This Thick and Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip makes a great sauce, dip, or spread. Make extra because you’ll want to put it on everything!

This easy peasy yogurt dip features a blend of Greek yogurt, cucumber, lemon, and garlic. Finish it off with a pinch of salt and a sprinkling of your favorite herbs as a garnish and get ready to faceplant!

It’s great as a standalone appetizer served with fresh veggies and pita but is also an amazing addition to your favorite mediterranean dish. We love it as a spread for Chicken Gyros, dolloped on Greek Quinoa Bowls, and as a totally dunkable dip for my Healthy Mediterranean Potato Skins.

Grab your favorite brand of yogurt and let’s make the creamiest, tastiest Tzatziki dip ever!

Those of you that have been with me for a while know I’m accustomed to a semi-nomadic lifestyle… For a while Paul and I actually moved at least once a year; sometimes twice!

We’ve been in North Carolina for almost four years and these past few months the walls have officially closed in. I need a change of pace like Madison the cat needs to be shaved like a lion. It’s basically a necessity at this point.

For some this may seem daunting, but for someone as situationally fickle as I am, it’s a dream. I bore of my surroundings easily and LOVE moving.

There’s always a silver lining, of course, and there are some pretty delicious eats around here! One particular restaurant makes the freaking BEST tzatziki dip I’ve ever had. It’s not your typical cucumber sauce either. This stuff is so impossibly thick that you could hold the bowl upside down over the table and it wouldn’t budge. It’s essentially the Dairy Queen Blizzard of tzatziki dip. YES.

I’ve been trying to re-create it at home for ages now and I finally figured out what I’ve been doing wrong: fat-free yogurt. I don’t typically use fat-free anything in my kitchen but yogurt typically gets the green light. I’m now, however, a full believer that a little bit of milk-fat in your yogurt can make a huge difference in the flavor of a dip.

Thick and Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip

We can’t get enough of this super tasty dip! It works great as a dip, spread, or sauce for anything your heart desires!

Thick and Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip

This Thick and Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip makes a great sauce, dip, or spread. Make extra because you’ll want to put it on everything!

5 from 14 votes

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip

Prep Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours

Servings: servings

Author: Jenn Laughlin – Peas and Crayons

Ingredients

1 cup full-fat yogurt (I used Noosa – YUM!)
1/4 cup packed, freshly grated English cucumber, skin on
1/2 tsp garlic powder
a pinch of salt

TASTY EXTRAS

fresh garlic (mashed into a paste and salted)
fresh minced parsley, dill, and/or mint
fresh lemon juice and/or zest
olive oil

DELISH DIPPERS

cucumber, carrots, bell pepper slices, celery
pita bread
pita chips

Instructions

Grab an English cucumber (the skin on these is extra tasty and the seeds are minimal) and, using a box grater or food processor, shred the cucumber until you have about 1/4 cup packed in your measuring cup.
Press out the extra moisture with a paper towel and feel free to grab a knife and chop the shreds into smaller pieces to help it blend seamlessly into your yogurt.
Next mix the ‘gurt and the cuke with your salt and garlic powder and get ready to thicken!
To make impossibly-thick yogurt all you have to do is strain it! My favorite method is pretty no-fuss, no-muss and involves topping a large bowl [or a pot!] with a mesh strainer and several layers of cheesecloth. Typically the cheesecloth comes in a giant roll so just fold it over itself a bunch of times, slap it in the sieve, and pour in your yogurt.
To make it air-tight and keep things fresh, wrap the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and place in your refrigerator for a few hours.
Though it will begin to thicken within 2-3 hours I will typically leave mine in overnight to achieve cream-cheeseesque consistency. Pretend that’s a word.
Once it’s ready re-season to taste if needed and garnish however you’d like! I grabbed a little parsley from the garden to green it up a bit!
If you’re adding any of the extras I listed above, you can add the fresh herbs and garlic at any time, but if you’re using lemon juice and/or olive oil, I would add the olive oil at the very end, drizzled over the final product and add the lemon juice before straining so it doesn’t dilute the dip. You can also serve the dip up with lemon wedges on the side as an edible garnish or add a little zest to the top of the dip along with a sprinkling of fresh or dried herbs. Customize to your heart’s content! I make it with whatever is on hand in my kitchen/pantry that day so it’s a little different each time; however, I will forever be straining my own full-fat yogurt to make it from here on out. It’s just so flipping rich and tasty and lacks the dry mouthfeel that plain low-fat and fat-free yogurts have.
This was a ridiculously long recipe description for a ridiculously simple dip, but hopefully now you’re armed with all the info you need to make a rockin’ tzatziki dip!

Notes

Recipe yields 1 heaping cup of dip.

The recipe above is a copy-cat of my local Greek restaurant and I quickly learned that they have a small obsession with garlic powder. If you happen to have the fresh stuff on hand and prefer it, go for it!

Depending on what’s in my kitchen on a given day, the tasty extras from the list above usually find their way into my Tzatziki sauces and dips.

tools needed: a mesh strainer or colander, cheesecloth, a grater or processor, and plastic wrap

Nutrition Facts below are estimated for 2 TBSP of dip using an online recipe nutrition calculator. Adjust as needed based on dippers and extras added and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 21kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 4mg, Sodium: 14mg, Potassium: 61mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 40IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 39mg, Iron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?I want to see! Tag @peasandcrayons on Instagram and Facebook!

If you get a chance to try this Thick and Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip, let me know! You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!

Scoop it up with fluffy pita bread, crispy pita chips, crisp veggies.

We love this Creamy Restaurant-Style Tzatziki Dip!

tzatziki sauce serving suggestions

with fresh pita bread or baked pita chips for dipping
as part of a fresh veggie tray or hummus platter
slathered on these easy chicken gyros with feta and veggies
spread on your favorite sandwich
and so. much. more.