Recipe | Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to summer and BBQ season, I am all about the dips. Germans are known for their array of grill sauces (we have a HUGE variety of store-bought sauces, but also a gazillion good recipes for homemade sauces and dips).

One of the ones that you’ll frequently find is Tzatziki (pronounced zza-zzee-key), obviously not a German dish, but still a favorite at every grill party either as a dip for potatoes and veggies or grilled meat. It’s super quick and easy to whip up and so light and tasty.

It’s made with yogurt, olive oil, and grated cucumber and the only trick to remember is to properly drain the cucumber, as its high water content will otherwise water down the dip too much. I simply grate the cucumber and then squeeze the excess water out over the sink.

  • ½ English cucumber, grated and squeezed to remove water
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 ½ Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. dried dill
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper

Grate the cucumber into a bowl and then use your hands to squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink. Combine the cucumber with yogurt, then fold in the other ingredients and give it a good stir. I usually let the dip sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, so the flavors can really meld.

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite dip?

  1. I never knew that dips were big in Germany! I have a lot of German blood and am absolutely obsessed…with every meal I need to have some sort of dipping sauce so I wonder if it’s just in my DNA to love that. Love tzatziki and hardly ever make my own so I need to try this recipe!

  2. I love tzatziki but hummus is my favourite, oh, and baba ganoush. I make hummus but rarely baba ganoush because I never have eggplant on hand.

  3. My son inhaled a bowl of tzatziki sauce at the GreekFest we were at this weekend and I’m pretty sure it’s his new favorite food. I definitely need to give this one a whirl!

  4. I love a good dip! Tzatziki is an all time favorite…although I’m not good about draining the cucumbers I will admit!

  5. Oh, my goodness. This looks so delicious. I love Tzatziki sauce so much and think I have all of the ingredients on hand! Thanks for the recipe :)

  6. It’s been a long time since I had some tzatziki but it sounds like something I should do soon with some roasted veggies like pumpkin and such. On another note: I immediately thought you could save the cucumber water and make this light version of my cucumber lemonade: https://www.craftaliciousme.com/refreshing-cucumber-lemonade-lemonade-party/

  7. Well, how handy. I have TWO English cucumbers, and yogurt, in the fridge. Hmmmm… Thanks for giving me some ideas! Now if I can just figure out how to grate the cucumber. (Apparently I managed to declutter sufficiently to… get rid of my grater. :)

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