I tried tzatziki years ago in a Mediterranean food restaurant and it was love at first sight. Tzatziki is a Greek sauce and it’s scrumptious, light, fresh and creamy.
This is a vegan version of the traditional tzatziki recipe and it’s made with homemade soy yogurt, it’s very easy to make at home and totally worth it. You can also use other vegan yogurts such as coconut yogurt, I love it!
We find no difference between vegan and traditional tzatziki, the flavor is very similar, although the texture is not the same, because Greek yogurt is thicker. We love this recipe, but if you want a thicker texture, you can use a denser yogurt (if you buy it) or add more thickener if you make your own homemade yogurt (it’s really easy!). Anyway, if you let stand the tzatziki it will thicken.
It’s very common to eat tzatziki with pita bread, but crudités are a healthier option, they are fresh and light. They are also a great choice to beat the heat and they give us an extra hydration (remember, you need to drink a lot of water!).
We’ve used baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and radishes, but we also love to eat tzatziki with celery or bell peppers, but we love all vegetables, they are so healthy and good for our bodies!
You can remove the oil if you want a lighter and low-calorie version. If you add oil, make sure it’s unrefined and good quality oil, we use extra virgin olive oil. Unrefined oils are bad for our health and taste worse.
You can add some herbs such as mint, dill or parsley. You can use fresh or dry herbs.
If you want a perfect tzatziki you should follow two steps: drain well and squeeze as much liquid as you can from the cucumber and let the tzatziki stand at least three or four hours for a more intense flavor.
Tzatziki is one of our favorite sauces and it’s very similar to the yogurt sauce, but I prefer tzatziki because cucumber gives it a special touch. Tzatziki is also ideal for dipping with some tortilla chips, eat falafel or sandwiches, etc. You can eat tzatziki with almost anything!
Vegan Tzatziki
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Sauce, Appetizer, Dip, Gluten Free
- Cuisine: Vegan, Greek
This is a vegan version of the traditional tzatziki recipe and it’s made with homemade soy yogurt, it’s very easy to make at home and is totally worth it.
Ingredients
- 4 cucumbers (700 grams or 25 ounces)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups soy yogurt (500 grams or 18 ounces)
- 4 cloves of garlic
- The juice of half a lemon
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon mint
- 1 teaspoon dill
- Black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Peel and grate cucumbers. Add a teaspoon of salt and let stand for about 10 or 15 minutes. Put the grated cucumbers in a napkin, towel or cheesecloth and drain them to squeeze as much liquid as you can.
- Place the soy yogurt in a bowl, add the cucumbers, the garlic cloves (finely chopped), lemon juice, oil, black pepper to taste, mint and dill. You can add more salt if you want.
- Stir and let stand for at least three or four hours in the fridge. Serve cold with crudités.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of batch
- Calories: 130
- Sugar: 7.9 g
- Sodium: 403.4 mg
- Fat: 6.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.5 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
I’m confused about the instructions. Do you use only the cucumbers in the recipe and discard the juice, or do you use the cucumber juice and the cut up cucumbers both?
Hi Gina! You have to discard the juice 🙂
this is absolutely amazing, I made it yesterday not expecting much, but OMG i was blown away.
★★★★★
Hi Louise! Thanks a lot 😀 So glad you enjoyed it!
Instead of using only the juice of the cucumber can the whole cucumber minus the seed be blended smooth and used for the Tzatziki
Hi Maureen! Thanks a lot 🙂 I’ll try it!
I just made this. Awesome! I used Forager Cashewgurt in plain unsweetened rather than Soy yogurt. Loved it!
★★★★★
Hi Karen! So glad you liked it 😀
Your link to the homemade soy yogurt seems to be broken
Hi Eliza! Thank you so much for your comment 🙂 I’ve fixed it. Have a nice day!
What do you think the shelf life of this would be? While refrigerated that is.
Hi Glory! It lasts up to 3 or 4 days. Have a nice day!
So when you say “2 cups soy yogurt (500 g or 18 ounces)”, does that mean two measuring cups or two 500g cups? I made half of what the recipe asks for (one measuring cup of soy yogurt and only about 1 3/4 cucumbers instead of two), but it looks very… “green”, unlike your photos.
Hi Dominik! 2 cups = 500 g, each cup = 250 g 🙂 Maybe your cucumbers were greener. Have a nice day!
So happy to see a vegan recipe for tzatziki! I don’t use oil in my diet. If I eliminate the oil, do I need to substitute?
Thank you,
Diane
★★★★★
Hi Diane! I think you could make it without the oil. Add some water or lemon juice if needed 🙂
I’m assuming plain yogurt works best? 🙂
Hi Chase! I’m vegan, so I only use non-dairy products 🙂
Would this hold up ok to freezing? I’ve never tried freezing any yogurts, let alone vegan.
Hi Vanessa! I’ve never frozen this sauce. I don’t think it freeze well, but you could try…
When I try it frozen, I’ll be sure to let you know. Im living by myself at the moment, so I like to freeze leftovers for meals in the future.
Freezing leftovers is great! Although I usually eat them the next day 😛
You mention there being hemp seeds the tzatziki yet there is no mention of them being used in the ingredients?
Hi Karina! If you read the post you will see I don’t mentioned the hemp seeds, that’s why you can’t find them in the ingredients 🙂 Have a nice day!