This authentic tzatziki sauce recipe is fresh, creamy, and really easy to make. An ideal addition to the famous souvlaki, eggplant & zucchini fritters, or a crazing meze board.
What is tzatziki sauce?
Tzatziki sauce is commonly served as a meze (a selection of small dishes served as appetizers) and is eaten with bread, fried eggplant, stuffed grape leaves, zucchini fritters, even french fries.
It is an essential ingredient to Greek souvlaki with pita.
Ingredients for tzatziki
To make this authentic tzatziki sauce recipe, you will need strained yogurt, cucumber, garlic, fresh dill, a little white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.
This is what you do:
Grate the cucumber using the large grates of a grater. Place grated cucumber in a colander in the sink. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let it rest to release its liquids for 15 minutes.
Mix yogurt, minced garlic cloves, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and three tablespoons of olive oil. Mix well.
Squeeze the cucumber to release the remaining liquid. Add it to the yogurt mix and mix well.
Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
Stir in most of the dill. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours (please see recipe notes).
Serve with some chopped dill on top and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Tips
- For a very garlicky tzatziki, use one garlic clove per 1/2 cup yogurt. If you wish to reduce its intensity, you can use garlic paste, a little at a time, until it reaches your desired flavor.
- Most often, strained yogurt is used. Regular plain yogurt is more watery and will release more liquid, while the tzatziki is refrigerated. Yogurt from cow’s milk is preferred due to its mild aroma and taste. That does not mean you can’t experiment with other types of yogurt. There is so much variety of yogurts with different fat content and types of milk, like sheep and goat’s milk. Avoid fruit or vanilla-flavored yogurts.
- Instead of white wine vinegar, use a little lemon juice.
- If dill is not available, substitute with mint, cilantro or parsley.
What can I have with tzatziki sauce
- Fried eggplant
- Fried zucchini
- Cauliflower fritters
- Falafel
- Keftedes – Greek meatballs
- Souvlaki skewers
- French fries (they are awesome with tzatziki!)
- Serve with crusty baguette, olives, cut-up tomatoes and cucumbers.
- Pita bread
- Crudités
Check out my Greek pantry staples
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Perfect Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
- 1½ cups greek yogurt grated
- 1 english cucumber
- 1-2 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ bunch of fresh dill finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Grate the cucumber using the large grates of a grater. Place grated cucumber in a colander in the sink. Add a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let it rest to release it's liquids for 15 minutes.
- Mix the yogurt, minced garlic clove, 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix well.
- Squeeze the cucumber to release all remaining liquid. Add cucumber to the yogurt mix. Stir well.
- Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir in most of the dill. Mix well and refridgerate for 1-2 hours (see notes).
- Serve with some chopped dill on top and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
- For better results, after mixing the ingredients, the dip should be put in the fridge. It needs to be cool when served, and leaving it overnight will bind the aromas and flavors of the individual ingredients. The minimum time for tzatziki to be refrigerated is 1 hour.
Nutrition
