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tzatziki sauce in a bowl with an olive on top surrounded by pita chips.
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4.64 from 164 votes

Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

This Homemade Tzatziki Sauce is a refreshing and cool sauce made with yogurt, cucumber and dill, perfect for dipping, on gyros or an easy snack!
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Greek
Keyword: dip, tzatziki
Servings: 8
Calories: 37kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 English cucumber peeled and grated
  • 2 cups Greek yogurt
  • teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • 2 tablespoon dill fresh, chopped
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

  • Prepare the cucumber: Use a grater to grate the cucumber in a small bowl. Add 1/4 tsp of salt to it and mix, then let it sit for about 10 to 15 minutes. This will help draw out the water from the cucumber, so that we don't end up with a watery tzatziki sauce. I usually place it in a bowl over paper towels or cheese cloth, then squeeze the liquid out of it, this way you don't end up with a watery tzatziki.
  • Mix everything together: In a medium size bowl, combine the yogurt with the cayenne pepper, minced garlic, lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper and cucumber. Stir everything well and adjust with salt and pepper as necessary.
  • Chill then serve: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving.

Video

Notes

  1. Recipe yields about 3 cups of Tzatziki sauce. 
  2. An English cucumber is a cucumber that is generally sweeter than regular cucumber and it's longer and sometimes thinner.
  3. You can use regular plain yogurt, but I recommend using Greek yogurt, since it's a bit thicker and I find that it tastes a lot better too!
  4. A lot of people will tell you that they prefer mint over dill, and although I love mint, I really prefer dill in this sauce. Of course, if you want you can use mint instead, or why not use both!
  5. I also threw in a bit of cayenne pepper just so the sauce has a bit of kick but feel free to skip that.
  6. I like the thicker texture, and to be able to taste the cucumber! That's why I choose to grate mine. If you want more of a smooth, less chunky, blended sauce - you can toss all of your ingredients into the food processor.
  7. Nutrition: Nutritional information is for about 1/3 cup of tzatziki sauce. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 37kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 5g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 164mg | Potassium: 125mg | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 60IU | Vitamin C: 2.7mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 0.1mg