Dairy Free Tzatziki
This Whole30 and Vegan Tzatziki tastes just like the real thing! It’s made with a base of cashews and loaded with garlic, lemon, dill and grated cucumber. It is easy to make and is a great condiment to serve as a dip with crackers, or as a sauce over grilled meat, chicken, fish or veggies. This Dairy Free Tzatziki is also Paleo, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Specific Carbohydrate Diet Legal, Vegan and Whole30.
I am such a big fan of tzatziki. I love the creamy consistency yet refreshing flavour of the dip and how incredibly versatile it is.
This Greek dip is traditionally made with yoghurt, and it took me awhile to find a suitable dairy free alternative. The majority of the dairy free tzatziki recipes online use coconut cream or coconut yogurt and I gave both a try. I quickly ruled coconut yogurt out because although it works well in the dip, it can be quite hard to find. Coconut cream which is much more readily available was not a winner as the rich consistency and strong flavour were hard to mask.
So I resorted to my go to base for a lot of sauce and dips, cashews. There are two simple tricks for using cashews in sauces, firstly they should be soaked so that they easily break down into a thin consistency. Although a lot of people recommend soaking them in water overnight, for those who are terrible at planning ahead (i.e. me!!), soaking them in boiling hot water for about 10 minutes will have the same effect.
My second tip is to use either a food processor or ideally a NutriBullet. The first few times I made cashew based sauces in my blender they were a total disaster, with little chunky bits. Using the correct equipment will result in an incredibly creamy and smooth sauce that you would never know was made with cashews.
Cucumbers are about 95% water, which is great for eating to stay hydrated, but not ideal when you are adding them to sauces. Placing the shredded cucumber in a sieve should remove some of the water, but I recommend also squeezing it with your hands to try to get out even more. This will keep the consistency of the tzatziki thick even after it has been sitting in the fridge for a day or two.
This Dairy Free Tzatziki is incredibly versatile and can be served with so many different things! It’s fantastic as a dip with veggies or crackers, served with chicken or fish or as a sauce on burgers. The tzatziki has a fridge life of about 5 days, but I doubt it will last that long because you will find yourself eating it with everything.
Here are a few other dip recipes that you will enjoy…
- Butternut Squash Dip
- Roasted Zucchini Hummus
- Beet & Walnut Dip
- Roasted Carrot Dip
- Baba Ganoush
- 4-Ingredient Pea Dip
- Curried Cauliflower Dip
If you make this recipe let me know in the comment section below, I would love to hear what you think or take a photo and tag me (@everylastbite_) on Instagram, I love seeing your photos!
Tzatziki
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup raw cashews soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes
- 1 large cucumber
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried dill (or 1 tbsp fresh)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Start by soaking the cashews in a bowl of boiling water for 10 minutes
- Cut both ends off the cucumber and then peel. Using a cheese grater shred the cucumber and then place the shredded cucumber in a sieve, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain for about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the drained cashews into a high speed blender or food processor along with the garlic, lemon juice, dill and water and blend until completely smooth, this might take a few minutes. I like using a nutribullet to get the smoothest consistency.
- Give the cucumber one final squeeze with your hands to get as much of the water out as possible before adding the shredded cucumber to the cashew sauce. Stir everything together to ensure its well mixed and then taste and add more salt/dill/lemon as desired. Store in a container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
This recipe turned out excellent! We are having vegetarian gyros today and can’t wait to use the sauce. Thanks for this geat recipe.
Oh my goodness. I just made this to go on top of pan-fried cod, and it is SO good!! Thank you!
Sounds delish, I am looking foreword to making these recipes. Lamb burgers are one of my favorite!
I’m new to cooking. Excited to try your recipe. I’m in the middle of making it right now and like Stacey, I don’t know how much cucumber to add as Cucumbers come in so many different sizes. I have one that is 8 inches and one that is 13 inches. I’m hoping you see this right away so I can finish the recipe. Thanks so much!
Hi Kristen! Use the 13inch, the amount doesnt have to be exact so don’t stress, stir the shredded cucumber through and add in more if needed. Let me know how it turns out!
Thank you so much for this! My daughter has just been diagnosed with some serious food allergies, and this is just what the doctor ordered!
This tzatziki is amazing! It is a great dairy-free alternative, and the taste is perfect. It pairs so well with your chicken souvlaki recipe as well. So delicious!
This recipe is bomb! I will be making this sauce and your Greek Chicken Traybake often. We LOVED them both.
Delicious! Made with your chicken souvlaki and was fantastic!!! Thank you!
Made this tonight. Delish! Only thing that would be helpful to know is the measure of how much cucumber (versus one cucumber, since a large size could mean different things!)
I’m on the SCD diet. I just found you. I love this tzatziki! Thanks!
I’m so happy that you have found the site!!Good luck on the SCD, hopefully you will find some inspiration from my recipes 🙂
I made this the other night for my husband and Wow did we love it! I’m on the Whole30 diet right now and this totally hit the spot with chicken over cauliflower rice. Although, chicken soulvaki is seriously next on my list!
Do you think this freezes well?
YEES!! I love messages like this! So happy that it was a hit! I think that the texture might get a bit weird if you freeze it. I would suggest freezing the cashew mixture without the cucumber and then adding that in once thawed.
I want to make this tomorrow. Would you suggest a field cucumber or an English cucumber?
I prefer using english cucumber for this. Let me know how it turns out!