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.
I find apple cider vinegar tastes better than lemon juice in tzatziki sauce. Try the same ratio. Making this weekly since cucumbers and dill are prolific in the garden.
Very good. I just zapped it in my Ninja single serve. Easy and tasty.
We make Middle Eastern food a lot in our house and this is one of the best tzatziki recipes we’ve come across. It’s a definite to make again! Thanks for sharing.
I made this tzatziki to go with steak we planned to put in a wrap. It was delicious! For a side, I made a Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumber, green onions and feta) Yum! Because there is just the two of us, I halved the recipe but I still have lots left over; so, I’m revising my menu for the next few days – that way we can have the tzatsiki with pork one night and grilled chicken another night. We can’t go to Greece right now so this is the next best thing.
So delicious. Perfect proportions for my taste- I used fat-free Greek yogurt and it tasted great!
Delicious!
I made this dairy free with Kite Hill, plain, unsweetened yogurt.
Your instructions to press the cucumber using the palms of my hands worked really well. The sauce was creamy and refreshing.
Served it with some lamb kebabs, cucumber, tomato, onion, avocado, and apple.
Thanks for a recipe that I will gladly serve to friends this summer!
Troy
Great recipe! I will use it for falafel and fish.
Hello! I’m working on a blog post for falafel and pita bread. I usually serve it with tzatziki and love this recipe for it. Would you mind if I rewrite this recipe to use in my post (with a link back to your site of course!) Thanks and happy blogging!
Tried out your receipe for Tzatziki. Followed it verbatim. It came out delicious.
Thank you and regards from Israel.
Can I grate the cucumber a day ahead and leave in the fridge until the next day if I don’t have all the ingredients
This was indeed the best tzatziki recipe I’ve made. The tips on grating the whole cucumber and squeezing it out were fantastic. A huge hit with the recipe requested by all!
Good
I don’t think I’ve ever commented, but have made more of your recipes than I can count. This was DELICIOUS! I used fresh mint and dill, was so so good. I’d be interested to try the 1/2 tsp of red wine vinegar someone else mentioned…
Was easy to make, and lovely and refreshing. Will be making it again. Used it with lamb gyros.
I’m happy to hear that, Michelle! Thank you for sharing.
This is my absolute favorite tzatziki recipe. Thank you!!
Just tried it! SO good!! and…guilt free calories! Fresh mint made it just right. I may try some of the tips given here, but I am satisfied with the results.
Fresh,yummy and very easy to make!
Sorry, not on INSTAGRAM but made both the hummus and tzatziki lately,and they were great. Just made a couple or changes–I like salting and draining the cukes so I’m not “wearing” them…lol! Then I don’t add salt later. And I strained the yoghurt with coffee filters so it’s really thick. I also used 3 cloves of garlic but I was making 1 and a 1/2 times the amount. And finally, hubby hates mint so I used golden oregano and also garnished the finished product with more oregano and finely minced lemon peel. Looked lovely. Thank you!
I don’t usually comment, but this is the 4th time I’ve made this recipe (with variations). I added more garlic and lemon (we love those more than most people do), squeezed the cucumber in a folded-up kitchen towel, and added pepper. But yes, this is the best general tzatziki recipe I have found. It works great as written, too.
Made this last night to have with falafel. So good! And so easy!
This was a great recipe! However I added extra dill, lemon and garlic to make it have a bit more flavour like tzatziki. Otherwise it’s great as is. Excellent recipe!
Can this be made with sour cream instead of yogurt in order to save myself a trip to the supermarket?
Hi Bebe! You could attempt it, but I can’t guarantee the results. This recipe is meant to have a yogurt base.
Seriously delicious recipe. I squeezed the cucumber out over the sink, in paper towels and it worked great.
Thank you!! We made this last night, and it was most excellent.
I tried your cucumber dill dip it was great. I couldn’t find the fresh basil so I used the spice instead
So delicious with pita chips.
Thank you! That was easy and delicious.
I’ve made this twice, love it. I have an overabundance of cucumbers and mint in my garden and this recipe has served me well.
Your recipes are always a big hit in our house. We decided to make our own Tzatziki instead of buying store bought and we do not regret. It was easy and delicious. We used both fresh dill and fresh mint.
Delish!
Once I’d translated all the cup and ounce measurements it was worth it! Delicious
This was excellent! We chowed down a whole bowl. Thanks so much for the great recipe.
This is best Tzatziki I have ever made or had.
I would never have thought to add mint
Recipe was perfect and delicious with Lamb
Thank you!!!!!!
This was just perfect! I always read through a number of recipes before I decide which I like best. Yours was the best, thank you!
This was just perfect! I always read through a number of recipes before I decide which I like best. Yours was the best, thank you! BTW I used this on lamb burgers…awesome!
Recipe was delicious exactly how I like it. I used fresh dill and garlic from our garden. Thank you for sharing!
made this to gop with gyros, delicious
I tried making this recipe but didn’t turn out as I like it. Got used to my mom in law’s tzasiki which is the best. First of all, that’s too much dry dill there way too much for a tzaziki. Second, u need atleast 2-3cloves of garlic to get that hint of it. Atleast use up the whole pint of greek yogurt not just 1 1/2 cups.
A bit of extra salt and juice of a whole lemon plus the 1/2 teaspoon of red wine vinegar recommended by Cynthia made this so good! The mint gave it a refreshing burst of flavor.
Get liquid out of any veggie quickly and easily with a tofu press.
Wow, that was really good! I used 5% Fage Greek yogurt and fill. Honestly, I wasn’t exact on measurements, but it turned out great. An easy and quick recipe that really made it for my gyros. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing your recipe! I loved it, and it was very refreshing, all this with the fewer calories . Best Tzatziki !!!
I made this yesterday as my husband loves gyros. We bought the meat from Costco but didn’t even think to look for sauce. So a search came up with your recipe. I cut it in half as I don’t eat gyros! My husband’s only comment was the texture because of the cucumber. I think I’ll grate it finer next time. But taste, tasted like his favorite Greek restaurant! So Thank You!
So EZ and Delicious!…I would give it 10 Stars ⭐️!!…Absolutely Delicious…Whole Family enjoyed !
Good recipe, but I suggest seeding the cucumbers before grating. Removing the seeds eliminates much of the water and has the added benefit of no seeds in the sauce. Also, garlic fans are going to want more garlic.
Yummmm! Just enjoyed your tzaziki recipe with chicken souvlaki and Greek potatoes! FA-BU-LOUS! A THOUSAND Thank-You’s. We all loved it.
Thanks this looks easy and great! I’m going to try with a good quity coconut yoghurt (love my cow’s milk yoghurt but gives me the blehs in my chest). Wish me luck!
Thank you for this recipe. The only things I change a little, are I add 1/2 tsp lemon zest and add another 1/2 tbs of minced garlic. I eat this with falafel on small toasted naan with sliced tomato and cucumber and hummus all the time
My mother is Armenian. We make this dip to go with many Armenian dishes. She always told me the Greeks & Armenians are “cousins” Your recipe was so helpful squeezing out extra fluid from cucks. Thx so Much!!! Jewelya Spencer, Utah
Your tazikia sauce was spot on from greece. I got friskie and added feta cheese to my sauce. We dipped greek meatballs in it. Yummy extra zip. I also used my ninja food processor to shread the cucumber and feta. I wrung the cucumber out in a clean dish towel. It was nice and dry and the ninja did the perfect shrewd. No manual labor except mixing. My yogurt is 2%. It worked great.
YUM! Quick and easy; even tho I left out the salt (on a lo-so diet) it tastes very similar to what I get at my favorite Greek restaurant. A little heavy on the cukes and light on the garlic for my taste. Will be making this again. And again. And again!
I’m excited you loved it, Katie! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Made this to go with the baked falafel recipe, it looked just like the picture and tasted perfect! I squeezed the cucumber a TON til there was very little wetness left (cause I misread the recipe and thought it said to do that lol) and it worked great, it was a good consistency and a great flavor! loved it, 5 stars easy