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.
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“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.”
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Tzatziki sauce
Tzatziki has always been one of my favorite sauces—it’s cool, creamy, and packed with fresh flavor. I love making it at home because it’s surprisingly simple and so much better than anything store-bought. With just a few ingredients like Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, and lemon juice, I can whip up a batch in minutes. It’s my go-to for dipping veggies, drizzling over grilled meats, or spreading onto pita sandwiches. Once you try homemade tzatziki, you’ll never go back! 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.
Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Servings 6 (1/4 cup each)Ingredients
- ½ cucumber ($0.35*)
- 1½ cups plain Greek yogurt ( whole milk, $1.87)
- 1 clove garlic (finely minced, $0.08)
- 1 Tbsp fresh dill ($1.25)
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice ($0.20)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil ($0.16)
- ½ tsp salt ($0.04)
- ⅛ tsp black pepper (freshly cracked, $0.02)
- ¼ 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.
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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 videos
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!
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.
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!
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.
Slice the cucumber in half and scrap the seeds out of the cucumber with a spoon before you grate it. Less water that way. I peel the cucumber before I grate it. Optional, & I add 2 or 3 minced garlic. I use Tzatsiki mostly for souvlaki. So good.
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.
Made this to go along with your homemade naan recipe (in an attempt to recreate the pillowy, soft pita I had at a Greek restaurant + their delicious tzatziki), and I was actually pretty good! I think this is closer to the thinner sauce I get on gyros rather than the variety I had tasted at that restaurant, but I think they added feta to theirs, so I’ll probably try adding some crumbled feta to this next time. I used dried dill and garlic powder and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors meld, and I put the cucumber in a paper towel and squeezed the water out of it before adding to the yogurt, but otherwise I followed the recipe as written.
I’ve had better luck with the texture of the sauce when I salt the cucumber and let it drain, pressing out the liquid, Â before adding it to the yogurt. A coffee filter works great if you don’t have cheesecloth and it keeps the finished sauce nice and thick.
Beth I would love the recipe for baba knoush if You can give it to me I would love it. thanks
.
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As always – no fancy ingredients and perfectly delicious.
We love gyros but I’ve never tried my own cucumber sauce before this week. Super easy and tasted great. We put it on our Easy Oven Fajitas. Score another two good recipes for Budget Bytes! You would be amazed how many of your recipes are now weekly staples here. Thank you so much, Beth!
This sauce is super! I love gyros, but my husband has always been turned off by them. I made this and the Oven Roasted Greek Stuffed Pitas for dinner last night. He said they were the best he’s had, but still wasn’t sold. I loved them!
I’ll be trying this tonight! Is it alright to use powdered dill and garlic as substitutes? Also, I like to add in a bit of oregano, especially when serving with gyros.
Yes, that will work, but be sure to refrigerate the sauce for a while to let the flavors permeate.
Squeeze the water out of the grated cucumber and don’t forget to add a little olive oil and vinegar too to get the original taste.
Very good. Made this today with the addition of lemon juice. I also made it in the food processor (including squeezing the extra moisture). While it make the sauce thinner, that’s fine with us because we can stretch it.