Tzatziki

I tweaked this recipe based on a wonderful reccomendation from woman in Santorini, Greece. Directions & ingredients are the same, just adjusted the amounts. You MUST drain the yogurt for 5-6 hours or overnight. English cucumber is not necessary, as you can use a regular large cucumber, peel, cut into quarters & use spoon to remove seeds, then shread w/ cheese grater. Shred cuke over a lint free tea towel, grab the ends of the towel together, twist and squeeze out the water. 2 large cloves garlic is plenty & I am a garlic lover. Will be too over powering w/ 5 cloves, already tried it on the first batch. 1 TBSP distilled white vinegar. 5 TBSP extra virgin olive oil. 1/2 tsp sea salt or to taste. I even received rave reviews from my Greek Father-In-Law!

Do drain your yogurt and squeeze the excess water from your cuke! I drain yogurt by using a strainer with a paper coffee filter in it, let it sit for awhile, and the water strains out easily. Squeezed the excess water from the cuke by pushing it with my fist into a colander. Did use lemon juice rather than white vinegar (personal preference) and a bit less garlic. Served with fresh pita and chicken souvlaki with zucchini. Thank you, Teina.

Very good! I served this at a dinner party with warm pita bread. It was a hit! Food processor made this appetizer easy. If you buy a low-water content yogurt, you don't need to drain over cheesecloth.

Very good. I also seeded the cucumber and added a pinch of dill(some people use mint instead). First time I made this I bought fat free yogurt by mistake. DO NOT ever do this. I could not drain liquid out and it tasted WAY too sour.

Delish! I used 32 oz fat-free yogurt drained in colander on coffee filters overnight (you'd be surprised how much liquid drains off). 2 small cucumbers peeled, quartered, seeded then chopped fine (I salted then placed between paper towels weighted with plates for an hour). Grated 5 cloves of garlic (makes it VERY garlicky - might cut back if you're not a fan) 1 TBS lemon juice, 1 TBS vinegar, 3 TBS olive oil and a sprinkle of sugar and lemon zest. It came out excellent! I've made it without draining and the flavor is somewhat different and the consistency is more salad-dressing like. I much prefer it this way. Great as a veggie dip!

This is an absolute staple at our house. It's definitely better on day two. I don't drain my yogurt, but I do shred the cucumber into a cheese cloth, and squeeze out as much of the liquid as I can, and it seems quite thick enough.

Every bit as good as we get from our local Greek restuarant. I used fat free yogurt for health reasons, but it does make a difference in the texture. I also did not drain the yogurt as I didn't have time. I did pour of the liquid sitting on top though. I also used a seeded regular cucumber rather than English because it was what I had.

This is a little chunkier than I expected it would turn out to be, but over all very good! I served it to a bunch at my party with raw vegetables and at least two asked for the recipe. Many liked it but couldn't identify what was in it, which made it fun!

If you use a good Greek yogurt, no need to strain it. I added dill, substituted lemon juice for the vinegar. Seed and salt the cucumber and put in a colander over a bowl for about a half hour to remove excess water. Then process it in a food processor with the herbs, lemon juice, and olive oil before mixing with the yogurt. So good.

very tasty! just like what we had at our favorite authentic greek restaurant

Excellent and very refreshing!!!

If I was looking for a recipe for a cucumber and garlic smoothie, this would be it. way too runny.

Delicious base! I used a 16 ounce container of 2% Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's (I've found that Greek Yogurt eliminates the need for straining) and about 3/4 of a peeled, seeded cucumber. I added 2 cloves of garlic, about 3/4 TBS of white balsamic vinegar, juice of 1/2 lemon, salt to taste, and 1 TBS olive oil (which I didn't think it would need, but it really made it creamier). Delicious!

while i did not use Vinegar, i used a little Lemon Juice, it came out fine. i added some McCormick's Hot Shot (mix of black and red pepper) and it was good. depending on HOW think you want it, let the yogurt drain longer. i had mine for two nights. TIP: to help draw water out of the cucumber, put some salt on it, not a lot, wait about 20-30 minutes then wring the cloth (containing shredded cuke) out. if you want your Tzaatziki smoother then you need to really puree your cuke. i like chunks in mine so the recipe is fine. also you can add dill or mint, i prefer a bit of dill. add to taste. just so you know if you think it tastes good now, the next day and after it will get a bit stronger sitting in the fridge. that is why i make a batch big enough for two or three dinners and the sauce keeps getting better.

I've made this recipe several times now and after cutting the garlic down a little each time, I think it's perfect! As with every recipe on this site, I made it as written and it was amazing except for the garlic. We are true garlic lovers in this house and it was even too much for us! We were literally breathing fire afterwards! Lol! So every time after, I've cut it down by a clove and just as a personal preference, I'm comfortable with 2. It's just the right amount of garlic without killing others with your breath!

This is the original recipe that we make here in Greece, only we put dill in

This tzatziki was like ambrosia! I cut the recipe down to 1 C. greek yogurt (Zoi brand) and sliced the regular cuke thin and small and salted it for about an hour. Followed the recipe without adding any additional salt and it turned out delectable! Next time I will use more cucumber. Thanks for the excellent recipe!

I made this last night to go with “Dash’s Donair” in place of the Donair sauce that goes with it. We were afraid the Donair sauce would be to sweet, and it was. This Tzatziki sauce is wonderful. I only had 2 hours to let it sit, but it was still great. The next day, however, it was EXCELLENT, and tastes just like the sauce at our favorite local Greek restaurant. I did as others suggested and grated the cucumber into a towel and squeezed as much liquid as possible, I also used Greek yogurt and our sauce was very thick and creamy. Next time, and there will be a next time I may process either the finished sauce or the cucumbers before I add them to the sauce to have a less chunky sauce. Kids!

this is the answer! i've tried tzatziki before but the next day it is so watery and unappetizing. i used balkan style full fat yogurt and strained overnight using cheesecloth. i also added fresh herbs after combining all ingredients including dill, parsley, mint. even with herbs the next day it wasn't watery. i seeded the cucumber and cut up v. small and put in paper towel for 10 min or so. i would definitely make this again! thanks for the recipe

This Tzatziki was really good, but I did cut back on most of the ingredients. I used 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp. of olive oil and 1 tbsp of vinegar and it tasted really good. It was still a little garlicky, so I will cut back to 3 cloves next time. Also, there is a lot of cucumber in this recipe and the taste is predominant. I think a small cucumber would be better. I also added some dried dill to mine. Thanks for the basic recipe.

This was divine! As per other readers' reviews, I made sure to drain my yogurt. It's highly, highly recommended, otherwise you'll get soup. I had no cheesecloth readily available, but coffee filters seemed to do the trick. I'm currently draining yogurt for a new batch, this time with cheesecloth (2 layers), and it seems to be draining way better so I expect an even thicker tzatziki this time around. I'm a huge garlic fan, so I didn't mind the excess garlic in this recipe. The only problem was that it stunk up my lunch bag for a few days and I'm sure my co-workers could smell it. But I'm not a big fan of the flavour of oil, so I put in about 2/3 of what the recipe calls for. Vinegar seemed to work just fine, but I will try lemon this time around. And adding fresh dill really topped it off. Thank you so much for this recipe! Now that my boyfriend has learned how to make goat yogurt (he can't have cow products), we have all sorts of options for new food ideas and this tzatziki takes the cake!

i used lemon juice instead of the vinegar, and just a tad of dill... thank you for a great recipee!

Loved it!!

Very similar to what I had in Greece: no dill, no mint, no lemon juice! Thanks for sharing!

Good recipe, but I added some dill to make it a little more complete.

My first time making Tzatziki! This was a big hit with 9 out of the 10 people at dinner! We served it with homemade seasoned steak gyros. The 10th person just doesn't eat yogurt in any form so even a hint of the flavor turned him off. However, this was a fun recipe to make (grating the cukes!!) and it made a lot!! I served it again 2 days later with a salad on which we threw cooked breaded chicken nuggets and everyone went crazy for the sauce again.

Buying a nice quality Greek yogurt makes straining unnecessary. Halved recipe but only used 1 clove garlic.

My first time making Tzatziki! This was a big hit with 9 out of the 10 people at dinner! We served it with homemade seasoned steak gyros. The 10th person just doesn't eat yogurt in any form so even a hint of the flavor turned him off. However, this was a fun recipe to make (grating the cukes!!) and it made a lot!! I served it again 2 days later with a salad on which we threw cooked breaded chicken nuggets and everyone went crazy for the sauce again.

Use this with the lamb kufta kabobs - perfect match.

There are three things I would have done differently. I didn't let my yogurt drain long enough (maybe 4 hours), I would let drain longer next time, just to get it a bit thicker. I used pre-minced garlic in oil that I just crushed up. I could not get enough of a garlic flavor to mine. I would use fresh cloves next time, but didn't have any on hand. I would also puree my cucumber. I ended up being pretty chunky. Not terrible, but not what I'm used to. All in all a pretty good recipe. I definitely plan on using this one again. Even with the things above (all my fault, not the recipe) it was very tasty.

A scant tablespoon oil in our Tzatziki, no vinegar, only freshly squeezed lemon juice in ours as well. The grated cucumber should be set in a strainer lined with cheesecloth to remove the excess water, unless, you're not particular about serving runny Tzatziki. A sidenote. Ever since we had a serious food poisoning outbreak in our area from pesticide coated english cucumbers, any cukes I do not grow in my own garden, are always peeled.

Out of all the tzatziki recipes this is the most authentic. Some people like it runny, some like it thicker. You can buy strained yogurt or you can make it yourself using a strainer and "basket" coffee filters if you don't have cheese cloth. Another way to make the water stay in the cucumbers, is not to grate them but dice them with a knife. This way you get a more crunchy consistency as well. I see no need for a food processor, in fact it may mess up the texture. You can use some sour cream as well to enhance the flavor. This is a Greek-American variation that makes tzatziki richer and smooths out some favors. Great dip for vegetables. Take care!

Great!

Source went well with rice and souvlaki.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I didn't like this at all. Maybe if I'd have cut the vinegar by 2/3 or something. It just didn't hit me well. The garlic was just insane, and I love garlic. I'll make this again, but probably with the adjustments the reviewer below indicated. This just didn't do it for me. :-(

Not my cup of tea. I even strained the yogurt overnight, drained the cucumber of excess water, and still came out bland and almost sour tasting.

I halved this recipe and thought it was delicious. We served this with falafel and a greek pasta salad. A+ dinner.

Amazing and simple! The key to this recipe is draining the yogurt with the cheesecloth. This will thicken the yogurt considerably. It makes the tzatziki more versatile since now it can be better used as a spread.

Wow. Have never made Tzatziki before and was a bit hesitant about trying it for the first time for guests. There was no need to worry - it was excellent. I used a Greek yogurt and drained for just 2 hours. And, substituted 2 regular cucumbers for the English, and squeezed liquid out as suggested by other reviewers. Cut back on garlic and used lemon juice v the white vinegar, also as recommended. It went very well with the Marinated Greek Chicken kabobs and Greek Salad I on this site. Thanks much!

Great recipe :) I seeded the cuke, halved the garlic- YUM!

Great! Yummy recipe!

I'm not sure what went wrong but one of the posters said to use a food processor and I ended up with milk! I used balkan style yogurt so maybe that was the problem? Also, the flavour seemed to be missing something compared to the store bought dip. Kind of sour and not creamy. I used 2 garlic cloves and that was plenty!

Wonderful!!! I only put in 1 Tbsp of olive oil.

This tastes like the tzatziki I had in Greece. It's unbelievable! I followed another reviewer's tips. I used 1T vinegar, 5 T olive oil, and about 2 gloves of garlic. It's so good. I make a big batch and we have Greek chicken pitas every week.

I'm making it for the 2nd time and I have a feeling it will become a regular salad in this house. It's great.

I served this with Chicken Souvlaki and pita. I didn't have time to strain the yogurt or drain the cucumbers but everyone enjoyed it and not a bit was leftover. Thanks for sharing such an awsome recipe....

Thank You for doing this right! it the authentic way, I'm so happy.

I made this with 16 oz of Greek yogurt instead of straining the regular yogurt and added a bit more garlic. I also ended up with a smallish cucumber but it turned out amazing, going to make greek style food all week to use it up!

Love this recipe. Just made it and my boyfriend loved it.

Love this recipe! It reminds me of the same tzatziki our local gyro place used. MMM! So good! Some gyro places use a more cucumbery tasting sauce, but I've always loved it without so much. Followed this recipe exactly and wouldn't change a thing. Did not have to strain our yogurt because it had a low water content.

This is the classic Greek-style that most Greek grand-mothers and/or mothers would use.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was great, I made it over the holidays and served it with roasted pita wedges. It takes a lot of time from start to finish but, well worth not cutting corners. Wonderful and everyone loved it!

I followed the instructions, except I did use the greek yogurt because that is clearly faster...the flavor is great, a bit of zip from the garlic, very good with grilled meat and vegetables.

Authentic taste, and great side to homemade pita and falafel. (In our house my family prefers tzatziki to tahini.) I did decrease the garlic a bit, but otherwise, a delightful side!

Only thing I'd add would be some dill, or pepper if I'm having a spice-lover over. Very good. A tad less oil, myself, but one must remember the differences in both taste and products available. In my area yoghurts are quite a bit more runny than others, so that might have been my problem.

This was delicious! I wasn't able to get a full 6 hours in, only about 4, but the texture was good enough. I am vegetarian, but my family said it was good with the greek pork loin they ate. It really balanced out the flavors and added refreshment!

Replace the yogurt with Greek yogurt and you can ignore the draining. Several other reviewers have mentioned reducing the garlic. ....yes, very true.

I added a bit of dill but aside from that a great stand by and really quick to prepare!

Cut the serving size down to 8 oz yogurt and it made more than enough for 4 people. Served with falafel. Delicious!

THOIS IS A COOD RECIPE !!!!!!!

This was a perfect sauce for the pork souvlaki skewers we BBQd on the grill! I rated it a 4/5 but only because I "cheated" and substituted low far sour cream for yoghurt, so it wasn't faithful to the recipie. Deeeelicious all the same- the olive oil added depth to the flavour.

Awesome and SO easy to make!

VERY GOOD!!!!!!!!

Just like the stuff at Greek restaurants. I like to keep this around to dip veggies.

VERY GOOD, I LET MY YOGURT DRAIN OVERNIGHT AND REALLY SQUEEZED MY CUCUMBER SHREDS. DOES MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF IT AND THE GARLIC IS VERY STRONG!

It was alright, but there just was something not right about it, next time I will tweak the ingredients and amounts a little.

I first had tzatziki when I was in Crete. I haven't had it in a few years and decided to try this recipe out. Well, it's not exactly the same as what I had in Crete but close to it. I couldn't figure out what it was missing. It was still really good though.

I grated the cucumber and garlic as per my roomies direction and it came out good. Tasted sour the next day. Maybe the mint or paprika I added

Made this as written and it was delicious. It still doesn't quite compare to what I've had at authentic Greek restaurants (in Greece or Europe), but it was as close as I've gotten in homemade. I might try some Greek seasoning next time. This was great as a dip with some warm pita bread and I used the leftovers to top turkey burgers-- which was delicious!

I also cut down on the garlic. I'm a garlic fan and it would of been way too strong for me. I used Lemon juice instead of vinegar as well. If you use a good greek yogurt no need to strain, in fact I kept some of the cucumber juice since it was so thick, and I thought it gave it a better cucumber flavor as well. To keep it from being too chunky I actually used a microplane for the cucumber and garlic.

While this was not as good as the tzatziki I had while in Greece, it is still, nonetheless, quite good. I used a greek style type of yogurt instead of plain and did not drain using a cheese cloth. I imagine it would have been thicker, but all the same it was good.

Love love love this recipe just as it is!! Making for 2nd time... it’s become a true favorite!

Loved this! I added chopped fresh dill and red wine vinegar instead of the white vinegar...

This was delicious and will be my go to recipe for tzatziki from now on. I actually made this with my own Greek yogurt (it was one of my more energetic and domesticated days) which as in the recipe I strained overnight to remove liquid. I tweaked the recipe a bit taking the advice of another reviewer (thanks Jodi) and adjusted to 5 TBSP. olive oil and just 2 cloves of garlic, that is plenty even for the most extreme garlic lover. I snipped a bit of fresh dill into it for a nice touch.

Great authentic recipe. If you add the juice from the yellow hot peppers served at most Greek Restaurants you will get the identical taste of what you order from them. Thanks for this it was great.

Tasty, yet I don't really think the olive oil is needed. I don't know... I could really tast the OO, and it was just a little strange, I thought. I will try it again, leaving it out.

i used nonfat plain yogurt undrained and it worked fine. i scaled this down to 4 but used 1 clove garlic. i also used 1 standard cuke peeled, seeded, grated in my food processor, and blotted w/ paper towels. i was pleasantly surprised by the vinegar and would use it again instead of lemon juice. i added a pinch of dill

Made it exactly as written, but just halved the recipe. I have never used olive oil in tzatziki and found it was very good. I also did not peel the cucumber. Enjoyed it as a spread on our hamburger, delicious!!

Follow this as written and you cannot fail! Thanks so much. If making gyros for four, you can half this and still have a bit to snack on with pita chips later.

Use Greek yogurt, add lemon juice, dill, and double the garlic. I also prefer red wine vinegar. Let sit overnight for peak flavor.

I omited the vingar and reciepe still came out excellent. Tastes exactly like what I get from greek resturunts.

Used Greek yogurt, no need to drain plus a bit of freshly chopped mint. Cool and light flavors and the raw garlic adds a nice bite.

This was easy enough, but I didn't care for it.

I enjoyed this recipe. I halved it, as I only had enough ingredients for half a batch, but the garlic was a little strong, as some have said. This is as close as I have come to the restaurant one we love.

Jodi gave good advice: 2 cloves of garlic is plenty; reduce vinegar to 1 Tbsp and extra virgin olive oil to 5 Tbsp. I needed more salt; at least 2 tsp. On day 1, this was a 2-3 star recipe (I recommend switching to powdered garlic, or sauteeing the raw garlic first, if you're serving it the day-of). Letting it sit overmight helped a lot; I'd give it 3.5 now.

This was awesome. Made it for friends when we had are theme dinner. A keeper cant wait to do it for a Lamb dinner.

This was marvelous! I used cheesecloth, as directed, to strain the yogurt. (I keep plain yogurt on hand for smoothies and as I don't have access to traditional Greek yogurt I may always use this technique to give my regular store brand yogurt this wonderful texture.) I used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic and was sorry for having done so. I did add a bit of dill and think it enhanced the flavor. Thanks Teina for a wonderfully authentic recipe.

This was my first time making tzatziki, and I would certainly use this recipe again. I ended up adding more cucumber and more vinegar than the recipe originally called for: 5 tbsp of vinegar (roughly - I eyeballed it!) and an additional quarter English cucumber. You can strain over a cheesecloth for 1-2 hours and thoroughly ring out the cucumber with a paper towel and still have a good outcome. I used this as a complement to grapeleaves with lamb and was very pleased.

Tastes great! I used strained Greek yogurt, 2 tbsp vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil. It worked well

a little dill never hurt any tzatziki

A little salty, but I did use sour cream, cut back on the garlic.

I used garlic powder and added dill. I used Greek yogurt so I didn't have to strain it. if you do strain it, keep the whey for salad dressings and/or meat marinades. After dicing the cucumber, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of salt then strain with paper towel.

awesome with the Souvlaki. I've made several times

Awesome...used extra garlic and it had just the right amount of kick...I've used it as a dip, as a sandwich spead and on the side with grilled souvlaki...definately a keeper!!!!!

AWESOME - No changes necessary. I've been looking for a recipe that was a perfect flavor and texture match for the Tzatziki we had while living in Europe.

Very good recipe. For anyone complaining about it being runny, pay attention: **this is a Greek style tzatziki sauce. You MUST use a Greek style yogurt, which is a cultured yogurt that has most of the whey drained from it. So.... do as the recipe says and buy/use regular plain yogurt, draining it AS DIRECTED, or simply purchase a smaller amount of Greek yogurt. The end result is the same. If you simply use regular plain yogurt and do not drain it as directed, the sauce WILL be runny because regular yogurt is much thinner. It's that simple.

I tried this recipee once it was quite good ,however i adjusted to 7 smalish cloves of garlic replaced vinegar with lemon juice and instead of waiting for yogurt to drain I used greek strained by fage and per a greek grandmother freind I added fresh tyme 1/2 tsp fresh mint 1 tsp and fresh oregano 1/2 tsp all mince extra fine

I left out the olive oil. Make sure you drain everything really well or you are going to end up with a really thin sauce.