While this recipe is not quite çilbir, the çilbir verde with a fried egg is just as delicious as its classic Turkish counterpart. Traditionally, çilbir is Turkish poached eggs, served on top of salty, garlicky yogurt with a chili oil drizzle. This recipe swaps a bright red chili oil for a chili oil verde, AKA, the green stuff. This green chili oil is DELICIOUS, filled with cilantro, honey, lime, Serrano peppers, and just the right touch of heat. You can drizzle it on your eggs here, or save it for countless other uses. And while çilbir means poached egg, I opted to make these fried, since I love a crispy, craggily edge.
This Turkish breakfast staple has now become one of my favorites for an easy (but impressive!) brunch, lunch, or even a quick dinner. It’s filled with flavor and protein, and served with crusty bread, it’s hard to find anything better. Read on for my take on a çilbir verde!
Table of contents
First, what is çilbir?
Dating back to the 15th century, çilbir has remained a beloved Turkish dish for Ottoman sultans and present day citizens alike. And what’s not to love? In its traditional iteration, a base of yogurt, usually seasoned with salt and flavored with garlic or herbs, is topped with a poached egg and a pepper sauce made by combining a fat, like butter, with some type of pepper pepper, usually Aleppo pepper or paprika.
How does this recipe vary from traditional çilbir?
While the key components of this dish are all present, a few important differences are at work in this çilbir verde when compared with the traditional recipe. My version swaps the soft, poached egg for a crispy-edged, fried version, and replaces the red chili oil for a chunkier green sauce. Paired with a crusty slice of bread, this dish ticks so many flavor and texture boxes, serving you crispy, crunchy, creamy, spicy, and herbaceous.
So truly, what more could you ask for from an easy breakfast?
Ingredients needed for this fried egg çilbir
The ingredients for this dish bring creamy, crispy, bright, and spicy elements to your plate all at once—no small feat. And it doesn’t even require a big grocery store haul. Here’s what you’ll need to make this çilbir verde:
- 2 medium Serrano peppers, or one large jalapeño pepper
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp each of coriander and cumin
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp lime juice, the juice from 1 whole lime
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup greek yogurt or skyr
- 2 slices bread of choice, toasted
- 2 tsp Calabrian chili oil, for garnish
How to prepare this çilbir
A dish this good should require dedication, concentration, and effort, but honestly, it comes together pretty quickly and effortlessly. Here’s how you make çilbir verde.
Remove half of the seeds of the Serrano peppers and finely chop them up. Finely chop up the cilantro with the peppers and add to a large bowl.
In that same bowl bowl, grate in the garlic. Then add the coriander, cumin, honey, lime juice, and salt.
Heat up all but 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a small pan or pot. Let this get to about 325°F-350°F. Pour over the cilantro mixture and stir. Set aside.
Use the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil to fry the eggs. In a pan on medium heat, add the oil and then add the eggs one at a time, tilt the pan and baste the top of the egg white with hot oil to help it cook all the way through.
To serve, smear the yogurt evenly onto two plates. Add one egg on each plate and drizzle with the green oil. See recipe notes for any leftover green chili oil!
Dot with Calabrian chili if you like extra heat, and serve with crusty bread!
Looking for other breakfast ideas?
And that’s everything for this Çilbir Verde!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Çilbir Verde
Ingredients
- 2 medium Serrano peppers or one large jalapeño pepper
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tsp each of coriander and cumin
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp lime juice the juice from 1 whole lime
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup greek yogurt or skyr
- 2 slices bread of choice toasted
- 2 tsp Calabrian chili oil for garnish
Instructions
- Remove half of the seeds of the Serrano peppers and finely chop them up. Finely chop up the cilantro with the peppers and add to a large bowl.
- In the bowl, grate in the garlic, add the coriander, cumin, honey, lime juice, and salt.
- Heat up all but 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a small pan or pot. Let this get to about 325°F-350°F. Pour over the cilantro mixture and stir. Set aside.
- Use the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil to fry the eggs. In a pan on medium heat, add the oil and then add the eggs one at a time, tilt the pan and baste the top of the egg white with hot oil to help it cook all the way through.
- To serve, smear the yogurt evenly onto two plates. Add one egg on each plate and drizzle with the green oil. See recipe notes for any leftover green chili oil!
- Dot with Calabrian chili if you like extra heat, and serve with crusty bread!
Amazing recipe, but my poaching technique needs some work. It took two attempts with the eggs to try and get it right, but it tasted fantastic. I added cherry tomatoes and roasted kale and swapped chili oil and chives on top. Thank you for the inspiration!
So thrilled you liked it! And that’s why I opted for a fried egg haha, sometimes I don’t have the patience to poach!
The recipe looks amazing, and will try very soon. I lived in Istanbul years ago, and loved having Çilbir for breakfast. Do you think basil would taste okay in lieu of the cilantro? I love cilantro, but have some friends that think they don’t like it, and won’t eat it – no matter how delicious the dish is.
I’d swap in parsley, basil can tend to get a bit overpowering and a tad bitter with this!