August 23, 2017 81 Comments

Easy Vegan Tzatziki

Name: Easy Vegan Tzatziki
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 225 g medium-firm tofu, (drained); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 2 cloves garlic, (minced); 1 tablespoon lemon juice; 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar; 1 teaspoon dried dill; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 English cucumber

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Friends! Guess what happened in my kitchen the other day? You guessed it already didn't you... you clever minx you. 😉 Yes, I filled a hole in my heart, and that hole was filled with Easy Vegan Tzatziki. Maybe it's a strange way to fill a hole in your heart, but I somehow feel more complete knowing I have this quick and easy recipe in my collection.

Tzatziki (←note to self, good scrabble word!), ehem, traditional tzatziki is made with Greek yogurt, so not vegan. I had a google around and found several vegan tzaziki recipes but they were made with vegan yogurt. Now there is nothing wrong with that, I'm sure it tastes fab, but for picky recipe writing me, I have two problems with that:

Vegan store-bought yogurts are expensive.
Vegan store-bought yogurts are hard to find.

These are two qualities I try hardest to avoid with my recipes as I try to make them with ingredients you can find at almost any grocery store. My discount grocery store down the street does NOT carry vegan yogurts, but you know what it does carry? Tofu.

The same idea I had for my Quick & Easy Vegan Cottage Cheese, and my Vegan Blue Cheese Dip, I used my good ol' friend. Oh, tofu, how you have saved me so many times. The cool thing about using tofu in this recipe is you can buy different firmnesses of tofu to result in either a thinner or thicker vegan tzatziki. Yeah, I know, pre-tay cool. Thank you dear tofu.

My fave texture was using medium-firm tofu for the optimal thick and creamy vegan tzatziki texture. But medium tofu will also work it will just be a tad runnier. And firm tofu will work but it will be a tad thicker and you may have to add a bit of water to help thin. The result? Cool cucumber, hints of garlic, perfect creamy vegan tzatziki every time.

To make Easy Vegan Tzatziki: add everything but the cucumber to a blender or food processor and pulse several times until smooth stopping to scrape the sides as needed.

Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise then scoop out the seeds and discard (or save and toss into a smoothie later). The seed area is the wateriest area so removing this will help ensure a nice thick vegan tzatziki. Grate the seeded cucumber. Add the cucumber by picking it up by the handful and squeezing out excess water over the sink, then adding it to the blender or food processor. Pulse a couple of times to incorporate.

Tah dah! Now fair warning, this is a bit more on the creamy-yellow side of the white scale due to tofu not being perfectly white, but that hardly seems like a big deal to me when the flavour friends are all there.

Serve this as a dip with some veg and chopped up pita, or use on any of your favourite Greek foods. Omnomnom!

Common Questions:

Is tzatziki gluten-free? This recipe is 100% gluten-free (and vegan!)
What can I use instead of dill in tzatziki? If you aren't a fan of dill, it can be replaced by mint, thyme, parsley, tarragon, or basil.
Is tzatziki sauce supposed to be runny? No it's not. If your tzatziki is runny, it is likely being caused by the excess water in the cucumber. Per the notes below: Add everything but the cucumber to a blender or food processor and pulse several times until smooth stopping to scrape the sides as needed. Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise then scoop out the seeds and discard (or save and toss into a smoothie later). Grate the seeded cucumber. Add the cucumber by picking it up by the handful and squeezing out excess water over the sink, then adding it to the blender or food processor. Pulse a couple of times to incorporate.

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4.95 from 40 votes