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    Home » Recipes

    Tarator – An Albanian Cold Cucumber and Yogurt Soup

    Published: Sep 11, 2018 · Modified: Jun 17, 2020 by Sonila · This post may contain affiliate links · 22 Comments

    • 23
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    I grew up eating tarator during a lot of summer nights in my native country. It’s a refreshing cold soup made with yogurt, cucumber, dill, salt and garlic. In Albania we didn’t call it cold soup, but I don’t know how else to describe it.

    Dill and Cucumber Cold Soup, called Tarator in Albania
    Cold Cucumber Greek Yogurt Soup – Albanian Tarator

    Some links in my posts may be affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you purchase items by clicking on these links. I will always disclose when a product in a post has been gifted by a company as well as when a post or product is sponsored.

    What Is Tarator?

    Tarator is an Albanian cold cucumber soup made with cucumber, dill and yogurt. Bulgaria has a similar version of Tarator as Albania. But in Turkey, Tarator means a different dish which is made with walnuts, garlic and bread. In Hungary they also have a similar version to the Albanian one, just ingredients vary slightly.

    The simplest way to serve this cold soup is with some feta cheese and fresh bread. Then you can add additional fruits and finger food like olives, nuts, pita bread, hummus etc.

    When I first served this yogurt cold soup to my friends or my husband, they confused it with tzatziki which is a greek sauce made with similar ingredients. The biggest difference is that tarator is made with yogurt while tzakiki is made with strained yogurt. Also, one is a soup and the other a dip.

    How Do You Make Tarator?

    Tarator is very easy to make, it has few ingredients and you don’t need accuracy in mixing them up. Just mix to taste, however I’ll still add the recipe at the bottom for you to use as a guide. The biggest difficulty I had in making tarator was finding the right type of yogurt.

    When I lived in Albania, we had fresh milk delivered daily to our house every morning. We boiled the milk, drank during the day and made the left overs yogurt. So the type of yogurt we made at home, I can’t quite find it here in the grocery stores. The closest I have come to find in flavor is Greek Yogurt.

    Greek yogurt is a bit thicker than the yogurt we made back in Albania at home. So in order to achieve the exact consistency of tarator, I add some water to the soup but in Albania no water is needed. I’m trying to explain the correct steps for everyone in my audience.

    See below two examples of how I served this dish for my family.

    Tarator Cold Cucumber Soup
    Tarator – Albanian Cold Cucumber Soup Served with Feta Cheese, Olives, Bread and Papaya
    Tarator cold cucumber and yogurt soup
    Tarator Cold Cucumber Soup Served with Byrek, Olives, Feta Cheese and Vegetables

    Tarator – Cold Cucumber Soup Recipe

    My paternal grandfather had an old wooden mortar & pestle similar to the one below. He used to smash the garlic and salt together. Then he used to chop the cucumber in small pieces and put them inside the mortar & pestle (it was a decent size one). Later on he would mix the smashed garlic-salt with the cucumber pieces so the flavors would mix very well together. At last, he would pour this mix over yogurt and add olive oil and dill. Mix well and tarator was served. He did this until well in his 80s!!

    Tarator Cold Cucumber Soup

    Tarator – Albanian Cold Cucumber & Yogurt Soup

    Sonila
    Tarator is a typical Albanian dish, served mostly on hot summer nights. It is refreshing and very easy to make. It's made with Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic and dill.
    5 from 10 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Total Time 10 mins
    Course Soup
    Cuisine Albanian, Mediterranean
    Servings 4 servings
    Calories 110 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 32 oz greek yogurt
    • 1 english cucumber
    • 2 garlic cloves
    • 2 tbsp chopped dill
    • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
    • 0.5 cup water optional

    Instructions
     

    • Chop cucumber in small pieaces. Mince the garlic and chop the dill as well.
    • Pour yogurt in a salad bowl and add all the chopped ingredients. 
    • Add olive oil and mix everything very well. 
    • In a mortar & pestle, smash the minced garlic with salt then add those on top of the yogurt.
    • If you like the consistency of the soup to be thinner, then add half a cup of water and mix again. Yogurt consistency varies from brand to brand, so the amount of water you add is up to you.
    • Serve with feta cheese, bread, fruits and other finger foods of choice.

    Video

    Notes

    *Calories are estimated using MyFitnessPal. The yogurt I use at home is non-fat greek yogurt. 

    Nutrition Label

    Nutrition Facts
    Tarator – Albanian Cold Cucumber & Yogurt Soup
    Amount Per Serving
    Calories 110
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 110kcal
    Keyword albanian, balkan, cold soup, Cucumber Soup, eastern european, mediterranean, tarator
    Tried this recipe?Mention @mediterranean_latin_love or tag #mediterraneanlatinloveaffair!

    If you would like to save this post for later, please pin the below image in Pinterest. Thank you:)

    Albanian Cold Cucumber Soup - Tarator
    Albanian Cold Cucumber Soup – Tarator

    Other Yogurt Recipes:

    I like incorporating yogurt in a lot of my recipes, see below some of my favorites:

    • Chia, hemp hearts, fruits yogurt breakfast
    • Lamb, yogurt bake (Albanian Tave Kosi)
    • Puffed Quinoa, fruits, yogurt breakfast

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    • 23

    Filed Under: Albanian, Mediterranean Food, Recipes, Soups Tagged With: Cold soup, cucumber soup, tarator shqiptar, yogurt soup

    About Sonila

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Ivo Kostadinov

      March 20, 2023 at 8:35 am

      Excuse me, but could you actually prove this is an Albanian dish? We have tarator in Bulgaria and we believe its our typical dish 🙂
      – we use Bulgarian yoghurt, cucumbers,water, salt, dill, garlic and walnuts along with dash of sunflower oil and you can eat it howl or drink it (depending how u slice the cucumber)

      Reply
      • Sonila

        March 20, 2023 at 10:07 am

        Hi Ivo, many Balkan countries have similar dishes, tarator is one of them. We all share years of Ottoman wars and occupation which led to fusion in cuisines. There are many dishes from tarator to moussaka, to baklava and many others that we all call the same but each of us makes it our own way. My paternal grandfather was born in 1906 in South of Albania and he remembers his family making tarator during summer time. Most Albanian families serve tarator with dinner in summer! To us it’s Albanian, to you guys it’s Bulgarian!! We make it with homemade yogurt, cucumbers, dill, garlic and good quality olive oil. No walnuts or sunflower oil for us. Have a great day!
        Sonila

        Reply
    2. Vena

      July 11, 2019 at 12:49 pm

      We have a simmilar dish in Poland with beets

      Reply
      • Sonila

        July 11, 2019 at 2:33 pm

        Aww I’m always curious about different cuisines and recipes. I’ll definitely look it up:)). Thank you

        Reply
    3. Juna Kandha

      September 28, 2018 at 5:10 am

      5 stars
      Great post .. love the recipes. Thanks for sharing

      Reply
    4. Thomas

      September 13, 2018 at 7:05 pm

      I’ve never tried tarator before. I’ll have to give that a try later this week. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
      • admin

        September 13, 2018 at 7:11 pm

        Hope you like it!! Eat on a hot day, you’ll appreciate it so much more:)

        Reply
    5. Stephanie Stebbins

      September 12, 2018 at 4:39 pm

      5 stars
      This looks so yum! I’ve never tried any cold soup so I am definitely going to try it!

      Reply
      • admin

        September 12, 2018 at 5:06 pm

        Other Eastern European countries add walnuts on top so if that’s something you like, you can add walnuts too.

        Reply
    6. Omede Deborah

      September 12, 2018 at 1:36 pm

      5 stars
      Yummy! This is quite unique and inviting. My spouse will appreciate this. Thanks for sharing

      Reply
    7. Zaibel

      September 12, 2018 at 11:32 am

      I will try it

      Reply
    8. Suktara

      September 12, 2018 at 11:30 am

      5 stars
      This is a great recipe. In my country we have something similar known as raita made from yoghurt, we consume it in the summer days to keep the body cool. But this was really something new. Enjoyed reading it!

      Reply
      • Sonila

        September 12, 2018 at 11:42 am

        Thank you:). I was hesitant to post something that is not well known where I live now but it makes me happy to see so many people like this version or another version of this dish. Yes, that is the main purpose of the dish: cooling off especially on hot summer days. A lot of the houses didn’t have air conditioning so this was perfect for a hot day.

        Reply
    9. Vaibhav Mehta

      September 12, 2018 at 10:47 am

      5 stars
      For a person like me who has a high body temp and generally a lot of heat inside the body such a dish acts as a cooling agent…already love yoghurt..so this is like a cooling agent recipe of sorts!

      Reply
      • Sonila

        September 12, 2018 at 11:06 am

        Thank you Vaibhav!! The dish is vegetarian too:)

        Reply
    10. Jo

      September 12, 2018 at 10:26 am

      5 stars
      This looks absolutely delicious. It’s lovely that you can have a taste of home.

      Reply
    11. Vox

      September 12, 2018 at 9:09 am

      So this soup is more like a dip???? It looks yummy. Your photos are great. This looks like a great healthy alternative to a high-fat cheesy tailgate dip. Thanks for offering something really unique.

      Reply
      • Sonila

        September 12, 2018 at 9:14 am

        In my native country we eat this more like a soup. Our yogurt there is a bit thinner but similar in taste to Greek Yogurt, so there we don’t add water to it and it still has soup consistency. Here in US i use greek yogurt and it almost comes out like a dip because Greek Yogurt is so thick, so here i add a bit of water to make it like a cold soup but if i want to use it as a dip for get togethers then I don’t add water and it’s great for dipping with pita bread or your choice of chips. Thank you:)

        Reply
    12. Nicole B. W.

      September 11, 2018 at 8:29 pm

      5 stars
      Made my mouth water just looking at the pictures!!!!
      Thanks for sharing the recipes!!! :))

      Reply
      • admin

        September 11, 2018 at 8:34 pm

        Thank you so much Nicole!!

        Reply
    13. ThatStudiousStudent

      September 11, 2018 at 5:01 pm

      5 stars
      This is amazing. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing 😀

      Reply
      • admin

        September 11, 2018 at 7:44 pm

        Thank you:)))

        Reply

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    Sonila Zarate
    Sonila Zarate

    Mom of 2, wife, engineer, food blogger & recipe creator! Sonila was born in Albania, her heritage inspires her Mediterranean recipes while that of her husband the Latin ones. Sonila has 2 degrees in Engineering from University of Miami.

    More about me →

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