I often prepare this light yogurt sauce because being on a diet doesn’t mean eating bland food. It’s still important to season dishes while minimizing fats as much as possible. A bit of good oil is necessary for absorbing fibers well, but how can you use just a little to dress an entire salad? This yogurt sauce comes in handy. Plain unsweetened yogurt, mixed with garlic, spices, and herbs, becomes a delicious yet light dressing for various foods.
This is a vegan sauce made with soy yogurt, but you can use other yogurts as long as they are plain and unsweetened. In this recipe, I’ll explain how to prepare the base, including a thicker version, which you can then flavor to create different dressing options, especially the 4 flavors I like the most.
Here are some other basic recipes for preparing different dishes:
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Very Low Cost
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 2
- Cooking methods: No Cooking
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
I listed the ingredients to add for the various versions, and I’ll explain the details in the steps.
- 1 1/4 cups soy yogurt (unsweetened)
- 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (1 measuring teaspoon)
- 1 clove garlic
- to taste salt
- ground cumin
- ground turmeric
- paprika
- sweet mustard
- chopped parsley
- chives
- agave syrup (or maple)
Tools
- Bowl
- Sieve
- Garlic Press
- Knife
- Small Bowl
Steps
If your yogurt is very liquid, it’s best to strain it before making the yogurt sauce. Prepare a bowl with a fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean, unscented dish towel. Pour the yogurt in, cover, and let it strain for at least an hour so the water drains away, making the yogurt thicker and creamier.
To prepare the sauce base, finely chop the garlic or crush it with a garlic press. Mix the yogurt with garlic, oil, and a little salt. The basic dressing is ready, but if you don’t use it immediately, store it in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
To flavor the yogurt sauce, you can add other ingredients and create new tastes each time. Here are my suggestions:
cumin: a little ground cumin mixed with 2 teaspoons of agave syrup.
turmeric and paprika: a little ground turmeric and paprika mixed with 2 teaspoons of agave syrup.
herbs: chopped parsley and chives.
mustard: 1 teaspoon of creamy mustard mixed with 2 teaspoons of agave syrup.
Our light yogurt sauce is ready to be enjoyed! All four flavors are very tasty and extremely light, ideal for dressing salads or other vegetables, boiled or baked potatoes, or for dipping crudités or warmed pita bread cut into strips.
Of course, you can vary the added ingredients to flavor the yogurt base to your liking: just be a little creative. Do you have other flavors to suggest? Leave me a comment below and I’ll try them!
Enjoy!
by Giovanna Buono
Storage
Both the yogurt base and each ready yogurt sauce variant can be stored in the fridge for 2-3 days. I don’t freeze yogurt, so I have never tried putting this sauce in the freezer.
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
I don’t like garlic, can I omit it?
Of course, you can omit the garlic if you don’t like the taste; it will result in a milder sauce. If digestion is the issue, you can substitute it with garlic powder, which, at least for me, doesn’t cause digestion issues. A reader also suggested blanching the garlic for 3 minutes in boiling water and repeating this operation 5 times: laborious but it works for her!
