Fancy a twist on the classic Italian style pizza? Why not make these delicious Turkish Spicy Lamb Pizzas! A simple flatbread base topped with spicy lamb mince, herbs and feta cheese and served with a simple middle eastern style salad – so simple, but utterly delicious!
When I first heard of Lahmacun, I just knew I would love it – I love pizza, I love Turkish flavours and I LOVE lamb – so the idea of combining all three was just too exciting. So obviously I needed to create my own easy peasy version.
As you know, I am all about food that is easy peasy to make…but I absolutely do not believe that easy food has to equal boring food! I like my food full of flavour and excitement. I love being adventurous with food and coming up with creative ways to make delicious flavours easy and achievable…even on a busy weeknight!
It took me a few goes to get this recipe just right – I tried initially with not frying the lamb at all (you know me, always looking for a way to cut out a step and make things quicker), but the uncooked lamb just made the base soggy.
I also tried this with my easy 2 ingredient flatbread recipe, which works great as a flatbread, but was not quite sturdy enough to be used as a pizza base. I figured I needed to use a yeasted dough…but at the same time, I didn’t want this to turn into a very longwinded or complicated recipe…
So as a quick cheat, I used a bag of pizza base mix and it worked a treat. However to make things even quicker and easier you could use ready-made pizza bases (or shop-bought flatbreads). Or if you have a little more time, make the base from scratch using white bread flour, water, yeast and salt.
Either way the result is pretty awesome – super thin and crispy base, delicious spicy lamb mince, and the feta and herb topping just compliments it all perfectly.
I served this up with one of my favourite salads ever – my Easy Shirazi Salad, it’s just a simple combination of red onion (soaked in lemon juice to take away the sting), cucumber and tomato, chopped small, plus a little salt and pepper. But the flavour is so much better than the sum of its parts. I just love it! As an alternative you could serve this with a simple green salad or a Greek salad instead.
These pizzas would go well with a Grenache based red from France or Spain. If red wine’s not your thing, go for a Grenache rosé instead.
Turkish Spicy Lamb Pizzas (Lahmacun)
Ingredients
Turkish Lamb Pizzas
- 1 tablespoon olive or rapeseed oil plus extra for greasing
- 1 small red onion diced
- 500 g lamb mince
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika optional
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped (plus extra for garnish)
- 350 ml passata or tinned chopped tomatoes, blended
- 250 g pizza base mix see note
- 100 g feta cheese
Easy Shirazi Salad
- 1 small red onion diced very finely
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 150 g cherry tomatoes diced
- 150 g cucumber diced
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
Turkish Lamb Pizzas
- Preheat your oven to 240C / 220C fan / gas mark 9 / 475F and lightly grease 2 large baking trays with oil.
- Place the diced onion and oil in a large frying pan and gently fry for 3 minutes until softened. Turn the heat up and add the lamb. Fry for 3 minutes, or until lightly browned.
- Lower the heat and add the chilli, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Fry for 2 more minutes.
- Add the parsley and passata and allow to bubble and reduce for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make the pizza base mix up according to packet instructions. Knead for 5 minutes and then divide into 8 balls. Roll the balls out into ovals roughly 30cm by 15cm and place on the greased baking trays.
- When the lamb mixture is ready, divide evenly between the pizza bases and place in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until the bases are fully cooked and tinged with brown.
- Scatter the pizzas with feta cheese and more chopped fresh parsley and serve with my Easy Shirazi Salad, a simple green salad or a Greek Salad.
Easy Shirazi Salad
- While the pizzas are cooking, make the shirazi salad
- Place the onion in a serving bowl and squeeze over all the lemon juice, stir to combine.
- Add the chopped cherry tomatoes and cucumber, plus salt and pepper to taste.
- Give everything a good stir and serve with the pizzas.
Notes
(2) Alternatively, make the pizza base from scratch using 250g strong white bread flour, 4g instant/easy blend yeast, 1 teaspoon salt and 150ml warm water. Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly first, then add the water. Knead and shape as above. Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
This is a collaborative post with the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ campaign. ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ is an EU funded campaign which aims to increase the use of lamb in everyday cooking. Lamb is often considered difficult to cook, expensive, or something to be saved for Sunday roasts. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate just how tasty, easy and fun lamb is to cook with every day of the week!
Want more delicious lamb recipes? Find more here…
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Donna says
Oh my gosh, these sound perfect! I’m such a lamb lover but always a bit stuck with what to do with it! #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Donna – so pleased you like it! I have tons of ideas on the blog for lamb if you get stuck 🙂 Eb x
Corina Blum says
I had some of these in Turkey a long long time ago but had completely forgotten about them. Your version looks delicious and is really tempting me! x
Louise Fairweather says
This sounds fantastic. I love lamb but don’t eat it often. I had something similar the last time I went to Giraffe and it was really good.
Monika Dabrowski says
This certainly is a different kind of pizza, something I’ve never tried before, but sounds so very good with all the lovely spices in it. And since it’s made by Easy Peasy Foodie, who is an expert at making delicious and practical recipes, it is also quick and easy, which I love:) #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Monika 🙂 The lamb and the spices are so yummy together and serving it as a pizza is such a fun and delicious way of eating it – needless to say, the kids love them! And yes…of course quick and easy to make – would you expect any less of me 😉 Eb x
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Oh I love Turkish Pizza we have several local restaurants that sell them so i have yet to make them at home.
Eb Gargano says
Oh, I am envious of you having so many wonderful restaurants on your doorstep…here in rural Sussex, we can’t even really muster one proper restaurant in our village…fortunately we have Brighton nearby, and plenty of lovely foodie pubs not too far away! Eb x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
Wow, I had never heard of Lahmacun before, and now I’m craving it! I love your cheat for making the flatbread. This is a fabulous idea: I love lamb, but my family is on the fence. These pizzas are the perfect way to ease them into it! #CookBlogShare
Eb Gargano says
Oh you have to try it Michelle – it’s awesome! And yes you are so right…it is a great way to serve lamb to those who are not quite sure if they like it! They will surely be huge fans after eating Lahmacun 😀 Eb x
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
These sound amazing Eb – I realise the main element is really lamb – but for me it’s all about the feta! I mean FETA! Yum! I guess I could sub the lamb mince for quorn mince to get something similar (though I suspect it’d end up a tad drier?)
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Hahaha – feta is a VERY important part of it! I think it would probably work with something like quorn mince…maybe add a little extra passata if you felt it was too dry…or maybe just extra feta!! 😉 Eb x