Arby’s Tzatziki Sauce is creamy, cool, and perfect for gyros. You can use it as a dipping sauce for vegetables, naan, and pita bread. Homemade tzatziki sauce is great for Greek meatballs, kabobs, veggie trays, mezze appetizer platters, and charcuterie boards.
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Why This Recipe Works
The genius of Arby’s tzatziki lies in the substitution of sour cream for traditional Greek yogurt. Sour cream has a higher fat content and more pronounced tang, creating a richer, more flavorful base that stands up beautifully to bold ingredients like garlic and dill. The key to perfect texture is properly draining the cucumbers, which prevents the sauce from becoming watery while maintaining that essential fresh crunch. The overnight chilling period allows all flavors to meld together, creating the signature taste that makes Arby’s version so memorable.
Read the definitive guide to Arby’s Sauces.
What Does Arby’s Tzatziki Sauce Taste Like?
Typically, the main ingredients in tzatziki sauce are Greek yogurt, cucumbers, lemon juice, minced garlic, and fresh dill. But the tzatziki sauce at Arby’s has one little difference that completely shakes things up! Arby’s leaves out the Greek yogurt and uses sour cream instead.
Switching to sour cream gives this recipe much more zip than traditional versions. To compensate, this recipe’s amount of minced garlic and lemon juice is less than in others.
At the end of the day, the sauce is well-balanced. The cooling crunch of the cucumbers and the vibrant herbal character of the dill prevent the sauce from becoming too overpowering.
Ingredients For Tzatziki Sauce with Sour Cream
Main Components:
- Sour cream – Provides the rich, tangy base that gives this sauce its distinctive American twist
- Cucumbers – Add fresh crunch and cooling properties essential to any tzatziki
- Kosher salt – Draws moisture from cucumbers and enhances all flavors
- Fresh lemon juice – Brightens the sauce and adds citrusy tartness
- Fresh garlic – Contributes pungent depth and authentic Mediterranean flavor
- Extra virgin olive oil – Adds richness and helps bind flavors together
- Fresh dill – Provides the signature herbal note that defines tzatziki
How To Make Greek Tzatziki Sauce
To make Arby’s gyro sauce:
- Drape two layers of cheesecloth over a mixing bowl.
- Peel a cucumber and cut it horizontally in half.
- Scrape out the seeds with a spoon.
- Use the coarse side of a box or hand grater to shred the cucumber into the cheesecloth.Â
- Sprinkle a teaspoon of kosher salt on the shredded cucumber and mix with your fingertips. Wait for about 10 minutes.
- While waiting, mince the garlic and chop the fresh dill. Set aside.
- After 10 minutes, gather together the corners of the cheesecloth. Twist the cheesecloth and squeeze as much liquid as possible from the cucumbers.Â
- Dump and rinse out the mixing bowl.Â
- Place the dry, shredded cucumbers in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring well to blend.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Leaving the tzatziki sauce in the fridge overnight will give it a much better flavor.Â
What Should You Serve With Tzatziki Sauce
This quick tzatziki sauce is perfect for any gyro or kebab sandwich. Try it as a dressing for a simple salad or as a sauce for cold roast beef. It is also great on grilled, baked, or fried eggplant.
Serve tzatziki as a dip with fresh vegetables, naan, flatbread, pita bread, or pita chips. You can also serve it on a Greek mezze platter or charcuterie board.
How Long Does This Easy Tzatziki Sauce Last?
Greek tzatziki sauce will be at its best for about three days, but you can enjoy it for up to a week. The longer the sauce sits in the fridge, the stronger the garlic and dill flavors will get.
How To Store Leftover Tzatziki Sauce
Store the sauce in the refrigerator inside an airtight container.
Can You Freeze Tzatziki Sauce?
Keeping Arby’s gyro sauce in the freezer is probably not a good idea. The sour cream will develop a grainy texture, and the cucumbers will lose their crunch. Since Arby’s gyro sauce is so easy to make, it is not worth the effort to freeze it.
Love Arby’s? Try These Copycat Recipes!
Favorite Restaurant Sauce Recipes
- Burger King Sauce
- Chick-fil-A Sauce
- Red Robin Campfire Sauce
- Raising Cane’s Sauce
- Red Lobster Coconut Shrimp Sauce
- McDonald’s Special Sauce
- McDonald’s Tartar Sauce
- TGI Fridays Jack Daniels Sauce
Check out my easy sauce recipes and the best fast food recipes here on CopyKat!
Arby’s Tzatziki Sauce Easy Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 ounces sour cream
- 2 medium cucumbers
- 2 teaspoons salt plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill chopped
Instructions
- Line a medium mixing bowl with cheesecloth with 3 to 4 inches of excess cloth hanging over the sides.
- Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and remove the seeds using a spoon.
- Grate the cucumber into the mixing bowl.
- Add salt and stir. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Gather cheesecloth over the cucumber into the center. Twist tightly, then squeeze as much liquid out as possible.
- Pour the liquid out of the bowl and wipe it down.
- Add the cucumber, sour cream, lemon juice, and salt to taste. Whisk well.
- Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. For best flavor, refrigerate overnight.
- Garnish with dill and enjoy!
What about using seedless cucumbers for this sauce? This would eliminate the need for scraping out seeds and cutting the cucumber lengthwise.
Great tip. Thank you for sharing.
They’re not “kebabs,” they’re “souvlakia.” “Meze” already means appetizer. Sadly some Hellenic people, especially in the USA, already use sour cream instead of yogurt so this isn’t really unheard of for tzatziki.