The Continued Hunt for Non-Dairy Yogurt

You may have seen my blog post awhile back about how I’ve been hunting for non-dairy yogurts, since I want to consume less animal protein at home and because I’ve gotten a lot more lactose intolerant over the years. In addition to the Nancy’s Cultured Soy I mentioned last time, I’ve tried a few more in the last couple of weeks:

Non-Dairy Yogurt Reviews

Almond Dream’s almond yogurt I rather like, because while it’s lightly sweetened, the plain flavor is pleasant and light. My friend David points out that it has more of a pudding texture than a yogurt texture (which he didn’t like), but that doesn’t really bother me.

Next, I tried So Delicious’s coconut milk yogurt in Vanilla, which has a nice texture, although it tastes quite coconutty (making it a non-candidate for cooking savory dishes). It was also rather expensive compared to some of the others on the market, so not necessarily a pantry staple.

In contrast, Trader Joe’s coconut milk yogurt (tasted in Vanilla) was cheaper, milder in flavor (I mean that in a good way), and generally had a good texture. I’d buy it again…although, again, not sure if it’s quite right for cooking.

I also tried the So Delicious’s Greek style almond yogurt, with a lot of high hopes, as I love Greek yogurt for cooking. Alas, it has a chalky mouth-feel and even a vigorous beating doesn’t help with its lumpy texture. It also has a strong tang that is tough to take.

Alas, nothing was quite right, so I decided to try making my own.

Experiments in Non-Dairy Yogurt Making

My brother and his girlfriend got me a yogurt maker for Christmas, so I decided to break it out, and try it with some non-dairy yogurt recipes. There are lots out there, but I trust Fat Free Vegan’s take on soy yogurt as a good jumping off point, if you want to try it out.

I first tried homemade almond milk (shown here), which was a bit thin for my preferences (I ended up draining each serving in a sieve before eating it), and I used a store-bought non-dairy yogurt as a starter, which was okay, but didn’t give it the best flavor. It was also slightly pink, as you see here, which was not the most attractive thing ever.

My second attempt was with freshly cooked soy milk, and the color was much better (nice light cream). I used 1 quart soy milk, 1 Tbsp sugar, 2 tsp xanthan gum, and about 5 ounces of the almond yogurt as a starter. (You can see it with some pumpkin butter on Instagram.) It was pretty decent, but since I wasn’t happy with the flavor still, I decided I should order some starter. I found this vegan option, and now that it’s arrived at my house, I’ll be doing some experimenting. I’ll be sure to share how it goes.

If you have any thoughts and/or recommendations on non-dairy yogurts on the market or your recipes, share in the comments!