Vegan Tzatziki

5 from 17 votes

This restaurant-worthy Vegan Tzatziki is a yogurt, cucumber, and garlic sauce that’s easy and quick to prepare and tastes irresistibly rich. It goes well with everything, from Greek salad and falafel to salads and sandwiches!

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time15

Course: Condiment, Sauce

Cuisine: Greek

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: to 10

Author: Nisha Vora

Ingredients

10 ounces (280g) plain-flavored thick and tart vegan yogurt (Note 1)
8 ounces (227g) English or Persian cucumber, unpeeled (Note 2)
3 tablespoons minced fresh dill (7g) (Note 3)
2 fat garlic cloves, grated or crushed in a press
2 teaspoons good-quality red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar), more as needed (Note 4)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons good-quality extra virgin olive oil

For serving (optional)

Homemade Pita “Chips," store-bought pita chips, or crudites (Note 5)

Instructions

Use the wide holes on a box grater to grate the cucumber.
Add the grated cucumber to a thin dish towel, nut milk bag, or cheesecloth. Squeeze or wrap it tightly, and wring out as much water as you can.
Add the yogurt to a medium bowl. Add in the grated cucumber, dill, garlic, 2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste, and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Mix well. Taste for seasonings, adding more salt, vinegar, or olive oil as needed.
If possible, rest in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes (or for several hours) to allow the flavors to marry.
If desired, drizzle with olive oil before serving.

Video

Notes

Note 1: A thick yogurt is essential because it will be watery otherwise. Also, a naturally tangy/tart yogurt helps, as naturally sweet varieties taste a bit strange in savory dip like this. My preferred yogurt brands for this recipe are Culina (favorite), CocoJune (favorite), GT’s CocoYo, Anita’s coconut yogurt, or Kite Hill Greek-style almond milk yogurt.

Note 2: I prefer English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers, as they’re sweeter and seedless, but you can use a regular cucumber if needed (the skin is a little tough, so you may want to peel it).

Note 3: You can sub dill with fresh mint. Start with half the amount, add more as needed.

Note 4: You can sub with freshly squeezed lemon juice if you don’t have a good-quality vinegar

Note 5: Homemade pita “chips”

Preheat the oven to 400F. Arrange an oven rack in the second shelf of your oven, the second shelf from the broiler. Take a few whole pita rounds and brush the top sides only with olive oil. Now slice each pita into 8 triangles each. Transfer pita wedges to a sheet pan, lined with parchment paper for easy clean. Bake at 400F for 6 minutes, then turn your oven broiler on (use a medium setting if you have it).Broil on the second shelf for 1 ½ to 2 minutes, keeping a close eye to prevent burning, until nicely browned on the edges.

Nutrition