This Cucumber Yogurt Dill Salad tastes like tzatziki dip – but it’s in a healthy salad form! This pairs really well with strongly spiced foods, bringing a welcome freshness to the palette!
If you love tzatziki, you are really going to love the flavors in this Cucumber Yogurt Dill Salad! You’ll find many very simple versions of this salad around, made simply by tossing cucumbers with yogurt, salt, pepper and maybe a bit of herbs.
CUCUMBER YOGURT DILL SALAD
Like this recipe? Pin it to your SIDE DISH pin board!
Follow Real Housemoms on Pinterest
I really think it’s worth the teeny tiny extra effort to make the yogurt dressing extra tasty which will take this salad from “fine” to “forget the rest of the meal, just give me more cucumber salad”!
Basically what I do is make the yogurt dressing like I’m making tzatziki, adding garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper then leaving it for the flavors to develop for 20 minutes or so. It really makes a difference leaving the dressing aside for a while. When you first make the yogurt dressing, you’ll be able to taste all the components separately, especially the garlic and lemon.
But after 20 minutes or so, it all comes together. The garlic flavor softens and melds into the yogurt, and it all becomes one.
Some recipes call for the cucumber to be deseeded, but I prefer not to. I find the juicy center adds freshness to the salad, and also my yogurt dressing is creamier so it balances it out.
This is the sort of salad that I serve alongside strongly flavored food. Heavily spiced food, hot spicy food, and rich food. The yogurt and cucumber pairing is soothing and cool, so it will bring a freshness to the palette, breaking up all the rich food. I really also like it with deep fried foods like schnitzel.
I use dill as the herb in this, but it also works great with coriander, parsley, and chives. So use what you have!
Want more cucumber recipes?
- Cucumber Mint Mojito
- Summer Watermelon & Cucumber Salad
- Ham and Egg Salad Cucumber Cups
- Cucumber Punch
- Creamy Cucumbers
- Cucumber & Onion Salad
- More side dish recipes…
Tools used to make this Cucumber Yogurt Dill Salad recipe
Knives:Â A good set of kitchen knives is essential for any cook. This set is the best one I’ve owned so far and it comes with a knife block, steak knives, and an array of larger knives perfect for all your slicing, chopping, and cutting needs.
Cutting Board:Â A good-sized cutting board is a must for home cooks. This board is thick & sturdy and makes recipe prep a breeze.
Mixing Bowl:Â These mixing bowls get used just about every day at my house. The grip handle makes them easy to hold and the pour spout makes them perfect for batters!
Ingredients
- 4 large cucumbers halved and cut into thick slices
- 1/4 red onion finely sliced (optional)
- 1/4 cup dill leaves
Dressing
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove minced
- 1 tbsp lemon juice fresh (or 2 tsp white wine vinegar)
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside for at least 20 minutes to allow the flavors to develop.
- Place cucumbers, onion, and dill in a bowl. Pour over dressing, toss well. Serve, garnished with extra dill and more cracked pepper if desired.
Nutrition
Theresa says
This makes an excellent fresh salad as written. You won’t be sorry. I scaled the recipe down by half. Of course I personalized it by adding diced roma tomatoes and gave it a little more flavor with a dash of onion powder. Also, I didn’t have greek yogurt on hand so I just used plain yogurt. I don’t think the switch made all that much difference to the taste or texture. It was excellent!