Tzatziki Sauce (Greek Yogurt and Cucumber Sauce)

We had lamb and pita bread, but we couldn't have gyros without tzatziki sauce!  I came across Kalyn's Kitchen and she claims to have the "world's best tzatziki sauce recipe."  "World's best" sounded good to me.  I gave it a try.  She has great step by step instructions with photos which made this recipe easy to follow.

Ingredients

(Makes about 3 1/2 cups. You can cut the recipe in half.)

3 cups Greek Yogurt (or regular plain yogurt, strained)

juice of one lemon (about 3 T)

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 medium cucumbers, seeded and diced

about 1 T kosher salt for salting cucumbers

1 T finely chopped fresh dill (can substitute mint leaves for a slightly different version)

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

If you don't have Greek yogurt, strain plain yogurt. Peel cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and take a small spoon and scrape out seeds. Discard seeds. (If you use the small seedless or European cucumbers with few seeds, you can skip this step.) Slice cucumbers, then put in a colander, sprinkle on 1 T salt, and let stand for 30 minutes to draw out water. Drain well and wipe dry with paper towel.

In food processor with steel blade, add cucumbers, garlic, lemon juice, dill, and a few grinds of black pepper. Process until well blended, then stir this mixture into the yogurt. Taste before adding any extra salt, then salt if needed. Place in refrigerator for at least two hours before serving so flavors can blend. (This resting time is very important.)  This will keep for a few days or more in the refrigerator, but you will need to drain off any water and stir each time you use it. 

I strained regular yogurt.  I didn't have a small colander.  I improvised with 2 coffee filters and a funnel, but it worked!  See all the liquid that drained out after 2 hrs.  For 3 cups of strained yogurt I used 1large 32 oz. yogurt container and 1/4 of another large container. 

Letting the cucumbers sit with the salt for 30 minutes. 

Cucumbers, garlic clove ( I used a garlic press), fresh dill, fresh ground pepper and juice of 1 lemon.

I love how quick the food processor blends everything!

 Now, I just have to wait 2 hours and I can assemble the gyros!

The Results...

My husband put the leftover lamb in the food processor.  Then, he added it to a hot skillet with a chopped onion and a little olive oil.  I chopped the leftover tomatoes, cucumbers and olives from our Greek salad and used them for the gyros, too.  We put everything in the homemade pitas with this tzatziki sauce and they were DELICIOUS!!!  This is quite a tasty tzatziki sauce.  Is it the "world's best?"  I'm not qualified to determine that (I haven't had a lot of different tzatziki sauces), but I can tell you that it was delicious and really fresh tasting since all the ingredients were fresh.