Turkey Chebureki (Turkey Turnover)
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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. 
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 😀
Natasha, I see in the picture two onions, but in your description you state 2 lbs. Do we really need two pounds of onion? Or, was it a typo? I know chebureki require a lot of onion, but two pounds? 🙂 Thank you!
Hi Mila, I updated the recipe so it isn’t as scary sounding ;). I think my onions weighed about 2 pounds so I changed it to read 2 medium/large yellow onions since most people probably don’t weigh their onions – lol. Thanks for bringing this to my attention! 🙂
Thank you! I had about that size onions as in your picture so I was lucky to match. You are right, it absorbed it quickly like there was no onion 😲 I can’t wait so see results.
Isn’t it amazing how it just disappears but it sure adds a lot of flavor! I hope you love the recipe!
Great recipe. Can you suggest baking time/temperature vs frying them
To be honest, I’m not sure if these would work well baked. The oil from frying really helps form that great crust is. I don’t think they would be the same baked. I haven’t tested them that way either, so I can’t say exactly how long to bake them.
i dont really like the taste of onion.. at all. could i still make these tasty without it ?
I would suggest trying one of my other two chebureki recipes that don’t rely on onion as much :-).
Hi Natasha,
Can I use chicken instead of Turkey? Also, can these be assembled ahead of time, if so, how long before frying?
Hi Tonya. Yes you can absolutely use chicken instead of turkey. I hope you love these!
hello,
I see that you got two different recipes for Chebyreki, one with pork and this one with turkey. Which one would you recommend to try /make first?
Hi Natasha, to be honest, they are really equally delicious. The turkey ones are a little bit easier and less expensive to make since they don’t require quite as many ingredients, but it really just depends on the ingredients you have or want to buy.
For those who are looking for raw tortillas, you can find “Tortilla Land” brand by searching on their website http://www.tortillaland.com/Find-a-Store. Looks like my Costco in NJ does not carry it but Walmart does! I’ll go on the hunt next time I’m at Walmart. Thanks for the great idea, Natasha! 🙂
I’m sorry if this was already asked but if I make these and don’t cook them all can they be frozen and then cooked?
I have not tried freezing them before, but I think it would work well. It probably would be a good idea to put a piece of parchment paper between each one so they do not stick to each other. If you try freezing them and then cooking after, let me know how you like it. Thank you!
Am i able to cut this recipe in half to make half the amount of chebureki?
Yes! You totally can cut the recipe in half 🙂
Yay! Making them right now. Looking forward to eating them 😀
My mother makes them with the cooked tortillas but she drenches them in egg right before frying and they turn out great!
Wow that sounds yummy and a good option for cooked tortillas! How does she keep them sealed? Thanks so much for sharing : )
Brush the edges with egg whites and then just firmly press the edges
What a great idea, Natasha! Gonna try to find raw tortillas now.
Told my mom… she said if you add garlic and cilantro to the mixture the’re gonna be even yummier!
That’s a great idea, I should give it a try next time :).
Best recipe ever. No more making dough by hand for chebureki. Thanks a bunch.
Awesome! Thanks for the great review and I’m so glad it saves you some time!!
hi natasha,
Which cheburki do you like more? These or the other ones with the beef & pork filling that you have on your site also?
They are both great, but these are little easier :).
Is this recipe more tastier then the other one you posted?
They are equally good, this one is just easier :).
Question. Can these be made ahead and frozen or at least refrigerated a few days before cooking? Or is it better to cook them all and freeze leftovers? Thanks.
I’ve never tried freezing them (maybe someone else has answer for that). They do reheat pretty well after being refrigerated.
Yes they can. I have frozen cheburek before. Make sure to defrost before frying. Fry on medium-low heat so meat is cooked thoroughly.
Yummy and very easy to make
Thank you Tonya!! 😉
Loved the Turkey Chebureki 🙂 It was sooo good and my two children loved it also! Thank you!
You are so welcome, don’t you love when kids enjoy your recipes :D.
Did it. Excellent. I bought a tube of ground turkey that had no doubt been previously frozen. Next time I will use freshly ground turkey. Although my mixture was quite wet, the chebureki were quite delicious. I reheated a few leftovers on an infrared grill. By turning them frequently, I was able to get them nice and hot again. Thanks for the recipe.
What a great way to reheat! Yes, fresh ground turkey is best 🙂
Making these for dinner!:) Thanks
You’re welcome Alana 🙂
Oh so good and easy! Will be making a second round tomorrow 🙂 Thank you!
Wow you must have LOVED them if you’re making them two days in a row!! That’s awesome! 🙂
Can they be baked instead? Really curious.. I made you your chebureki before and they were delish but wondering if i could bake them for little healthier version?
You know, I haven’t tried it, but if you do give it a whirl, please let me know how it worked out!
Love, love chebureki! Haven’t had those in ages! Pinned!
They were gone really fast and all the kids love them :).
The most delicious three ingredient dinner ever! Thank you!
You are welcome Chistel :).
Ok. This is premature, but thanks for the information regarding uncooked tortillas. I had never heard of them. Anyway, I found them at a local Mexican grocery store and at a Hy Vee supermarket. Tonight we used them to make fajitas. Excellent! Next, Turkey Chebureki.
They do taste better than Pre cooked. I hope you love the recipe!
I made these yummy things and they were delicious! 🙂
Question: The filling was very much full of “water” so I had to cut them and drain the water out of the pocket. Is that normal?
They can be a little juicy after it is cooked, especially if you fill it more than shown in the photos. Thawed frozen turkey can also be more watery than fresh ground turkey.
I made a second batch with less filling and it was almost water-less. =)
My mother in law just last week told me about these tortilas so I went out and bought them .. trying these tonight!
I hope you love them!
oh my, reading the responses to this recipe is a cruel and unusual punishment 😉
i started making these a few months back when Natasha published the recipe. I thought the idea to use uncooked tortillas was ingenious. about a month ago, Costco stopped carrying them in any of their warehouses on the east coast. i spent hours on the web trying to find who sold them locally. No luck at all. finally, bit the bullet and ordered them from Amazon for a fortune compared to Costco’s price but the product arrived warm making me worried that it spoiled. so, having spent $40 for 2 packages, i am back to square one! you can imagine how sad i feel having read all your comments!
Oh no!! That is a major bummer. Have you checked Walmart? I know our local walmart carries them. Call your local grocery stores; one of them must have it (I hope!).
Hi Natasha, the chebureki do work with ready tortillas but like you stated they do cook up faster than raw ones. I still haven’t had any luck finding raw tortillas but I will keep looking! 🙂
How do you get them to hold together?
Can I use the ready tortillas instead of the raw once? I thought I bought the raw once but they are not raw but already baked 🙁
They will burn too quickly and you won’t be able to seal them shut. I don’t think it would work.
Do these have that raw onion smell when eating them cause I think ill attempt to saute the onion, then puree(using ur pelmeni/saute onion trick), cause we never liked pelmeni or chebureki for the onion but since I made ur version of pelmeni, my hubby and kiddos will actually eat them, cause the onion smell/taste is less pungent when onion is sofnened before hand.Also my mom sometimes made these as lil eggrolls using the chinese raw eggroll wraps when raw tortillas weren’t handy.
You can do that but they won’t be juicy as the raw onion. If you dice the onion really fine, than there is no need to purée them.
I actually loved the onion in this…you can’t tastes/smell it but it makes the meat so juicy and good. Not sure if onion was in previous chebureki recipe…but these tasted really good 🙂 Thanks.
You are welcome Nella, You are so right, onion does makes the meat more juicy :).
Never tried it with raw tortillas but ohhh boy, what a great idea?! Brownie points go to you Natasha!! 🙂 thanks again for your amazing blog….i really have to check it daily, its like an addiction that i just cant go without 🙂
You are welcome Tina :).
These sound perfect! How do you pronounce Chebureki? Just curious, thanks! 🙂
Cheboorekee 🙂
Natasha, after brushing egg on just push sides together. I made those in deep fry version but would love to change to frying pan. Much better caloriewise:)
I use Goya brand, in frozen section…also great for making fried apple pies
Thanks for sharing Pat :).
Oh my looks so good the other day I wanted some chebureki and called my mom right away and she said she used raw tortillas from costco, went there right away bought ground turkey, tortillas and made them. So easy and so good I did everything like you did except I added some mr. Dash seasoning and instead of water to make them stick together my mom told me its better to use an egg, it is so easy and yummy recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll definitely have to try the egg wash method around the edges. Thanks so much Lena. I love Dash in anything too! 🙂
I got directed to your beautiful blog after searching for Plum Jam..and aren’t I glad. Will be making this soon..looks so good.
Welcome to the site and I hope you will find many more favorites 🙂
These sound like I should have thought of them before! Perfect idea for this expectant mama. Looking high and low for quick meals that aren’t too complicated but are fun. Looking forward to playing with it. Except for that raw tortilla thing…have never seen those, not even here in California! Have to search…
Next time you are in Costco or Walmart, ask them if they carry uncooked tortillas. I hope you’ll find them :).
Wow! I’ve never seen row tortillas before! Will keep my eyes open. Thank you, Natasha.
You’re welcome. They are so much easier than making the dough and rolling it out
Finally! I found this uncooked tortillas and ready to roll! Pinned it too.
Yay!!! I hope you love the chebureki! Thanks so much for pinning!
They are awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much!
Posted it on FB too – Iryna Boehland
Iryna, thanks so much for sharing; you’re awesome! And I’m so glad you loved the recipe 🙂
Oh, I cannot say enough thanks to you, Natasha! Everyone loved them!
Here are the pictures (not as pretty as yours) on my blog.
http://irishagold.blogspot.com/2014/04/recently.html
Thank you for the great review Iryna, I’m glad everyone loved them :).
Did you know that you can seal the edges by brushing on some egg whites instead of water? That way you don’t need to crimp the edges with the fork.
Not only are these delicious, but they are the best for fundraising, as they don’t require too much effort/time, and turn up pretty good profit. My mom and dad make these every year for youth camp fundraisers.
Oh really? That’s good to know. Do you push on the edges with your fingers or not at all?
Not at all. Just brush on the egg white and close together, making sure there are no gaps.
What a great idea! I often use uncooked empanadas to make fast пирожки. I just add any kind of traditional filling, brush them with some egg and bake (or fry) them as instructed. Thank you for this idea – I am definitely gonna try it as soon as I get hold of some uncooked tortillas.
You are welcome, let me know how they turn out :).
In the country, where I live, they don’t sell raw tortillas – what dough recipe would you suggest?
I’ve always just used the raw tortillas because it’s so easy. Anyone else have a great dough recipe?
I have a great recipe, but it takes a while to do it. I can share it, if anyone is interested..
It’d be great to see the recipe, thanks!
First of all, boil 1.3 cups of water with a teaspoon of salt and two tablespoons of oil. Once it is boiling, pour in the water half a cup of flour and whisk fast. Flour instantly absorbed by water and turns into something like “cottage cheese jelly”, at least it looks like to me. Wait until mixture cools of, then add an egg, a tablespoon of vodka and mix in three cups of flour (the recipe wanted 3.5, but I think that the three is perfect). Make sure dough looks like the one you would make for ravioli/pelemeni/koldunai. Leave it to stand for about an hour covered in a bowl, and then mix it again before it becomes completely elastic, and the inside does not feel like it has any clumps. The dough will not stick to hands. Tell you the truth the dough does not stick to the table or rolling pin, at least for me . Ieva, reading your name I think you are either Lithuanian or Latvian gal. Let me know if you want this recipe in your Lithuanian.
Thank you for sharing Inga :).
I do have a good recipe of chebureki dough.
http://leascooking.blogspot.com/2012/08/traditional-russian-chebureki.html
Enjoy!!!
Natasha you can try tortillas with tvorog (ricotta) filling. I love how tvorog taste with green onion.
http://leascooking.blogspot.com/2012/04/this-was-hit-at-your-house.html
Thanks for the tip!
large spring roll wraps! people love it too
Oh really? I’ll have to try that. I love those wraps. That’s such a great alternative for people who can’t find the raw tortillas. Thank you!!
OMG, Natasha, this is genius! Where do I get raw tortillas???
Me and my husband were just sitting and thinking would be nice to make chebureki but so lazy to make the dough.:) Now, since I lost all my baby weight I can eat my good old childhood foods occasionally.;)
BTW, I always puree my onions too if combining with ground meat. Love Magic Bullet for those purposes.
It really is a huge timesaver! I bought these at Costco, but they are also available at Walmart last time I checked.
Really?! In a fridge section with doors section at Costco or no doors like fresh cheese section?:)
I found them in the fridge section with doors.