Aim The Kihon Checklist (KCL) was developed to identify vulnerable older adults residing in Japan who are at a high risk of becoming dependent. The present study aimed to determine the validity of the KCL for detecting frailty in Turkish older adults. Methods A total of 300 outpatients were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent comprehensive geriatric assessment and completed a Turkish translation of the KCL. Frailty status was defined by five dimensions, including weight loss, exhaustion, low levels of activity, weakness and slowness: 0 for robust, 1–2 for prefrail and 3–5 for frail. Results The mean age of the patients was 73.85 ± 7.12 years. According to Fried definitions, 25.7% were considered frail, 48.0% prefrail and 26.3% robust. There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of age, sex, education, Charlson's Comorbidity Index, the number of medications used, sarcopenia, dynapenia and all the comprehensive geriatric assessment parameters (P < 0.05). Cronbach's α value of the KCL was 0.876. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.855 for frail, and 0.697 for prefrail. We found that the KCL can show frail and prefrail older adults when the cut‐off values are ≥9 and ≥ 4, respectively, with a sensitivity of 80.52% and 65.28%, and specificity of 81.17% and 56.96%. Conclusions The KCL can be used as a quick, simple and sensitive screening method for detecting frailty among Turkish older adults. We recommend its use by healthcare professionals in Turkey in order to identify frail older adults and direct them to relevant support. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 616–621.