There’s a reason why Greek Tzatziki is so popular. This creamy Tzatziki Sauce is great with chicken, grilled vegetables, in gyros with pita bread, or as a fresh veggie dip. It’s also delicious as a salad dressing.
Watch the video tutorial below and see how easy it is to make this authentic Tzatziki recipe.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy.
Tzatziki Sauce
Years ago, we took a trip to Seattle, Washington, where my cousin Alla served us a Mediterranean menu that we were all swooning over. This sauce tied everything together. I drowned my chicken and smothered everything on my plate with it.
I then proceeded to down everything way too fast because it all tasted so good! I fell in love with this tzatziki sauce and we’ve been making it ever since!
Did I also acquire the Moroccan Chicken and Grilled Veggie Skewers recipes? Do you even have to ask?
Tzatziki Sauce Video Tutorial
I hope this Greek Tzatziki Sauce recipe becomes your new favorite. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to my Youtube Channel, and don’t forget to click the bell icon to be notified when we post a new video.
What is Tzatziki Sauce?
Tzatziki is pronounced “tuh·zee·kee” and it is a Greek cucumber yogurt dip. It’s a nutritious sauce you can serve with chicken, grilled veggies, pita chips, as a gyro sauce, and fresh veggie dip. My cousin Alla is a fabulous cook, and I’m so thankful to glean from her kitchen wisdom.
Homemade Tzatziki is also a healthy sauce with just 57 calories in a generous 1/4 cup serving (see the recipe card below for the full nutrition label). Try this sauce once, and you will quickly see why it’s one of the most popular Mediterranean sauces.
Ingredients for Tzatziki Sauce
- Cucumber – we used half of a peeled English cucumber, but 3-4 small Persian cucumbers will also work.
- Greek Yogurt – should be cold right out of the refrigerator, and you can use full-fat or fat-free.
- Garlic – Add garlic to taste, as it can get stronger as the flavors meld in the refrigerator. We love garlic, so we use 4 cloves. You can either grate it or use a garlic press.
- Dill – we have used fresh chopped dill or frozen dill for making tzatziki.
- Lemon juice – freshly squeezed is best. Do not use lemon juice from concentrate. Typically you can get about 1 1/2 Tbsp from half a lemon. If you need to substitute, you can use white vinegar and add it to taste (start with 1 tsp and go up from there).
- Salt and Pepper – add this to taste as a little goes a long way.
Pro Tip:
Several of our readers have reported that they prefer to grate the cucumber on the large holes of a box grater rather than dicing. Using a grater works ‘grate’ (did you see what I did there? 😅), but the sauce will have a different texture. We prefer the added texture of finely diced cucumber.
How to Make Tzatziki Sauce
- Cucumber Prep: Peel and finely dice the cucumber and set over a bowl lined with a cheesecloth or over a fine-mesh sieve. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt, stir, and set aside to soften and release juice.
- Make the Sauce: In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients: yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, dill, olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Strain Cucumbers: Use the cheesecloth to squeeze out as much juice as you can from your chopped cucumber. Discard the liquid and add cucumber to the bowl mixing bowl.
Pro Tip:
Getting rid of excess cucumber juice is important so that your tzatziki sauce isn’t watery the next day. You’ll be amazed at how much liquid you can strain off. Cheesecloth is the most effective way, but you can also squeeze by the fistful over a strainer.
- Stir and Refrigerate: Stir all of the ingredients together then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. It stores well for 3-5 days in the fridge.
Serve Tzatziki Sauce With
Tzatziki is one of the most versatile sauces. It’s terrific as a dip, a spread on sandwiches, a topping, and even a salad dressing (try it on our Chicken Salad to make a Tzatziki Chicken Salad).
- Roast Chicken
- Moroccan Chicken
- Sauce Sandwiches
- Grilled Vegetables
- Pita Chips
- Gyros wrapped in Pita Bread
- Sauce for Souvlaki
- Fresh Vegetables (as a dip)
Can I add mint?
Mint is a traditional flavoring sometimes added to tzatziki. You can substitute the dill and add 1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint, or add it to taste.
Can I use less garlic?
Add the garlic to taste, keeping in mind that fresh homegrown garlic can taste much stronger and spicier than store-bought garlic. I love adding the full 4 cloves of garlic to give the sauce extra flavor.
Make-Ahead
Homemade tzatziki sauce can typically be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. If you notice any separation in the sauce, simply stir before serving. We do not recommend freezing tzatziki.
In the summer months. when our garden cucumbers are booming, we are all about our favorite cucumber recipes, like Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad and Creamy Cucumber Salad are on our regular rotation. Tzatziki is definitely on our ‘favorites’ list.
More Greek Recipes
Tzatziki Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 English cucumber
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 16 oz plain Greek yogurt, cold, (either full fat or fat-free will work)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, Juice of 1/2 lemon; please squeeze a real lemon
- 3 to 4 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
- 1/3 cup chopped dill
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle
- 1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
Prep the Cucumber:
- Peel and finely dice the cucumber, or you can grate on the large holes of a box grater if preferred. Transfer to a bowl lined with a cheesecloth* and sprinkle cucumbers with 1/2 tsp salt and give them a light stir. Set aside for the cucumbers to release their juice while you prep the remaining ingredients.
How to Make Tzatziki Sauce:
- In a large mixing bowl, combine plain Greek yogurt, lemon juice, grated garlic cloves, chopped dill, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, or season to taste.
- Use the cheesecloth to squeeze out as much juice as you can from your chopped cucumber. You'll be surprised how much juice comes out. Discard the juice and add squeezed cucumber to your mixing bowl.
- Stir everything to combine and season to taste with more salt and pepper if desired. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or until ready to serve. I love serving drizzled with a little more extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Good Things
It’s early in the season, but my parents already have ripe fresh cucumbers because they plant them in their backyard greenhouse. I can’t put into words how much I love the garden-grown variety. They have an irresistible crunch and sweetness that puts all store-bought cucumbers to shame.
Thankfully, for this recipe, you won’t tell much of a difference so don’t worry if you can only get them from the grocery store. People always ask what kinds of cucumbers my Mom grows so if you’re curious, they are called Amur. The seeds were gifted to her from a relative in Ukraine, but you can source Amur seeds online.
I’m so happy I found your recipe! It tastes so much better than store bought. I use the sauce instead of mayonaise to make a healthy version of chicken salad.
That is really a brilliant idea!! Thank you so much for sharing! What else do you put into your chicken salad?
Natasha, I just made your tzatziki. I was really stoked to find a recipe on your website, and made it as soon as I had a chance to pick up the ingredients. One quick question, though. What do you think about adding some mint (fresh or dried) to the recipe. I’ve always found mint to be a good addition to Mediterranean cuisine.
I’m having a hard time imagining this with mint. It might be too potent for this recipe. If you did try it, let me know what you thought of it. Thanks Andy 🙂
Love your recipes, love your blog. That being said, (and it it sooooo true). the cucumber you have pictured is NOT an English cucumber, it’s a plain old, run of the mill American garden cuke. Is this the one you used? What do you think of stirring in a tablespoon of sour cream to soften that bitter plain yougurt sauce someone else mentioned?
Yes, I’m aware of that. When I took the photos, I was testing it that time with a plain cucumber, but I thought English cucumber was better so that is what I put in the ingredients list. I haven’t tried sour cream since the sauce didn’t really taste bitter to me…
I added a couple tablespoons of sour cream to soften the bitterness too. Made it perfect!
This sauce was wonderful! I made it to go with smoked chicken and smoked lamb. My guests went on and on about the tzatziki sauce. I made the recipe exactly as is. Very simple. I think it was even better than my local Greek restaurant’s sauce!
That is fantastic news and quite a compliment. Thank you so much for leaving a great review 🙂
Totally delicious. My husband ends up eating the sauce with anything he can find in the fridge.
Lol. Your comment just made my day. I’m exactly the same way when I make it! 😉
Hi! How long will this keep in the refrigerator for? If there’s any left that is! 🙂
I haven’t had it in there longer than 2 days. The cucumber might get soft longer than that, but I guess you probably won’t be able to tell anyways 🙂
AMAZING recipe. I’ve tried a few different tzatziki recipes and I have never found one I enjoyed UNTIL NOW! Everyone was piling the sauce on our kabobs and chicken. Even the baby was eating it plain from a spoon. My father-in-law who is from the middle east and knows what this stuff is supposed to taste like loved it.
That’s fantastic! I’m so happy you all enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for a fantastic review! 🙂
Haha, I truly agree with your comment that this sauce rocks Ukrainian/Russian tastebuds. I was searching for a good recipe for this addictive sauce whilst pondering why I was straying from the tasty food of my family. And now I know. Perhaps it’s the proximity of Ukraine/Greece/Bulgaria through the Black Sea that makes the food so compatible. My uncle is a Bulgarian and much of what he makes has Greek influence. 🙂
It must be something about that part of the world; we know good food when we taste it 🙂 I do love Greek food!
Hello there.
I am trying the sauce, assume I know the answer, but wanted to be sure. For the cucumber, you do not take out the seeds or any center. All of it goes into the sauce. ( Squeezed well of course!)
Thank you
You can if you want to. I’ve seen it done both ways. I didn’t seed my cucumbers; I just squeezed the juice out really well 🙂
I found this recipe through pintrest and am so happy I did. I made chicken gyros and wanted a no frills sauce. All I had was dry dill but it still worked perfectly though next time I’ll remember to pick some up. Right after unfinished making it I had to stop myself from eating all of it before everything else was done.
And for any one who cares I used The Greek Gods Greek yogurt in traditional plain for my base.
I’m so happy you loved it! I love discovering new treasures on Pinterest! I hope you find many more new favorites here. Welcome to my blog 🙂
It still has that Bitter plain yogurt taste. Is there anyway to get ride of that or is that a normal taste for this sauce? I made it exactly the was it says except maybe a little more garlic. free lemon and fresh dill. it’s been sitting over night and it still has a bitter taste.. Does this go away when put on the gyro?
What brand of yogurt did you use (curious)? Did you mince up the cucumber really well? That usually helps! Mine still tasted a little yogurty by itself, but will be less so when it’s in a gyro.
I used stonyfield organic whole milk plain yogurt when I made this sauce and it was delicious! It didn’t have any weird yogurt off taste and I could pretty much stand there and eat it with a spoon! Lol. I also served it to my hubby with the morrocan chicken and it was well received 🙂
I’ll have to try it with whole milk yogurt. Mine was low fat and I bet a whole milk one would be even yummier! 🙂
Sometimes the cucumbers are bitter.that may be the problem.I found greek strained yougart made by Fage. That I am going to try.
Natasha, what yogurt did you use? I cant find a greek yogurt that everyone in my family will like. Thanks
I have used chobani and the Kirkland signature one from Costco.
Very yummy sauce:) we used to buy this sauce/dip @ Costco. Now we can have homemade.. We had it with your Moroccan chicken & it was delicious:)
Awesome!! I’m so glad you could enjoy the two recipes together. 🙂
I made this yesterday to serve with mediterranean-style roasted vegetables at my mum’s birthday party. Everyone LOVED it! I made a few adjustments, though: Used parsley instead of dill, as it’s really hard to find it in Brazil, and I also seeded the cucumbers too. It tasted amazing! Thanks for the recipe!. 🙂
You’re welcome! All the way from Brazil? Wow! 🙂 It’s great to know it works well with parsley 🙂
Natasha, now you are up MY alley 🙂 My husband is Russian and I follow your food blog to bring a little bit of his childhood to our table. However, I am of Greek descent and I can safely say I still do greek best! Tzatziki is a staple that we put on everything! Kind of like Bubba’s shrimp from Forest Gump. Tzatziki with souvlaki, tzatziki with roast lamb, tzatziki with grilled vegetable, tzatziki with meatballs, tzatziki on bread, tzatziki with olives, a side of tzatziki with potatoes, tzatziki with garlic shrimp………You get the idea 🙂
Rather than chopping the cucumber, our family grates it on the medium side of a box grater. This allows for more of the cucumber’s surface area to be exposed, making it easier to squeeze excess water. This also allows for a more uniform, spreadable and dippable texture to the tzatziki. As a bonus, it masks the cucumber better for people who are not huge fans!
If you really want to “do it right”, the old greek grandmothers will tell you to cut the cucumber in half and remove the seeds before grating it. I personally don’t bother with this step as I am a bit lazy and have not seen a significant difference with or without the seeds. Especially if you take care to drain the excess water. Finally, letting the tzatziki sit in the fridge overnight (or longer) will help the flavors come together particularly well.. but that would imply that you have the self-control not to gobble it all up immediately.
I will definitely have to try your method. Grating the cucumber sounds easier anyway! 🙂 I’ve seen a few recipes online that seed first, but even without doing that, it wasn’t watery at all the next day. I guess I did a good job squeezing the juice out of it! 😉 Thanks so much for sharing your expertise!
By the way thank you for this post. You should post more Mediterranean recipes
I have two more coming very soon. One for chicken and the other for vegetable skewers. Both are so tasty!
I make tazikisauce too for our homemade gyros. We love it. I’m from Armenia so that explains why I’m a lover of Middle East foods.
I’ve eaten gyros before, but have never actually made them at home. I should definitely give it a whirl. Thanks for the idea!
Yum!!! When I made tzatziki for the first time my kids loved it. My daughter made salads with it. Then she even made it her self. Especially we all loved it in Gyros!!! It is a hit in our house. 🙂
My son didn’t really like it; maybe it’s his dislike if cucumbers. Oh well. Hopefully when he grows up he will gain a stronger appreciation for this wonderful sauce.
Pinned! This is totally up my alley. No adjustments.:)
Thank you for pinning. 🙂 yep I even used non fat yogurt this time and it turned out mighty tasty!
That’s funny, I made tzatziki just last week to accompany quinoa patties. I love this sauce too! Actually, I love Greek food in general.
Quinoa patties… Yum!! Do you have a good recipe you could share (I have to ask!) 😉
I plan on posting them soon to my new blog that I just opened eatwithtaste.com 🙂
Awesome!!! Can’t wait!
Natasha, I love quinoa patties! I make them all the time using this recipe:
http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/quinoa-patties/
Adjustable to your tastes. I like more garlic being Russian and all, and more cheese.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Hello Lily
Your Quinoa looks great, what can you eat them with? Please give me some suggestions!!!
Many thanks