Five-Minute Thick Tzatziki

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The whole secret to tzatziki that doesn't turn watery an hour after you make it: grate the cucumber, salt it, and squeeze it dry before it ever touches the yogurt. Five minutes of work, no cooking, and a dip thick enough to stand a spoon in — garlicky, cool, and finished with lemon, dill and good olive oil.

Ingredients

• 1 English cucumber (about 12 oz)
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, for drawing out water

• 2 cups whole-milk Greek yogurt (full fat, 5%)
• 2 cloves garlic, finely grated or crushed to a paste
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh mint (optional)
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

• warm pita or pita chips
• cut vegetables: radishes, carrots, bell pepper
• 1 pinch dried oregano or sumac, for dusting

Instructions

1. Trim the ends off the cucumber. Leave the skin on for color and grate it on the large holes of a box grater into a colander set in the sink or over a bowl. Do not peel or seed an English cucumber — the skin is thin and the seeds are small.
2. Toss the grated cucumber with 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and let it sit 10 minutes. You'll see liquid pooling almost immediately; the salt is pulling it out so it can't thin your yogurt later.
3. Gather the cucumber in a clean kitchen towel (or a double layer of paper towels) and squeeze hard over the sink, twisting the towel, until no more liquid comes out — you should get 1/3 to 1/2 cup of water. The cucumber should feel dry and compact. Discard the liquid.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the Greek yogurt with the grated garlic, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and the black pepper until smooth. Drizzle in the 2 tablespoons olive oil while whisking so it emulsifies and the yogurt looks glossy rather than greasy.
5. Fold in the squeezed cucumber, dill and mint with a spatula — fold, don't beat, so the yogurt stays thick and the cucumber keeps a little texture.
6. Taste and adjust: another squeeze of lemon if it needs lift, more salt if the garlic tastes harsh. If you have 30 minutes, refrigerate — the garlic mellows and the flavors marry — but it is ready to eat now.
7. Spread into a shallow bowl, swoop the back of a spoon through the surface, pool olive oil in the groove and dust with dried oregano or sumac. Serve cold with warm pita and cut vegetables.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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