I love easy recipes! 5 simple ingredients. 15 minutes. One bowl. Done + yum! You can eat this as a dressing, spread onto a falafel, or it can be used as a dip. This easy tzatziki sauce can be made vegan or vegetarian!
What is Tzatziki Sauce?
Tatziki is a yogurt-based sauce made with cucumber + garlic. Tzatziki is popular in both Greek and Turkish cuisines served as a dip alongside pita bread or in any pita sandwich. The 3 absolute must-have ingredients in Tzatziki sauce are yogurt, cucumbers, and garlic.
Tara’s Tips for Perfect + Easy Tzatziki Sauce:
Cucumber:
- Shred the cucumber! To get to the proper consistency in this easy tzatziki sauce … grate the cucumber. After you are done grating, squeeze out the excess water with your hands and then a cheesecloth or kitchen towel. I toss it in my food processor with the shredding blade but a hand or box grater will work just fine too.
Yogurt:
- Use a thick yogurt such as Greek yogurt. Dairy if you are not vegan or unsweetened coconut plain coconut yogurt if you are vegan. The thickness of these yogurts is how the cucumber sticks to it and you don’t get a runny sauce with isolated ingredients. A thicker yogurt creates the cohesive nature of this sauce.
Optional fresh herbs:
- Dill, parsley, cilantro are all excellent add-ins. I am a tzatziki purist. I enjoy the simplicity of the garlic and the lemon with the yogurt and the cucumber. Tastes super Mediterranean to me and I like to keep it that way. However, add the herbs if you like. Stick the the three I mention and you can’t go wrong.
Garlic:
- This works best with a paste or puree. Β If you are starting with fresh garlic, be sure to blend it into a paste or you will be chewing on chunks of garlic in your sauce. The puree gets along so much better with the other ingredients. I buy a jar of garlic paste at the Indian grocery store but they sell puree in most other supermarkets where the garlic is.Β
Serving suggestions:
- I love this sauce generously layered in a pita with my favorite Healthy Homemade Baked Falafel. However, you could use this sauce as a dressing for your salad. In addition, it works great as a dip for pita bread, chips or veggies.Β
Love Cucumbers? Me too!
Try one of my other favorite cucumber recipes:
5-Minute Cucumber Salsa Recipe
Avocado Tomato Cucumber Pasta Salad
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad Bowl
Easy Tzatziki Sauce
This Easy Tzatziki Sauce recipe is ready in minutes + requires only 3 ingredients + is SO EASY! Perfect for falafels or dipping veggies or pita chips! Can easily be made vegan with vegan yogurt!
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded cucumber
- 2 cups of plain greek yogurt or unsweetened vegan coconut yogurt
- 1 tbsp garlic paste or puree
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp salt
Directions
- Step 1 First, shred the cucumber yielding 2 cups total of shredded cucumber
- Step 2 After shredding or grating your cucumber, next, squeeze out the water. I use my hands first and then gently press the cucumber shreds with a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth.
- Step 3 Then, place the yogurt into a bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Step 4 Lastly, fold the cucumbers into the yogurt and add the remaining ingredients. Gently stir until all ingredients combined.
- Step 5 Serve with pita chips, veggies, on your veggie burger, in a falafel pita, or as dressing for a falafel salad!
- Step 6 Store any leftovers in a glass airtight container in refrigerator for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
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