Two Easily Avoided Tzatziki Mistakes

Congratulations, you found an easy Greek tzatziki recipe that promises a table full of flavorful gyros for dinner. There is no better accompaniment to gyro meat or indeed any grilled meat product than the garlicky dill yogurt sauce made famous for its association with the gyro sandwich. Of course, if it is your first time making it, care needs to be taken. There are a few stumbling blocks along the way to a perfect sauce, but luckily they are easily avoided.

The first mistake people make when making tzatziki, especially when doing it for the first time, is neglecting to purge the cucumber of excess water. Cucumber has a very high water content, far in excess of most vegetables. When the cucumber is cut, diced, or shredded to be added to a recipe such as tzatziki, that excess water will slowly leech out of it over several hours. What this means to you is that if you neglect to purge your cucumber before adding it to the tzatziki, your smooth, creamy sauce will devolve over a few hours into a loose, watery mess.

There are two ways that you can purge your cucumber. One common method is to dice the cucumber finely, then sprinkle it with salt and allow it to drain in a colander for a few hours. The salt pulls out excess moisture, thus preventing a watery sauce. Of course, if you’re lazy or you simply don’t want to wait several hours to get your gyro on, you can opt for the squeeze.

Just take your cucumber, ideally shredded, and wrap it up in a tea towel. Hold it over the sink or a large bowl and just wring out all that excess water. This is the method I prefer because it is a hundred times faster and doesn’t add any salt to the recipe.

The second most common tzatziki mistake deals with the other primary ingredient, though the end result is very similar. The yogurt that goes into your tzatziki is as important to the final flavor and texture as the cucumber, and choosing poorly can lead to the same loose, watery mess that no one will eat. So, what type of yogurt should you use when making your sauce?

Rather than the traditional breakfast yogurt most of us are familiar with, you should instead reach for Greek yogurt, a thickened, generally organic yogurt that is far superior to standard when it comes to yogurt sauces such as tzatziki. If you can’t find Greek yogurt, however, add your yogurt to a double layer of coffee filters and allow to drain for a few hours. The results will get you close to the desired result. Of course, don’t let it drain too long or you will end up with yogurt cheese.

There you have it. Two simple guidelines that will guarantee tzatziki success nine times out of ten, so long as you use fresh ingredients and follow directions. Of course, there are countless variations to be made. You can add more dill, garlic, lemon, pepper, or any number of different herbs and spices to customize your sauce, but as long as you purge the cucumber and use a thickened, high-quality yogurt, it’s bound to taste great on your favorite chicken gyro recipe, grilled lamb, and a thousand other applications.