An easy and delicious fresh tasting Tzatziki sauce. Made with cool crisp cucumber, greek yogurt, honey, lemon juice, dill, and fresh mint plucked from my container garden.
You can’t beat the fresh taste of a homemade Tzatziki sauce. It cools the palate and is the perfect accompaniment to Mediterranean inspired meat dishes, olive platters, and Sammies.
It’s minty and earthy and takes you away to the Mediterranean. I’ve never traveled the Mediterranean but I’ve been to many a Greek and Mediterranean based restaurants enough to know I love the food and culture.
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I love the cuisine so much I’m contemplating getting this Mediterranean cookbook to hone my skills.
I imagine myself somewhere along the coast of the Aegean Sea. Maybe Pyrgos Santorini gazing over a cliff at the crystal blue sea from my village terrace sipping wine and eating the best Mediterranean cuisine.
In my mind I’ve chosen Pyrgos because it’s less people-y. If you know me, I’m not such a people-y person. I’m an introvert that loves alone time and quiet evenings with my partner.
Until I make it to the Aegean Sea, I’ll have to create the cuisine in my own kitchen for now. Someday Pyrgos…someday.
I love to serve this cucumber yogurt sauce with a delicious chicken souvlaki and homemade pita pocket bread.
My son and daughter and their partners were recently here for my birthday this month and my daughter requested my chicken souvlaki and homemade Tzatziki sauce.
Nothing makes me happier than when my kids request one of their favorite meals from me. There is just something so pleasing about feeding the people you love most and watching them devour your food.
It sounds so corny but it feeds my soul. My daughter is becoming quite the cook also and made the most delicious greek oven baked French fries as our side.
You know your kids are adulting when you’re trading recipes with one another. Look out for her recipe here sometime in the near future.
What is Tzatziki Sauce?
It’s a cucumber yogurt dip. It really doesn’t get any more simple than that. It’s also one of the healthier dips you can eat. It’s high in protein and low in calories.
Putting a dollop of yogurt sauce on Mediterranean chicken or gyro meat is probably one of my favorite ways to eat it. It cools the palate with the mint and dill herbs and calms the protein down a bit as gyro meat can tend to be a bit rich. At least for me.
I had a guest over recently and she is Greek and I served this. cucumber yogurt sauce and she gobbled it up and asked me for the recipe. I’ve never been to the Mediterranean but given the fact she is of Greek heritage, I’d say I hit this recipe spot on. She said something along the lines of… ” This dip is so delicious. It doesn’t leave a yogurt-y aftertaste. How’d you make it?”
It’s so simple and easy to make. But here are a few tips to make the process go a bit smoother.
Tips for making Tzatziki yogurt sauce:
- You don’t need to peel your cucumber before shredding it. You can leave the skin right on.
- Cucumbers hold a great deal of water and will make your dip watery if you don’t squeezed the water out. I do like to scoop out a bit of the seeds before shredding however.
- I use just a tad bit of sour cream in addition to the greek yogurt, just to cut down some of the tartness of the yogurt. It doesn’t leave that chalky aftertaste that greek yogurt tends to do.
- Add just a touch of honey to sweeten it.
- It’s most flavorful when you make it ahead of time and let it sit for a few hours. However, I’ve made mine several times right before eating it and it was still delicious.
- You can add garlic to your sauce if you’d like. I typically leave it out of mine because most times I’m using a lot of garlic in the dish I’m making.
Tzatziki Sauce: Takes you to the Mediterranean
Ingredients
- 2 mini (or 1 small) cucumbers
- 7 oz container greek yogurt (recommend full fat or Fage 5% milk fat )
- 1 Tablespoon sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon honey (plus more for garnish)
- 1/2 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice (Reserve some lemon zest for garnish)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Pepper to taste (a pinch or two)
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh dill
- 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh mint (plus more for garnish)
Instructions
- Wash & dry mini cucumbers, slice off ends, slice and scoop out seeds ,(optional) then grate cucumber. Place in a clean towel or cheese cloth and squeeze as much water out as possible.
- Transfer squeezed cucumber to a small bowl, then add greek yogurt, sour cream, honey, salt, pepper, lemon juice olive oil, minced dill and mint. Mix thoroughly.
- Drizzle a bit of honey over top, sprinkle a bit of lemon zest and garnish with a sprig of mint.
- Serves 6-8 persons.
- Cover with lid and keep refrigerated when not in use. Will keep for 3-4 days in fridge.
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