Asia → Kazakhstan → Almaty
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Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread)
Thin, soft rounds of milk and butter dough, fried quickly in hot oil until puffed and golden, and eaten warm with tea, butter, honey or jam, or beside soup and meat.
Kazakh · easy · serves 7
prep 20 min · cook 15 min · plus 20 min hands-off time
~363 cal · 7g protein · 45g carbs · 17g fat · 2g fiber · 2g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shelpek is a thin fried flatbread made across Central Asia, and in Kazakhstan it carries a tradition of its own. Shelpeks are made in sevens, jeti nan, on Thursdays or Fridays, in memory of the dead; the belief is that the smell of the frying bread reaches and nourishes the ancestors, the aruakh.
The dough is plain: flour with milk or water and salt, often enriched with a little butter or sour cream and lifted with a pinch of baking soda; yeasted versions stay soft longer. It is rolled into thin rounds and each one is fried for only seconds a side in hot oil, so it puffs in places and turns golden but stays soft and pliable.
Shelpek is eaten warm with tea and butter, honey or jam, and beside soups and meat dishes as everyday bread.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 7
- 400 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 200 ml milk, warmed
- 30 g butter, melted
- 1 tsp cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 150 ml sunflower oil, for frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Add the warm milk, melted butter and vinegar and mix, then knead for about 5 minutes to a soft, smooth dough. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
- 2Divide the dough into 7 pieces and roll each into a thin round, about 3 mm thick and 20 cm across, on a lightly floured surface.
- 3Heat about 1 cm of oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Fry one shelpek at a time for 20 to 40 seconds per side, until puffed in places and golden.✎ Chef’s noteThe oil must be hot enough that the bread sizzles and puffs straight away; if it browns in less than 15 seconds, turn the heat down.
- 4Drain on paper towels and stack. Serve warm with tea, butter, honey or jam, or with soup.
Kazakh home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Almaty. Almaty sits under the Tian Shan mountains and eats beshbarmak, boiled meat over wide sheets of noodle, taken with the hands as the name suggests. Horse and mutton, fermented mare's milk, and dense wheat breads reflect a nomadic tradition now settled in a city kitchen.
🗺️
Kazakhstan. Kazakh food reflects a nomadic, horse-and-sheep-herding past, centered on beshbarmak, boiled meat over wide noodles eaten by hand. Fermented mare's milk (kumis), horse sausage, and bread anchor a hospitable steppe table.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kazakhstan
Beshbarmak"Five fingers": boiled meat over wide noodle sheets with onion gravy, Kazakhstan’s dish of honor, eaten by hand.
BaursakFluffy yeasted fried dough puffs served warm with butter, jam, or honey and tea.
KuyrdakA hearty fry-up of meat, potato, and onion, the celebratory dish traditionally made when an animal is freshly butchered.
Browse all Kazakhstan recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan.
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
Make it a Kazakhstan meal
KumisDrink
ZhentDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread)?
Thin, soft rounds of milk and butter dough, fried quickly in hot oil until puffed and golden, and eaten warm with tea, butter, honey or jam, or beside soup and meat.
Where does Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) come from?
Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) is a Kazakh dish from Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Can Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Shelpek (Kazakh Fried Flatbread) take to make?
About 55 min in all: 20 minutes prep and 15 minutes cooking, plus 20 min of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 7.
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