Vegetarian Food in Azerbaijan

It is not difficult to find vegetarian food in Azerbaijan, and specially not in Baku which has a lot of vegetarian food options – some in street food, lots and lots in the restaurants and an equal lot in the desserts.

Some good Indian restaurants in Azerbaijan include Masala Junction in the heart of the city. For people who prefer more South Indian flavours, Maharani would be the perfect choice. Other than the Indian places, there is an abundance of local eateries and pizza places.

Vegetarian food in Azerbaijan is not complete without something sweet. For desserts you could head to Badam, a patisserie which also serves the traditional Azerbaijan sweets. There are also places where you can find traditional Turkish sweets like Kunefe and Baklava.

Local Azerbaijan vegetarian food to try

Azerbaijan Vegetarian food can be found even in local eateries apart from the Indian restaurants in Azerbaijan.

Qutab: It is a stuffed bread that you can locally find in almost any part of Azerbaijan. A great local place is Layla’s Qutab on the way to Gabala from Baku. A Qutab is a thin bread of all purpose flour stuffed with vegetables (typically a lot of greens) and cheese or minced meats. Served with an application of home made butter, it can be had hot or packed up as a backup for the journey. For takeaway, its typically rolled up so easy to carry and eat.

Pilaf: This is another of Azerbaijan vegetarian food options, although its easier to find more of non vegetarian versions of this. I would have loved to try Pilaf if I would have found it at any place being made without meats or chicken. Similar to what we know as Pulav in North India, this was one dish I had read a lot about.

Others: Azerbaijani Tea is a must try. It is usually served with Murabba (sweet fruit preserve typically made of straweberry, raspberry, gooseberries, figs and the like). The tea itself has distinct flavours of carom seeds and fennel.

Desserts

Paklava: It is an Azeri spin on traditional Baklava found in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Regions. Paklava is a sweet of pastry, nuts and honey made with the nuts flavor you buy – Pistachio, walnut, almonds etc. Baku Paklava is traditionally served at the Novruz spring holiday, together with shekerbura and gogal, but is also enjoyed throughout the year.

Kete: Azeri sugar and nut filled rolled cookies. The use of nuts across all the desserts is abundant. Having said that, all the desserts taste very different from the other due to way nuts are used along with the pastry for each dessert.

Mutaki: The pastry takes its name from a traditional Azerbaijani bolster, the mütəkkə, with which it shares its shape. The pastry for mutaki can also be made with yeast, using the same method and ingredients as for sweet nut pies. Typical combination in Mutaki is that of Cardamom and walnuts.

Street Food

In places like Turkey, we found a lot of options that kids could munch on while we were sightseeing. While the culture is heavily influenced by Turkey, one doesn’t see the same street food options. You could nevertheless try their fruit lavash and various kinds of picked vegetables you’ll find along the way when you drive out of Baku in any direction in Azerbaijan.