Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Published August 18, 2021. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This creamy and tangy homemade tzatziki sauce recipe is the perfect condiment for all of your tasty Greek recipes.
We are bigtime sauce fans in our house as it so often has the opportunity to greatly enhance the flavor of a dish. Up your sauce recipe game by trying out my BBQ sauce, tahini sauce, or beurre blanc.
Tzatziki
Tzatziki, pronounced tuh-zee-kee, is a classic Greek yogurt-based condiment served up with grilled proteins or vegetables, especially souvlaki. It’s very common to serve it up in gyro sandwiches as well. The word tzatziki is actually Turkish deriving from the word cacik and the recipe has been slightly altered over time.
Here are the basic ingredients you will find in the present era:
- Yogurt – Full fat strained Greek yogurt is used.
- Cucumbers – Peeled, shredded, salted, and drained cucumbers for this recipe.
- Garlic – Finely minced garlic clove is to be used, not powder.
- Olive Oil – A good extra virgin olive oil is preferred.
- Lemon – In addition to lemon juice, you can also add red wine vinegar.
- Herbs – It is common to use fresh dill or mint, or a combination of both.
How to Make Tzatziki Sauce from Scratch
Use these easy-to-follow instructions for making this delicious tzatziki sauce from scratch:
Peeled, seed, and shred a cucumber.
Place the shredded cucumbers into a colander in a bowl and salt to help drain off some of the moisture, which takes about 10 minutes.
Squeeze the cucumber shreds with your hands getting off as much excess water as possible and add it to the bowl with the other ingredients.
Mix until completely with yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt, and pepper to a medium-size mixing bowl
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 1 day ahead of time.
How to Store: Cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. This will not freeze well.
chef notes + tips
- If you are using a non-Greek yogurt, make sure to strain it to get as much moisture out as possible.
- You can also add finely chopped parsley to the sauce to help add flavor and color to the tzatziki.
- It is preferable to use fresh herbs over dry in this recipe.
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Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ peeled, seeded, and shredded cucumber
- 1 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 finely minced garlic clove
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 ½ teaspoons finely minced fresh dill
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the cucumber shreds in a colander in a bowl and season with about a ½ teaspoon of salt and mix it until combined.
- Let the moisture from the cumbers drain into the bowl for about 10 minutes.
- Squeeze the cucumber shreds to get off as much extra moisture as possible and then add it to a separate medium-size bowl along with the remaining recipe ingredients.
- Whisk until it is well combined, cover, and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Made this to accompany the chicken souvlaki recipe. So simple and yet so delicious. I used English cucumbers so didn’t peel or seed, I did drain and squeeze out the moisture, and it came out beautifully. I could just sit and eat a bowl of this, I loved it that much. I’m going to have to find more recipes to add this as a side to!
Appreciate you giving it a try!
Quick, easy and delicious!
Thanks for trying this one!