This easy video tutorial shows you how to make the classic Greek yogurt sauce called Tzatziki! It’s great serves as a dip with pita and veggies or slathered on a gyro.
I love Greek food. Or should I say Mediterranean food? Middle Eastern food? It can be tricky to categorize because the cuisines of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Serbia and other countries in that region have a lot of overlap. They’re constantly arguing over who owns what, which food came from where and who did it first. I realize there’s a lot of national pride attached to food, but to be honest, I could care less about all that. All I care about is if it’s delicious, and delicious it absolutely is.
I love to serve tzatziki along side grilled meats like lamb chops or chicken kabobs. Pair them with a Greek salad for a light and refreshing meal thats packed with flavor. Just be sure to make a big batch so there’s plenty leftover for dipping veggies and pita. It makes a delicious, healthy snack that’s loaded with protein and probiotics.
Don’t worry about using exact measurements for this recipe. You can adjust the ingredients to make it thicker, tangier, garlickyer, dillyer… okay, those last two totally aren’t words. All I’m saying is that this recipe is super forgiving and you should taste as you go to in order to get it just the way you like.
(Related: How to Get Rid of GARLIC BREATH… Naturally!)
One Year Ago: Cream of Broccoli Soup (Video!)
Print
Tzatziki Sauce
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 1/2 cups 1x
- Category: sauce
- Method: mixed
- Cuisine: Greek
Description
This easy video tutorial shows you how to make the classic Greek yogurt sauce called Tzatziki! It’s great serves as a dip with pita and veggies or slathered on a gyro.
Ingredients
- 1–3 cloves garlic, to taste
- small piece red onion
- 1/3 English/seedless cucumber*
- 1–2 sprigs fresh dill, minced (about 2 teaspoons), optional
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk Greek yogurt**
- salt, to taste
- 1–2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
Instructions
- Using the small holes of a box grater or a microplane grater, finely grate the garlic so that it makes a paste.
- Grate the onion the same way so that you get about 1/2 teaspoon of grated onion and its juice. Add the garlic and onion to a large mixing bowl. Use the large holes of a box grater to grate the cucumber. You should end up with about 1 cup of grated cucumber.
- Add it to the bowl with the garlic and onion, then add in the dill and yogurt, season with salt and mix to combine. Add the lemon juice one teaspoon at a time, taste, and add more as you like.
- You can serve this immediately, but it’s best if you let it sit for at least an hour to let all of the flavors meld. Store refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week.
Notes
- *English/seedless cucumbers are the ones typically found wrapped in plastic at the grocery store. They have thin skin and less seeds than traditional cucumbers, and I prefer them. You can easily substitute a regular cucumber, but you’ll need to peel it, slice it lengthwise and remove some of the seeds with a spoon. Then, proceed with the recipe as normal.
- **You can opt to make this recipe with a lower fat Greek yogurt, but I find it never tastes quite right.
Keywords: yogurt, Greek, tzatziki, cucumber, garlic, dill, sauce, dip, pita, gyro
Nicole Gaffney, aka Coley, is a professionally trained chef, recipe developer, tv host and food writer.
Love your site! and absolutely love this recipe. So quick and simple and fresh. Perfect for the hot summer days 🙂
Hey, Tanya! Thanks for your comment. I put this stuff on everything! Definitely perfect for summer. I’m in the process of changing up my site layout, so I hope you like it. Stay tuned!