12 Healthy Restaurants with Vegan and Vegetarian Food in Istanbul, Turkiye (Turkey)

I love Turkish food. It’s one of my favorite cuisines in the world and a big reason why Istanbul is one of our favorite cities to visit. It’s a sprawling metropolis with lots to do and many delicious things to eat.

However, traditional Turkish cuisine is a meat-heavy cuisine and may not always present the healthiest food options, especially for middle-aged travelers like us. As we get older, healthier and more mindful eating is becoming more and more of a priority, which is why we spent a good amount of time looking for the best restaurants that serve vegetarian and vegan food in Istanbul.

Make no mistake about it – Turkish meat dishes like kebabs, kofte, and kokorec are delicious. If you have no dietary restrictions, then be sure to check out our guide to some of the best restaurants in Istanbul.

But if you’re in the mood for a guilt-free salad or vegetable wrap, then here are twelve restaurants you can visit for some of the best vegetarian and vegan food in Istanbul.

HEALTHY, VEGETARIAN, AND VEGAN RESTAURANTS IN ISTANBUL

To be clear, I’m neither a vegetarian nor a vegan. But I am on a low-sodium diet so I need to be mindful of what I eat.

This list consists of restaurants that serve not just vegetarian and vegan food, but healthier meat options as well. Some are strictly vegan restaurants, others are vegetarian restaurants, while the rest are health-focused restaurants that offer more heart-happy meat alternatives like grilled turkey, chicken, or tuna.

Speaking of tuna, with shores along the Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea, and the Bosphorus Strait, Istanbul is home to many fish restaurants. Fresh fish is a healthier alternative to red meat so if you like fish and seafood, then be sure to check out our guide to some of the best fish restaurants in Istanbul.

1. Kumin Vegan Lezzetler (Our Favorite Vegan Restaurant in Istanbul!)

Kumin Vegan Lezzetler was our favorite vegan restaurant in Kadikoy. It’s a cute restaurant that offers many mouthwatering vegan dishes like seitan burritos, soy mince meatballs, and zucchini spaghetti.

Pictured below is our favorite starter of hummus served with whole grain bread.

What you’re looking at here is the green lentil salad with lettuce, purple cabbage, pepper, mint, basil, purple basil, and a garlic tahini dressing. According to the menu, this dish is gluten-free.

This was our first time having zucchini spaghetti and it was love at first bite. Also gluten-free, it was served with a tasty cashew basil pesto sauce. Note the cute zucchini “mushroom” in the back.

Turkish meat wraps (dürüm) are delicious but it’s nice to have vegan or vegetarian options as well. These oyster mushroom wraps were filled with purple cabbage, caramelized onions, and peppers and dressed in a tasty garlic beet sauce.

Here’s a closer look at the wrap fillings. I think lavash is my new favorite type of bread.

Kumin Vegan Lezzetler is located in a quieter part of Kadikoy, in the Rasimpasa neighborhood.

I think the restaurant is located in the owner’s home so you’ll need to ring the doorbell to be allowed in.

You can choose to have delicious vegan food indoors…

…or outside in their back garden if you like. Isn’t this place cute? All things considered, Kumin Vegan Lezzetler has to be one of the best vegan restaurants in Istanbul.

Kumin Vegan Lezzetler

Address: Rasimpaşa, İzzettin Sk. 55/1, 34716 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 12:30-9PM, Mon-Sat (closed Sundays)
What They Offer: Vegan food

2. Vegan Dükkan (Great Vegan Food in Cihangir)

Vegan Dukkan Lokanta is another great vegan restaurant in Istanbul, this time in the Cihangir neighborhood of Beyoglu. Like Kumin Vegan Lezzetler, it’s a cute restaurant that serves a good number of creative vegan dishes like meat-free adana kebabs, gluten-free spaghetti, and vegan tofu katsu curry.

What you’re looking at below is the raw beetroot salad made with seasonal greens, beetroot, carrot, kale, sprouts, microgreens, and homemade almond feta cheese.

Equally bright and delicious was this green avocado salad. It’s made with fresh organic greens, pumpkin seeds, avocado, kale, sprouts, microgreens, and extra virgin olive oil.

If you like turnover pastries, then you may want to try these gluten-free buckwheat flour pastries filled with vegan white cheese and fresh herbs.

Behold all that delicious melted white herby cheese! These were fantastic.

Isn’t this pretty? They served us a bottle of water infused with fresh mint and strawberry.

Vegan Dukkan is a small but ultra-popular vegan restaurant in Beyoglu. Like Kumin, it has to be one of the best vegan restaurants in Istanbul. I recommend going at slightly off-peak times to avoid having to wait for a table.

Vegan Dukkan

Address: Cihangir, Sıraselviler Cad, Soğancı Sk. 8/C, 34433 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 10AM-8PM, Mon-Sat (closed Sundays)
What They Offer: Vegan food

3. Mahatma Cafe

Mahatma Cafe is another great vegan restaurant in the Rasimpasa neighborhood of Kadikoy. They offer a good selection of vegan meals and desserts like gluten-free hummus, chickpea wraps, cookies, tarts, and cakes.

Pictured below is the Mahatma soup, a hearty gluten-free soup made with red lentils, potatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, coriander, mint, nettle, and spices.

I’m a simple guy. If I see hummus on the menu, then I’ll order it. Mahatma’s delicious gluten-free hummus is made with chickpeas, cumin, tahini, curry, coriander, and spices.

As previously mentioned, I love Turkish food, especially dürüm or wraps. They’re typically filled with lamb, poultry, or fish so it’s nice to have more vegan-friendly options from time to time. That’s exactly what you’ll get with this chickpea wrap at Mahatma.

The picture below shows one portion cut in two. It’s generously filled with chickpeas, lettuce, onions, pickled cucumber, carrots, baked potatoes, radish, arugula, and tahini sauce.

Here’s a closer look at the wrap fillings. This was delicious!

Mahatma Cafe offers a good selection of herbal teas but at the behest of the owner, we tried this hot kaynar or “winter tea” instead. It’s a throat-soothing infusion of galangal, ginger, cinnamon, clove, turmeric, black pepper, lemon, and chamomile.

Like the previous two, Mahatma Cafe was one of our favorite vegan-friendly restaurants in Istanbul. The owner is a kind man who took the time to chat with us when he wasn’t preparing our food. He makes simple but lovingly put-together meals that taste good and make you feel good.

Mahatma Cafe

Address: Prof.Dr, Rasimpaşa Mah, Macit Erbudak Sk. No:50/A, 34716 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 12NN-8PM, Tue-Sat (closed Sun-Mon)
What They Offer: Vegan food

4. Rulo Ezber Bozan Lezzetler

Rulo Ezber Bozan Lezzetler is one of our favorite vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants in Istanbul. They make hefty wraps filled with your choice of healthy ingredients which you pick out from this ingredient bar.

Here’s a picture of my wrap. I unrolled it to show you the fillings but this thing was huge, about the size of an American burrito. If I remember correctly, it was filled with stewed chickpeas, onions, kisir, onions, arugula, and tomatoes, among other things.

This was my better half’s wrap. It contained similar ingredients as mine but with the notable addition of falafel. If you’d prefer not to have wraps, then you can go for plated options as well.

Rulo Ezber Bozan Lezzetler is located in Kadikoy and is hugely popular with locals. We were the first customers there but it didn’t take long for the place to fill up.

The wrap shop doesn’t offer strictly vegan food but in my opinion, they’re one of the best vegetarian restaurants in Istanbul, especially when you consider their prices. At the time of our visit in August 2023, our two wraps with bottled water set us back just TRY 133.

Rulo Ezber Bozan Lezzetler

Address: Caferağa, Nail Bey Sk. No:15, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 11:30AM-9:30PM, Mon-Sat / 12:30-9:30PM, Sun
What They Offer: Vegetarian and vegan food

5. Village Coffee + Eatery

Village Coffee + Eatery is a cute cafe and brunch spot in the Rasimpasa neighborhood of Kadikoy. They aren’t strictly a vegan or vegetarian restaurant but they do offer vegan and vegetarian dishes, including vegan breakfast sets, smoothie and granola bowls, salads, vegan pasta, and tartine.

What you’re looking at below is the village tartine, a healthy and tasty mix of avocado paste, chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds on whole wheat bread.

Pictured below is the tuna fish salad. It’s made with a generous amount of cooked fresh tuna on a bed of salad greens and cucumber.

We enjoyed the food so much that we got this quinoa salad to go. It’s made with quinoa, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, cucumber, and salad greens.

On our last full day in Istanbul, we enjoyed pots of herbal tea and dessert at Village Coffee + Eatery. They offer a few tasty-looking desserts but we ultimately went with this sugarless raw blueberry bar.

Village Coffee + Eatery offers a wide selection of gourmet coffee and herbal tea. To pair with our blueberry bar, we went with pots of strawberry mint tea (“Happy Tea”) and vanilla almond rooibos (“Joyeux Tea”).

Village Coffee + Eatery is hugely popular with locals. We ate here twice and their back garden was completely full both times, but it’s a good-sized cafe so you shouldn’t have trouble getting a table inside.

Isn’t their interior cute? This was one of the cutest cafes we went to in Istanbul.

Village Coffee + Eatery

Address: Rasimpaşa, Recaizade Sk. No:54/A, 34716 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 9:30AM-10:30PM, daily
What They Offer: Breakfast, tartine, pasta, salad

6. Mama Bowl

Mama Bowl is a great restaurant located in a part of Kadikoy that few tourists probably get to visit. As their name suggests, they’re known mainly for their vegan and vegetarian bowls but they do offer burgers, pasta dishes, and wraps as well, some made with healthier proteins like organic chicken.

What you’re looking at here is my incredibly delicious beetroot hummus bowl made with bulgur tabbouleh, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, roasted eggplant, salad greens, and tahini sauce.

Pictured below is their equally delicious parmesan bowl. It’s made with aged parmesan cheese, quinoa, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, roasted eggplant, beetroot, arugula, spinach, herbs, crushed almonds, and tahini sauce.

I felt like having a bit of protein today so I tried their chicken wrap. It’s made with marinated organic chicken, tabbouleh, turmeric rice, tomatoes, pickled onions, arugula, spinach, mint, and prunes.

I sliced the wrap in half so you can get a better look at its ingredients. This wrap was delicious.

If you don’t eat meat, then you’ll be pleased to know that Mama Bowl offers vegan and vegetarian wraps as well. If you’re in the mood for a vegan burger, then you’ll have two burgers to choose from (one is made with breaded oyster mushrooms).

Mama Bowl is located east of the Moda neighborhood in Kadikoy. They serve excellent vegetarian and vegan options so I highly recommend checking them out.

Here’s a look at the restaurant’s interior. Isn’t the place cute? You can’t see them here but we were lucky to have two stray cats join us for lunch.

Mama Bowl

Address: Caferağa, Keresteci Aziz Sk. 27A, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 11AM-9PM, Tue-Sun (closed Mondays)
What They Offer: Vegan and vegetarian food, options with organic chicken

7. Susam Cafe

Susam Cafe is a gem of a restaurant in the Cihangir neighborhood of Beyoglu. It isn’t a vegetarian or vegan restaurant but they do offer plenty of options for people looking for a healthy meal in Istanbul. You can get dishes like vegan breakfast bowls, hummus, salads, veggie flatbreads, grilled vegetable plates, and healthier protein options like grilled salmon and sea bass.

What you’re looking at below is the artichoke asparagus bowl served with quinoa, tomato confit, grilled peaches, broccoli, and a citrus vinaigrette dressing.

Nothing like a simple plate of grilled vegetables to brighten your day. This one had carrots, eggplant, zucchini, and peppers served with a spicy chili-based sauce.

If you eat animal proteins and like seafood as much as we do, then you’ll definitely want to try this plate of grilled calamari with baby potatoes, pears, and salad greens. It’s super tender and incredibly delicious.

Aside from being a rich source of protein, squid is known for its many health benefits. It is high in dietary cholesterol, though recent studies have shown that a higher intake of dietary cholesterol has no appreciable bearing on blood cholesterol levels. To quote the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans:

“Previously, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that cholesterol intake be limited to no more than 300 milligrams per day. The 2015 DGAC will not bring forward this recommendation because available evidence shows no appreciable relationship between consumption of dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol, consistent with the conclusions of the AHA/ACC report. Cholesterol is not a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”

Personally, I still limit my cholesterol intake but you can refer to these articles from Harvard Medical School and the National Library of Medicine for more information.

For dessert, we enjoyed this sugar-free flourless chocolate cake which we paired with soothing cups of ginger tea.

Susam Cafe is located along Susam Street in Cihangir, a lovely residential neighborhood in Beyoglu. You’ll find mostly locals eating here.

We had lunch at Susam Cafe but this is a great place to have brunch as well. They offer quite a few options – both healthy and traditional – so there really is something for everyone.

Susam Cafe

Address: Cihangir, Susam Sk. No:11, 34433 Beyoğlu/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 10AM-2AM, daily
What They Offer: Breakfast, comfort food, vegetarian and vegan options

8. Basta! Street Food Bar

Like Susam Cafe, Basta! Street Food Bar is hardly a vegetarian or vegan restaurant. They’re known mainly for their meat wraps and burgers but they do offer one dish that merits them a place on this list.

More on that dish later but first, here’s a picture of what could very well be the best hummus we had anywhere in Istanbul. They do serve it with quite a bit of olive oil so we’d discretely ladle off the excess before eating.

Basta! offers daily salads as well. I don’t know how often they change their salad offerings but we ate here twice and got a different salad each time. If I remember correctly, this one was served with spinach, cherry tomatoes, tangerines, and peppers.

Like the hummus, their salads are good though a bit heavy-handed on the olive oil.

This is the dish that we came here for – a vegetarian wrap made with artichoke, roasted zucchini, dill fava, and mixed herbs. We found a few restaurants that serve veggie wraps in Istanbul but this was the only place that made it with artichoke. It was delicious and something I wouldn’t mind having again and again in Istanbul.

Basta! Street Food Bar is located in a busy part of Kadikoy so it shouldn’t be hard to find. You can refer to the location map at the bottom of this article for its exact location.

Basta! Street Food Bar

Address: Caferağa, Sakız Sk. No:1, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 12NN-10PM, Mon-Sat / 12NN-9PM, Sun
What They Offer: Vegetarian wrap, hummus, daily salads

9. Dem Moda

Dem Moda is a popular brunch spot and tea salon in the Moda neighborhood of Kadikoy. It’s a lovely restaurant that offers healthy breakfast options, snacks, and a wide variety of teas.

Pictured below is the avocado tartine. It consists of sourdough bread topped with mild cream cheese, beetroot puree, sliced avocados, poached eggs, and Turkish ezine cheese. It’s served with a side salad and chili pepper sauce.

Hummus lovers need to try this hummus bowl. It’s made with a generous portion of turmeric-flavored hummus served with mushrooms, sauteed spinach, olive tapenade, hard-boiled eggs, and sourdough bread.

Dem Moda serves a good range of gourmet coffee drinks but what they’re really known for is their teas. They offer over thirty different types of tea – from black tea to green tea to herbal and fruit infusions.

If I remember correctly, we tried the fruity chamomile and exotic hibiscus.

When you think of tea and delicious food in Kadikoy, Dem Moda should be the first restaurant that comes to mind.

Dem Moda has a cheery interior that matches the brightness of their food. It was definitely one of our favorite brunch spots in Istanbul.

Dem Moda

Address: Caferağa, Şair Nefi Sk. 9/1, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 10AM-11PM, daily
What They Offer: Brunch dishes, snacks, tea

10. Dün Moda

Similarly named and also located in the Moda neighborhood, Dun Moda is another popular brunch restaurant you can visit in Kadikoy. Like Dem Moda, they offer a good variety of breakfast dishes – including vegan breakfast – but they also serve many healthy lunch and dinner options like salads, vegan tacos, vegan meatballs, and vegan burgers.

I didn’t feel like going all veg today so I had this delicious plate of grilled turkey cooked with herbs and served over fresh fruit bulgur tabbouleh.

If you feel like a salad, then you may want to go for their signature “dün bowl“. It consists of a heaping bowl of dill and sesame rice, salad greens, mashed avocado, sauteed vegetables, roasted almonds, and chickpeas topped with vegan aioli.

Dun Moda is located in a quiet and leafy part of Kadikoy, not too far from the shores of the Marmara Sea. It’s a lovely place to enjoy a healthy and relaxing Sunday brunch in Istanbul.

Dun Moda

Address: Caferağa, Lütfü Bey Sk. No:60, 34710 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 10AM-11PM, daily
What They Offer: Breakfast dishes, salads, vegan options

11. grao.cafeteria

On our most recent trip to Istanbul, we stayed in the Rasimpasa neighborhood of Kadikoy and we were lucky to have grao.cafeteria located just a short walk from our Airbnb. They weren’t on my radar at first but I was intrigued by two things – their local clientele and the handwritten menu on their tile wall featuring a few healthy food options.

Pictured below is my heaping tuna bowl served with jasmine rice, chickpeas, corn, salad greens, sliced fresh vegetables, pimento olives, and a hard-boiled egg.

They also make a few sandwiches, including this hefty tuna sandwich made with whole wheat bread and served with a small side salad.

When you walk by a restaurant several times a day and it’s always packed with locals, take note because the universe is trying to tell you something.

Here’s that tile wall with the handwritten menu. As you can see, they’re mostly a cafe with just a handful of dishes. Based on photos in their Google reviews, they seem to update their menu from time to time.

grao.cafeteria

Address: Rasimpaşa, Misakı Milli Sk. No:35, 34716 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 9:30AM-10PM, daily
What They Offer: Sandwiches, salad bowls

12. Tahin

Last on this list of healthy restaurants in Istanbul is Tahin, a Lebanese restaurant located in Kadikoy. It isn’t a vegan or vegetarian restaurant but they do offer plenty of options for people looking to enjoy a healthier meal in Istanbul.

Aside from their salads, hummus dishes, and healthy appetizers and snacks, they also serve vegan and vegetarian set meals featuring dishes like falafel, tabbouleh, hummus, moutabal, and sambousek.

As you can probably tell by now, hummus is one of my favorite dishes in the world, especially when it’s served in a wrap. This hummus wrap is a throwback to my university days and something I’ve been pining for ever since. Delicious!

I had this grilled chicken salad to pair with my hummus wrap. It’s made with a generous amount of grilled chicken served over arugula, romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and onions.

If you’d prefer to go without animal protein, then you can opt for this quinoa legume salad instead. It’s made with quinoa, romaine lettuce, arugula, spinach, chickpeas, green lentils, red radish, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

We went to their Kadikoy branch but Tahin is a chain with a few outlets in Istanbul. You can check their website to find a branch near you.

Tahin

Address: Caferağa mah. Dr. Esat Işık cad, Dalga Sk. No:2/A, 34000 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye
Operating Hours: 11:30AM-10PM, daily
What They Offer: Vegan and vegetarian Lebanese food

LOCATION MAP

To help you find these healthy restaurants in Istanbul, I’ve pinned them all on the map below. Click on the link for a live version of the map.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE BEST HEALTHY RESTAURANTS IN ISTANBUL

On our most recent trip to Istanbul, we split a month between Beyoglu and Kadikoy. We found healthy restaurants in both districts but most of the places we liked were located in Kadikoy.

We didn’t go but if you’re looking for more vegan restaurants in Beyoglu, then Vegan Istanbul restaurant is a popular option. In Fatih, you can try Vegan Community Kitchen. If you’re visiting Dolmabahce Palace and want to find vegan food in Besiktas, then Vegan Masa and Bi Nevi Deli are two restaurants to consider.

In parting, I just wanted to reiterate how much I love Turkish food. Traditional Turkish dishes like lahmacun and dürüm will always be my top choices but as these restaurants prove, vegan and vegetarian food in Istanbul is plentiful and delicious.

Whether you’re a vegan, vegetarian, or someone who simply enjoys clean eating and living, then you shouldn’t have any trouble finding good healthy food in Istanbul.

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