Classic Greek Tzatziki Sauce
A delightful Greek sauce for meat dishes! Have you ever made tzatziki? On the one hand, it’s an excellent spread you can put on bread and eat with all kinds of food, and on the other hand, it’s a sauce for meat, poultry and fish. You don’t need any special skills to make it - everything is extremely simple!
Updated : 26 November, 2025
Easy
About 30 min.
Ingredients
250 grams
Yogurt
1
Cucumber
20 grams
Dill
2
Garlic
to taste
Salt
to taste
Ground black pepper
Serving
2 tablespoon
Olive oil
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
How to make tzatziki sauce? First, prepare all the ingredients. Choose plain, natural yogurt without any flavorings. Traditionally tzatziki is made with Greek yogurt – it is very thick in consistency. If you cannot find it in the store, take regular yogurt and hang it overnight in cheesecloth - the yogurt will become much thicker.
Step 2
Start with the herbs. Rinse them very well under running water and pat dry. Then chop them finely.
Step 3
Now prepare the cucumber. If the cucumber is large and has thick skin, peel it. From such a cucumber it is also better to remove the seeds. A young cucumber with thin skin can be left as is. Wash the cucumber well and grate it on a coarse grater. Transfer it to a separate bowl; you can even put the grated cucumber into a sieve set over a bowl. Add a little salt and leave for about five minutes.
Step 4
Peel the garlic and finely chop the cloves. I used a garlic press, but you can grate it as well.
Step 5
By this time the cucumber has released its juice and it needs to be drained. If you kept it in a sieve, simply pour off the liquid that collected. If it was just in a bowl, first squeeze the grated cucumber mass with your hands, then pour off the excess juice.
Step 6
Add the chopped herbs, the grated and well-squeezed cucumber, garlic, salt and pepper to the yogurt.
Step 7
Mix the sauce thoroughly and taste for salt, adding more if needed. Let the tzatziki sauce sit for about 15 minutes to infuse. Before serving, drizzle it with olive oil.
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