Mains · Turkish
Turkish Pasta (Cheat's Mantı)
All the mantı flavours, none of the dumpling folding: spiced meat sauce, garlicky yogurt, red pepper oil.
- Hands-on
- 30 min
- Hands-off
- 25 min
- Total
- 55 min
- Makes
- 4 servings (4 to 5)
- Serves
- 4
- easy
- trending
- viral
- weeknight
- turkish
Verified against at least two trusted test kitchens or food-safety guides · Last checked · What this means
Scaling? Scales well. When doubling, use a wider pan for the meat sauce so it browns instead of steaming, and a bigger pot of water for the pasta. Some items (like eggs) don’t halve neatly: beat them, then measure out half.
Ingredients
You need: wide heavy pan or skillet · large pot for pasta · colander · small pan · mixing bowl · wooden spoon · ladle
Contains: milk · wheat
Method
Make the garlic yogurt
About 40 minutes before you eat, stir the crushed garlic into the 400 g yogurt and season with a little salt. Cover it and leave it on the counter so it isn't fridge-cold.
Soften the vegetables
Heat 3 tbsp olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat. Cook the onion for 5 minutes, then add the carrot and peppers for 2-3 minutes more.
Ready when: The onion is soft and see-through and the carrot and peppers have started to soften.
Brown the meat
Add the 450 g minced meat and the chopped garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring all the time and breaking up any lumps.
Ready when: No pink is left anywhere; the meat is browned all over.
Otto tried this firstOtto lets the mince sit in one big slab, so it's still pink in the middle. Keep stirring and breaking it up until there's no pink at all.Simmer the sauce
Stir in 1 tbsp tomato paste, the 200 g chopped tomatoes and 200 ml water (swish it round the tin first), plus 1 tsp cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then simmer on low for 20-25 minutes, stirring now and then.
Ready when: The sauce has thickened into a loose, spoonable ragù. After this long simmer the mince is well past the 71°C (160°F) safe minimum for ground meat.
Finish with parsley
Taste and adjust the salt, stir in the chopped parsley and turn off the heat.
Cook the pasta
About 10 minutes before the sauce is done, cook the 400 g shells in plenty of boiling salted water for the time on the packet. Drain and toss with a little olive oil.
Ready when: Tender with a slight bite at the packet time. Drain right away so the shells don't go soft.
Make the red pepper oil
Warm 4 tbsp olive oil in a small pan over low-medium heat. Add 1 tsp pul biber and 2 tsp dried mint and swirl for 35-40 seconds.
Ready when: The oil turns red and smells of pepper and mint. Take it off the heat before the flakes darken.
Otto tried this firstOtto cranks the heat to high and the flakes turn black and bitter. Low-medium heat and about 40 seconds is plenty.Build the bowls
Share the pasta between bowls and spoon 3-4 ladles of meat sauce over each. Add spoonfuls of garlic yogurt, drizzle with the red pepper oil and serve straight away.
Swaps
- Instead of minced beef: minced lamb either works
- Instead of sivri biber: 1 medium green bell pepper from the source recipe
- Instead of conchiglie: gluten-free pasta
- Instead of olive oil in the pepper drizzle: butter melted with pul biber the mantı-style finish: 1 tbsp butter warmed with pepper flakes
Make ahead, store & reheat
- Storage
- Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 2 days. Keeping the yogurt separate from the hot sauce makes this easier.
- Reheat
- Reheat the meat sauce until steaming hot, 74°C (165°F), then add cold garlic yogurt.
If something goes wrong
- The pasta came out mushy
Cook it only for the packet time and drain it right away. Overcooked pasta goes doughy.
Good to know
- The 2025 viral 'Turkish pasta' videos usually use a paprika butter and give no measurements. This version follows a published Turkish cookbook recipe for 'cheat's mantı' (yoğurtlu kıymalı makarna).
Safety
- Minced meat must be cooked through, with no pink and at least 71°C (160°F).
- Raw mince: use its own board and wash hands and surfaces with hot soapy water afterwards.
- Don't leave the yogurt out much longer than the 40 minutes before serving. Chilled food should spend as little time out of the fridge as possible (4 hours at the very most, per food-safety guidance).
- Draining boiling pasta water: pour away from you, and keep kids clear of the sink.