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Easy Dairy Free Tzatziki (Low Carb)

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This creamy dairy free tzatziki is naturally gluten free and is perfect as a sauce or dip! This tzatziki recipe is also vegan, low carb, and easy to make

My family enjoys a huge variety of cuisines in our house: Japanese, Greek, Thai, Italian, Indian, Korean, Lebanese… you name it, we love it!

Greek cooking is one of my favorite foods to eat, but whenever we eat Greek food at home or at a Greek restaurant, my son and I can’t enjoy the creamy tzatziki that is served with the meals.

Fortunately we can have the baba ganoush (which is incredible when the eggplant has been smoked!), but we’ve been longing for some good tzatziki to go with our souvlaki and pita

pita bread in bowl of dairy free tzatziki sauce

We found some dairy free, soy free, and nut free sour cream from Follow Your Heart at our local health food store, and I couldn’t pass it up. I immediately knew when I saw it that I wanted to make dairy free tzatziki to go with our favorite Greek inspired meals!

Dairy free sour cream options

There are several brands of dairy free sour cream, but the only one I’ve tried so far is the Follow Your Heart dairy free sour cream. If you can’t find any locally, you can try making some of your own.

Whichever brand or recipe you choose, it’s best to have one that’s thick for this tzatziki recipe, or it can get a little runny when you add cucumbers, even after they’ve been squeezed dry.

follow your heart dairy free and vegan sour cream

Some of the brands of dairy free sour cream available are:

I’m not sure if there are any more brands out there of dairy free/vegan sour cream, let me know in the comments if you’ve found new ones not listed!

Check out our guide on how to replace dairy in recipes and cooking!

How to make dairy free tzatziki

To shred/grate the cucumber, I used an extra coarse microplane to get smaller shreds than a regular grater but bigger than a regular microplane. But if you only have a regular grater, you can try that out too and it should be fine, the cucumber pieces will just be a bit bigger.

grating cucumber for tzatziki on a coarse microplane
Grate the unpeeled cucumber

Once your cucumber is grated, you’ll need to strain the shredded/grated cucumber by either pressing it in a small sieve, or putting it in 1-2 layers of cheesecloth and squeezing the water out.

straining grated zucchini for tzatziki
Drain the excess liquid from your shredded cucumber before adding to the sour cream

You don’t have to worry about trying to get every last bit of water out since the dairy free sour cream is thick, but make sure that you’re getting most of it out so your tzatziki isn’t runny.

I used an English cucumber to make sure that my tzatziki isn’t bitter since I leave the peel on. Sometimes regular cucumbers can be bitter, but the hothouse/English cucumbers are usually not bitter at all and the seeds are smaller so they are perfect for this recipe.

overhead photo of dairy free tzatziki sauce

You’ll notice that there is no dill in this recipe like most tzatziki recipes have. My husband doesn’t like dill that much, so we made this recipe without dill.

But if you want dill, you can add a little bit of fresh or dried dill to this recipe. We loved this tzatziki without dill, so you don’t have to add dill if you don’t want to. You get to choose!

You’ll also notice that we didn’t use fresh garlic or onion in this recipe since garlic powder and onion powder is a bit more mellow and doesn’t have a sharp bite like uncooked garlic does. But if you prefer fresh garlic, you can swap the garlic powder out for a clove of minced fresh garlic or minced or smashed roasted garlic.

dairy free tzatziki in a black bowl

We love serving this tzatziki with one of our favorite easy chicken shawarma recipes from The Food Network, along with this homemade pita bread from The New York Times (these have wheat in them, I’ll have to work on my own recipe for gluten free pita bread!).

You can also serve this as a dip with our variety of homemade crackers, our gluten free flatbread, or fresh cut veggies.

Tools you’ll need for this recipe:

vegan tzatziki in a black bowl with a spoon

Dairy Free Tzatziki

This creamy dairy free tzatziki is naturally gluten free and is perfect as a sauce or dip! This tzatziki recipe is also vegan and easy to make
Makes 1 cup of tzatziki, 8 2-Tablespoon sized servings
Gluten free, vegan; Free of: tree nuts (except coconut), soy, eggs, peanuts
5 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizers, Condiments, Sauces, & Spreads, Dips
Cuisine: Greek, Mediterranean
Keyword: dairy free tzatziki, vegan tzatziki
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 69kcal

Ingredients

  • ½ cup shredded unpeeled cucumber, strained
  • ¾ cup Follow Your Heart dairy free sour cream (or other brand of thick dairy free sour cream)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon onion powder
  • teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

  • Leave your cucumber unpeeled and shred it using a coarse microplane or a regular cheese grater. Measure out 1/2 cup of grated cucumber.
  • Squeeze out the excess water from the shredded cucumber by pushing it into a sieve or putting it in cheesecloth and squeezing out the excess liquid. You don't have to remove every bit of liquid, just make sure that you get most of it out.
  • Add the shredded cucumber and the sour cream to a medium sized bowl and stir until it is smooth and creamy.
  • Add the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper, and stir until combined. Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for serving after it has chilled.
  • Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 69kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 92mg | Potassium: 10mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 7IU | Vitamin C: 1mg
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2 thoughts on “Easy Dairy Free Tzatziki (Low Carb)”

  1. 5 stars
    Soooo delicious. I’ve been craving tzatziki sauce and this definitely hit the spot. I will def use the lesser of the salt suggestions next time. I did add dill paste at the end, it was absolutely amazing. Thank you!!

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