This is comparable to the garlic sauce that many of our Greek friends prepare and serve in their eateries. Serve in a bowl and top with olives, parsley, and fresh mint leaves.
Prep Time: | 15 mins |
Additional Time: | 4 hrs |
Total Time: | 4 hrs 15 mins |
Servings: | 7 |
Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 (32 ounce) container plain yogurt
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 medium head garlic
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill weed
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the yogurt in a large square of double cheesecloth. Tie the cheesecloth at the top and let any excess liquid drain for about 4 hours.
- Peel cucumbers; remove seeds with a spoon. Shred the cucumbers, then squeeze to drain excess liquid.
- Peel and mince garlic.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper. Add yogurt, cucumbers and garlic and stir until evenly combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Nutrition Facts
Calories | 171 kcal |
Carbohydrate | 11 g |
Cholesterol | 17 mg |
Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
Protein | 5 g |
Saturated Fat | 4 g |
Sodium | 62 mg |
Sugars | 6 g |
Fat | 12 g |
Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Tasted just like our favorite Greek restaurant’s tzatziki!
Great. Exactly how it should be.
I used homemade roasted garlic and I doubled the dill weed because I used dried instead of fresh. This is INCREDIBLE. I cannot stop eating it. NOTE: For homemade roasted garlic, what I do is peel the outer layers of the garlic bulb leaving the bulb intact, place the bulb in a smallish oven-safe bowl (or a 6-cup muffin tin if you do it in bulk, like I do) drizzle with EVOO and cover with aluminum foil. Then, just bake for a half hour or so until the cloves are softened. Wa-la, roasted garlic. Also, if you do not have cheesecloth, you can drain your yogurt in layers of coffee filters in a colander.
This is my favorite recipe for tzatziti. I have made it like this about 10 times. I will say I only use a clove of garlic. I dont know if he meant a head or clove but a clove is plenty for me. I only add a few tablespoons of olive oil depending on how long I have drained yogurt.
So good! I did blend it through a blender because I thought shreds of cucumber in this would be weird…but the flavour is so good and so garlicky. Love it!!! First time I ever made tzatziki and now I know how easy and good it is.Thanks!
4 stars because of two things. I don’t think most folks will appreciate a whole head of garlic in this or so much lemon. I mixed this with a 16 oz container thick “Greek” yogurt, 3 cloves crushed garlic sauteed in 1 tblsp Olive oil. 1 tsp fresh lemon juice, a sprinkle of dried oregano and 1/2 tsp of dry dill. I did twist my (seeded) grated cucumber in a tea towel (to get rid of excess moisture) before incorporating. Also a tsp of honey will tone down excessive tart flavor (matter of pref). A little ground sea salt & fresh pepper is all that’s needed as well. Very good w/out so much garlic/oil/lemon juice. For me anyway 🙂 Tastes better after storing overnight in fridge. I utilize my own homemade baked pita chips (use quality pita bread) to dip in this…yum!
this is the oringinal recipe of greek tzatziki
This tzatziki recipe comes closest to the best tzatziki we tasted while visiting Greece. Please note that it should call for one CLOVE of garlic, not an entire head of garlic! Also, we like to put a LOT more fresh dill in.
Greek yogurt which is now available in most grocery stores, eliminates the need for straining the yogurt. I used a high fat Cabot’s brand. I added some chopped fresh dill as well. I used a cheese grater for shredding and a grapefruit spoon for the seeding. This was by far the best Tzatziki that I have ever eaten. It was very thick and creamy.
This was great on gyros! Made a much smaller portion with a standard small plain yogurt and one cucumber. Skipped the dill. Added McCormick Greek Seasoning. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours beforehand. Used with chicken seasoned with the same Greek Seasoning in pitas w/feta, lett, tom, etc. Yum! This is my new staple recipe. Thanks!
Love this recipe…I always get compliments when I make it!
This recipe is great. I used greek yogurt so I didn’t strain it. I did drain the cukes. But then I just mixed together all the ingredients – I didn’t whisk. I popped it in the fridge for an hour or 2 before dinner and it was delicious!
I’m sorry, but I just didn’t like this recipe. I’ve had tzatziki in restaurants several times and loved it, but this was not even close. I think the lemon and garlic measurements are way off. I tried adding sugar to take off the bite, but the batch I made was not even salvageable.
This tzatziki was fantastic. We actually like ours a little runny, so after I drained the initial batch of yogurt, I added some undrained yogurt back in. Substituted some garlic salt for part of the garlic. One thing is essential, though: THE FLAVORS MUST BLEND. This was not that great initially, just after everything was mixed. A couple of days in the fridge, delicious.
This was wonderful! I took the advice of another reviewer and strained the yogurt in two coffee filters overnight in a strainer. Worked perfectly. I used a little less garlic and a little mroe dill. Highly adaptable to suit everyone’s tastes. Thanks for sharing!
Really good! I did not need the additional cuke and thought this was wonderful as is.
Very good recipe but watch out for the amounts of spices. An entire head of garlic? Seems like an obvious error, but those who suggest a single clove are using too little. I prefer a bolder taste. I used four cloves of garlic, also added an extra tablespoon of lemon juice, and a tablespoon or so of fresh chopped dill. This provides a much bolder flavor; the base recipe is quite mild by my standard. I have found that the “name brand” plain yogurt tends to be less runny than the generic store brand and is more cost effective than greek yogurt.
Maybe this is just personal preference, but I found this recipe came out runny and even after adding some extra garlic it didn’t have as much flavour as typical tzatziki has.
Halved the yogurt, but it still made plenty (didn’t have enough time to drain, so it was a bit runny, but still scrumptious!) Added 2 shredded Persian cucumbers (fewer seeds, more flavor), about 6 cloves garlic and the juice from one lemon. Delicious!
I didn’t have fresh garlic so I had to use garlic powder (about two teaspoons) and I had dried dill, I used almost a tablespoon. I used fresh ground pepper and a dash of salt. I drained the yoghurt for over twenty four hours (in a seive lined with coffee filters), and really squeezed out the cucumbers – first in my bare hands, then again in coffee filters just to get every little bit of moisture. It turned out amazing, very tangy. It’s not quite as thick as I’d like, but I’ll see how it is after sitting in the fridge overnight. I’m just glad to know I can make my own tzatziki now!
exceelent as this dish is great as it is.