How to Make Tzatziki Sauce

Here’s How to Make Tzatziki Sauce, and this cucumber sauce is the delicious creamy sauce that’s often served with Greek Food! And homemade Tzatziki Sauce is fresh-tasting and easy to make; see ideas in the post for what to serve with it!

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Tzatziki Sauce is the creamy white cucumber sauce that you’ve probably eaten in a Greek restaurant! I learned to make it after a Greek friend brought this delicious yogurt sauce to my house when I cooked lamb. And I discovered that homemade Tzatziki is easy to make and so much better than the kind you buy!

Now the recipe has been on my website for a long time and has a lot of fans! This recipe will show you everything you need to know about making this famous Greek sauce.

I’ve never had a version of this sauce I didn’t like, but this recipe is hands-down the best version I’ve tried! And Tzatzik is great on most every kind of Greek food. It’s also delicious on grilled meat, chicken, or fish. I hope you’ll try making it if you’ve never made this famous Greek sauce at home; I bet you’re going to love homemade Tzatziki Sauce!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe with ingredient amounts.)

• Greek Yogurt (or regular plain yogurt, strained through a filter for several hours)
• lemon (I used my fresh-frozen lemon juice)
• garlic clove
• cucumbers
• Kosher Salt (affiliate link) for salting cucumbers
• fresh dill, or use dried dill weed if that’s all you have
• Kosher Salt (affiliate link) and fresh ground black pepper to taste

What is Tzatziki Sauce?

Tzatziki is the traditional white sauce that’s served with Greek food. It’s made with yogurt, cucumber, lemon, garlic, and dill, and it’s the white sauce that some people call Gyro Sauce! There are many different ways to use Tzatziki Sauce, and once you make it, you’ll want to eat it on everything!

What else can you add to Tzatziki Sauce?

The recipe you see here is the classic Greek Tzatziki Sauce shown with my favorite low-carb pita bread. But here are other options you might enjoy:

• Many people like to add fresh mint to Tzatziki, which is good if you like that flavor.
• I love lemon, so I like adding a bit of lemon zest for a bit more lemon flavor.
• I’ve seen Tzatziki recipes that used Za’atar Spice Mix (affiliate link).
• I’d also love to serve Tzatziki sprinkled with the middle eastern spice called Sumac (affiliate link).
• And I definitely wouldn’t mind a bit of finely-crumbled Feta cheese stirred into Tzatziki!

How long will Tzatziki Sauce keep in the fridge?

If you start with very fresh yogurt that’s not close to the use-by date, Tzatziki will keep in the fridge for as long as a week. But if you don’t think you’ll use it all in that amount of time, you might want to cut this recipe in half.

How low in carbs is Tzatziki Sauce?

This delicious greek yogurt sauce only has about 4 net carbs in a generous one-fourth cup serving with 5 grams of protein.

How to make Tzatziki Sauce:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. Tzatziki Sauce is made with Greek Yogurt, and there are many good brands.
2. If you can’t find Greek yogurt, you can strain regular plain yogurt for several hours to remove liquid and thicken the yogurt. I use the yogurt strainer you see in this photo. If you don’t have that, use two coffee filters inside a colander, placed inside a bowl to catch the liquid.
3. The first photo shows the yogurt starting to drain. Let the yogurt drain on the counter for 2 hours, or until it reaches the thickness you want. The next photo shows how much liquid had drained out after 2 hours.
4. Since Tzatziki contains finely-chopped cucumber, it’s best to remove the seeds of the cucumber so the sauce doesn’t get watery. Use a sharp pointed spoon to scrape out seeds as shown in this photo.
5. Then cut cucumbers into thick slices and put in a colander placed in the sink. Sprinkle with salt and let cucumbers release water and drain for 30 minutes or more. (The water released rinses off most of the salt. But if you’re limiting salt in your diet you can rinse them and pat dry with paper towels.)
6. Tzatziki traditionally contains fresh dill. Use the fine tips of the dill leaves and discard the thick stems. Some versions of Tzatziki use mint, and dried dill weed  and dried mint would not be bad in a pinch.
7. Put the cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and black pepper into food processor and process with the steel blade until cucumbers are finely chopped. When you see the liquid in this photo you can tell why it’s important to drain the cucumbers first.
8. Then stir the pureed cucumber mixture into the Greek yogurt (or yogurt you’ve drained.)
9. Let this refrigerate for at least 2 hours to give flavors a chance to develop.
10. When you’re ready to serve, season the sauce with a bit of salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
11. Tzatziki sauce will keep in the fridge for close to a week, and it’s good on so many Greek dishes or grilled meats.

Make it a Low-Carb Meal:

Tazaziki sauce would be delicious with any of these main dishes for a low-carb meal:

• Baked Greek Meatballs with Feta
• Chicken Souvlaki
• Ground Beef Gyro Meatball Lettuce Wraps
• Grilled Lamb Kabobs
• Greek Air Fryer Wings

More Sauce Recipes to Try:

• Market Street Grill Cucumber Dill Sauce
• Homemade Tartar Sauce (with Double Dill)
• Roasted Red Pepper Aioli with Garlic

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4.4 Stars (45 Reviews)

Yield: 14 servings (see note)

How to Make Tzatziki Sauce

Prep Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes

Tzatziki Sauce is the famous white sauce that's often served in restaurants with Greek food, and this recipe will show you how to make it! And Tzatziki is delicious served in a variety of ways; enjoy!

Ingredients

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• 3 cups Greek Yogurt (or regular plain yogurt, strained through a filter for several hours)
• juice of one lemon (about 3 T)
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced
• about 1 T kosher salt for salting cucumbers
• 1 T finely chopped fresh dill (see notes)
• Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. If you don't have Greek yogurt, strain plain yogurt for several hours until it thickens. (See photos in the post for more about how to do that.)
2. Peel cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and take a small spoon and scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. (If you use the small seedless or European cucumbers with fewer seeds, you can skip this step.)
3. Slice cucumbers, then put in a colander, sprinkle on 1 T salt, and let stand for 30 minutes to draw out water. Drain well and wipe dry with paper towel.
4. In food processor with steel blade, add cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir this mixture into the yogurt. Taste before adding any extra salt, then salt if needed.
5. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend. (This resting time is very important.)
6. When you're ready to serve, season Tzatziki Sauce to taste with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.
7. This will keep for a few days or more in the refrigerator, but you will need to drain off any water and stir each time you use it.

Notes

If you don't have fresh dill you can use dried dill weed. You can also substitute mint leaves for a slightly different version of Tzatziki.

Nutritional information is calculated on 1/4 cup serving size.

Recipe from Georgette Kapos.

Nutrition Information

Yield

14

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 37Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 2mgSodium 558mgCarbohydrates 4gFiber 0gSugar 2gProtein 5g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

Did you make this recipe?

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Tzatziki Sauce would be suitable for low-carb and Keto diets and for any phase of the original South Beach Diet. Yogurt is a dairy product where the South Beach Diet recommends always choosing non-fat or low-fat, but Tzatziki is a condiment, and you won’t be eating enormous amounts of it so I would probably use full-fat yogurt for best flavor. And of course low-carb and Keto diets would absolutely want full-fat yogurt.

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Sauces to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find more recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This Tzatziki recipe was first posted in 2007, and I have made it many, many times since then! It was last updated with more information in 2026.