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This easy Greek Tzatziki Sauce is great to have in your back pocket. Whether you are making tzatziki to eat on your vegan gyros, with pita, on chicken souvlaki if you’re not plant-based, or even on sandwiches, this recipe is my go-to for whipping up this delicious dip.
Why You’ll Love This Greek Tzatziki Sauce
- Versatile: Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or none of the above, you can make this recipe to fit your dietary needs
- Quick: This tzatziki recipe can be made in 10 minutes or less, super quick & super delicious!
- Use it on Anything: You can use this tzatziki on anything. Use it as a dip, spread it on a sandwich, with protein like my vegan gyros, or whatever your heart desires
Ingredients
Olive Oil: Make sure you choose a good quality olive oil. Look for “extra virgin” on the label and avoid anything in a clear bottle since olive oil doesn’t like light!
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Yogurt: You can use yogurt, vegan yogurt, or cream cheese here. Whatever you prefer. The consistency will slightly change based on what you choose but any option is delicious.
Dill: I love fresh dill in this recipe as fresh herbs just add a better flavor in my opinion, but this recipe will still be delicious with dry dill if you don’t have fresh on hand. Use one teaspoon of dried dill for every one tablespoon of fresh.
How to Make Greek Tzatziki Sauce
🗒 Tips and Tricks
- How to squeeze a cucumber: There are a few ways you can do this. Some people like to sprinkle salt on them and leave them in a strainer to allow for the water to drain. However, when you don’t have time for that, once you grate the cucumbers, squeeze out the moisture with your hands. Voila!
- Thick yogurt: Full-fat Greek yogurt is best. This is the foundation of a creamy tzatziki. Look for plain, full-fat Greek yogurt, ideally one that is naturally strained and doesn’t contain thickeners. The thicker the yogurt, the better. If you don’t have full-fat yogurt you can strain it yourself using a colander or fine-mesh sieve with cheesecloth.
- Fresh is key: Always use fresh garlic for the best flavor.
- Acid: Acid adds brightness to your creamy dip. I used lemon juice but you can also use red wine vinegar.
- Quality olive oil: Make sure you are using a high quality olive oil for your Tzatziki as it makes such a difference. Check out my guide to make sure you’re picking the best kind.
Substitutions
- Greek Yogurt: You can use a vegan yogurt or cream cheese substitute.
- Olive Oil: Substitute olive oil for avocado oil if you prefer it.
- Dill: To me the FRESH dill is a must in Tzatziki but you can also add in mint to your recipe as well.
- Lemon Juice: The acid in the recipe helps with brightness. If you don’t have fresh lemon juice you can use red wine vinegar instead.
Best served with
- Use this as a topper with plant-based jackfruit gyros
- If you aren’t plant-based this can be great on chicken souvlaki as well
- Make a spinach pie and use it as a dipper
- Create a delicious Greek-inspired charcuterie board
- Make this salad and use the tzatziki as a side with warm pita
How to Store Leftovers
This sauce will last up to one week in the fridge in a properly sealed container or mason jar. I love making a big batch up and storing it in the fridge for an easy dip or sauce.
Common Questions
Also known as tarator or cacik, tzatziki is a dip found in cuisines of Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It’s made with salted, strained yogurt or diluted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, and olive oil. You sometimes use vinegar or lemon juice, and herbs too. Everyone has their own way they like to make it!
Tzatziki is considered a healthier dip because it’s made with whole, healthy ingredients.
The cucumber is usually the problem here. If you didn’t sufficiently squeeze enough water out of the cucumber your sauce will be a bit more watery. A solution to this is after you grate your cucumber and try and squeeze as much moisture out, you can add salt to it and let it sit for 10-20 minutes, then squeeze out the moisture again.
If you’re using very thick, high-fat Greek yogurt then you should be good-to-go. If you’re using anything else, you may want to strain your yogurt first for that thicker and creamier tzatziki sauce.
English cucumber or mini Persian cucumbers are best for making your own homemade tzatziki sauce.
Fresh is best but if you have to use dried just remember you use about 1/3 of dried herbs to the amount of fresh herbs it calls for in the recipe.
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Ingredients
- 2 cups greek yogurt or vegan cream cheese or yogurt
- ¼ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves of grated garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 small lemon)
- 1 cucumber, peeled, grated and squeezed to remove any excess liquid
- 3 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Start Cooking- Combine every ingredient in a large container and mix to combine.
- Store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Enjoy with literally anything!
81 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
Just make it!! I used really high quality Greek yogurt and OMG. Making it weekly to top in ANYTHING. So easy and so so much better than store bought ones and better for you too!
it’s truly the best tzatziki EVER!
Used 2lbs of thin sliced chicken breasts- marinated for 24 hours. Our sanwiches were delicious but next time I will used a mixture of breast and thighs for added juiciness.
this makes me so happy, thank you so much janet!
Super flavorful and the perfect amount of garlic. Easy to whip up and goes with everything!
Thank you so much hunnie! That means a lot to me!
Incredible flavor.
Thank you so much!
Best tzatziki I’ve ever had!
This, paired with the pita from this website, is my favourite thing ever to make.
so full of flavour, I can’t recommend this enough
Thank you so much Jessica!
Easiest dip to make and can be added to so many things! I made with my chicken gyro bowls and it was a huge hit! Wow, this may be a fridge staple going forward!
Thank you so much for the love Alicia!!!!
Delicious, quick, easy. I’ve swapped out my go-to tzatziki recipe, which had vinegar, for this one; love the lemon.
Hi how large of a jar do you use to store the dip/dressing? Do you have certain measurements for containers when you say Small, Medium or Large (example: Small = 1/2 PT mason jar etc..)
Nope! Just use whatever it sauce yields as a reference. Any air tight container works!
I would argue this is the best Tzatziki you’ll ever have! I love it so much and have converted everyone I know to it!
Obsessed with this recipe! Literally some of the best tzatziki I’ve ever had😍 Will definitely be keeping this on hand at all times!
Thank you so much hunnie!!!!
So, this tzatziki recipe is basically my new food crush! It’s easy, it’s tasty, and I’ve been using it like it’s going out of style – everything gets a dip.
Now, here’s a little insider tip for cucumber lovers: if you have a little extra time, take out those seeds before you toss them in. Trust me 🙂
Seriously, this stuff has turned my regular meals into a Mediterranean fiesta. It’s not just a dip; it’s a flavor upgrade! Thanks Maria!
YES!!! Elena I love this for you so much. Thank you for the love.
I made this with Maria’s souvlaki that I recently made and it blew my mind!
isn’t it just so good!