Easy Greek Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Greek Tzatziki Sauce is full of creamy yogurt, shredded cucumbers, fresh dill, lemon juice, and garlic.  It’s a quick and easy recipe that tastes as authentic as the one served at your favorite Mediterranean restaurant.  This low-carb Greek yogurt sauce pairs well with chicken shish kabobs, turkey meatballs, lamb gyros, or vegan falafel.

Greek Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Light, refreshing, creamy, and loaded with fresh dill flavor.

This homemade tzatziki sauce recipe is going to put any restaurant or store bought version to shame.

Don’t believe me?

We recently had both a popular brand’s and my homemade version at home at the same time.

And hands down, this homemade tzatziki sauce recipe was the best!!

It’s made with finely shredded cucumbers, Greek yogurt, and just the right amount of crushed garlic cloves and fresh dill.

Pop all of the ingredients into your food processor and it’s ready to enjoy in less than 15 minutes.

Because we all know that no Chicken Shish Kebob, Turkey Meatball or Falafel recipe would be complete without a drizzle of some creamy Tzatziki sauce!

What is Tzatziki Sauce?

Tzatziki sauce is a common in the Mediterranean cuisine and typically consists of full-fat Greek yogurt, shredded cucumbers, fresh dill and crushed garlic.

While cucumbers do not have a ton of flavor, they do help give the tzatziki sauce a wonderful texture and are what makes this dip especially unique.

Oftentimes you will also find an acidic component, such as lemon juice or vinegar, along with a bit of olive oil added in.

Fresh dill is the most common herb used, with parsley, mint, and thyme sometimes being add in, too.

This Greek yogurt sauce is typically served with pita bread stuffed with gyro meat, alongside falafel, or as a dip for Mediterranean meatballs.

Ingredients

The ingredients you will need are pretty easy to find at your local grocery store. The Greek tzatziki sauce recipe ingredients include:

• Greek yogurt – Full-fat yogurt is the most authentic type to use, but feel free to use non-fat or 2%.  A 2% Greek yogurt is a great compromise so you still get the wonderfully creamy texture of the fat without too many extra calories.  Dairy-free yogurt can be used if you are vegan or avoiding dairy.
• Cucumbers – English seedless cucumbers are the best and easiest type to use since you will not have to remove the seeds before making the sauce.  If you have some cucumbers with seeds you would like to use up, simply cut them in half and remove the seeds before shredding.
• Garlic – Two cloves of fresh garlic are used.  If you’re hesitant to use this much, add in one clove at a time until it’s to your desired amount of garlicky goodness.
• Lemon juice – Fresh lemon juice adds a subtle acidity to the sauce and helps to preserve it’s freshness.
• Dill – This fresh herb is a must in this recipe.  If you want to change this recipe up a bit, try mixing in some fresh parsley, thyme, or mint along with it!
• Olive Oil – A high-quality olive oil is recommended for the best flavor.
• Salt

Kitchen Tools

Now that you have all of your necessary ingredients, let’s talk about a few kitchen appliances you will need when making this sauce.

The best kitchen tool to use is a large food processor that has both a grating attachment as well as an S-shaped blade.

You will use the grating attachment to grate your cucumber and the S-blade to mix up the Tzatziki sauce.

If you do not have a food processor you can always use a boxed grater to grate your cucumber and then mix it by hand.

You can also just finely chop your cucumbers for larger bites of it throughout your sauce.

Preparing the Cucumber

Once you’ve rinsed and cleaned your cucumber, you can either choose to peel it or leave the skin on.

Personally, I like to leave the skin on for added color and texture throughout the sauce.

1. Cut and remove both the stem and blossom ends from your cucumber.
2. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and then again into quarters so it will fit into the opening of your food processor.
3. Grate ½ – ¾ of the English cucumber using a food processor or boxed grater until you get 1 cup of shredded cucumber. (step 1 above)
4. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
5. Wrap shredded cucumber in cheese cloth or a thin dish towel and wring out any excess liquid. (step 2 above)

You should end up with ½ cup of packed cucumber once the moisture is removed.

How to Make

Once you have the cucumber grated and the excess moisture wrung out, it’s time to combine the rest of the ingredients.

1. Add cucumber, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, dill and salt to the bowl of a large food processor with an S-blade attached. (step 3 above)

2. Pulse 10-15 times or until ingredients are well incorporated. (step 4 above)

Make sure you do not over mix your ingredients.  Having a few larger chunks of cucumber really give this dip a wonderful texture.

Serving

Serve this homemade Greek Tzatziki sauce with Grilled Greek Chicken Shish Kabobs, Greek Turkey Meatballs, or Falafel.

You can also prepare it for an appetizer tray along with some homemade pita bread and an easy hummus recipe.

Storing

Homemade tzatziki sauce will last for up to a week if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

After a few days in the refrigerator the yogurt may begin to separate.  You can either drain out the liquid or give it a good stir and serve away!

FAQs

Should I use seedless or seeded cucumbers?

English seedless cucumbers are best to use.  Cucumbers with seeds can be used but the seeds will need to be scooped out before making the recipe.

What type of yogurt is best?

While full-fat Greek yogurt is the best to use when making a homemade tzatziki sauce, you can also substitute it with non-fat, 2% or even a dairy-free and vegan plain yogurt.

Can I freeze any extra sauce?

Freezing tzatziki sauce is not recommended since the yogurt tends to separate upon thawing.

5 from 3 votes

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Easy Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Greek Tzatziki Sauce is full of creamy yogurt, shredded cucumbers, fresh dill, lemon juice, and garlic.  It's a quick and easy recipe that tastes as authentic as the one served at your favorite Mediterranean restaurant.  This low-carb Greek yogurt sauce pairs well with chicken shish kabobs, turkey meatballs, lamb gyros, or vegan falafel.

Course Dinner, lunch, Main Course, sauce

Cuisine Greek

Keyword dip, easy, fresh, healthy, sauce

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 12 servings

Calories 35 kcal

Ingredients

• ¾ seedless cucumber skin on or peeled
• 2 cups Greek yogurt plain, full-fat, 2%, or non-fat
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice freshly squeezed
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. dill fresh finely chopped
• ½ tsp. salt to taste

Instructions

1. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and then again into quarters so it will fit into the opening of your food processor.

2. Grate the cucumber in a food processor with a shredding attachment, until you have 1 cup of shredded cucumber.
3. Let cucumber sit for 5-10 minutes. Wrap shredded cucumber in cheese cloth or a thin dish towel and wring out any excess liquid. You should end up with ½ cup of packed cucumber.

4. Add cucumber, yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, dill and salt to the bowl of a food processor with an S-shaped blade. Pulse 10-15 times or until ingredients are well incorporated.

5. Serve Tzatziki sauce with Chicken Shish Kabobs, Greek Turkey Meatballs, or Falafel and enjoy!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

• Use a dairy-free yogurt if vegan or avoiding dairy.
• If you do not have a food processor you can always use a boxed grater to grate your cucumber and a blender to blend it up.
• Store sauce in the refrigerator between servings. Sauce keeps well for up to a week.

Nutrition Facts

Easy Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 35 Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Cholesterol 2mg1%

Sodium 93mg4%

Potassium 84mg2%

Carbohydrates 2g1%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 1g1%

Protein 4g8%

Vitamin A 115IU2%

Vitamin C 3mg4%

Calcium 43mg4%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.