This recipe is the second post in a two-part series. The first post explains the science behind this tzatziki recipe. If you want to understand how this recipe works before you start, click here.

7-Ingredient Super Healthy Tzatziki Recipe

Tzatziki is one of my favourite things about Greek cuisine. It’s healthy, it’s delicious (I’m a massive yoghurt fiend) and it’s super healthy. In this tzatziki recipe, I’ve created a robust garlic-infused tzatziki by incorporating garlic in three distinct forms to highlight the diverse flavour profiles of garlic.

For more information about how to bring out the difference flavour that garlic offers, you can read my garlic science explainer. But long story short, we’ll add:

• Raw garlic which adds spicy/pungency.
• Sautéed garlic which adds less pungency and a more mild garlic flavour.
• Roasted garlic which adds sweet, caramelised notes.

In addition to garlic, this tzatziki recipe (often mispronounced by some as ‘sat-zee-kee‘) includes typical components such as Greek yoghurt, grated cucumber, and extra virgin olive oil. I’ve also added some chives for a little extra flavour, though you could swap these out for any herbs you like such as parsley, coriander or mint.

This tzatziki recipe delivers a garlic-heavy dip that’s refreshing and delicious, and goes great on any mezze platter, or in a gyros.

If you don’t like garlic, this dish isn’t for you.

But if, like me, you’re a garlic lover, than dive in. The 3 shades of garlic in this tzatziki recipe add so much depth to this tzatziki that elevate it to the next level.

Tzatziki recipe

Ingredients

Serves: 4

• 1 entire head of garlic, plus 2 additional cloves
• 1/2 regular-sized English cucumber
• 1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 lemon/lime juice
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Bunch of fresh chives
• Salt and black pepper

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180^oC/350^oF (or 155^oC/315^oF if using convection). Take the head of garlic and chop off the stem. Wrap the garlic partially in tin foil so that it can retain liquid, and then drown it in the olive oil.
   
2. Fully wrap the clove and put in the oven for 30-45 minutes, until it is soft and caramelised. Remove from the oven and set aside.
   
3. Meanwhile, peel one of the spare garlic cloves and slice it as thinly as possible.
   
4. In a non-stick pan over medium heat, add a small amount of olive oil and sauté the garlic until it turns a light tan-brown colour on both sides.
   
5. Turn off the heat and set the garlic onto a plate lined with a paper towel to wipe away excess oil.
   
6. Take the last clove, peel it and mince as finely as possible (you can grate with a box grater or knife, but I like to use a Microplane for this — #NotAnAd).
   
7. Peel the cucumber, remove the stem and grate the rest finely with a box grater (as you can see, it releases a LOT of water). Discard the skin and stem (both are edible and nutritious). Over a bowl, squeeze the grated cucumber as hard as you can to remove the excess water. (The water is a nutritious and refreshing drink, FYI).
   
8. Chop the chives as finely as possible. (The chives on the right are the rough stems, which will be discarded).
   
9. Incorporate roughly 1/4 of the grated fresh garlic (as it tends to be extremely spicy, you should adjust the quantity based on your taste preferences), chives (reserve some for garnish), sautéed garlic and 2-3 cloves from the roasted head of garlic in a small (I mashed these in advance) bowl alongside the grated cucumber, Greek yogurt, lemon juice and 1-2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
   
10. Whisk together with a fork until everything is evenly incorporated. Season to taste and garnish with black pepper. Serve immediately, or store in the fridge and use as a condiment on finished dishes, in wraps or gyros, or on a mezze platter.
    

Notes

1. This tzatziki recipe only uses a small amount of roasted garlic, but I always roast garlic as a complete head as it’s a lot of energy. Roasting just a couple of cloves doesn’t seem worth it in my opinion. Keep the rest of the caramelised garlic for something else — it goes well on toast with a little bit of salt.