This authentic tzatziki recipe is a tasty homemade version of my favorite sauce I found in Greece. You'll love this cucumber yogurt sauce with dill, feta, lemon juice, and garlic - it's the perfect complement to roasted or grilled meats and makes a great salad dressing and dip for pita bread, crackers, and vegetables! Ready to make it?
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You'll ❤️ Greek Tzatziki Sauce
Here's a Greek-inspired meal idea! Serve Gyro Burgers (seriously one of my favorite burgers of all time!) with this tzatziki recipe. Then, make Greek Salad as a side dish - it's one of the most popular recipes on my site. Enjoy! 🙂
It's Easy To Make
No need to buy this in the store. This Homemade tzatziki sauce is very easy to make tastes so much fresher and healthier than the store-bought versions.
It's Tasty!
You will love the taste of this authentic tzatziki recipe. If you've never tried it before - think cool cucumbers with a creamy tangy dill taste. The tanginess comes from the unflavored Greek yogurt and lemons.
Healthy!
Cucumber dill sauce is very healthy. It works well if you are following a Mediterranean diet, or a low carb and keto diet. It is also gluten-free and has no added sugar. You can make it lower in fat by using a low fat or nonfat yogurt.
🥘 What You Will Need
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this tzatziki recipe:
Feta Cheese - you can use block feta then crumble it, or buy it already crumbled.
Plain Whole Milk Greek Yogurt - a key ingredient! Full fat yogurt has the best taste and texture.
Fresh Lemon Juice - freshly squeezed juice has the best flavor in this recipe.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Cucumber - many people will grate their cucumber but I prefer it diced for the texture. The tzatziki I had in Greece was diced as well but it is all a personal preference and chef's prerogative. 🙂
Garlic
Dill - I prefer fresh herbs for the best taste, especially with dill.
Salt - I used kosher salt in this recipe.
Ground Black Pepper
For exact ingredient quantities, please see the recipe card below!
🔪 How To Make Tzatziki Sauce
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making this authentic tzatziki recipe:
Add Ingredients
In a bowl mix feta cheese, yogurt, juice, olive oil, cucumber, garlic, salt, pepper, and dill or chives.
Mix It Together
Stir until blended well.
Refrigerate
Cover and refrigerate for several hours to allow flavors to blend.
🥗 How To Serve
Here are a few ways to serve this sauce:
- Serve it with any roasted or grilled meats, burgers, poultry, fish. It goes really well with lamb!
- Enjoy with grilled or roasted vegetables. Try grilling (or roasting) zucchini, squash, onion tossed in olive oil and a Greek seasoning blend. Serve with tzatziki.
- Use it as a salad dressing.
- Serve it as a dip with pita bread and crackers for dipping.
📖 Variations
Here are a few ways you can vary or make substitutions to this tzatziki recipe:
- If you like a little spice feel free to add some red pepper flakes
- Use regular, nonfat, or low fat plain yogurt.
- For more tang you could add a little red wine vinegar.
- Use fresh dill or dried dill to taste. Adjust salt and pepper to taste as well as the tanginess. See the Top Tip section below.
- Make it vegan tzatziki sauce - use a vegan Greek yogurt and feta cheese substitute.
💭 Top Tips
- While you can eat this right after you make it, it tastes the best if you let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight to allow all the flavors to blend together. Yum. So good!
- It's all a personal preference but you can dice or shred the cucumber. I like to have chunky bits of cucumber in my sauce so I dice my cucumber. Some people prefer to shred, but I think it takes longer and I'm all about making things quick and easy! 🙂
- If you prefer a smooth sauce, you can add the tzatziki to your blender or food processor and blend until the desired consistency is reached.
- There is no need to drain the cucumber or remove any cucumber seeds in this recipe. The Greek yogurt is quite thick and I have found the juices from the cucumber give the dip a nice flavor.
- Adjust lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dill to your tastes. Some yogurt brands are very tangy so you may wish to use less juice. Also, some lemons can be very tart. Start with 1/2 a lemon and add more to taste. If you love lots of dill, by all means, add more! If you have too much tart everything you can fix this by adding a little sweetener. Try 1 teaspoon, stir, and sample. Add more from there.
- Want to use fresh dill herbs instead of dried? The rule of thumb is that for every 1 teaspoon of dried herbs needed, use 1 tablespoon of fresh.
❓FAQs
How do you store it?
Store it in an airtight container in your refrigerator.
How long will tzatziki sauce keep?
It will keep for up to 4 days if stored in an airtight container.
Can you freeze this sauce?
No, it cannot be frozen.
The simplest explanation is that the t's are silent and tzatziki is most commonly pronounced like "zaa zee kee".
Yes, it's very healthy! It has only 60 calories, 4.2 g fat, 2 g of net carbs, and 3.7 g protein. This is a healthy sauce that can be used as a dressing, spread, condiment, you name it. It's also sugar-free, low carb, keto-friendly, and gluten-free so it will work with many diets.
Tzatziki has a cool creamy cucumber taste with a tang. The tang comes from the lemon juice and the Greek plain yogurt. This sauce works for so many things - it's delicious with grilled or roasted meats, as a great dip for fresh vegetables, a salad dressing, a spread for crackers or pita bread.
✔️ More Mediterranean and Greek Recipes
Here are a few Mediterranean and Greek-inspired recipes I know you'll enjoy:
- The Best Greek Gyro Burger
- Best Greek Salad Recipe
- Eggplant Parmesan (Eggplant Gratin)
- Italian Antipasto Salad Recipe
- Zucchini Carpaccio
- Italian Slow Cooker Chicken Thighs
📋 Recipe
Authentic Tzatziki Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ounces feta cheese
- 2 (5.3 ounce) containers plain greek yogurt
- juice of ½ lemon add more if needed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup cucumber peeled and diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 teaspoons dill
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- In a bowl mix feta cheese, yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, cucumber, garlic, salt, pepper, and dill or chives.
- Stir until mixed. Cover and refrigerate for several hours to allow flavors to blend. Serve as a dressing or topping to a greek favorite meal!
Notes
- Adjust the lemon juice, salt, pepper, and dill to your tastes. Some Greek yogurt brands are very tangy so you may wish to use less lemon juice. Also, some lemons can be very tart. Start with 1/2 a lemon and add more if needed. If your sauce is too tart, you can fix this by adding a little sweetener. Start with 1 tsp sweetener and go from there!
Nutrition
© 2023 Seeking Good Eats™
This authentic tzatziki recipe is so fresh and tasty made with cucumber, Greek yogurt, dill, feta, garlic, & lemon. Tzatziki goes on so many things - as an appetizer dip for vegetables or crackers, or a topping for grilled and roasted meats or vegetables. This healthy recipe even makes a great sauce on sandwiches & burgers. Sugar free, gluten free, & keto friendly sauce. #tzatzikisauce #greekrecipe #tzatzikirecipe #healthyrecipe #lowcarb #keto #sugarfree #glutenfree #gyro #dip #sauce #appetizer
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