Cucumber Cups with Tzatziki and Shrimp
Cool cucumber rounds loaded with creamy tzatziki and seasoned shrimp — a party bite that brings together one of the oldest cultivated vegetables on earth and a yogurt sauce documented in the Abbasid caliphate a thousand years ago.
- 3 largeEnglish cucumbers
- 1 lbsmall shrimp(51-60 count, cooked, peeled)
- 1 cupGreek yogurt
- 0.5cucumber(seeded, finely diced for tzatziki)
- 2 clovesgarlic(minced)
- 1 tbspfresh dill(chopped, plus more for garnish)
- 1 tbspfresh lemon juice
- 1 tbspolive oil
- 0.5 tspkosher salt
- 0.25 tspblack pepper
- 0.5 tspOld Bay seasoning(for shrimp)
Tzatziki can be made 2 days ahead. Cucumber cups can be scooped up to 4 hours ahead; store on damp paper towel. Fill just before serving.
- 1Make tzatziki: combine yogurt, diced cucumber, garlic, dill, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper
- 2Refrigerate at least 30 minutes
- 3Cut cucumbers into 1-inch thick rounds
- 4Use melon baller or small spoon to scoop out center, creating cups (don't pierce bottom)
- 5Season cooked shrimp with Old Bay
- 6Fill each cucumber cup with tzatziki
- 7Top with 1-2 shrimp
- 8Garnish with fresh dill
- 9Arrange on platter and serve cold
English cucumbers have fewer seeds and thinner skin. Salting the diced cucumber for tzatziki and squeezing out moisture prevents watery dip. The cups should be deep enough to hold filling without pooling. Pre-cooked cocktail shrimp make this recipe quick.
Both core elements of this canapé have origins that span thousands of years. The cucumber originated in South Asia and has been cultivated in India for at least 3,000 years, according to Wikipedia, making it one of the oldest continuously grown vegetables on earth. It spread from India to the ancient Egyptians, then to Greece and Rome. Roman Emperor Tiberius reportedly demanded cucumbers at his table every single day of the year, and Wikipedia records that Roman gardeners developed artificial cultivation techniques — essentially the earliest form of greenhouse growing — to ensure a year-round supply. Pliny the Elder described cucumber cultivation in his Natural History in the 1st century AD. Tzatziki, the yogurt sauce served in these cups, has a similarly well-documented lineage. The 10th-century Abbasid Arabic cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh, compiled by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq, records a preparation of yogurt with cucumber and herbs closely related to the modern sauce. The first Ottoman print reference to the dish under the name tzatziki appears in the 1844 cookbook Melceü't-Tabbâhîn. Linguistically, the word traces through Ottoman Turkish and Greek back to the Persian zhazh, meaning fresh herbs or aromatics — reflecting the herb-forward character of the sauce. The combination of cool cucumber and tangy yogurt has been a reflex pairing across Middle Eastern, Greek, and Indian cuisines for centuries, precisely because the two ingredients complement each other structurally: the cucumber provides moisture and crunch while the yogurt provides fat, acidity, and protein. Serving tzatziki in hollowed cucumber cups instead of a bowl is a modern party-food format that makes the pairing entirely edible and eliminates the need for bread or crackers.