This 10-minute tzatziki sauce recipe is the perfect blend of creamy Greek yogurt, crisp cucumber, fresh garlic and zesty lemon. It’s light, refreshing, and adds a burst of flavor as a dip with pita bread, a sauce for chicken souvlaki, or as the perfect gyro sauce for chicken gyros!
Why I Love This Tzatziki Recipe
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like tzatziki sauce. It’s just one of those things that’s universally loved! Even my pickiest eater doesn’t turn her nose up to this creamy, tangy, refreshing condiment. Honestly, even the store-bought versions aren’t half bad, but this homemade tzatziki sauce recipe is truly worth drooling over. It takes minutes to toss together and it usually disappears even quicker than that. Here’s why you won’t mind making a double batch:
- Super Creamy: Made with full-fat Greek yogurt, this tzatziki sauce is so creamy and refreshing! The cool, creamy texture is the perfect contrast to spicy or grilled dishes.
- Quick and Easy: You can make this Greek yogurt dip in just 10 minutes! It’s so easy to mix together on short notice.
- Flavorful: With a good amount of fresh cucumber flavor for balance, the garlic and lemon give this sauce a bright, zesty flavor that enhances any meal.
- Perfect for Parties: This tzatziki recipe is a huge crowd-pleaser! You can serve it as a dip, sauce, or even spread on sandwiches and wraps.
- Make Ahead: Tzatziki sauce stores well in the fridge for a few days, so you can easily make it ahead of time. You can also easily double or triple the recipe!
Have an abundance of cucumbers to use up from your garden? Try this fresh cucumber tomato salad, make a batch of garlicky refrigerator pickles, or try my favorite creamy cucumber sandwiches!
Key Ingredients
Below you will find helpful notes for key ingredients used to make this homemade tzatziki sauce recipe. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Cucumber: There’s no need to peel the cucumber since it will be grated before it is added to the sauce. Be sure to drain it well!
- Greek Yogurt: You can also use low fat, but I find that full fat Greek yogurt adds more body to the dip.
- Garlic: Mince fresh garlic cloves finely. If you use store-bought minced garlic, the flavor will not be as pronounced.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh lemon juice is best in order to achieve the strongest, tangiest flavor.
- Dill: While optional, a little fresh dill will add a ton of flavor. Dried dill will also work in a pinch, but only add 1 teaspoon if using dried.
How to Make Tzatziki Sauce
Ready to make some creamy, tangy tzatziki sauce? It’s as simple as grate, squeeze and stir! Below is a quick recipe overview, but please scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for full instructions and to watch the step-by-step video.
- Grate and drain the cucumber. Use a box grater, or food processor, to finely grate the whole cucumber. Drain the shredded cucumber with a piece of cheesecloth, or a tea towel, making sure to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. (See notes below for tips!)
- Add remaining ingredients. Combine the shredded and drained cucumber with Greek yogurt, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, dill, and salt in a large bowl and mix together.
- Chill and Serve. Cover and refrigerate the sauce overnight, or for at least 2 hours. You can enjoy it immediately, but the flavors meld together and intensify if you give it time to rest!
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Chef’s Tips & Variations
- Drain Well: The most important part of making tzatziki is making sure to squeeze out excess moisture from the grated cucumber. This prevents your sauce from becoming thin and watery! You can use a thin tea towel or cheesecloth, adding the shredded cucumbers to the center, twisting it tightly, and then squeezing out the liquid.
- Sour Cream: Full-fat sour cream can be swapped for full-fat Greek yogurt for a richer cucumber dip, if you’d like.
- Chill Time: The more time the flavors have to mingle, the better the sauce tastes! Making this tzatziki recipe ahead and letting it sit overnight in the fridge is a great idea.
- Garlic Lover’s Dream: If you love garlic, feel free to add an extra clove or two for even more zesty flavor. We always add a few extra cloves to ours, vampires won’t be coming to visit us anytime soon!
- Extra Crunch: If you want more texture, chop an extra cucumber and stir it in at the end.
- Use as a Dressing: Thin it out with a little water, or olive oil, and drizzle it over a Greek salad for a refreshing dressing.
How to Use Tzatziki Sauce
- As a vegetable dip. Serve it with toasted pita chips, falafel, raw veggies, cheese, and/or crackers.
- In sandwiches. Instead of mayo, spread tzatziki sauce in your favorite sandwiches like we do our Greek turkey burger. Or, use it inside a falafel sandwich with pita bread.
- Drizzled over grilled veggies and cooked meats. I love using it with any baked chicken, but it really is perfection served with this chicken souvlaki recipe or Greek chicken meatballs.
- On baked potatoes. I have also been known to add tzatziki sauce to baked potatoes with a little crumbled feta on top!
Tzatziki Sauce (Greek Cucumber Sauce)
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber, unpeeled
- 2 cups plain full-fat Greek yogurt
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced, or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced
- ¾ teaspoon salt
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Instructions
- Using a box grater or food processor, grate the whole cucumber and use cheesecloth (or a tea towel) to squeeze out the extra liquid in the shredded cucumber. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can to keep your sauce thick and creamy!
- Combine the shredded and drained cucumber, yogurt, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and salt together in a large bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled with pita bread, vegetables, grilled meats or gyros. You can enjoy this tzatziki sauce immediately, but it tastes best when you have allowed time for the flavors to meld together!
Notes
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I would love to try this but the recipe card is not showing.
Hi Lynn! So sorry, it’s all fixed now. Gotta love technology! 🙂
It’s a great recipe. I would add grated walnuts and it converts in ” Snejanka “, a beautiful Bulgarian sauce , which is a great side dish for a grape brendy.
In southern Greece we add a teaspoon of finely ground black peppercorns to the mix
Yum!
Mint as an option w/w-out dill is also a great option!
I’ll never buy Tzatziki sauce again!!!!! This is a new staple!!!❤️
Followed this recipe EXACTLY – turned out so perfect I wanted to eat it by the spoonful! Tasted even better the next day!
I added a little more garlic because we like a ton of bite in ours. Otherwise I think the proportions of this recipe were perfect. Really made our Chicken Gyros delicious.
I love this sauce and now, thanks to you I know how to make it! Thanks. Can’t wait to get the rest of the ingredients I need.
I love this sauce, after Greek vacation, I became obsessed with it, but never thought to repeat it. Thank you for your recipe and idea!
We could eat this with a spoon! One of our favorite sauces to make!
This looks incredibly delicious!!
I’ve made your enchilada sauce and loved it so I know this will be a hit as well! Thank you for sharing.
This Homemade Tzatziki sauce looks absolutely delicious! Yummy!
I want a big batch of this in my fridge at all times!! It hits all the right notes!
Can’t wait to make this to have with our chicken shawarma!
This is a great tutorial!
Tzatziki sauce is the best! Can’t wait to try this recipe. 🙂