The Cooling Yogurt Dip That Makes Spicy Meals Bearable

Q: What’s the Difference Between Greek Tzatziki and Cucumber Raita?

I recently just shared my Greek Tzatziki Sauce recipe and while making both dips, I did notice that they are very similar. However, in Tzatziki Sauce, you are using Greek yogurt instead of plain regular yogurt, which creates a thicker sauce. Additionally, we are not adding garlic or oil to Cucumber Raita, rather, we are just letting the magic of the spices and cucumber work here. On the other hand, for both recipes, you really need to make sure that the cucumber water is extracted as much as possible to ensure that the texture and taste is not spoiled!

✦ Join the Kitchen

My free motivational guide, Make Cooking Fun!, gives more details on how using ingredients you have on hand can inspire you to get creative with your recipes! You’ll see later on in this post how versatile this Traditional Cucumber Raita is when you serve it with pretty much any North Indian dish. I’ve really enjoyed this raita as a side for almost all of my life! The cool and tangy raita serves well to cleanse your palate with any Indian curry, I also enjoy using it as a spread for wraps and rolls. The magic in this raita all comes from the cucumbers, which are cool and refreshing. Plus, the spices bring an earthy tanginess to the cool raita to allow you to keep enjoying hot Indian food with mini raita breaks in the middle. To create a wonderful complete Indian feast, be sure to serve your Indian Cucumber Raita as a condiment with your favorite Indian dishes as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! Get started for free by signing up to my email newsletter, plus you’ll have all of my new recipes delivered straight to your inbox, so that dinner is never a dilemma!

You’ll also see exactly how to make sure you have the best cucumber raita at home by watching the video at the bottom of this post! If you haven’t already, I’d love it if you would please subscribe to my YouTube channel and don’t forget to hit the bell button to be notified when all of my new video recipes go live! Let’s get mixing!

Cucumber Raita in a glass bowl topped with red chili powder and herbs, served on a wooden board.

What is a Raita?▼

In Indian cooking, a raita (pronounced “rye-tah”) is a dip that is served on the side as a palette cleanser. It is always made with yogurt, and you can add either raw or cooked vegetables, herbs, or other garnishes along with spices. This is more of a homestyle concept as you won’t find raita at restaurants. There are a variety of raita recipes, such as a tomato and onion raita, boondi raita (small balls of chickpea flour), lauki raita (bottle gourd), green chili raita, pudina (mint) and cilantro raita, just to name a few!

What’s the Difference Between Greek Tzatziki and Cucumber Raita?▼

I recently just shared my Greek Tzatziki Sauce recipe and while making both dips, I did notice that they are very similar. However, in Tzatziki Sauce, you are using Greek yogurt instead of plain regular yogurt, which creates a thicker sauce. Additionally, we are not adding garlic or oil to Cucumber Raita, rather, we are just letting the magic of the spices and cucumber work here. On the other hand, for both recipes, you really need to make sure that the cucumber water is extracted as much as possible to ensure that the texture and taste is not spoiled!

Is Indian Cucumber Raita Healthy?▼

Definitely! First of all, yogurt is an excellent source of calcium that will promote strong bones and teeth. The bacteria culture in yogurt also supports a healthy digestive system. The ground cumin is also known to support digestive health. Cucumber is an excellent source of water to hydrate your body, which results in flushing out toxins and assisting in kidney health. Cucumber is also high in Vitamins A, B, and C, which contain antioxidants that help with skin care.

Tools Needed to Make Indian Cucumber Raita

Ingredients for Cucumber Raita

I love this easy Cucumber Raita recipe because you only need a handful of ingredients! You can get the full list of ingredients and their amounts along with the ability to save the recipe for later when you scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE recipe card. This will also allow you to scale the recipe based on how many portions you want to make - whether for only a few mouths or enough to serve a large party, everything is automatically adjusted for you!

Yogurt: Make sure that it’s plain yogurt and with a higher fat content. Higher fat yogurts have less water and will be creamier, which is ideal for your cucumber raita.
English cucumber: English cucumbers are my favorite to use in all of my recipes because they are sweeter and you don’t have to worry about removing the seeds or peeling the skin. This will apply if you are also using Persian cucumbers, however, my preference is the English cucumber.
Ground cumin: Ground cumin is one of my favorite spices in a variety of cuisines! It’s such a wonderful spice for our Cucumber Raita because it adds a nice earthiness to the dip.
Chaat masala: This is a very complex spice blend of black salt, amchur powder (dried mango powder), cumin, coriander, dried ginger, asafoetida (hing), and chili powder. It’s quite difficult to describe how it seasons food, but it adds tartness, fruitness, and a bit of spice the complement the yogurt.
Black salt: In Hindi, we say that black salt makes food “chatpata.” There’s no direct translation to this, but my best way to describe what chatpata means in English is adding a combination of sourness and tanginess.
Red chili powder: Just add a small amount for garnish.
salt: Always add this to taste! Some salt is necessary to bring out all the other flavors.

Cucumber raita in a glass bowl, garnished with red chili powder, on a wooden surface.

How to Make Cucumber Raita

Shred the cucumber thinly using a box grater. The cucumber will release lots of water, which will dilute the raita if not drained. Squeeze as much water as you can from the shredded cucumber.

Hand shredding cucumber on a box grater over a wooden cutting board in a kitchen sink.

Shredded cucumber on a wooden cutting board in a modern kitchen.

Add the cucumber to the bowl with yogurt. Adjust the consistency by adding more or less yogurt to your preference. I find 1 3/4 Cups of plain yogurt for 1 large English cucumber is the perfect balance for a creamy and crispy texture in the raita.

Shredded cucumber mixed into yogurt in a glass bowl for cucumber raita preparation.

Then, add the spices and salt to taste and stir well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Cucumber raita in a glass bowl with yogurt base, shredded cucumber, and brown spices sprinkled on top.

Shredded cucumber being stirred into yogurt in a glass bowl with fresh herbs visible in the mixture.

Creamy cucumber raita in a glass bowl, garnished with red chili powder and herbs, ready to chill.

Let the raita chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Chilled raita is definitely delicious, but letting it sit helps the flavors to mellow out and make the raita more flavorful.

Cucumber raita in a glass bowl with a spoon, showing creamy yogurt with grated cucumber and red spice garnish.

Tips for the Tastiest Cucumber Raita

Be sure to grate the cucumber finely and evenly.
Use yogurt that is not too watery. It needs to be a nice and creamy yogurt so that the final raita has a nice and smooth creamy texture.
It’s crucial to squeeze out all the water from the cucumber. The cucumber water will dilute the flavor of the raita. Squeezing the grated cucumber with your hands and then straining any excess moisture will ensure you’ve really removed everything!
Make sure you taste often to adjust the amount of chaat masala and cumin to complement the black salt.
If you want to make this Traditional Cucumber Raita spicy, you can add very finely chopped green chilies.

Creamy cucumber raita in a glass bowl topped with ground spices, on a wooden surface.

How to Serve Cucumber Raita

As mentioned, Cucumber Raita is typically a palette cleanser, which means you’ve got so many options with how to serve it! Here are just a handful of ideas to help you craft the perfect meal:

Creamy cucumber raita in a glass bowl, garnished with paprika and herbs, with a spoon stirring the yogurt dip.

How to Store Cucumber Raita▼

You could either keep your cucumber raita in a bowl or ramekin and cover it with plastic wrap. Additionally, you can also transfer the contents into an airtight container. Cucumber raita will last about a week in the fridge, as the cucumber may make your raita soggy over time.

Other Indian Dip Recipes

Coconut Chutney 3 Ways

Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!

Recipe by Anadi Misra

Experience the Flavors of Authentic Indian Cucumber Raita

Cool, creamy, and refreshingly easy to make, this authentic cucumber raita recipe is the perfect Indian yogurt dip for any meal. Ready in minutes and packed with bold, traditional flavor.

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10 min

Prep

10 min

Total

servings

makes 2½ cups

easy

Level

Ingredients

Tap any quantity to scale

large English cucumber
(230 g) plain yogurt
(1 g) ground cuminShop →
(1 g) chaat masalaShop →
black saltShop →
red chili powder(garnish)Shop →
salt(to taste)Shop →

Instructions

1
Shred the cucumber thinly using a box grater. The cucumber will release lots of water, which will dilute the raita if not drained. Squeeze as much water as you can from the shredded cucumber and transfer the cucumber to a large mixing bowl.
Shred the cucumber thinly using a box grater. The cucumber will release lots of water, which will dilute the raita if not drained. Squeeze as much water as you can from the shredded cucumber and transfer the cucumber to a large mixing bowl.
2
Add the cucumber to the bowl with yogurt. Adjust the consistency by adding more or less yogurt to your preference. I find 1 ¾ cups of plain yogurt for 1 large English cucumber is perfect for a balanced creamy and crispy texture in the raita.
Add the cucumber to the bowl with yogurt. Adjust the consistency by adding more or less yogurt to your preference. I find 1 ¾ cups of plain yogurt for 1 large English cucumber is perfect for a balanced creamy and crispy texture in the raita.
3
Then, add the spices and salt to taste and stir well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Then, add the spices and salt to taste and stir well to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

•Let the raita chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. Chilled raita is delicious, but letting it sit helps the flavours to mellow out and make the raita more flavourful.

Nutrition per serving

Calories

Protein

Carbs

Fat

Fiber

Sugar

244mg

Sodium

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Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen