Ingredient
16 Greek Recipes with Yogurt
Real Greek yogurt is strained, thick enough to stand a spoon in, and used as often in savoury cooking as at breakfast.
Real Greek yogurt is strained, thick enough to stand a spoon in, and used as often in savoury cooking as at breakfast.
On the savoury side it is a sauce and a marinade. Tzatziki. Garlic yogurt with beetroot, with roasted peppers, over fried aubergine and over the tiny dumplings of Pontic cooking. Chicken souvlaki marinated in it. Kebab with yogurt and tomato, the Thessaloniki way. A cold soup with cucumber.
On the sweet side: with honey and walnuts, with fruit, with grape must syrup, or baked into a cake. If you cannot buy it thick enough, the list includes how to strain your own.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Tzatziki
Τζατζίκι · tsah-TSEE-kee
The gap between the real thing and the loose grey tubs in the shops has nothing to do with garlic. The cucumber is salted and squeezed dry, and the yogurt is strained, thick and tart. Low-fat yogurt turns chalky. The garlic should be loud, and the dip is better made a day ahead.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not use a food processor. It shreds the cucumber too finely and whips air into the yogurt, giving a slack, foamy texture. A box grater and a bowl are the right tools.
Make Tzatziki2. Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato
Giaourtlou · Γιαουρτλού · yah-oor-TLOO
Thessaloniki owes this to the refugees who came from Asia Minor after 1922, with a pairing of yogurt and grilled meat the mainland did not have. It is layered, not mixed: torn, toasted pita, then minced meat kebabs, then warm tomato sauce, then garlicky yogurt. The meat takes cumin, where mainland grills use oregano.
Yiayia’s tip: Add the yogurt last, straight from the fridge. The contrast between the cold yogurt and the hot meat and sauce is the entire point. Adding it early loses that completely.
Make Thessaloniki Kebab with Yogurt and Tomato3. Beetroot Salad with Garlic Yogurt
Pantzarosalata · Παντζαροσαλάτα · pahn-dzah-roh-sah-LAH-tah
Deep magenta beetroot under a white spoon of skordalia or garlicky yogurt, and it tastes the way it looks: sweet and earthy, cut by garlic and vinegar. If the leaves came with it, they are cooked as well and dressed on their own. A winter meze, and better after a while in the fridge.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook beetroot whole and unpeeled. Cutting before cooking lets the colour and flavour bleed out. Peel only once fully cooked and cool enough to handle.
Make Beetroot Salad with Garlic Yogurt4. Yogurt with Honey and Walnuts
Giaourti me meli kai karydia · Γιαούρτι με μέλι και καρύδια · yah-OOR-tee meh meh-LEE keh kah-REE-thyah
Three ingredients and no cooking, so each one is on show: thick yogurt, honey and roughly crushed walnuts. The honey is where a little extra money pays back most. Greeks eat it at breakfast, mid-afternoon and as dessert after a heavy meal: a lot of work for one bowl.
Yiayia’s tip: Buy properly strained yogurt. Look for full-fat, Greek-style or strained yogurt specifically. A thin, unstrained yogurt cannot hold the honey and nuts the way this dish wants.
Make Yogurt with Honey and Walnuts5. Yogurt Cake
Yiaourtopita · Γιαουρτόπιτα · yah-oor-TOH-pee-tah
A plain Sunday cake, not an occasion cake. Yogurt does the job of much of the fat and liquid, and its acidity works on the raising agents, so the crumb comes out lighter than expected, with a faint tang. It stays moist for days and forgives a nervous baker.
Yiayia’s tip: Use thick, full-fat yogurt. It gives real moisture and a slight tang that a thin, low-fat yogurt cannot replicate.
Make Yogurt Cake6. Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Souvlaki
Souvlaki kotopoulo me giaourti · Σουβλάκι κοτόπουλο με γιαούρτι · soov-LAH-kee koh-TOH-poo-loh meh yah-OOR-tee
Chicken breast dries out fast on a hot grill, and yogurt is the fix. Its mild acidity tenderises the surface and helps the meat hold moisture, which oil alone does not do. Lemon, garlic and oregano do the flavouring. Shake off the excess before grilling, or it drips and flares.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the marinating time. At least two hours is what lets the yogurt actually tenderise the chicken, rather than just sitting on the surface.
Make Yogurt-Marinated Chicken Souvlaki7. Pontic Greek Dumplings in Yogurt and Garlic
Manti pontiako · Μαντί ποντιακό · man-DEE pon-dee-ah-KOH
Pontic Greek cooking, carried from the Black Sea coast by refugees who arrived after 1922 and settled mostly in Macedonia. The dumplings belong to a family that runs from the Caucasus to Central Asia. Boiled, they go under garlic yogurt with red paprika butter poured over last. Folding dozens by hand is group work.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the filling genuinely small. Manti are meant to be tiny, bite-sized dumplings. Overfilling them makes them difficult to seal and changes the intended texture.
Make Pontic Greek Dumplings in Yogurt and Garlic8. Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup
Tarator · Ταράτορ · tah-rah-TOR
Tzatziki turned into a soup. Thick yogurt is thinned with cold water, then cucumber, dill, garlic and crushed walnuts go in, and nothing is cooked. It belongs to Greek Thrace and the wider Balkans, for the hottest days of summer. The walnuts are what stop it tasting like watered-down yogurt.
Yiayia’s tip: Start with cold yogurt. A soup that begins warm never quite recovers the same refreshing chill, even after time in the fridge.
Make Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup9. Strained Yogurt with Fresh Fruit
Giaourti me frouta · Γιαούρτι με φρούτα · yah-OOR-tee meh FROO-tah
A breakfast that follows the calendar: figs and peaches at the height of summer, pears and grapes in autumn, citrus all winter. It is the lighter relative of yogurt with honey and walnuts, and it takes less honey, because the fruit brings its own sweetness. Slice the fruit at the last minute, not ahead.
Yiayia’s tip: Choose fruit that is properly ripe. Thick yogurt is unforgiving of an underripe, flavourless piece of fruit sitting on top of it.
Make Strained Yogurt with Fresh Fruit10. How to Make Strained Greek Yogurt at Home
Giaourti stragisto · Γιαούρτι στραγγιστό · yah-OOR-tee strah-ghee-STOH
There is no special culture and no additive behind thick Greek yogurt. It is plain yogurt left in a cloth-lined sieve in the fridge until the whey runs out. Four hours gives a light thickening, and overnight gives something a spoon will stand up in. Keep the whey for bread dough or a marinade.
Yiayia’s tip: Use whole-milk yogurt. Low-fat yogurt has less body to begin with and strains to something thin and grainy rather than rich and thick.
Make How to Make Strained Greek Yogurt at Home11. Soft Fresh Cheese Spread
Katiki Domokou · Κατίκι Δομοκού · kah-TEE-kee thoh-moh-KOO
The real thing comes from the town of Domokos in central Greece and has protected designation of origin status. Cow milk is blended with goat or sheep milk and whipped until nearer to thick, tangy cream than to a curd cheese such as feta. Olive oil and black pepper on top. No herbs, no garlic.
Yiayia’s tip: Use full-fat, thick strained yogurt. A thinner or lower-fat yogurt gives a looser, less satisfying result. The whole point of katiki is its rich, smooth, spoonable texture.
Make Soft Fresh Cheese Spread12. Cypriot Yogurt and Mint Dip
Talattouri · Ταλαττούρι · tah-lah-TOO-ree
Tzatziki's Cypriot cousin, and in the bowl you could barely tell them apart. The difference is the herb. The mainland uses dill, and talattouri is built on mint, dried for depth and fresh for brightness, which makes it cooler and sharper. It sits beside whatever comes off a Cypriot grill: souvla, sheftalia or halloumi.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze the cucumber hard. Grated cucumber holds a lot of water. Wringing it out well is what keeps the dip thick and stops it going watery in the bowl.
Make Cypriot Yogurt and Mint Dip13. Cypriot Salted Yogurt Drink
Ayrani · Αϊράνι · ah-ee-RAH-nee
Yogurt, cold water and salt, whisked hard and poured over ice. Cyprus drinks it in hot weather and beside grilled meat. Leaving out the salt is the usual mistake: without it, diluted yogurt is bland and a little chalky. Cypriots make it on the thick side, with a pinch of dried mint.
Yiayia’s tip: Loosen the yogurt first. Whisking the yogurt with a splash of water before adding the rest is the only way to get it smooth. All the water at once leaves lumps you cannot whisk out afterwards.
Make Cypriot Salted Yogurt Drink14. Roasted Peppers with Garlic Yogurt
Piperies me giaourti · Πιπεριές με γιαούρτι · pee-peh-ree-ES meh yah-OOR-tee
Sweet, smoky roasted red pepper against sharp, cold garlic yogurt, with olive oil over the top. With so little on the plate, a thin, watery yogurt has nowhere to hide. The garlic is meant to bite. It can be made a little ahead: a brief spell in the fridge does it good.
Yiayia’s tip: Jarred roasted peppers are a fair shortcut. Good quality ones, well drained, save real time without hurting the finished dish much.
Make Roasted Peppers with Garlic Yogurt15. Yogurt with Grape Must Syrup
Yiaourti me petimezi · Γιαούρτι με πετιμέζι · yah-OOR-tee meh peh-tee-MEH-zee
Honey and walnuts are what people picture on yogurt now. This is the older pairing, from when many parts of Greece sweetened with petimezi, the syrup of grape must, more than with honey. The flavour is deeper and rounder, faintly fruity, close to a light molasses. Pour it generously or the yogurt's tang drowns it.
Yiayia’s tip: Use full-fat, thick strained yogurt. A thinner yogurt will not give the same satisfying contrast against the syrup, turning watery rather than staying a proper spoonable pairing.
Make Yogurt with Grape Must Syrup16. Aubergine in Yogurt Sauce
Melitzanes se saltsa giaourtiou · Μελιτζάνες σε σάλτσα γιαουρτιού · meh-leed-ZAH-nes seh SAHL-tsah yah-oor-TYOO
Aubergine and yogurt on one plate, a crossover between Greek cooking and the wider eastern Mediterranean, as manti and imam bayildi are. Fried slices, crisp at the edge and soft inside, go under thick garlic yogurt, and paprika butter is poured over last. Serve with bread, or as part of a meze.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the yogurt properly cold. The contrast between cold sauce and hot aubergine and butter is exactly what this dish is built around.
Make Aubergine in Yogurt Sauce
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