How to Make Tzatziki
Learn how to make tzatziki, a traditional Greek yogurt and cucumber sauce with fresh herbs. Tzatziki is a refreshing sauce or dip, and it's so easy to make!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 28, 2024
Tzatziki! Tsaht-ZEE-kee! Otherwise known as that yogurt and cucumber sauce you love at Greek restaurants but worry about mispronouncing (hear the correct pronunciation here).
Tzatziki is made simply with yogurt, drained cucumber, olive oil, fresh herbs (usually mint or dill), garlic, lemon juice and salt. It’s a refreshing chilled sauce, dip or spread.
I traveled to Greece last fall and ordered tzatziki at every restaurant. I’m serious. I enjoyed tzatziki with every single meal, even breakfast. This recipe tastes just like authentic tzatziki.
I tend to associate tzatziki with Greek food, but you’ll find it served across the Mediterranean and Middle East, sometimes under different names or in slightly different forms.
Tzatziki is often served with grilled meats and gyros, but I can’t think of a grilled or roasted vegetable it wouldn’t play nicely with. You can also serve up some tzatziki with your next appetizer spread. Let’s make some already!
Uses for Tzatziki
Grilled Vegetables
- Bell peppers
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Asparagus
- Green beans
- Corn on the cob
Appetizer Spreads
- Toasted pita wedges
- Crisp raw vegetables
- Olives
- Cheese and crackers
- Hummus
- Zhoug or Shatta (Middle-Eastern hot sauces)
Falafel, Sandwiches and Salads
- Falafel
- Pita sandwiches (you could use it instead of the avocado in that recipe)
- Tabbouleh
- Lentil salad
- Chickpea salad
My Tzatziki Technique
Fortunately, tzatziki is super easy to whip together. The only trick is to properly drain the cucumber before mixing it into the yogurt. Otherwise, cucumber waters down the sauce too much. Salting the grated cucumber and letting the excess moisture drip out takes a while.
The easiest and most efficient way to get rid of the excess moisture is to lightly squeeze the grated cucumber over the sink. The only wait required in my recipe is to let the tzatziki rest for five minutes after you mix it all together, to let the flavors meld. At that point, you can serve it right away or chill it for later.
Tzatziki Nutrition & Yogurt Notes
Nutritionally speaking, tzatziki is a creamy but light sauce. You can dollop it generously on your food without adding a lot of calories (unlike, say, mayonnaise or ranch dressing). It’s made mostly with Greek yogurt and cucumber, after all.
I haven’t found a noticeable difference in texture whether I use whole-milk yogurt, low-fat or non-fat, so any of those will work. Traditional Greek tzatziki is made with strained goat or sheep’s yogurt, but it’s hard to find those here. The Greek yogurt sold here in the U.S. is strained yogurt (that’s why it’s thicker and higher in protein than regular yogurt), so I use that.
As always, please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! I’m excited to hear how it turns out for you and how you serve it.
Watch How to Make Tzatziki Sauce
Best Tzatziki
Learn how to make tzatziki, a traditional Greek yogurt and cucumber sauce with fresh herbs. Tzatziki is a refreshing sauce or dip, and it’s so easy to make! This basic recipe yields about 2 ½ cups; multiply if necessary.
Ingredients
- 2 cups grated cucumber (from about 1 medium 10-ounce cucumber, no need to peel or seed the cucumber first, grate on the large holes of your box grater)
- 1 ½ cups plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint and/or dill
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Working with one big handful at a time, lightly squeeze the grated cucumber between your palms over the sink to remove excess moisture. Transfer the squeezed cucumber to a serving bowl, and repeat with the remaining cucumber.
- Add the yogurt, olive oil, herbs, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to the bowl, and stir to blend. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Taste and add additional chopped fresh herbs, lemon juice, and/or salt, if necessary (I thought this batch was just right as-is).
- Serve tzatziki immediately or chill for later. Leftover tzatziki keeps well, chilled, for about 4 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my cookbook, Love Real Food.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Substitute an equal amount of cashew sour cream for the yogurt, and thin the tzatziki with a small splash of water if necessary.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
If I don’t have fresh herbs, can I use dried?
Hi Gena, you could try, but I’m not sure you will achieve true “tzatziki” flavor with dried herbs. If you give it a shot, I’d use one-third as much dried herbs as fresh.
Perfect, no adjustments needed. I did use cilantro instead cause thats what I had.
I am sorry but found this dip was way to mild for tzatziki. Tasted more like a cucumber dip.
I doubled the garlic, not really sure how much dill but probably about 50% more than recipe. And it was great.
You need to add a 1/2 tsp of red wine vinegar too to the recipe. helps the flavors meld
Yes!! This was a GENIUS tip!
I love this recipe! I never thought to make it from scratch before but it’s perfect for us because my husband is lactose intolerant (so we use lactose free yogurt) and I can’t have garlic
Thanks!!
This looks so good! We love lamb and whether we cook it or order it there never seems to be enough tzatziki so I started looking for recipes. With all the reviews I will be trying this one tomorrow but I was curious if mint is a common ingredient in it or added for a different spin in this recipe? I’ve only seen dill used so far but I’m open to anything!
I like both! It’s really up to you. I’ve had it both ways.
Delicious! I added an extra clove of minced ginger to give it a big more zing, and it was perfect!
That’s great! Thank you for your review, Holly.
Wonderful and easy! We don’t have lemons, only access to limes. BUT, still tasty!! Went perfectly with your falafel recipe.
That’s a great combination, Tarin! Thank you for your review.
This is delicious. I just googled a recipe that used mint and dill and found this. Thank you for a recipe I will now use over and over again.
So glad to hear it, Christine! Stay well. :)
Can this be made with regular yogurt. Greek is not my favorite.
I’ve made it with regular. Let it sit in a fine mesh strainer for a little while to let some of the liquid out. The amount of time depends on how thick you want it to be.
I drain plain yogurt to thicken it using a melitta style coffee filter. Texgal, maybe the reason you don’t like “Greek” yogurt is that most “Greek style” yogurt you buy is thickened with gums and whatnot, rather than being drained.
Easy and tasty! Made it vegan by using homemade cashew yogurt. Yummy
The family LOVES this! I can’t wait to try some of the variations In reading in the comments.
Super good! Added slightly more yogurt to make it more dip-like, but otherwise spot on! Little kids gobbled it up :) and we used the squeezable dill paste and it worked great.
We just made your fried rice last night, also awesome. You have a new fan over here!
This recipe was perfect for homemade chicken gyros! We made them for dinner tonight and my kids loved it!
hello there ! thank you for being there for a moment-notice that i was making “tzatziki” for the gyros tonight for dinner. Had no lemon or herbs, added little salt & garlic pepper to meat. For the lemon & herb, i used a little of (Marie’s market reserve) meyer lemon basil dressing, which also had an oil) in the sauce mix. Cuz i reviewed your’s, i was able to make a “thumbs-up” for dinner. That was the closes i could get to your ingredients. Thank you so much. My next gyro dinner or dip (with pita or mann), i will follow exactly your’s. At this time “stay healthy safe”.
Lovely recipe! I added extra lemon juice, salt and garlic and it was perfect. Had most dill and not so much mint. Next time I want to add more mint. Thank you for a great recipe!
I salted the cucumbers first to take out the water of it, faster.
And, used dried dill, as didn’t have the fresh one. Anyway, it turned out great!
We ate it with potatoes, and in a while we will finish it with some Doritos, while watching a movie.
Thanks!
no good at all, look for another recipe
We liked this recipe so much, I a made it again tonight. Both times I added about 1/8tsp lemon zest; and used 2% Greek yogurt. This time I didn’t have fresh dill, so used 1 tsp dried dill and 1 tbsp fresh mint. Love the flavor, the consistency and how it enhances some of our favorite Mediterranean and east Indian entrees.
This was wonderful! I made it with non fat Greek yogurt and dried dill and it was delicious. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
I sprinkle and toss shredded cucumber (in collander) with salt to extract the water, then rinse out the salt and press out the water:
I believe you are correct with this recipe perfect as is:) I added the zest of the lemon just because I hate to waste. Love love the mint instead of dill
Easy, simple, and delicious!
I’m happy you think so, Kasie! I appreciate your review.
This is amazing. Recipe proportions are correct.
I am not one to leave comments or ratings but have been compelled to do so. We had Greek night this evening and I made Kate’s hummus and tzatziki. Both were absolutely amazing! I’m looking forward to exploring more of your recipes.
This is my 3 tzatziki recipe. 3rd is the charm! I had to use dried dill; still delicious!
I’ve made this a couple of times now and it will forever be my go to tzatziki recipe!
Delightful and easy! Thanks!
Just made it abd it is gorgeous, thank-you xxx
So delicious, will definitely be replacing my other dressings with this one. I used half the amount of dill (didn’t have enough) and this was still spectacular. Thanks!
This was great! I’ve tried several recipes for tzatziki and none of them tasted like what we had in Greece. This one actually did! Very well done!
That’s great to hear! I’m glad it leveled up to your expectations.
Wonderful! I did add some black pepper, extra lemon, and some slivered red onions for a greater kick. Also I didn’t have Greek yogurt, but regular yogurt tasted just fine.
Thank you for sharing, Courtney! I appreciate your review.
Yummy and so quick and easy to make. Next time I may add more garlic, although this recipe went perfectly with a spicy African coconut curry dish called Kuku Paka as it provided a cool balance. How come the bowl of leftover tzatziki shrank to half of what it had been when it began its journey from the counter to the fridge?
Hi Jackie! That seems strange. I’m not sure I have experience it shrinking. Only thing I can think of is either you eating it :) or, it settled after it was stirred and appeared less. Seems interesting!
You guessed right the first time. Half of the tzatziki mysteriously jumped out of the bowl right into my mouth. That happens a lot at my place when something tastes great! It’s kind of magical. Heh heh.
Good
Made this. Delicious. I was ‘taste testing’ the whole time I was making dinner.
Water is removed from cucumber by salting it first,then let it ten min and then squeeze.
I have been searching for a tzatziki dip that came close to one I fell in love years ago from a restaurant that has since closed, and OH MY GOD this was amazing! Absolutely fell in LOVE with it! I did add more garlic (my personal preference) and it was to die for! Thank you!!!
So perfectly light and yummy. Due to dairy allergies in our house, I used cashew yogurt and it came out great. We served it with grilled zucchini and bell peppers.
Lovely easy shame I can’t share my pic of it top with coriander and olives
Thank you for sharing your variation, Karen!
Excellent. Love the mint!
So easy! And tasted exactly as you would get at a restaurant.
Delicious!
Fortunate to have a full herb garden outside the kitchen door so I had plenty (and used plenty+) fresh dill and mint.
Placed the grated cukes in a clean kitchen cloth and wrung them until all the water was squeezed out.
Is it two cups of shredded cucumber before or after you squeeze it? Trying to perfect it .
Hi Jentte! Great question. Two cups grated, prior to squeezing. I hope this helps!
Absolutely Stellar! We made it vegan by swapping out the yogurt, using ground up raw cashews, and adding double the lemon. Can’t stop thinking about this!
Whipped up a batch of this and served it to rave reviews. Simple, easy and delicious!
Delicious as is, but right now mint, dill AND garlic scapes are coming up in the garden at the same time. Replaced the garlic by the scapes and voila!
This Tzatziki was great! My husband wants to “put it on everything” and “eat it everyday”. Only modification was mixing everything, but the dill and cucumber and let them sit overnight mostly do to meal prepping. We paired with the falafel, also highly recommend. Thank you Kate!
This is delicious! I could eat it like candy. I had it alongside a veggie omelet, and it was magical. A great way to use up an abundance of plain yogurt, and some cucumbers that weren’t getting any fresher, a lonely chunk of onion, some 1/2 dried out cloves of garlic. I turned that junk that was just taking up room, into a bowl of yum! Bonus, I found a place to use the lovely dill and chives that volunteered in my flower bed. Thanks for the great recipe, I’ll be checking out your others
Pro tip-. Grate the cucumber onto flim wrap. Fold the 4 corners to the center, give it 1 360 twist, invert, squeeze. No fuss no cleanup.
I subbed 1/2 cup sour cream because I was short on yogurt and I love sour cream
Easy peasy base to start! SO GOOD AND HEALTHY!
I LOVE THIS!!! So easy and SO delicious. By the way, the first time I made this was in winter, and I didn’t have fresh mint. I used dried, and it worked well. The mint flavor was perfect.