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Turkish Pasta with Garlic Yogurt (Manti-Style)

This dish takes its inspiration from manti, tiny Turkish dumplings traditionally served under a blanket of garlicky yogurt and finished with sizzling butter infused with paprika and mint. Making manti from scratch — rolling, filling, and pinching each dumpling by hand — can take hours. This recipe borrows the exact same flavor profile and swaps the hand-formed dumplings for short pasta, so you get the same cozy, tangy-savory combination in a fraction of the time. It's part of why the dish has gone viral across TikTok and Instagram over the past year: it delivers a genuinely unfamiliar, restaurant-quality flavor combination using ingredients most people already have on hand.
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Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the pasta:
  • 12 oz short pasta penne, rigatoni, or bow ties all work well
  • Salt for the pasta water
  • For the garlic yogurt sauce
  • 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt at room temperature (important — cold yogurt will split)
  • 3 garlic cloves minced or grated
  • 1/2 tsp salt
For the spiced butter:
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
For the protein (optional, but recommended):
  • 1 lb halal ground beef or lamb
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • To serve
  • Fresh mint or parsley
  • Extra red pepper flakes

Method
 

  1. Cook the meat. If adding ground beef or lamb, cook it first. Brown the meat with the diced onion in a pan over medium-high heat, breaking it apart as it cooks. Season with cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
  2. Cook the pasta. Cook your pasta in well-salted boiling water according to the package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside, reserving about 1/2 cup of pasta water.
  3. Make the garlic yogurt. While the pasta cooks, mix together the yogurt, minced garlic, and salt in a bowl. Make sure the yogurt is at room temperature before you start — if it's cold and goes onto hot pasta, it will curdle and turn watery. Pull it out of the fridge early while you prep everything else and it'll be fine by the time you need it.
  4. Make the spiced butter. Do this last so it's fresh and warm when you serve. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once it starts to foam, add the smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, and cumin. It will sizzle and turn fragrant almost immediately — keep it on low heat for just 30 more seconds, then remove from heat.
  5. Plate. Spread a generous layer of garlic yogurt on the bottom of a wide pasta bowl or plate. Pile the pasta on top. Add the ground meat, if using. Drizzle the spiced butter over everything. Finish with fresh mint or parsley and a pinch more red pepper flakes.
  6. Serve immediately. The yogurt warms slightly from the hot pasta, and the butter drizzle ties everything together — this dish is best eaten right away rather than held.

Notes

Room-temperature yogurt is not optional. It's the one step that makes or breaks this dish. Take it out of the fridge first thing when you start cooking, and everything else falls into place.
Reserve your pasta water. If your sauce feels too thick once everything is combined, a splash of the starchy pasta water loosens it up without diluting the flavor.
Don't walk away from the butter. Paprika and cumin can go from fragrant to burnt in under a minute once the butter is hot. Have your serving bowl ready before you start this step.
This recipe pairs well with a simple cucumber-tomato salad, warm flatbread, or a light lentil soup to start.