This Greek-inspired, healthy side dish is packed with the refreshing flavors of traditional tzatziki yogurt dip, with a twist! All you need to make this beautiful, bright & vibrant chilled pasta dish is Greek yogurt, grated beets, and cucumbers, fresh herbs, lemon, and garlic.

Eat Your Veggies

This easy summer side dish is a great way to get in your veggies. Nutritionally packed beets have a lot of great health benefits. Beetroots are a great source of fiber, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, and vitamin C. The flavor of the beets in this dish is mild. So for the people who normally “don’t like the taste of beets”, this is a great starter dish they can still enjoy where the beet flavor is not too pronounced. However, they do give the dish the most beautiful and fun color!

Beet Tzatziki Pasta Recipe:

1 beet shredded

2 Persian cucumber shredded

1 garlic clove grated

1/2 lemon juice

3 tablespoons fresh dill

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups full fat plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup pine nuts toasted

1 lb rigatoni

Step 1:
In a large pot, bring water to boil and cook the rigatoni according to package instructions. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water. Strain pasta but do not rinse.

Step 2:
Grate beets and set aside. Grate cucumbers and place in a stainer. Squeeze out extra moisture and paper towel dry. Roughly chop dill.

Sep 3:
In a large bowl, mix together yogurt, dill, cucumber, beets, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil. Add rigatoni and combine. Add the reserved pasta water only if needed to thin sauce.

Step 4:
In a small pan, toast pine nuts on medium heat. Approximately 5 minutes. Garnish pasta with more fresh dill and toasted pine nuts and serve.

Pro Tip:
The can be served room temperature or chilled. You can also make this ahead of time and leave covered in the fridge to chill. If the sauce thickens while in the fridge, use some reserved pasta water to thin the sauce before serving.