Even though I’ve made tzatziki a lot, this is still my favorite recipe. The two essential ingredients are the roasted garlic and the yogurt that has been strained for 24 hours to resemble soft cheese. Any type of wrap, including gyros, souvlaki, falafel, or kebab, goes well with tzatziki. It also pairs well with crusty bread, french fries, pita bread, baked potatoes, and other side dishes. Additionally, I usually use fresh garlic, but this time I used garlic that had been roasted. With less of the overbearing “bite” that comes from using a lot of fresh garlic, the tzatziki became much more flavorful as a result.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day |
| Total Time: | 1 day 15 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 2 cups |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) container Greek yogurt
- ½ English cucumber
- 2 tablespoons roasted garlic puree
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 10 fresh mint leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Place yogurt in a paper coffee filter, paper towel or 4 layers of cheesecloth set in a strainer or colander, and then set over a bowl to catch the liquid. Allow yogurt to strain for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Peel and grate the cucumber, squeeze out excess water; place into a bowl. Add strained yogurt, garlic puree, lemon juice, mint, and olive oil; mix until combined. Season to taste with salt; chill before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 108 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 3 g |
| Cholesterol | 13 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 37 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
For convenience sake, I sauteed finely chopped garlic on the stove while I prepped my falafel mix. Dang! What a tasty sauce! I’m always obsessed with tzatziki sauce when I’m eating out (and disappointed when I can’t find it) so I’m thrilled there are so many good recipes out there. This was my first attempt, and it was pretty dang good! It felt like it was maybe missing a little something, but I can’t put my finger on it. I’ll try it again, this time making sure to roast my garlic!
There are so many ways you can use Tzatziki with meals: great for appetizers, and tasty accompaniment for just about anything shallow fried or roasted. Keeps for a couple of days,
It was a bit sour and I would add more cucumber next time for sure.
great base recipe although I actually prefer garlic powder to roasted or fresh.
Roast double the garlic and also add fresh garlic. The roasted loses some intensity.
yum and yum! For garlic lovers only, but so delicious! Great over kebabs, greek chicken, or with pita/veggies. Update: have since added 1/2 tsp each dill and mint and let sit at least 3 hrs to meld flavors. Love it every time.
Good, simple sauce for falafel.
This is a staple in my house. We use a whole head of roasted garlic because we love it so!
This was pretty darn good! I’m sure it would taste better with roasted garlic, but I was lazy and just minced 3 cloves, added it to 1/2 C fat free greek yogurt, along with shredded cucumber, some lemon zest (no lemon juice) and lots of dill. We’re huge garlic fans here so the bite didn’t bother us at all, perfect healthy treat for those calorie/fat conscious cooks(I also left out the olive oil.)! Thanks 🙂
Too much lemon flavor for my taste. I wasn’t sure how much to salt it either. The mint was a little strong as well.
Very good overall. I didn’t have roasted garlic (and couldn’t make because the oven was broken), so I used pureed garlic instead. I didn’t find it overpowering, but I would like to try it with roasted garlic next time. I might also use more mint and lemon juice, as well as a little ground pepper. Served it with freshly toasted pita triangles (toasted on the grill), as part of a Greek menu for dinner, and everything went together well. I will make this again!
While the taste was pretty good, this was a runnier tzatziki than we like.
very good. I liked the mint in it…you don;t taste it much after it has been sitting for a day or so and the flavors meld/just has a slightly fresh edge to the bite from the yogurt. Only comment was that I think it does need a little more roasted garlic. I could barely taste it….but that is a better problem to have/can always add more. The last tzatki recipe I tried was overpowering on the (fresh) garlic.
Roast Garlic: Take an an entire bulb of garlic and cut off the ends (sides). Pour olive oil on it and wrap in aluminum foild. Bake! 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.
After leaving in Greece for several years, and being taught how to make the real thing, I was OK with trying the roasted garlic, because it would give it more flavor, but NO way to put mint in it.
YUM! This was a last minute decision, so I couldn’t allow the yogurt to drain overnight, but other than that, I made this exactly as directed, aside from halving the recipe. I think next time, I’ll add even more roasted garlic for a bigger garlic flavor though. I was glad to come across this recipe and I will be making it again! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
This was a most excellent tzatziki! I didn’t see any reason to strain the greek yogurt as what I used (Greek Gods brand) was very thick already. However, I did make sure to get as much water as possible out of the cucumber. Also used dill (instead of mint) and 2 regular sized whole garlic bulbs. Texture and weight were perfect! Loved that there wasn’t mayo or sour cream in this recipe. It’s a keeper….am making more today!!
Excellent. Thank you
How much raw garlic is 2 tablespoons? I used a whole bulb of roasted garlic, but it was too mellow for us to taste it enough just after making it and then the next day. I added another couple of raw cloves and the rest of the strained cucumber just before serving.
Very tasty, i added more garlic for personal taste and some pepper, delicious!
Great!