Baking with Greek Yogurt | Cook's Illustrated (2024)

FAQs

What does Greek yogurt do in baking? ›

Its creaminess helps keep baked goods moist. Its tanginess imparts a crave-worthy, old-fashioned flavor. Its acidity helps activate baking soda, which can make baked goods fluffy and light. It can step in for sour cream, mayonnaise or crème fraîche, bringin the same tangy with less guilt.

Vasant Lad notes that yogurt shouldn't be paired with milk. In addition to this, he also lists down a couple of everyday foods, that you may have been combining all your life with yogurt but shouldn't be! These include sour fruits, melons, fish, mango, starches, cheese and bananas.

Don't heat Greek yogurt quickly

If you heat it too quickly, it'll separate and curdle, potentially ruining your dish. To avoid making a mistake you can't take back, it is best to only add Greek yogurt at the end when your recipe is done cooking.

Greek yogurt and milk

It's thicker than heavy cream, but you can add milk to thin it out and achieve a texture similar to that of heavy cream. Blend together equal parts Greek yogurt and whole milk and use it in place of the same amount of heavy cream.

Greek yogurt can substitute milk, sour cream and heavy cream. Milk: If you're short on milk, half and half or light cream, Greek yogurt can be used to make up for the difference. If your recipe calls for one cup of milk, use three-quarter cup of milk and one-quarter cup of Greek yogurt instead.

These proteins contribute a fluffy structure to cake or quick breads. So when substituting, just keep in mind: Sour cream = more dense and rich; Greek yogurt = more airy and moist.

Both plain Greek and thinner, regular yogurt are magical ingredients to reach for when baking. Try to reach for the full-fat stuff, though, which will lend the most moisture and flavor.

If the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, you can replace it with 1 cup of yogurt. However, yogurt tends to increase the moisture content in a recipe, and as such, bakers suggest only using yogurt in place of recipes that call for 1 cup or less of butter.

Yogurt in sauces and hot dishes

Yogurt can replace crème fraîche, cream or sour cream in sauces or dishes such as Beef Stroganoff, but you have to add a bit of cornstarch to stabilize it first. There is one hurdle to overcome: yogurt forms small, annoying lumps when it is cooked and this makes sauce look curdled.

In addition to enhancing the texture of dishes, Greek yogurt is also a great source of protein and provides other essential nutrients like B vitamins and calcium. Brigham recommends swapping Greek yogurt for heavy cream in a 1:1 ratio for recipes like soups or sauces.

Why does Greek yogurt taste like sour cream? ›

Plain Greek yogurt has a more sour taste than regular yogurt due to the fermentation and straining process. This strained yogurt does not contain liquid whey (the leftover remnants after milk is strained).

You can substitute dairy products pretty much 1:1, but if you're using Greek yogurt you may want to thin it with milk or water. You can also substitute almond or coconut milk, buttermilk, sour cream (though that would also need to be thinned).

Yogurt lends itself beautifully to breads, biscuits, muffins, and cakes, providing a slight tanginess and a light, fluffy texture. You can substitute yogurt for several dairy products like sour cream and kefir in many recipes, or bake up a recipe that specifically uses yogurt.

GREEK YOGURT

If you're using a cup of butter or less, replace the butter with 1 cup of full-fat Greek yogurt. If your recipe calls for more than a cup of butter, you'll need to tweak the flour in your recipe by adding about ¼ cup more to compensate for the yogurt's extra moisture.

Whole-fat Greek yogurt is a great swap for oil in baked goods. It's creamy and rich, and adds a nice texture to pound cakes, cookies, and Blueberry Muffins, plus a bit of extra protein. Due to its thickness, you'll want to add a bit more yogurt to the recipe than the amount of oil called for. Start with a 1:1.25 ratio.

Yogurt. You can use the same amount of plain yogurt to replace oil in any cake mix. I have found that plain Greek yogurt works best, as it is nice and thick. Yogurt will make your cake a little more dense, but still delicious.