A cool, creamy, and refreshing sauce that tastes good on just about anything…well hello my favorite Tzatziki sauce recipe! Tzatziki sauce has been a favorite of mine for many years. It’s so fresh and tastes great on lots of things including grilled meats, sandwiches and wraps, veggies and more! This week I served it as a dip with some zucchini fritters, but I also grabbed some pita chips and lots of veggies to serve on the side. We literally could not stop eating it at the studio. It’s easy to make, budget-friendly, and perfect this time of year.
Originally posted 5-10-10, updated 7-19-24.
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What is Tzatziki?
Tzatziki is a popular sauce or dip made with Greek Yogurt, cucumber, and garlic. It also often includes fresh mint, dill, vinegar or lemon juice. It’s light, fresh, cool, and delicious as a sauce or as a dip with fresh vegetables. Once you taste tzatziki sauce you’ll want to slather it on everything! Of course our version has been adapted for the budget bytes kitchen, but here is an Authentic Tzatziki from Olive Tomato if you’re interested.
Ingredients For Tzatziki Sauce
I personally prefer this sauce over mayo-based sauces and dressings any day! Here’s what you need to make this creamy tzatziki recipe:
- Greek Yogurt: plain Greek yogurt is the base for this creamy dip. I used whole milk Greek yogurt, but you can certainly use a low-fat Greek yogurt instead.
- Cucumber: Grated cucumber is also a signature ingredient and adds a cool and refreshing taste.
- Garlic & Dill: Garlic and fresh dill adds lots of flavor to the tzatziki sauce.
- Lemon: Lemon juice adds just a touch of acidity. You can use white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar instead if that’s what you have on hand.
- Olive Oil: Use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil for the best flavor.
- Salt & Black Pepper: Salt and pepper to season and enhance the flavors of the dip.
- Sugar (optional): Although not part of the authentic recipe, after testing this dip a few times, adding just a very small amount of granulated sugar really helped balance the tangy flavors in the sauce.
Serving suggestions
You can enjoy this delicious tzatziki sauce with just about anything. It’s perfect on with grilled meats, sandwiches and wraps, or gyros. You can also add it to salads, grilled vegetables, and grain bowls. And if you just need a quick snack, it’s great as a creamy dip for fresh veggies, breads, and pita chips!
Recipe Tips!
- Make sure to squeeze out as much water as you can from the grated cucumber before mixing it with the yogurt. This helps keep the tzatziki sauce from being too watery.
- Fresh ingredients really make a difference with this recipe. I used fresh garlic, lemon juice, and fresh dill.
- Although not authentic, the small amount of sugar in this recipe really helps balance the tanginess of the Greek yogurt and lemon juice. It’s optional, but highly recommended :)
- Be sure to use thick, plain Greek style yogurt for this recipe. The cucumber adds a lot of moisture and will cause regular yogurt to become too thin.
How To Store Leftovers
You can store any leftover Tzatziki sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. The flavors will intensify as it refrigerates. If liquid separates out from the sauce during refrigeration, simply stir to reincorporate before serving.
Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Servings 6 (1/4 cup each)Ingredients
- 1/2 cucumber* ($0.35)
- 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt, whole milk ($1.87)
- 1 clove of garlic, finely minced ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp fresh dill, finely minced ($1.25)
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice ($0.20)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.04)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp granulated white sugar ($0.02)
Instructions
- Wash the cucumber well. Then using the large holes on a box grater, grate half of the cucumber. Save the other half of the cucumber to serve with the tzatziki sauce.
- Place the grated cucumber in a fine mesh cheesecloth or nut milk bag.** Squeeze out as much liquid as you possibly can into a bowl or over the sink. You should end up with roughly ½ cup of grated cucumber after most of the water is squeezed out.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, minced garlic, dill, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, and sugar. Stir well to combine.
- Refrigerate the tzatziki sauce for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry and blend together. Enjoy served cold. If liquid separates out from the sauce during refrigeration, simply stir to reincorporate before serving.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Equipment
- Box Grater
- Cheesecloth
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How To Make Tzatziki Sauce – Step By STep Photos
Wash 1 cucumber well. Then using the large holes on a box grater, grate half of the cucumber. Save the other half of the cucumber to serve with the tzatziki sauce.
Place the grated cucumber in a fine mesh cheesecloth or nut milk bag. Squeeze out as much liquid as you possibly can into a bowl or over the sink. You should end up with roughly ½ cup of grated cucumber after most of the water is squeezed out.
In a medium mixing bowl add 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt, the grated cucumber, 1 garlic clove (finely minced), 1 Tbsp fresh dill (finely minced), 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper, and 1/4 tsp white sugar.
Stir everything together well to combine.
Cover and refrigerate the tzatziki sauce for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry and blend together. If liquid separates out from the sauce during refrigeration, simply stir to reincorporate before serving. Enjoy served cold with veggies, pita chips, wraps, or on top of your favorite meals!
Delicious!!! It can be hard to find whole milk Greek yogurt–my favorite is Cabot brand, which I only find, in my community, at Walmart. My 2nd reliable source is Aldi–$3.49 a qt. as of 7/2024. I grow fresh dill, but dried “dill weed” is acceptable. If I couldn’t find whole milk yogurt–a problem at times–I would experiment by mixing some sour cream into low fat or fat free yogurt. This is also delicious as a sandwich spread or sauce for grilled chicken, lamb, pork, or roasted veggies.
I just got my first CSA box and it came with a bundle of dill! I’ve never used dill before, but I also had a cucumber in my fridge and some whole fat yogurt…so I made greek yogurt for the first time, and followed your recipe (adjusting for the fresh dill) for the tzatziki sauce! It’s so delicious. I had no idea I could make something that tasted as good as what I had in restaurants.
I’m excited to read the other comments substituting mint for dill – I have mint growing in my herb garden and would love to give that a try as well.
Made this yesterday to bring to a party today. I made two batches: one with dill and the other with mint, both half garlic and half garlic powder. I also added a splash or two of olive oil and vinegar to both. They were both a big hit. Boyfriend’s mother wanted the recipe.
Happy to hear it!
Would love to try this. Is it fresh dill or dried? Thanks!
Dried dill in this recipe.
The Lebanese version of this is substitute mint for the dill. My siti
( grandmother) taught me that way as well.