Tzatziki Vinaigrette

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When we don't feel much like cooking but want a fast, nutritious and filling meal we make bowls. Now our favorite is a Mediterranean style one and we specially love to add tzatziki sauce to it.

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If you've had Tzatziki before you might have noticed that it most commonly tends to be on the thicker side, so much so that it can be used as a dip. While we love Tzatziki like that, we wanted something a bit lighter, more dressing-like that would coat our salads without weighting them down. Here is where this Tzatziki Vinaigrette comes in!

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While all the same major components found in a traditional Tzatziki are also present in this recipe, you will find that it differs from the traditional in that it is made with a larger proportion of lemon and olive oil which gives it a thinner, dressing-like consistency.

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What is Tzatziki?

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Tzatziki is a sauce or spread that is made from cucumber, yogurt, garlic and typically mint and/or dill. The role of Tzatziki in most dishes is to provide a fresh and sometimes cooling component.

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Most prevalently found in Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern cuisine, Tzatziki plays the perfect counter to many of the well-spiced and seasoned foods prepared and consumed in those regions of the world. Like most culinary gems, Tzatziki has become popular all over the world and is most commonly known in the USA as the sauce that goes with Gyros. While I will never turn down, probably too much, Tzatziki on my Gyro, the sauce really is so much more than a complementary sauce for one dish. Tzatziki can be  served as everything from a sauce, to a vinaigrette, to an appetizer on its own.

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Ingredinents for Tzatziki Vinaigrette

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This vinaigrette is not only light and bursting with flavor, but it just tastes so fresh! Here's your ingredient list:

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• Yogurt: The most important part when choosing a yogurt for this vinaigrette is that it is a plain Greek yogurt. While making sure that the yogurt is full-fat and strained for a traditional Tzatziki is vital, with this recipe (because of the thickness), it is not as important and you could even choose to use a low-fat yogurt option.
• Lemon: Lemon provides both acidity and a zing to the vinaigrette that helps keep it light and refreshing.
• Olive Oil: The olive oil is the key component that gives the sauce the nice vinaigrette-like viscosity and mouth feel. Without the addition of the emulsified olive oil the sauce would have a similar consistency of heavy cream.
• Herbs: The two herbs I always use here are dill and mint. If you only have one or the other you can just double-up on one but the duo really does make a difference.
• Cucumber: The cucumber provides a crisp and refreshing flow to the sauce that you can’t get anywhere else. If you want a thicker Tzatziki closer to the traditional style, you will want to either grate or finely mince the cucumber and fold it into the yogurt instead of pureeing.
• Tabasco: I like to add Tabsaco to a lot of my sauces, especially the ones that have a good amount of cream or fat, to provide some spice and acidity. This helps give the sauce life and cuts through the richness of the yogurt.
• Worcestershire: Nothing quite brings a subtle-salty funk to sauces like worcestershire. It is not a necessity in this recipe but it does help to provide an additional complexity of flavor.
• Garlic: I prefer garlic confit to fresh garlic here but if you don’t want to use garlic confit just make sure you are truly using fresh garlic (not that chopped stuff in a jar!).

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Tips for Making Tzatziki Vinaigrette

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1. You want a smooth consistency: Run your blender or food processor only as long as you need to in order to achieve a smooth consistency. If you run your machine too long, the friction and heat will cause your vinaigrette to turn brown and separate.
2. It's all in the color: If you want to give your vinaigrette a nice green color, try lightly pureeing half of the herbs directly into the vinaigrette and then mixing the other half in at the end by hand.

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This is one of our favorite vinaigrettes and one that pairs so well with many dishes!

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Cheers and eat well.