Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

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Tzatziki is a famous sauce reigning from the country of Greece. Known for its beautiful creamy texture, punchy flavors, and beautiful bright color, it’s a sauce that is universally loves all around the world. This is our version of a delicious Homemade Tzatziki Sauce that’s easy to make and requires ingredients that are easy to get hold of. Most importantly of all – it tastes great!

What are the Primary Ingredients in Tzatziki?

Tzatziki is a very simple sauce to make and relies on very few ingredients. Provided they are good quality, your Homemade Tzatziki Sauce will taste amazing

The Primary Ingredients in a typical Tzatziki is Greek Yoghurt, Lemon Juice, Garlic, Cucumber, and Salt. The sharpness of the Lemon Juice cuts through and compliments the richness of the Greek Yoghurt Perfectly. Garlic adds a beautiful punch of flavor, and the Cucumber brings a beautiful freshness to the Sauce. Eating a good quality Tzatziki transports you to the beautiful white scenery of Santorini, overlooking a crystal-clear ocean!

For our recipe we’ve added Lemon Zest to the recipe. Lemon Zest is an extremely common ingredient that is used in Greek cooking (actually, it’s used a lot in all Mediterranean style cooking). It naturally has an acidic flavor and is quite a lot stronger than Lemon Juice. We love the taste; however, we would recommend using it sparingly if you are cautious about the amount of acid / sourness you’re used to in a sauce

Yes, you add Raw Garlic to the Homemade Tzatziki Sauce, and it tastes amazing

Don’t be afraid of this one. Raw Garlic can be intimidating to many cooks as it has a very strong flavor. Do not worry though, as we’re only requiring that you add 2 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped, for every 1 cup of Yoghurt added

Also, the Lemon Juice that is added to the Tzatziki does start to ‘cook’ the Garlic slightly, which does take the edge off it’s taste slightly. Overall, the Garlic balances perfectly with the other ingredients in the dish and without it, you’ll find the overall Sauce a little underwhelming. So be brave and add that Raw Garlic!

Food that pairs well with some Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

Of course, most Greek food is going to taste amazing if you add some Tzatziki Sauce to it. One of the most popular dishes is the Greek Souvlaki, or Gyro. Marinated BBQ meat (usually Chicken, Beef, or Lamb) wrapped in Pita Bread, filled with some delicious salad, and smothered in Tzatziki Sauce is an all-time favorite

The Greeks love their Lamb, any honestly most Lamb dishes taste fantastic when you pair it with Tzatziki. Try some Slow Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Tzatziki and you’ll know exactly what we mean! Our Greek Lamb Wrap is also another favorite. Yummy Roast Lamb wrapped in Pita and drenched in Tzatziki Sauce!

Homemade Tzatziki Sauce is also great when mixed in with Salad. We love the pairing of Tabbouleh Salad with Tzatziki Sauce. It’s a super refreshing salad perfect for a meal on a hot Summer night

We also love having Tzatziki Sauce with Chicken. They’re like a match made in heaven and so many Chicken Dishes can be elevated to stratospheric heights with the addition of some lovely Tzatziki Sauce. Here are a few of our favorite Chicken recipes that you should try alongside this beautiful Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

• Harissa Chicken and Vegetables
• Easy Chicken Burritos
• Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich
• Classic Buffalo Chicken Wings
  
  

You can keep the Homemade Tzatziki Sauce for a couple of days in the refrigerator after use

Once you add Lemon to a sauce it will slowly break down, so you will only get about 2 days of really good use from the sauce after you’ve made it. We eat this sauce in everything however, so there’s no harm in making up a big batch and storing some for later. Just store it in an airtight plastic container and use what you need for later use

Adjusting the seasoning on this sauce is easy to do, and we highly recommend it

The beauty about this sauce is there is no cooking involved. All you need to do is combine the ingredients into a bowl and mix them together. The quantities of ingredients we’ve listed in the ingredients section below are the ratios we find the most appealing for this Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

That being said, everyone’s palates are different. You may like your sauce with a little more Salt. You may want less acid. Easily done! Just add in smaller quantities of each ingredient and taste as you go. We would recommend only adding the juice of 1 Lemon to start, then taste to see how the acid levels are before adding the second. Same goes for the Lemon Zest, which is quite a powerful flavor

Just add the ingredients bit by bit and taste until you’ve hit the perfect flavor profile. Then dive in and enjoy the beautiful sauce you’ve just made!

Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup Greek Yoghurt
• Juice from 2 Lemons
• Zest from 1 Lemon
• ½ Cucumber, finely diced
• 2 Garlic Cloves, finely chopped
• ½ tsp. Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Combine the Greek Yoghurt, Juice from 1 Lemon, Lemon Zest, Cucumber, Garlic, and Salt in a bowl and mix well to combine
2. Check for seasoning before adding the second Lemon
   
   

That’s it! Creating a beautiful Homemade Tzatziki Sauce takes no time at all. It is best to not use all the Lemon at once when you’re mixing the ingredients together. Everyone’s flavor profile is a little different so it will be more difficult to dilute the Lemon taste out of the sauce if you put too much in at the start

You can also adjust the Salt levels when tasting too. Just adjust the Salt and Lemon to your preference before you use in your cooking and serve. Check out our Sauces page for more delicious sauces that are easy to make like this one!

Happy Cooking!