Tzatziki Recipe (Greek Cucumber Sauce) [Video]

This classic tzatziki recipe is made with just a few ingredients and ready in 10 minutes. It’s perfect for vegetables, meat, or simply as a dip. Check out our video and step-by-step tutorial.

One of the important things about Mediterranean recipes and (and especially Greek ones) is that they are made with fresh and ingredients. Today, I want to talk to you about a classic Greek cucumber and yogurt sauce called tzatziki. You can serve it as a dip alongside other Greek dips and spreads such as skordalia and and melitzanosalata or use it as a sauce on chicken gyro or souvlaki.

What is tzatziki?

Tzatziki (Tsaht-zee-kee) is a Greek sauce that is found throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East. This yogurt sauce is known as cacik in Turkish cuisine and has similarities to Iranian mast-o-khiar. It’s common to serve it as a dip or spread. Tzatziki is usually made with strained goat or sheep’s yogurt, cucumber, salt, herbs such as dill and mint, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice or vinegar.

Tzatziki sauce is often served in Greek or Mediterranean restaurants as a side dish or mezze alongside main dishes and adds a refreshing note to the flavor profile of the dishes it accompanies, thanks to its blend of cucumber and yogurt. This sauce is usually served cold.

Is tzatziki good for you?

Nutritionally speaking, this yogurt cucumber sauce is a light addition to meals relative to popular condiments like mayonnaise or ranch. Since it’s made with yogurt, tzatziki is also a good source of protein.

The ingredients

This is truly the best Greek tzatziki recipe because it’s delicious, easy and simple. It has just a few ingredients:

• Cucumbers: It’s best to make this recipe with seedless cucumbers such as English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers. If the cucumber you’re using is too seedy, scoop out the seeds using a small spoon. You don’t need to peel the cucumbers to make tzatziki at home.
• Yogurt: I love using Greek yogurt because it’s thick and has the perfect consistency for this Mediterranean sauce, but we can use regular yogurt or whole milk yogurt too.
• Garlic: I like the flavor of garlic to shine in this recipe so I use a few cloves. If you like it more subtle, you can use less garlic. I suggest you avoid using garlic powder.
• Fresh dill: You can also use dried dill if fresh is not available.
• Olive oil: I love finishing this recipe with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. It gives such nice flavor.
• Salt
• Lemon

Preparing the cucumbers

To make tzatziki, you need to grate cucumbers. As you know, cucumbers have a lot of water in them and they start releasing it once they’re grated. To prevent your tzatziki from becoming too watery, it’s best to squeeze grated cucumber and discard the liquid. By squeezing the grated cucumber, you’ll make sure that the Greek tzatziki will have a thick and spreadable consistency.

Kitchen tip: You can place the grated cucumber in a cheese cloth and let the liquid drain instead of squeezing it with your hands.

How to make tzatziki sauce

• Grate the cucumbers and squeeze them very well. Discard the liquid and put the cucumber in a bowl.
• To the grated cucumber, add yogurt, minced garlic, fresh dill, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
• Mix well until all the ingredients are combined.
• Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Serving suggestions

This Tzatziki recipe is very simple and you can whip it up in no time. Traditional Tzatziki goes very well with different dishes. Here are some of serving suggestions:

• As a part of a mezze platter with hummus, dolmas, vegetables and pita chips.
• With grilled meat dishes such as garlic chicken, beef shish kabob, keftedes or kofta kebabs.
• Spread on pita bread to make a gyro or chicken souvlaki wrap.

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yes, you can make this cucumber yogurt sauce ahead of time. Cover it and refrigerate for up to one day. To serve, give a good stir and top with some fresh herbs.

Can I freeze it?

I don’t recommend freezing tzatziki because it contains dairy. When you freeze dairy sauces, frozen dairy crystals will form in the sauce and once thawed, the sauce will lose it’s consistency and flavor.

Notes and tips

• You can add mint in addition to or instead of fresh dill. Herbs make this yogurt and cucumber sauce very tasty.
• Tzatziki sauce is best served fresh and cold. You can store the leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for about 2 days. Stir the sauce well before using it.
• When using fresh garlic, you may find that the taste is too strong. If so, please let tzatziki sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving. The longer it sits, the less of a bite the garlic will have.
• This recipe calls for minced garlic cloves. I don’t recommend taking any shortcuts such as using garlic powder, mashed garlic or store-bought minced garlic since they lack some of the flavor of freshly minced garlic.

Looking for more Greek recipes?

• Eggplant Moussaka
• Greek Pastitsio 
• Spanakopita
• Greek potatoes
• Greek salmon salad 
• Lemon chicken orzo soup