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These chebureki are delicious! Chebureki are very popular among Slavic people. You can compare them to a savory turnover or a less doughy version of the calzone. My aunt, Tamara, makes these for her church bake sale and they sell like hot cakes! I guess they are like hot turkey cakes… never mind.
This recipe made 38 chebureki and my siblings all stopped by to take some home. If you’re feeding a smaller crowd, you can easily cut all of the ingredients in half and make about 20.
Ingredients for the Easiest Chebureki you’ll ever make:
2 lb ground turkey
2 medium/large yellow onions
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
38-40 raw tortillas, depending on how much you fill them
How to Make Turkey Chebureki:
1. Peel and chop your onion into large pieces, then puree the onion in a food processor until it has an applesauce consistency.
2. Add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper to the turkey and stir. Add the pureed onion. The amount of onion will frighten you and you might start crying. Don’t be scared. You can do it, just pour it over your ground turkey. Stop thinking about it and pour (I gave myself the same pep-talk). It will disappear into the meat. Amazing! Now grab a tissue and get back in the game.
3. Spread a heaping tablespoon of your meat filling over 1/2 of your raw tortilla, leaving about a 1″ border at the edges to seal.
4. Brush all the way around the edges of your tortilla with cold water. Fold the tortilla in half and seal the edges by pushing down around the edges with a fork.
5. Heat a large skillet with enough oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium/high heat. Once the oil is hot (the chebureki should sizzle when you put them in), add chebureki to the skillet 2 at a time and sautee 3 min per side. Adjust the temp if you notice it’s browning too quickly. You need to saute 3 minutes per side for the meat to cook through.
6. Transfer cooked turnovers onto paper towels to soak up excess oil. You should go ahead and eat a couple while you’re sautéing. Consider it your reward.
These were a hit in our house. Our son loved them too!
Turkey Chebureki (Turkey Turnover)
Ingredients
Instructions
- Peel and chop your onion into large pieces, then puree the onion in a food processor until it has an applesauce consistency.
- Add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper to the turkey and stir. Add the pureed onion. The amount of onion will frighten you, but don't worry, it will disappear into the meat.
- Spread a heaping tablespoon of your meat filling over 1/2 of your raw tortilla, leaving about a 1" border at the edges to seal.
- Brush all the way around the edges of your tortilla with cold water. Fold the tortilla in half and seal the edges by pushing down around the edges with a fork.
- Heat a large skillet with enough oil to just coat the bottom of the pan. Heat over medium/high heat. Once the oil is hot (the chebureki should sizzle when you put them in), add chebureki to the skillet 2 at a time and sautee 3 min per side. Adjust the temp if you notice it's browning too quickly. You need to saute 3 minutes per side for the meat to cook through.
- Transfer cooked turnovers onto papertowels to soak up excess oil. Serve warm.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
So delicious and easy to make, but boy I will definitely be cutting the recipe in half next time. Fed a whole other family with the amount I ended up with! They turned out perfect though and the meat perfectly seasoned.
Hi Maria, feel ree to cut it in half next time. Good to know that you all enjoyed it!
Hi Natasha! I would like to use a homemade dough instead of raw tortillas. Can I use one of your pelmeni/vareniki dough recipes for chebureki? Or perhaps you have a special chebureki dough recipe?
Hi Karyna, I haven’t tested this on chebureki to advise. We normally use raw tortillas found our turnovers. You can find more on there here.
Made these tonight, these were amazing! My boys loved them. I told my oldest son that I got the recipe from Natasha’s kitchen again and he said, “that lady is good!” Every single recipe we had of yours is so good! I always get rave reviews when I use your recipes. Thank you so much!
Aww that’s the best! Thank you for much for sharing that with me! I’m all smiles!
Can corn oil be used for frying these?
Hi Elena, I haven’t tried it with Can Oil specifically. Does it have a high heat point? If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe
Hey Natasha, I don’t have a food processor for the onion, what can I use or do instead? Or would it be okay to just cut the onion into small diced pieces?
Hi Lianella, the next best thing would be to grate the onion, but it’s very likely your eyes will water up grating that much onion 🙂
Super finely dicing is ok also but the onion pieces will be more notable in the mixture.
can you pre-make them and store them in the fridge or freezer till ready to fry?
Thanks!
Hi Nataliya, I haven’t tried freezing them but I think it’s worth an experiment! I think these would refrigerate well for a day until ready to fry.
What a great recipe! I haven’t had chebuteki for like 7 years and I was very excited to make them last night. They turned out amazing! Thank you, Natasha!
My pleasure Olga! I’m glad you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing 😀