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.
Delicious! So fresh and easy to make. No need to buy store-bought with this recipe.
Ahhhhmazing i made mine with dill thank you
Thank you, Denisha!
I was tired and converting the recipe plus halving so put in a little too much lemon juice (and I used 3 garlic cloves as I like mine garlicky as I’ve had in Greece) but nevertheless it looks perfect. I’ve been making tzatziki for 40 years, and come full circle, this is the best of them all. Now I’m going to make my low cal hummus! It will be a very long time before we get back there so this holiday weekend we shll pretend. Thanks again!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you were still able to enjoy it.
Delicious! Very easy to make and always much appreciated.
Do you use an English cucumber or regular?
Excited to try the recipe! I live in Kansas!
Hi! You can use either!
I find the English cucumber is less watery, More cucumber for the buck!
Easy to make and absolutely delicious. Thank you!
OMG it was delicious! I used dried dill but still tasted amazing! thanks!
You’re welcome! I’m happy you were able to enjoy it.
If making with dry dill, did you use less than 2 tablespoons?
Made this for gyros and thought it was excellent. Simple and tasty. I made it with an English cucumber and a combination of dill and mint. Will definitely be making it again for both gyros and as a sauce/dip. Thanks for the recipe and instructions.
I love your taziki recipe and would love to see more
Made this for the first time and it was great!
I use this on top of quinoa, romaine, air fryer chickpeas, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, and kalamata olives and it’s so good!
Thank you for sharing, Kayla!
Thank you. A sure staple to accompany our lamb (or anything else that needs a fresh burst). Very tasty and easy to make
This is the second time I’ve made this recipe and I love it and its so easy
Never had or even tried this in my life before finding this recipe. I made this with grilled lamb kebabs and everyone loved it! Super easy to make too.
This was super delicious. Reminds me of a Greek restaurant I love to eat at. The only change I made was add less dill because I don’t like that flavor profile too much.
Yes I made this and I love it. So easy to make and so delicious. I went on the search for a good recipe after ordering takeout and the tzaztiki that came with it was terrible. It came from a Greek restaurant, so next time used a different restaurant and the tzaztiki was even worse. I mentioned to a friend how bad it was and they said they never liked it. So I had to find a good recipe, got lucky on my first try.
A light delight and easy recipe! I used garlic and lemon as per taste but the ratios are otherwise perfect in this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipe!
I just finished making tzatziki sauce and it is delicious. I used fat free Greek yogurt and strained it while the cukes were sweating. We will have this as a salad dressing for dinner. Thank you for the recipe!
Mary
just made it.. I am in love and will need this in my refrigerator at ALL times now. thanks.
Made tonight with homemade gyros. Delicious. I use labna a middle eastern yogurt so it’s even creamier. Will save leftovers for serving with veggies. Absolutely puts store bought version to shame
Sounds delicious! Thank you for your review.
Love it! I did not have mint or dill on-hand but I have lots of curly parsley so I chopped it fine in the food processor. So good.
This is stunningly delicious. I can’t wait to eat it with our dinner this evening. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Made it and :) happy ! I added a few more tbs of mint because I personally love it and its delicious !
Great! Thank you for your review, Ana.
Thanks for the easy to follow recipe. Came out great!
Thank you! The sauce came out great! I added more garlic but yum!
Thank you for sharing, Alina!
Excellent recipe, of course I tweak for my own tastebuds: I used non-fat greek yogurt, added the lemon rind, and I included the juice from the cucumber, extra garlic and extra dill. easy to make and the family loves it – very refreshing!
This was so Yummy…I used two smallish mostly peeled seedless English cubes and shredded in food processor on shredding disc. Everything else the Same; I used plenty of dill. I served it as a side during our one week early Easter Ham dinner with with all the fixings.Thanks for another great recipe.
Made this this afternoon! Let it stew in the fridge for dinner. But my taste test was very exciting!
A general rule of thumb for replacing fresh herbs with dry is to use one third the amount of dry herbs for fresh because the dried herb’s flavor is intensified. In this case, I would start with 2 teaspoons of dried dill in place of the 2 Tablespoons of fresh. Let the flavors meld and then adjust to taste, adding more, if desired.
Thank you, perfect
This is amazing! Tastes like Greek holidays :)
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Eleanor!
Amazing! I accidentally used a zester instead of a grater for the cucumber, and I used lactose-free regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt (lactose-free Greek yogurt can be hard to find).
Thank you for sharing, Claire! I’m happy you were still able to enjoy it.
I use an inside out nut bag to squeeze the moisture from the cucumber.
After working at a specialty-burger 50’s restaurant for 13 years, the Gyro Burger quickly became my one & only go-to. Sadly, we haven’t been open the last few summers & to say I miss that burger is a MASSIVE understatement.
I couldn’t take it any longer & finally went looking for the ingredients. My tiny, local store does not carry any form of tzatziki, so I’ve had to resort here….
This sauce is aaaammmmaaaazing & I’d like to eternally thank the posters for this! For anyone who’d like to try my gyro burger, it’s a half lb patty with lettuce, tomato, (onion if you like it), and a healthy dose of feta & tzatziki.
Thanks again!
I didn’t have lemons so I used white wine vinegar – this is really very good!
I don’t care for dill and my local produce seller didn’t have fresh mint so I used fresh parsley and it tastes awesome! So fresh!
Delicious. Thank you
Just tried Tzatziki dip for the first time. Really good. I may try it in a baked potato instead of sour cream.
This is so, so good! I made it to go with chicken souvlaki and it was perfect.
I love this receipe
I love this idea Kayla!! I Will try this!!
OK this is the best tanziki!! I usually buy from the store but never again so easy to!!
Can I replace Greek yogurt with sour cream for Tzatziki recipe
Hi Katherine, It won’t be traditional and flavor may change. If you try it, let me know what you think.
I love this recipe. Grating and squeezing the cucumbers is much easier that salting and draining. Seems so obvious once you do it. Used an idea I got from a little Greek restaurant I used to go to and added some grated feta cheese instead of the salt.
So glad I discovered your recipe last summer! I put the shredded cucumber in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze all the liquid out. I’ve made other similar recipes in the past, but this is the best!
I love it! Thank you for sharing, Alice.
Hi I will make a tzatziki according to your recipe, and I’ll revert to tell you. But I have to ask you if you find any reason to add some chili (or peperoni) and / or olives, or even a few capers to the mix, or as sides.
I think you can not overdo any of those, but it seems that this is a great recipe and I was imagining what could be added either to this or to the food preparation you have the tzatziki with. I believe that in Iran they make something like this but also add chopped onion. If that is not too overbearing it should enhance the taste – while complicating and reducing the number of people who would like the taste, perhaps. Perhaps no longer original..
As per herbs I am sure thyme would be my first choice. It has a good taste that reminds me of a forest. I don’t know about basil but probably that is good too. Mint is always great and the fresh dill is almost irresistible for me. And if you would have your tzatziki with a piece of fat meat; either lamb or perhaps pork, then rosemary might do the job nicely.
I get all hungry by writing this and I’ll make sure to get the ingredients together!
Thanks for writing nicely about the food you use this for.
Next I will look up taramasalata – a more strong tasting mix which goes well with seafood.
Take care and hang in there, soon the will let you out again!
Kathryn,
I usually look at recipes and modify to suit my needs. I followed your recipe as written, using fresh mint and dried dill. It tastes great! I have chicken marinating in a garlicky yogurt mix. Chicken gyros tonight…it is going to be a tasty garlic fest! Thank you!
Delicious! Fresh ingredients and easy to make. My go-to recipe!!!
Tastes amazing!! Thank you for sharing!!
Delicious! Great recipe
Easy and delicious! Half the ingredients were growing in our garden and the other half in kitchen stock. I made as soon as I found it online. Wanted something different as we have plenty of cucumbers coming in. We are using for a salad dressing also. Btw we are dog lovers too! Thanks so much for sharing and yes your recipe(s) are still in full swing on the internet!
I love that you were able to make this with your garden produce. Thank you for your review, Judy!
Kate and Cookie—-Thank you so much for your blog! I really appreciate your detail and hard work you put into it. I use it all the time for recipes. (I am a dog lover too!) Thank you! You are appreciated!
Thank you, Michelle! I’m happy you are enjoying the recipes.
I love love love tzatziki and decided to make some to top off the pita pizzas we’re having for dinner tomorrow. After assembling everything, I just couldn’t resist scooping a serving over dolmas and topping it off with sliced red onion. Amazing. This will now be my go-to recipe!
That sounds delicious, Sarah! Thank you for taking the time to review.