National dish

What is the national dish of Azerbaijan?

The dish most often named the national dish of Azerbaijan is dolma: minced meat, onion, rice and spices wrapped in grape or cabbage leaves or stuffed into vegetables. UNESCO inscribed the dolma making and sharing tradition of Azerbaijan on its intangible heritage list in 2017. Plov, saffron rice served with separate meat and fruit, is the other centrepiece of the Azerbaijani table.

Updated 2026-10-123 min read

What is Azerbaijani dolma?

Dolma is a family of stuffed dishes. UNESCO describes the Azerbaijani version as small fillings of meat, onion, rice, peas and spices, either wrapped in fresh or pre-cooked leaves or stuffed into fruits and vegetables. In Azerbaijan, leaf dolma is typically folded into a small parcel.

In 2017 UNESCO added "Dolma making and sharing tradition, a marker of cultural identity" to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, for Azerbaijan. The file describes dolma as a central culinary practice in all regions of the country, eaten at special occasions and gatherings as a sign of solidarity, respect and hospitality.

The tradition is passed on from parents to children and taught in vocational schools, and UNESCO notes that it crosses ethnic and religious boundaries within Azerbaijan. Copper does not have an Azerbaijani dolma recipe yet; the recipes below are the other pillars of the table.

Is dolma from Azerbaijan or Armenia?

The origin of dolma is disputed, especially between Azerbaijanis and Armenians. The main positions, without a verdict:

Turkic origin: the word comes from the Turkish dolmak, "to be filled", and UNESCO's file traces the name to the Turkic doldurma, "stuffed". Azerbaijani sources point to this Turkic name.
Ottoman origin: Gil Marks, Charles Perry and the Oxford Companion to Food tie stuffed vegetables to Ottoman cooking, and the concept is commonly placed in the Ottoman palace kitchens of the 15th century.
Armenian origin: the Russian food historian William Pokhlebkin traced dolma to Armenian cuisine and wrote that Azerbaijani dolma was adopted from it. The Oxford Companion notes that, according to some, it may have begun in Armenia.

Plov, the other centrepiece

A typical Azerbaijani meal has three courses. It opens with light dishes: goy, a plate of fresh green leaves, chorek bread, white cheese, qatik yogurt and turshu pickles. Soups, meat and plov follow.

Plov is one of the basic dishes of Azerbaijani cuisine, with more than 200 recorded types, each named after the ingredients that go with the rice. A household traditionally cooks plov for visiting guests, and because it is rich it is served with sour drinks such as ayran or black tea with lemon.

Azerbaijani plov has three components served at the same time on separate platters: the rice, the gara (fried meat, dried fruit, eggs or fish) and fresh herbs. The rice is not mixed with the rest, even while eating.

Our Azerbaijani plov follows that rule. Rice soaked 2 hours is parboiled for 5 to 7 minutes, then steamed for 40 to 45 minutes over a qazmaq, a crust of egg, yogurt and flour in butter, under a lid wrapped in a tea towel. The lamb is stewed separately with dried apricots, sour plums and chestnuts for an hour. Saffron colours the rice; it is used in more than 50 Azerbaijani dishes.

Other dishes to know from Azerbaijan

Dovga is a yogurt soup loaded with coriander, dill, mint and spinach, sometimes with rice and chickpeas. It is traditionally served at weddings between the meat courses, warm in winter and chilled in summer. The trick is whisking egg and flour into the yogurt while the pot is still cold, then stirring without stopping until it boils so the yogurt never splits. Spinach and the herbs go in only once the rice is soft.

Qutab are paper-thin half-moons of unleavened dough cooked dry on a convex griddle called a saj, then brushed with butter. Fillings range from meat and herbs to pumpkin, and they are served with yogurt and sumac. Regions have their own: Shamakhi qutab, the larger kete of Ganja, the rectangular kete of Nakhchivan baked in a tandir, and the small Jorat qutab filled with camel meat.

Our version mixes raw ground lamb with grated onion, coriander and pomegranate seeds, rolls the dough almost transparent at about 22 cm across, and cooks each half-moon 2 to 3 minutes per side in a pan with no fat, so the dough blisters instead of frying.

All three recipes are on our page about the food of Azerbaijan. Plov is also the national dish of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (see Uzbekistan's national dish), and the Armenian side of the dolma story is in Armenia's national dish. For the whole region, read our guide to Caucasian food.

The recipes

Questions people ask

Is dolma the national dish of Azerbaijan?

Dolma is the dish most often listed as Azerbaijan's national dish, and UNESCO inscribed Azerbaijan's dolma making and sharing tradition on its heritage list in 2017. Plov is the other dish at the heart of Azerbaijani meals.

Is dolma Azerbaijani or Armenian?

Both claim it. Azerbaijani sources point to the Turkic name, which means "stuffed", while William Pokhlebkin and some sources cited by the Oxford Companion to Food favour an Armenian origin. Several historians place its development in Ottoman kitchens.

How is Azerbaijani plov different from Uzbek plov?

In Azerbaijan the saffron rice, the meat or fruit gara and the herbs are served on separate platters and never mixed, whereas Uzbek plov simmers the rice in the meat and vegetable stew, zirvak, until it absorbs the liquid.

What is served with plov in Azerbaijan?

Fresh herbs, pickles and sour drinks such as ayran or black tea with lemon, which balance the richness of the dish.

What does dolma mean?

Dolma comes from the Turkish verb dolmak, "to be filled", so it simply means "stuffed".

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