We love this thick, creamy tzatziki with feta cheese and fresh herbs! It’s delicious as a sauce or dip with veggies, pita chips, grilled meats, and sandwiches.
We absolutely love tzatziki sauce around here! It’s so versatile, and we’ll happily spoon it onto just about anything. This recipe takes classic tzatziki to the next level by adding tangy feta cheese for extra flavor and creaminess.
I love this feta tzatziki with homemade pita bread! It’s also incredible with baked chicken breasts, poached salmon, grilled lamb chops, or falafel wraps. Honestly, the possibilities are endless!
Key Ingredients
- Cucumbers: For the best tzatziki, use English or hothouse cucumbers. These are the long, thin ones usually sold in plastic wrap. They have thinner skin and fewer seeds, so you can skip peeling and seeding them. Baby cucumbers or Persian cucumbers also work great!
- Yogurt: For a thick and creamy tzatziki, use full-fat plain Greek yogurt. Icelandic-style yogurt is another good option. If you only have thinner yogurt, strain it in cheesecloth for a few hours to thicken it. (It’s like making labneh!)
- Feta Cheese: Crumbled feta cheese adds a deliciously salty tang to tzatziki. If you can find feta packed in brine, grab it! You can use a little of the brine to thin out the tzatziki (if you think it needs it).
- Garlic, Lemon, and Herbs: These ingredients give the tzatziki an amazing flavor. I use one clove of garlic, but feel free to add more. Fresh dill and mint are my favorite herbs.
How to Make Feta Tzatziki
Tzatziki is very simple to make. To make the best, remember this: too much moisture is tzatziki’s enemy. It makes things watery and stops all the flavors like lemon, garlic, and dill from mingling.
We reduce the moisture in two ways: by using thick Greek yogurt and by salting the cucumbers.
For the cucumber, we remove the seeds (if there are any ) and grate it. Scatter the grated cucumber over a clean dishcloth and season with salt. The salt does two things: it makes the cucumber taste more like cucumber and helps draw moisture out. Finally, wrap the dishcloth up and squeeze all the liquid out. You’ll be shocked at how much comes out.
Then mix the yogurt, cucumbers, and remaining tzatziki ingredients, and last but not least, stir in lots of feta cheese!
Spoon this feta Tzatziki onto our lemon dill baked salmon, seriously good turkey burgers and our lemon dill chicken breasts (so good).
Feta Tzatziki
- PREP
- TOTAL
We love this thick, creamy yogurt sauce with fresh cucumber, lemon, dill, and feta cheese. It’s brightly flavored and perfect for serving with veggies, pita chips, grilled meats, and even sandwiches. There are two options for the yogurt. The easiest is to use Greek yogurt. However, you can also use strained plain yogurt. To strain yogurt, place it in a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or paper towels and rest it over a bowl. Place the yogurt into the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours to drain. Then, discard the liquid.
You Will Need
1 hothouse cucumber, also called English cucumber
2 (7oz) containers Greek yogurt, we use Fage
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, finely minced (about 1 ½ teaspoons)
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or substitute white wine vinegar
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste
Directions
1Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds, then discard them. Grate the cucumber. Scatter the grated cucumber over a clean dishcloth (or paper towels). Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Let sit for at least 10 minutes. Then, gather up the corners of the dishcloth and squeeze as much liquid from the grated cucumber as possible. Discard the liquid.
2In a medium bowl, combine the squeezed cucumber with yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, dill, apple cider vinegar, and feta cheese.
3Season with 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then taste and adjust as necessary with more salt.
4Serve now, or if you can spare the time, cover the dip with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours to develop flavor.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Thank you Joanne and Adam, I too loved the tzatziki sauce and mixed mint, dill and cilantro into the mixture. It is so refreshing with cucumber salad. I also finely cut cucumbers and add lemon juice, salt and pepper and a bit of sugar and keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days for the flavours to marry. I like a hint of sweetness with the cucumbers., especially to counter balance the sliced onions. Would make delicious sandwiches too!
Loved this tzatziki! It puts all others I have tried to shame. I ran it through the food processor to smooth it out a bit. I sense a new addiction ?
Thanks for the great tzatziki recipe. Really loved the twist with the feta cheese and the dill. Very delicious!
I usually make mine with fresh mint instead of dill and also add a bit of red pepper (fresh or dried) and about 1/4 cup of very finely chopped onions.
Readers should keep in mind that even though the water is squeezed from the cucumber, yogurt tends to get thinner/more liquid by stirring. To have a thick, creamy tzatziki, keep the stirring to a minimum and add all ingredients at once, using a spatula to gently fold them into the yogurt.
When did u mix the fetta ?
We add the feta cheese when we add the dill. Check above in the recipe for full directions.
Found this recipe because I love Tzatziki and I eat the whole darn tub in one sitting every time I buy it, so I decided to try my hand. Adding feta is inspired! Slathered it on toasted garlic Naan bread, one of my favorite alternatives to pita. YUM! Love your blog too. It’s a perfect mix of diverse, exciting tastes and ease (because, seriously, who has time?) — and so pretty. Just wanted to give a thumbs up!
Aww, thanks Heather! We’re so glad you loved the tzatziki 🙂
Good recipe. Small change: ***allow to sit in fridge 2-3 days before serving*** —makes the biggest difference. Serving it even 4 hours after preparation is not sufficient time.
Hello I love to cook and prepared food for the family and make my own yoghurt and using this recipe, is wonderful and I am going to whip this dip tomorrow and impress everyone.
Reitberger
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for
tzatziki
Perfect!
I tried making tzatzikonce but it didn’t turn out good.. Looking at your recipe I guess it’s time for a second attempt 🙂
It just might be 🙂
My favorite dip ever! Agree on squeezing the heck out of cucumbers for it. They do have a lot of moisture!