We pronounce Tzatziki sauce both “tsatsiki”, and “dzadzygi” and “dzadzyki”. However, it doesn't matter how you say it - it's more important to cook this spicy Greek appetizer sauce, try it - and Tzatziki (tzatziki) will most likely become one of your favorite sauces. You can just eat it, or spread it on bread, pita bread, or you can serve it to fried meat, to barbecue.
Additional Ingredients, which greatly enrich the taste of tzatziki sauce, are chopped dill or parsley, chopped olives, fresh mint. In addition, vinegar can be easily replaced with lemon or lime juice. Before serving, tzatziki sauce should be infused in the refrigerator for several hours, after which it should be served in a bowl or on a plate.
- 2-3 medium or 1 large cucumber
- 200 g sour cream
- 100 g cottage cheese
- 3-5 garlic cloves
- 1-2 tbsp. spoons of olive oil
- lemon juice and salt to taste
- We clean the cucumbers from the skin and rub on a grater, small or large - a matter of taste. It is very convenient to put gauze on a plate, grate cucumbers, and then lift the ends of the gauze and squeeze out the juice.
- Put cucumber gruel in a salad bowl. Pour sour cream mixed with cottage cheese into a homogeneous mass there. Rub the garlic on a fine grater and also add to the salad bowl.
- Lastly, pour olive oil, a few drops of lemon juice, salt and mix everything thoroughly. That's the whole recipe.
- This appetizer-sauce, very popular in Greece, is made from unsweetened, very thick, Greek yogurt. There are no strict proportions, it is permissible to add crushed almonds, vinegar, lemon juice, oregano, garnish with olives and black olives.
Since we do not have Greek yogurt, we replace it thick sour cream fat content of at least 20% and mix it with cottage cheese.
Recipe 2: Quick Tzatziki Sauce on Kefir
I offer an express version of the Greek tzatziki sauce, i.e. without hanging and squeezing yogurt, but simply prepared by mixing the right ingredients. Tzatziki sauce is served with vegetable dishes, meat and fish dishes and it tastes even just as an independent snack with bread (pita, lavash...)
Kefir (yogurt) - 1 cup;
Sour cream - 0.5 cups;
Cucumber - 1 piece;
Fresh herbs to taste;
Garlic - 1 clove;
Sea salt or coarse grinding - 1 pinch;
Lemon juice - up to 1 tbsp. spoons;
Pink pepper or a variety of pepper to taste.
Prepare the following ingredients: kefir or yogurt, sour cream, cucumber, lemon, garlic, herbs, salt and spices.
Cucumber and garlic clove, grate, salt and leave for a few minutes to let the cucumber juice.
Mix kefir (yogurt) with sour cream.
Squeeze the grated mass of cucumber through a sieve from the juice and add its thick part to the sauce.
Stir the sauce and preferably let it stand in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
Serve tzatziki with any meat, fish or vegetable dishes to your taste.
When serving, add lemon juice, olive oil, chopped herbs, pink pepper to tzatziki to taste.
Recipe 3: Tzatziki with pickles
If you cook tzatziki with pickles, it will turn out even tastier, and it will not overcool us in winter, as fresh cucumbers have a cooling effect and are more suitable for summer.
In Greece, natural thick yogurt is used to make this sauce. We have such a difficult to find, so you can safely replace it with 10-15% sour cream or a mixture of sour cream and ordinary unsweetened yogurt.
But if you decide to cook tzatziki according to all the rules, then you need a store or home drinking yogurt hang overnight in cheesecloth, folded in several layers, so that excess whey is glassed, and then add the rest of the ingredients in accordance with the recipe. I also saw the company Valio produces Turkish yogurt 10%.
Sauce "Tzatziki"
- 250 gr. sour cream 10-15% (thick yogurt 10% or a mixture of sour cream and drinking unsweetened yogurt)
- 2 small pickles
- small bunch of parsley and dill
- ground black pepper
- 1-2 garlic cloves (or ½ teaspoon asafoetida)
Put the finished sauce in the refrigerator for several hours to infuse.
Tzatziki is insanely delicious with potatoes (fried, boiled, baked) or with fresh bread. It can also be served as a salad or dip for appetizers.
Recipe 4: Tzatziki Sauce with Cheese and Pepper
- 200 gr yogurt or sour cream
- 100 gr cheese
- half paprika pepper
- 1 fresh cucumber
- 3 garlic cloves
- olive oil
1. We clean the cucumber. We rub it on a fine grater. We squeeze. We take yogurt or sour cream (I took it in half), add grated cucumber to them.
2. Paprika pepper cut into small cubes. Add to the mixture with cucumber.
3. Grind the garlic on a garlic press and throw in yogurt with sour cream.
4. We rub the cheese on a fine grater. We add.
5. Finely chop the greens, spread to the total mass. Salt, pepper, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Mix well.
I used rye bread, they turned out to be good and tasty canapes.
Recipe 5: Tzatziki Sauce with Sour Milk and Vinegar
- 6-8 cloves of young garlic.
- 500 ml of sour milk (10% fat).
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Vinegar, salt to taste.
- 1 fresh cucumber.
- Black olive variety Calamon.
- Grate the garlic and mix it with olive oil.
- Mix garlic with sour milk and refrigerate for several hours (so that the garlic and olive oil soak the milk).
- Before serving, grate the cucumber on a fine grater and squeeze (to remove excess water).
- Mix the grated cucumber and milk from the refrigerator with the rest of the ingredients.
- Lay olives on top.
Practical Tips
In each national cuisine has its own sauce, original and unique to her. These dressings or gravies, which can sometimes be treated as snacks in their own right, serve business cards cookbooks different countries. One has only to remember Japanese Indian chutney or Azerbaijani narsharab. In this article, we will look at the preparation of Greek tzatziki. The classic recipe was born in mainland Hellas. They call it tzatziki or tzatziki.
On the island of Crete, the appetizer sauce is named talaturi (ttalattouri). Along with the name, the recipe has also undergone modifications. In Crete, tzatziki is prepared with less garlic and mint leaves. And in the Bulgarian and Macedonian cuisines, the sauce has generally turned into a soup - a no less popular tarator in the world. Well, in Russia, an analogue of this interesting dish you can count okroshka on kefir.
History of occurrence
Researchers are still at a loss as to which people gave the world this wonderful appetizer sauce. Some believe that it was only thanks to the Turkish conquest that tzatziki sauce appeared in Greece. A classic Ottoman recipe used squeezed goat or sheep milk yogurt, garlic, fresh cucumbers, salt, pepper and olive oil. The Turkish dish is called cacık. It differs from the Greek in a more liquid consistency. In the Middle East, in Persia, there is a similar mast-o-khiar sauce. Tzatziki is also reminiscent of the Indian raita gravy. But perhaps the conquering Turks "borrowed" the recipe from the conquered Greeks? One way or another, but who owns the palm in the issue of tzatziki, we do not yet know. The main thing is that we have a recipe for a delicious and healthy sauce.
iconic dish
In Greece, this sauce is sold in any grocery store, and with numerous variations. In Greece, as you know, everything is there. And this statement fully applies to a variety of sauces, united under the common name "tzatziki". The classic recipe suggests the presence of yogurt, garlic, cucumber, olive oil and salt and pepper in the dish. Variations include mint, dill, parsley, lemon juice, ground almonds, and more. There are tzatziki on goat's milk and on sheep's. With fresh or pickled cucumbers. In a word, for every taste. Not a single meal in Greece is complete without this dish. It is eaten as a snack on its own, simply by dipping pita into it. Tzatziki is served with gyros, souvlaki, meat, fish, fried or stewed vegetables. The sauce invariably accompanies meze - a set of cold and served in the Mediterranean.
Tzatziki: cooking recipe
In fact, there are no difficulties in creating the sauce. We don't even have to light a fire. In Greece, in addition to ready-made sauce, you can also buy the main ingredient for its preparation - very thick (without flavorings). With it, cooking a cult dish will not take even half an hour. All you need is to mix peeled and finely chopped cucumbers, garlic, spices and olive oil into yogurt. Tzatziki must be chilled before serving. In restaurants, the sauce is decorated with an olive cut in half, an olive or a sprig of mint. The amount of ingredients can be adjusted to your liking. But what is the proportion of an authentic tzatziki dish? The classic recipe gives such a list of ingredients. For 370 ml of yogurt for tzatziki, you need to take two cucumbers, five cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of olive oil, one teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper.
Cooking step by step: tzatziki (classic recipe)
Photos will make the description more understandable. Two cucumbers are peeled and chopped on a grater. We add them and squeeze out the slightly allocated juice. Finely chop five garlic cloves, pour a spoonful of wine vinegar (or lemon juice). Add to cucumbers along with 370 ml of thick natural yogurt. If desired, you can sprinkle the mixture with a tablespoon of dill or parsley. The taste of mint with fresh cucumbers will create a cooling effect on a hot day. Mix the sauce thoroughly. In a thin stream, pour in two tablespoons of natural olive oil. Mix again and put in the refrigerator. Before serving, decorate with tzatziki sauce. The classic recipe is good for everyone. But he does not specify where to get such a thick natural yogurt, which in Greece is sold in any shop. Let's try to adapt the recipe to our conditions of import substitution.
Greek yogurt
Cucumbers and garlic are not a problem for us. Olive oil is also available for purchase. It's about yogurt. The one we sell under the name "Natural" is not suitable for tzatziki sauce. The recipe requires a thick product so that, as they say, a spoon stands in it. Many people replace yogurt with full-fat sour cream. It's really thick enough. But the sauce will be too thick. Therefore, it makes sense to do some preliminary manipulations in order to get a real Let's take a liter whole milk, bring to a boil and cool to about 43 degrees. Add two tablespoons of sour cream. Put in heat for fermentation for eight hours. Then yogurt should still stand in the refrigerator for better thickening. If the result disappoints you, fold the product in several layers of gauze and hang it up. Overnight, excess whey will drain, and the yogurt will become thick. Well, then you can use it according to the recipe.
Tzatziki with pickles
This sauce can also be made winter. Salted or pickled cucumbers will not refresh tzatziki so much. The recipe suggests transferring 250 grams of thick yogurt to a bowl. Cut two small cucumbers into small cubes in another bowl. Squeeze out the juice - it is not needed in the sauce. Mix cucumbers with yogurt. Finely chop the dill and parsley. Add two cloves of garlic squeezed through a press. We mix everything. Salt to taste, not forgetting the black pepper. And send it to the refrigerator for half an hour so that all the ingredients of the sauce enter into a pleasant interaction with each other. As you can see, this recipe vegetable oil not used. If we mix a teaspoon of grated almonds into the sauce, the tzatziki will have an interesting nutty flavor.
To prepare tzatziki sauce at home, take fresh crispy cucumber with dense pulp. Rinse well in running water and pat dry with paper towels. If the skin is tough, remove it with a vegetable peeler. Young cucumbers can be used with the skin on. Grind on a medium grater. Lightly salt and leave for 8-10 minutes for the cucumber to release its juice.
Throw the grated cucumber into a colander and let the resulting liquid drain so that the finished sauce is not liquid or squeeze the juice with your hands. 
To the squeezed cucumber add greek yogurt. It can be bought at any supermarket. It differs from Russian yogurt in its velvety structure and dense texture. In the process of preparation, it is filtered from whey, achieving the desired density. Greek yogurt is very healthy, it is obtained by bacterial fermentation of natural goat or sheep milk. It contains a lot of vitamins, microelements, high content of protein, calcium.
If you don't have Greek in your fridge but do have classic unflavoured yogurt, pour it into a colander with cheesecloth. Fold the gauze in 3-4 layers and leave for a couple of hours so that all the whey is gone.
Mix yogurt with cucumber.
Thick Greek yogurt can be replaced with rustic fat sour cream, Armenian matsoni, ayran, curdled milk or kefir.
Garlic clean off the husk. Grate on a fine grater or pass through a garlic press. Adjust the amount of garlic to your taste. Add to yogurt mixture. Pour in lemon juice. Stir.
Wash and dry dill sprigs. Do not use dense stems. Chop finely and add to the rest of the ingredients.
Pour olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and taste. If necessary, adjust to your liking. 
Tzatziki is ready. Place in a container with a lid and send to brew in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. After, serve with cold cuts, grilled meat, fish, french fries, potato pancakes, fried zucchini, eggplant or a slice of bread. Greeks often snack on a glass of cool ouzo, raki, tsipouro with sauce. The method of serving can be different - in bowls, gravy boat, or put on unfolded lettuce leaves, Chinese cabbage.
It is a pity, but the sauce is not prepared for a long time, it is not canned. In the refrigerator, the treat can be stored in a sealed container for no more than 2-3 days. 
On a note
- There are a lot of recipes for Greek tzatziki yogurt sauce, and they all have a right to exist. For example, instead of dill, some housewives put parsley, basil, mint, or both at the same time. Lemon juice is often substituted wine vinegar, and in addition to cucumbers add olives, Bell pepper, a white cheese (brynza) made from goat's or sheep's milk.
- There is a modification of tzatziki, where pickles are used instead of fresh ones.
- Compared to mayonnaise, tzatziki is considered a low-calorie sauce.
Tzatziki sauce is one of the most famous traditional dishes Greek cuisine. It has several other names, among which there are tzatziki and tzatziki. The basis of the classic cold dressing is thick Greek yogurt made from goat's or sheep's milk. There are many other varieties of tzatziki, slightly different from the original in terms of the composition of the ingredients, but in no way inferior to it in taste.
The calorie content of the product is very low - 85 kcal per 100 g, so it can be consumed without fear for the figure. Consider several options for how to cook tzatziki sauce step by step so that even avid gourmets will like it.
- Unsweetened, curd "Activia" is an excellent substitute for sour cream;
- Cucumber juice can be frozen. It is great for facial skin care.
The original recipe for tzatziki sauce
The classic tzatziki sauce, in addition to the main components, may contain herbs, olives, black pepper. It has a very pleasant and fresh taste, perfect for spicy dishes. It is also served with fish, meat and even bread and vegetables.
Composition of products:
- garlic clove;
- 140 g Greek yogurt;
- A small spoonful of olive oil;
- One small cucumber;
- A pinch of salt.
Home cooking scheme:
- We peel the cucumber from the skin, rub it on a medium grater;
- Now it needs to be pressed. To do this, use a sieve and a spoon, with which we press on the cucumber. Thus, the juice will be squeezed out;
- Salt the green fruit, stir, remove for a minute. The salt will draw out the remaining liquid;
- We mix the squeezed grated cucumber with three large spoons of yogurt product, which should be slightly larger in proportion than a green vegetable, mix;
- Add to this mass garlic, passed through a press, and olive oil. Stir, try, add salt to taste.
Transfer to a gravy boat and serve.
The second variation of the classic Greek dressing recipe
You will need:
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 0.5 kg of natural yogurt;
- 10 g of dried parsley and dill;
- 60 g sour cream;
- 15 ml lemon juice;
- Large fresh cucumber;
- Sea salt - to taste.
Cooking instruction:
- The yoghurt product must be drained of excess liquid to obtain a dense and less watery state. We take gauze folded in several layers, or a cotton cloth, line the sieve;
- Next, lower the sieve into a container of boiling water for half a minute;
- Take it out, put it in fermented milk product, leave at room temperature over a plate for 12 hours. Get almost;
- We will also prepare green vegetable. If it has a hard peel, we get rid of it, cut the fruit in half, clean the middle with seeds. We rub the rest of the pulp on a grater with medium or large holes, add salt, stir, leave for three hours;
- Squeeze cucumber chips from juice, add to thick yogurt, put sour cream, garlic cloves pressed through a press, dried herbs, mix lemon juice;
- Add salt to the dressing at your discretion, stir well, let it infuse for two hours.
In some variations of the sauce, there is extra virgin olive oil and a large amount of garlic. You can experiment with cooking yourself, add different ingredients, change the proportions.
Tzatziki recipe with pickles and sour cream
List of components:
- 2 garlic cloves;
- 20 g of parsley and dill;
- 260 g sour cream (fat content - 15%);
- 200 g pickled or pickled cucumbers;
- Freshly ground black pepper, sea salt - to taste.
In the classic recipe, the yogurt should drain, and the fresh cucumbers should release the juice. Nowadays, few people have extra time, so Greek tzatziki sauce at home can be made from sour cream, and fresh vegetables can be replaced with salted ones.
This method will be in great demand in autumn and winter, when fresh fruits do not grow and are expensive in retail outlets. Greens will add freshness to the dressing.
Manufacturing process:
- Grate pickled cucumbers, squeeze out excess moisture from them and add to sour cream;
- Pass the garlic cloves through a press, finely chop the greens, add to the sour cream, salt, pepper, mix thoroughly;
- We put the mixture in the refrigerator for several hours so that all the ingredients are saturated with each other.
Tzatziki without yogurt
Fragrant seasoning is prepared on the basis of sour cream and cottage cheese. Served with bread and vegetables as an independent dish, or as an appetizer for the first and second courses.
Required Ingredients:
- 2 fresh cucumbers;
- dill greens;
- 200 ml sour cream;
- 3 garlic cloves;
- 100 g of cottage cheese;
- Salt, ground black pepper;
- A teaspoon of lemon juice;
- A tablespoon of olive oil.
Stages of work:
- It is advisable to take homemade cottage cheese and sour cream, or store-bought products with a high percentage of fat content. To avoid excess liquid in the dressing, we use gauze folded in several layers, and with its help we squeeze dairy products well;
- Next, mix them thoroughly until smooth, but do not beat;
- Remove the seeds from the peeled vegetable, rub on a fine grater. Slightly strain the mass so that the tzatziki turns out not to be watery, but thick;
- We rub the garlic on a grater with small holes, chop the washed greens, combine all the components in one bowl;
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, spices to taste, mix.
Put in the refrigerator for at least two hours.
Tzatziki with cheese and pepper
Components:
- Cheese - 100 g;
- Garlic - 3 cloves;
- Sour cream or yogurt - 200 g;
- paprika pepper - 1/2 part;
- Olive oil, salt;
- Fresh cucumber.
homemade recipe tzatziki sauce:
- Grate a peeled cucumber on a fine grater, wring it out. Yogurt and sour cream can be taken in the same proportions, add a grated vegetable;
- Cut the pepper into a small cube, chop the garlic cloves on a garlic press, grate the cheese on a fine grater and add all this to the milk-vegetable mixture;
- Finely chop the greens, put in the total mass, salt, pepper, add a teaspoon of olive oil, mix thoroughly.
You can spread this delicious seasoning on rye bread, they will turn out appetizing and tender.
Recipe for sour milk with vinegar
Required products:
- fresh cucumber;
- Sour milk (10% fat) - 0.5 l;
- Salt, vinegar - to taste;
- Young garlic - 7-8 cloves;
- Olive oil - a large spoon;
- Black olives.
Cooking scheme with photo:
- Grate the garlic cloves on a fine grater, mix with olive oil;
- We combine this mass with sour milk, put it in the refrigerator for several hours to soak the milk;
- Before serving, grate a green vegetable on a grater with small holes and squeeze;
- Mix it with cold milk and with the rest of the ingredients;
- Top with olives.
What do tzatziki eat with?
Not a single holiday in Greece is complete without tzatziki sauce, which is rightfully considered universal, and it is eaten with a wide variety of products.
It mainly serves as a dip sauce, in which pieces of fish (both sea and river), various vegetables, meat (especially grilled), seafood and just slices of baguette are dipped, homemade bread. When cooking and tzatziki is indispensable. Remarkably, this dressing is suitable for fried or boiled potatoes, it will bring its original notes to any dish that will acquire a completely different taste.
Video: Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Tzatziki sauce is a classic Greek appetizer. It is distributed in Turkey, Cyprus, the Balkan countries, Iran. There are many variations of this sauce. But the base is grated cucumber, thick yogurt, garlic, fresh dill and olive oil.
It is served with lamb, pork, dressed with salads, eaten with a piece of lavash.
What is tzatziki sauce
A firm favorite of summer picnics, parties and outdoor barbecues, tzatziki appetizer sauce has become a favorite all over the world. In Greece it is called zadjiki. In Turkey - Jadzhik. In Cyprus - talaturi.
The name of the sauce comes from the Turkish word cacık, which in turn is supposed to have been borrowed from the Armenian word cacıg.
In Greece, it is made from thick, salty yogurt (usually sheep's or goat's) mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, and dill. Sometimes lemon juice, natural apple or grape vinegar are added.
In addition to dill, thyme, mint, parsley are used. Serve chilled.
In Turkey, the basis of tzatziki is made up of the same ingredients as in Greece, with the only difference that mint is added instead of dill. There are recipes with sumac, hot pepper, fresh or dried thyme.
It is served thick with the main course as an appetizer. As a side dish or sauce - dilute with water to the desired consistency.
It can be served with fried meat along with flavored anise aperitif, they are seasoned with boiled or raw carrots, other vegetables.
In Cyprus less garlic is added and mint instead of dill.
In Iran, where it is called masto-o-khiar (which literally means yogurt with cucumber) and some other Arab countries, it is served as an appetizer for alcoholic beverages, put on the table like a meze. Sometimes chopped nuts or raisins can be added to it.
In the cuisine of the Balkan countries, such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Macedonia, there is a similar dish called tarator. Unlike the cold soup of the same name, the sauce is based on cucumbers, garlic, chopped walnuts, salt, vegetable oil. Whereas yogurt is added to the soup.
How to cook tzatziki
Tzatziki sauce is very easy to make. It only needs a few ingredients that are easy to buy in the summer. And it only takes a few minutes to cook. True, there are some subtleties.
Cucumber is known to contain a lot of water. The essential step is to remove this fluid. To do this, the grated mass is placed in gauze and suspended. Or they leave it on the sieve for a while, sometimes all night. Of course, you can just squeeze out.
It is better to grate garlic on a fine grater or pass through a press.
The thicker the yogurt, the better. Liquid is not suitable for him. The best way- buy a real sheep or goat.
To make the sauce more fragrant, first combine all the ingredients with the exception of cucumber and dill, and refrigerate overnight.
Dill should be added last, just before serving.
How to make tzatziki sauce
Now two classic recipe dressing sauce. 
Tzatziki sauce recipe with dill and mint
You will need:
0.5 large cucumber
2 garlic cloves
500 grams Greek thick yogurt
1 bunch dill
Several sprigs of mint
How to cook:
- Cut the cucumber in half and clean out the seeds. Grate on a fine grater.
- Place the grated cucumber in a sieve, put it on a bowl and add salt. Stir and leave for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Stir again, squeezing out the liquid with a spoon.
- Peel and finely grate or crush the garlic. Combine with oil in a large bowl. Can be left in oil for several hours. But not necessarily.
- When most of the liquid has drained, spread the mixture on a clean kitchen towel and pat dry.
- Mix in garlic mixture. Add yogurt and stir.
- Finely chop the dill and mint leaves. Add to sauce.
- Squeeze lemon juice (to taste), add oil and mix well.
Sprinkle with dried mint if desired.
Serve with meat as an appetizer, season salad with tomato and other vegetables. Yes, and just put a spoon on a piece of loaf or pita bread - very tasty.
Classic recipe for tzatziki sauce
You will need:
0.5 cucumber
1.5 cups yogurt
2 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon white grape vinegar
0.5 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chopped dill
How to cook:
Grate the cucumber and squeeze out the liquid.
Mix yogurt, minced garlic, oil and salt. Cover with a lid and put in the refrigerator. Maybe overnight.
In the morning, add the cucumber mass and dill. Mix and serve.
Can manifest creativity and add other herbs, paprika or hot pepper to it.
Surprise your guests by serving it with fried chicken, kebabs or grilled vegetables.
