Easy Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe (with Sour Cream)
Easy Homemade Tzatziki Sauce is a simple recipe that is just what you need to serve at your next Greek Dinner Party! Substitute sour cream for Greek yogurt for an added tanginess and super creamy cucumber sauce.
The great tzatziki sauce is the perfect dip for pita bread, naan, topping a Greek salad, or making delicious Greek chicken skewers.
This easy recipe is for anyone looking for a Greek tzatziki sauce and they either don’t have Greek yogurt on hand or just want to try a delicious tzatziki with sour cream recipe!
If it’s your first time making this classic recipe you may have had it in your local Greek restaurant. It’s a combination of Greek yogurt, fresh dill and fresh herbs, grated cucumber, lots of lemon, garlic cloves, and some olive oil.
This is the sauce you’ll find on your Greek chicken platter, where it has the pita bread you can wrap and dip into it.
If you enjoy Mediterranean food, this creamy tzatziki sauce will become one of your favorites!
How to Make Easy Homemade Tzatziki Sauce
First, let me tell you about my recipe and how it is different from traditional tzatziki dip.
I’ve made this several times, and a couple of those times I didn’t have Greek yogurt when I needed it.
I almost always have sour cream in my fridge, so I exchanged the sour cream in place of the plain Greek yogurt.
Personally, I love the great dip with sour cream better! Authentic tzatziki sauce recipe lovers give this recipe a try!
Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
Fresh Lemon — I zest a whole lemon, then squeeze the fresh lemon juice from it. I love a bright, acidic hit of lemon in Mediterranean food! Just be sure to use a fine mesh strainer over your mixing bowl to catch any seeds!
Fresh Garlic Clove — Using the same zester to grate your clove of garlic into the lemon juice is an easy way to get small bits of garlic, almost a puree or garlic pulp!
English Cucumber — You’ll be shredding the cucumber, and the thin skin and minimal seeds of this cucumber variety make for a great addition to the sauce. Fresh cucumbers have lots of water, so you squeeze all the cucumber water out and then add it to your sauce.
Herbs — my recipe uses dried oregano, and no fresh dill. Mainly because my store was out of fresh dill when I went shopping! You could definitely use dried dill, but fresh dill has a bright flavor you’ll want if you can in this creamy sauce!
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper add the rest of the ingredients!
These simple ingredients create the most delightful sour cream sauce. It makes the perfect dip for pita chips as an appetizer or thinned out for a salad dressing. I love to use it as the marinade for Greek Chicken Skewers!
I like to garnish my sauce with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a hefty sprinkle of feta cheese.
Tips for Making Sour Cream Tzatziki Recipe
When you use full-fat Greek yogurt in your sauce, you’ll want to strain the excess moisture out. You can line a fine mesh strainer with paper towels or cheese cloth, and let it sit in your fridge overnight over a big bowl to catch the excess liquid that comes out. This makes a thick tzatziki!
You can do this with your shredded cucumber, too! Let it sit inside a mesh sieve overnight. After making this several times, it’s easier to just squeeze out as much liquid as you can before adding to your tzatziki sauce.
I use a box grater to grate the cucumber.
With the sour cream, I just pour the liquid that forms out and plop it in the large bowl.
I like to store this easy tzatziki sauce recipe in an airtight container for a few hours before serving. Overnight is even better if you can! The extra time allowing all the flavors to mix will create a really bright, flavor-filled sauce for all your Greek recipes!
If you’re making this recipe last minute, and don’t have lemon juice, you can substitute white wine vinegar. It’s a great way to get the acidic flavors of the lemon in a pinch.
Serving this Great Recipe
You can serve this with pita bread that you’ve grilled, or with pita chips, fresh veggies, or any number of Mediterranean dishes.
I love using a little extra olive oil and making a marinade for Greek Chicken Skewers! The tangy flavor is great for breaking down the proteins, making a super tender chicken Greek salad.
This is the perfect sauce for chicken gyros or Greek meatballs!
This can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Because it has raw garlic, you’ll want to use it sooner rather than later. Raw garlic can get super spicy when left for a bit. If you know you want to keep it and use it for more than 3 days, you’ll want to use garlic powder. In the recipe card, you’ll find out how much to use in lieu of fresh garlic.
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Easy Homemade Tzatziki Sauce Recipe (with Sour Cream)
- Prep Time: 10
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: appetizer
- Method: no-cook
- Cuisine: greek
Ingredients
- 1 Lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 Garlic Clove, grated
- 1 cup Grated Cucumber (liquid squeezed out)
- 16 ounces Sour Cream
- 1 TBS Oregano
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 2 TBS Olive Oil
- 2 TBS Feta Cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Zest and juice your lemon over a medium mixing bowl, straining the seeds out.
- Using a microplane, grate your garlic clove into the lemon juice.
- Grate the cucumber and squeeze out the liquid, add one cup to the lemon and garlic. (If your English Cucumber doesn’t measure exactly a cup that’s fine, if it’s slightly over a cup, that’s fine!)
- Dump in your 16-ounce container of sour cream.
- Add in 1 tablespoon of oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of black pepper, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Mix all of this together really well, making sure everything is evenly incorporated.
- Cover or place in an air-tight container and let chill in the fridge for an hour before serving.
- This keeps covered in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the fridge.
Equipment
Notes
If you would like to use this dip for longer than 3 days, use garlic powder instead! 2 teaspoons will do the trick!
