Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup)
A chilled Bulgarian summer soup of thinned yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts, finished with a drizzle of oil.
Bulgarian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~225 cal · 8g protein · 13g carbs · 17g fat · 2g fiber · 7g sugars · 4g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Tarator is Bulgaria's classic cold summer soup, a bowl reached for as soon as the weather turns hot. It is built on kiselo mlyako, the thick tangy Bulgarian yogurt, thinned with cold water and studded with grated or diced cucumber, garlic, plenty of fresh dill, and chopped walnuts, with a final drizzle of sunflower or olive oil.
It belongs to a wide family of yogurt-and-cucumber dishes across the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, and the name tarator is also used elsewhere for garlicky walnut sauces. The Bulgarian version is specifically a pourable cold soup, thinner than Greek tzatziki, and the walnuts and dill are what mark it out.
Served well chilled, sometimes over a cube of ice, tarator is a light lunch, a refreshing starter, and a fixture of the Bulgarian summer table alongside grilled meats and crusty bread.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups thick plain yogurt (Bulgarian or Greek)
1 large cucumber, grated or finely diced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped
2 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
1 to 1.5 cups cold water
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Grate or finely dice the cucumber. If it is very watery, salt it lightly and let it drain for ten minutes.
2
Whisk the yogurt smooth, then whisk in the cold water a little at a time until the texture is pourable but still creamy.
3
Stir in the cucumber, garlic, most of the dill and most of the walnuts, and season with salt.
4
Stir in the oil, then chill for at least an hour so the flavours meld and the soup is properly cold.
✎ Chef’s note
Tarator should be served very cold; add an ice cube to each bowl on a hot day.
5
Serve chilled, topped with the reserved dill and walnuts and a final drizzle of oil.
Bulgarian summer tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sofia. The charms baked into the New Year banitsa are kusmeti, and the oldest form is not a coin but a cornel twig, its buds counted to say what kind of luck the year will bring. The pastry is coiled rather than stacked flat, so every slice cuts across the spiral.
🗺️
Bulgaria. Shopska salad is a modern invention with a good story attached. It was created for the state tourism agency Balkantourist and named in 1956 at a Black Sea resort near Varna, a Bulgarian answer to the Greek salad, and only later became a national symbol. That its colours match the flag was noticed afterwards and used, which is more interesting than a peasant origin would have been.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bulgaria
BanitsaCoiled phyllo layered with tangy white cheese and egg, baked into a golden spiral, Bulgaria’s breakfast and New Year charm.
KavarmaA slow-cooked Bulgarian clay-pot stew of meat, peppers, onions, and mushrooms in a savory sauce.
Shopska SalataDiced tomato, cucumber, and pepper under a snowy blanket of grated white cheese, Bulgaria's national salad.
Browse all Bulgaria recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup)?
A chilled Bulgarian summer soup of thinned yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts, finished with a drizzle of oil.
Where does Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) come from?
Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) is a Bulgarian dish from Sofia, Bulgaria.
Can Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup) take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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