Whether you’re dairy-averse or on a vegan kick, adding a dairy free yogurt to your fridge is a solid move. While plant-based ‘gurts are lactose-free, they’re also brimming with healthy fats coming from the bases they’re crafted with—think soy, nuts, and coconut. Most of our go-to picks below are of the plain variety because they pack in the least amount of added sugars—and all of the options below are enriched with the gut-friendly probiotics we try to get more of daily.
If you’re avoiding the dairy stuff because of lactose intolerance, know that these aren’t the only creamy tubs to add to your grocery list. In fact, you don’t have to avoid dairy altogether. Green Valley’s lactose-free yogurt contains the enzyme lactase to help your tummy break down the natural sugar without any uncomfortable side effects. Other cow’s milk options include YQ by Yoplait, which packs in less than one percent of lactose.
Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt
Kite Hill crafts its dairy-free yogurt with its artisan almond milk before it adds in live and active cultures. The result is an uber creamy ‘gurt with 11 grams of unsaturated, heart-healthy fats and a texture that rivals the real thing. Try the brand’s other traditionally cultured flavors or go for the Greek style—which packs in a whopping 10 grams of almond protein. Or throw the Strawberry Banana and Wild Berry Kids’ Tubes into your kiddos’ lunch boxes.
Ripple Greek Yogurt Alternative
Ripple invented a method to harvest the protein in peas without hanging onto any flavonoids and tannins that lend plant products that distinct—and usually avoided—flavor. The clean pea protein is the star of Ripple’s Greek tubs, which also contain a bit of sunflower oil for creaminess and a dash of organic cane sugar for sweetness. You can also find six strains of gut-benefiting probiotics in every cup!
Forager Unsweetened Plain Cashewgurt
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Whether you’re building a granola-layered parfait or dolloping it alongside sliced seasonal fruit, Forager’s organic cashew milk yogurt will lend a satisfying velvetiness to your breakfast or snack. With just 100 calories and 7 grams of plant-based fats, this pick also has the added benefit of probiotics.
Stonyfield Organic Dairy-Free Vanilla
Stonyfield is known for its quality, organic dairy products, but the brand also kills it in the dairy-free space with its soy-milk-based ‘gurt. It packs in loads of flavor coming from organic cane sugar and natural vanilla. While the vanilla may lend your smoothies the richness you’re aiming for, it’s higher in sugar than our other offerings. Since Stonyfield doesn’t offer a plain tub, we suggest saving this one for dessert.
Daiya Plain Greek Yogurt Alternative
The makers of your go-to vegan cheese also concoct some of the most nutritious plant-based yogurts. Daiya’s yogurt is made with pea- and potato-derived proteins as well as coconut cream and creamed coconut for super luscious texture. While this probiotic-packed pick is dairy-free, you also won’t find any gluten or soy in this cup. What you will find, though, is six grams of satiating protein as well as 25 percent of your daily value of bone-building calcium and 20 percent of your daily value of immunity-maintaining vitamin D.
Almond Dream Plain Non-Dairy Yogurt
For a treat that lacks lactose and packs in dessert-like consistency, try Almond Dream’s nutty pick. Although this offering lacks protein, we love that the brand added calcium as well as fiber, which helps feed the live probiotics. Dollop the plain over a twice-baked potato or opt for the mixed berry, coconut, or vanilla flavors when you’re craving something sweet.
Good Karma Plain Dairy-Free Yogurt
Good Karma opts for crafting its yogurt’s base with cultured flax milk, which lends the container a respectable 800 milligrams of brain-boosting omega-3s per serving! What’s more, this six-ounce cup packs in the least amount of calories and most protein per ounce than all of our other offerings. Spoon Good Karma into homemade baked goods or use it as a base for a savory tzatziki.
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Most of the information below on how to substitute yogurt for dairy-free and vegan diets is excerpted from my book, Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook. However, I’ve also added product reviews and a few fun recipes that are here on the website.
Quick Ideas to Substitute Yogurt
Easy Buttermilk Alternative
This works very well for marinating and cooking purposes, and is also recommended when yogurt is called for in baked goods, dressings, and sauces. You can substitute one cup of Buttermilk Alternative for one cup of yogurt in recipes.
Coconut Cream
This is a dairy-free wonder food. Refrigerate a can of full-fat coconut milk for several hours or overnight. The coconut cream will rise to the top and can easily be skimmed off. Depending on your needs, coconut cream can substitute yogurt in a 1:1 ratio. Be aware that Coconut Cream is much higher in fat than the other options listed.
The Best Non Dairy Greek Yogurt
Homemade Dairy-Free Yogurt
Some people love to make dairy-free yogurt at home. It can be much more economical, tastier, and a fun DIY project. Homemade dairy-free yogurts are often thinner than dairy yogurt, so I recommend starting with one of our tested recipes below.
Pureed Silken Tofu
Medium Firm Silken Tofu will puree into a nice consistency, and may substitute yogurt using a 1:1 ratio. Obviously, this sub is only for recipes, and since it does lack the tartness of yogurt, it is most suitable for “heartier” dishes. You can add a little lemon juice to your recipe if some tang is desired.
Sour Cream Alternative
This works well as a straight substitute for yogurt in salad dressings and dips. Use one of our Sour “Cream” recipes for a simple option if you can’t locate a variety in store.
Store-Bought Dairy-Free Yogurt
Soy-, coconut-, almond, and cashew-based yogurts are popping up all over the place, and they contain that same great “healthy bacteria.” For the most part, dairy-free brands work as an equivalent substitute yogurt. Some brands have received rave reviews, and others, well … let’s stick to the ones with rave reviews. Check our product reviews for some options.
Recipes: Homemade Yogurt Alternatives
Dairy-free yogurt is becoming so popular that it can even be found in many small towns. Unfortunately, it can also be expensive. So many people like the option of making their own. Homemade yogurt takes a little bit of time to make, but it involves very little hands on work. Yogurt is a cultured product, so most of the time involves waiting for the yogurt to ferment.
Homemade dairy-free yogurt will almost always differ a bit from store-bought, but in many people’s opinions, that isn’t a bad thing. And if at first you don’t succeed, definitely try again. Very few people have complete success on their first batch of yogurt. It takes a bit of practice to get it right. But once you do, the financial and edible rewards are great. And I have some helpful tips to get you started on that journey to your perfect homemade dairy-free yogurt.
Yogurt Starter
To make your own dairy-free yogurt, you need to begin with a starter culture. This is live active cultures that will help populate your yogurt with good bacteria, or probiotics. Starter culture itself is merely bacteria. It doesn’t contain ingredients such as milk. However, the bacteria must be grown on a medium, and that medium is often dairy.
For most dairy-free or dairy-low consumers, a starter culture grown on dairy isn’t a problem, since the bacteria or starter is completely removed from the medium before use. However, if you are dealing with a severe milk allergy, have any concerns about trace dairy, or are strictly vegan and want to ensure there was no dairy used in the making of the product, look for a dairy-free or vegan label, and then contact the company to verify their processes.
I also want to give you a heads up that the bacteria names themselves can sound like dairy. Many start with “lact” or have the term “casei” in them, which can sound like lactose and casein. These are just scientific bacteria names based on what they do. The names do not reflect the medium that the bacteria was grown on.
There are three things that are commonly used as a starter for homemade yogurt.
Another Yogurt
Healthiest Dairy Free Yogurt
You can use a store-bought dairy-free yogurt or a finished homemade dairy-free yogurt as the starter for your next batch. If going with store-bought, make sure the container says something to the effect of: made with live cultures.
Alternatively, you can save a little of your homemade dairy-free yogurt to use as the starter. It has been reported that using your own starter can lose potency over time, so you might want to use a fresh starter periodically.
Non-dairy Yogurt
In terms of how much dairy-free yogurt to use, I’ve read varying reports. Some say as little as 1/4 teaspoon of dairy-free yogurt per 4 cups of liquid, while some recommend a full 1/2 cup. I usually say around 2 to 4 tablespoons, to stay on the safe side without getting excessive. Keep in mind that the longer you ferment, the more it will populate. So if you do start with a lesser amount of dairy-free yogurt or starter, allow a longer amount of incubation time.
Starter Culture
You can actually purchase yogurt starters. Most are grown on a dairy medium, but if you need dairy-free purity, a few brands do claim to be non-dairy, dairy-free, and/or vegan. These include Custom Probiotics, Eugurt, Cultures for Health Vegan, Vegan Bio Yogurt, and Belle+Bella. But check the label and with the manufacturer to ensure ingredients and processes are safe for your needs.
Probiotic Capsules
Store-bought probiotics can be used, but make sure you are dealing with a good brand that has been properly stored. You can buy probiotics in powder form, but most are sold in capsules. To use it as a starter, simply open the capsule and pour the powder out.
To reiterate, probiotics are simply bacteria, and are removed from the medium that they are grown on. Nonetheless, where dairy is a strong concern, make sure to look for brands labeled as “dairy-free” or “vegan.” And double check with the manufacturer to find out their processes and the medium they used to grow the bacteria. Just a few probiotics that are touted as dairy-free include Ther-Biotic, PRO45, and Garden of Life. But again, double check to make sure they are safe for your needs.
Other Homemade Yogurt Ingredients
You can technically use any dairy-free milk to make yogurt, but the results will vary. And they will often end up more like a drinkable yogurt than a spoonable one. To compensate, some recipes use thickeners like agar powder, agar flakes, gelatin (not appropriate for vegans/vegetarians), or starch. And higher fat ingredients, like coconut milk, coconut cream, or homemade nut cream (easy recipe in Go Dairy Free), are sometimes used instead of dairy-free milk for thicker results.
Yogurt-Making Equipment
First and foremost, it’s essential to sterilize all of your equipment to prevent the growth of any “bad” bacteria. You will need a blender, a large pot, and a thermometer. You will also need something to incubate your yogurt. Some people use the oven, some use a crockpot, but we do like the ease of a yogurt maker. In fact, if you plan on making your own yogurt regularly, a yogurt maker can really pay for itself.
The Aroma 8-Cup Digital Yogurt Maker and the Euro Cuisine Electric Yogurt Maker have both received rave reviews and are reasonably priced. These are great for making your substitute yogurt in single-servings. If you just want a tub of dairy-free yogurt, the Belle+Bella Yogurt Maker is actually a cute small appliance.
Dairy-Free Yogurt Recipes
If you are ready to substitute yogurt with your own dairy-free blend, these recipes will help get you started.
- I have a time-tested recipe for Coconut Yogurt in Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook.
- My good friend Alexa has an Almond Milk Yogurt recipe with the option for using probiotic capsules as a starter.
- For top allergen-free, Cybele Pascal has a homemade Sunflower Seed Yogurt.
Products: Yogurt Alternatives at the Store
Below are the products we’ve had a chance to taste-test and review here on Go Dairy Free. You can use them to substitute yogurt for breakfast or in recipes. But the taste and consistency vary widely by brand.
Want More Dairy-Free Recipes & Tips? Get My Cookbooks:
When going dairy-free, the number one food most people mourn over is their loss of cheese, but a close second is yogurt. Creamy, sweet, and easy to find, it's a great source of protein and probiotics, and your spoon can't help but feel sadness when it has no more yogurt to dip into.
But there are dairy-free alternatives! As a vegan, I've searched and taste tested just about all of them. I spent a ton of money because these babies aren't cheap and these six dairy-free yogurts are my absolute faves. They taste delicious — like they-could-pass-for-real-yogurt-and-they-fooled-my-husband-and-kids kind of delicious!
- Silk Almond: The Plain has been my go-to. With 180 calories, 10 grams of carbs, six grams of sugar, and six grams of protein, this yogurt has an amazingly creamy texture and is sweet enough (I'm usually a vanilla girl but have been trying to cut back on sugar), and a great mild-tasting yogurt that's soy-free. It even offers three grams of fiber, which is almost unheard of in a yogurt. Just a heads up that this yogurt is not sugar-free, even though it's plain. But it's comparable to a nonfat plain Greek yogurt, which has four grams of sugar.
- Silk Soy: If you're looking for a sweet, creamy, vanilla-flavored yogurt, this is the one to buy. With 140 calories, 20 grams of carbs, 16 grams of sugar, and six grams of protein, the Vanilla flavor offers more calcium than Greek yogurt (20 percent vs. 15 percent for Greek). It tastes absolutely delicious on its own, but also freezes well for these banana pops and bakes well in this banana protein bread. If you're into flavored yogurt, the Peach & Mango is amazing. On a side note, the Silk Vanilla Almond is pretty good too, but it has 200 calories, 17 grams of sugar, and only five grams of protein, so if you aren't soy-free, I'd go for the Vanilla Soy.
- Kite Hill: Every flavor of this almond yogurt is outstanding. The Plain is 160 calories and has five grams of carbs, five grams of sugar, and six grams of protein. With a slightly thicker consistency than Silk, you may prefer it if you're a Greek yogurt fan. It's also just as delicious, but since it's slightly more expensive, I usually only buy it if Silk Almond Plain is sold out. It also has no calcium as compared to the Silk Plain Almond that has 15 percent. Kite Hill does offer some unique flavors that are totally worth buying like Key Lime and Caramel. Kite Hill also offers Unsweetened Plain that I have yet to try, but since their other flavors are so yummy, I'd bet money that this is, too.
- Forager Project Cashewgurt: I recently tried the Wild Blueberry flavor and was floored by how creamy and sweet and delicious this tasted — love the real whole tiny blueberries mixed in. With 130 calories, 20 grams of carbs, 12 grams of sugar, and two grams of protein, it's not as protein-packed as the above yogurts but would make a great postdinner dessert. It's an amazingly creamy yogurt alternative if you're off dairy, soy, and gluten. I'm itching to try the Vanilla Bean flavor.
- Good Karma: This yogurt is made from flaxmilk! I'm a fan of the Strawberry, which has 130 calories, 24 grams of sugar, 18 grams of sugar, and five grams of protein. It's creamy and sweet, and has bits of real strawberry mixed in. The Plain flavor tastes OK, not nearly as good as the Silk Plain Almond and the Kite Hill Plain, but I love that it's only 90 calories and has six grams each of sugar and protein.
- Stonyfield Farms O'Soy: This yogurt tastes pretty good, not outstanding, but pretty darn good. I put it on the list since it's the brand I see at the most stores, even basic supermarkets. The Vanilla flavor is organic and has 130 calories, 20 grams of carbs, 18 grams of sugar, and a whopping seven grams of protein — the most out of any on this list. It's very creamy and probably the least expensive out of all of these, so that's another bonus. Their other flavors are equally delicious.
Honorable mention: So Delicious Coconutmilk: Creamy and sweet, this yogurt definitely has a strong coconut flavor and a somewhat waxy, oily texture, so it's not my favorite, but I know people who love it, especially since it's soy-, gluten-, and nut-free and offers 45 percent of your daily vitamin B12. With less than one gram of protein, the Vanilla is 110 calories, has 12 grams of carbs, and less than one gram of sugar.
I know what you're thinking. These yogurts don't contain as much protein as Greek yogurt. You can fix that! Just DIY your own dairy-free Greek yogurt by stirring in some plant-based protein powder.