Easy Tzatziki Sauce
We love this cucumber yogurt sauce on everything from sandwiches, to salads, to snack plates! It makes a great sauce for grilled meat and a fantastic dip for veggies and pita bread. For best results, make in advance and allow dip to chill before serving. It's great prepped in advance and you can even make it the day before!
Servings 8 servings
Calories 47kcal
Ingredients
- ½ English cucumber
- 2 cups 2% Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon
- 1 clove garlic (peeled/smashed/minced)
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 TBSP fresh chopped parsley
- ½ TBSP fresh chopped mint (optional)
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp dried dill or ½ tsp fresh dill (plus extra to taste)
- salt and pepper to taste
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- Place a box grater on a cutting board and grate half an English cucumber into little shreds using the fine side of the grater. If using a conventional cucumber, peel before grating.
- Chop into small pieces with a chefs knife and sprinkle with sea salt to draw out the water from the cucumber.
- While cucumber sits, combine yogurt with minced garlic, salt, parsley, mint (optional but tasty!) and season with garlic powder and dried dill.
- Grate a little bit of the lemon peel (avoiding the white pith) and then juice. You'll want 2 TBSP lemon juice to add the Greek yogurt. For extra lemon flavor, a little lemon zest can be swirled in at the end, to taste. This is totally optional but great if you love extra lemony tzatziki sauce!
- Now that the cucumbers have had a few minutes to sit, Wring out the liquid by placing your cucumber in the center of a small stack of 3 paper towels, Squeeze/twist to get the water our over your sink and then add the cucumber to your dip.
- Stir and season with any additional salt and pepper desired to bring out the flavors. Feel free to season with extra dill or garlic powder as well - let your taste buds be your guide!
- Cover bowl and transfer to the fridge to thicken and chill. This will also give the flavors some extra time to meld together.
- Ready to eat? Give it a good stir and drizzle with olive oil. You can add extra cucumber and herbs on top as a pretty garnish if you'd like or dive in as is. Serve with all your favorite dippers, sandwiches, or proteins. This fresh tzatziki sauce is great on everything!
Notes
Feel free to mix and match the herbs based on what you have handy. I grow mint and parsley outside so I usually have an ample supply of both! Just make sure you're using some sort of herbs for the dip to flavor it, otherwise you're going to want to bring flavor in some other way like by adding more garlic, lemon zest, or additional dried spices. This sauce tastes great fresh and flavors are even more amplified the following day.
Garnish however you'd like! Some choose to add some fresh mint or parsley on top, or top with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika. Enjoy!
Dip nutrition facts below are an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
Nutrition
Calories: 47kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 169mg | Potassium: 27mg | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 90IU | Vitamin C: 2.7mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 0.1mg
