar instead. Delish!
Arif B
This is enough for 2 people. From my memory of menemens in Turkiye, I'd say the recipe needs a more intense tomato flavor, maybe cooked longer. The pureed tomato /egg mixture didn't enhance either ingredient.
mary
I discovered to make this taste like what I ate in Turkey I needed to add a hearty tablespoon of red pepper paste. Just like tomato paste, red pepper paste gives the flavor that I couldn’t get with regular American peppers and tomatoes. I’m lucky enough to live near Yemeni and Bangladeshi populations, so I buy it in jars from their stores. Otherwise I bet the I ferner can ship you some. I use it in place of tomato paste in almost all recipes.
Sally
Where did I go wrong? Texture of oatmeal and the appearance of dog's breakfast. I love these ingredients as shakshuka, which is attractive and tastes good, too. This dish was a miss by a mile.
Dan
There must be many versions. In my several trips to Istanbul I once happened on a cafe with many men surrounding the table to share this amazing dish. Not knowing what to order, I said "I will have what they are having." What followed was a breakfast I will never forget, and have yet to find again. The cafe, now closed, was my only hope. What I can recall, was it had most of these ingredients, but whole yolk eggs on top. It had what seemed like a chili oil and some sausage mixed in.
Austin
I was sceptical about the blended tomatoes beaten with the eggs but this turned out really great. Added in some diced cheese while the eggs were cooking.
Katherine
I love this recipe! For the spices, I've used both Aleppo and Urfa Bieber. Both work. For the green pepper, I always use Hot Hungarian Wax peppers. They add a nice kick to the dish. For me, this is a perfect breakfast after I've been to the farmers market and can get great tomatoes and peppers. Love it.
jwagenseller
Urfa chili instead of Aleppo Turkish or Meditteranean oregano - not Mexican oregano Bell pepper ok for "long green pepper" Do not totally beat eggs together - some whites separate from yolks Only cook until eggs are just starting to set. Remove from heat. Parsley not traditional Serve with crusty bread - not toast
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