Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by Fasting Planet
For breakfast, as a side with lunch, for an afternoon snack, or even for dessert, yogurt satisfies. It comes in so many flavors from sweet to tart and tastes wonderful when frozen. We also must mention that yogurt is full of healthful probiotics. If you were a regular yogurt eater before you started the vegan diet, do you have to quit now? Is yogurt vegan?
Yogurt can be vegan if it’s made with such ingredients as cashews, coconut milk, vanilla, almond milk, pea protein, coconut cream, plantains, or cassava root. You may have to switch yogurt brands and pay a bit more for vegan yogurt, but vegans do not have to give up yogurt entirely. Plant-based yogurts are rich in vitamins, nutrients, and probiotics as well.
In this article, we’ll share our favorite vegan yogurt brands as well as tell you what vegan yogurt is made of. By the time you’re done reading, you’ll be eager to explore the delicious, nutritious world of vegan yogurt!
What Is Yogurt?
Let’s start at the top. Yogurt (also spelled yoghurt) is a lot like another food we just wrote about, kefir. It too is fermented from cow’s milk or other dairy sources, although not exclusively. The cultures within yogurt are bacteria that make lactic acid when sugar in the yogurt ferments. The lactic acid interacts with milk proteins so yogurt has a tart flavor and a smooth and creamy texture.
Outside of cows, food manufacturers also make yogurt from yaks, camels, mares, ewes, and goats, the milk of which may not be homogenized and/or pasteurized. Based on the type of milk used, yogurt can taste vastly different.
Commercially producing yogurt requires warming milk to temperatures of 185 degrees Fahrenheit. This denatures the proteins in the milk, with denaturing referring to a biochemistry concept where nucleic acids or proteins change in structure. The denaturation process prevents the milk from curdling.
Then the milk cools down until it reaches 113 degrees. The food manufacturer will add the bacterial culture, usually Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Lactobacillus delbrueckii. The yogurt will remain at 113 degrees for at least the next four hours, sometimes even the next 12 hours so it can fully ferment.
In the United States, yogurt is admittedly not as popular as it once was, a trend that began in 2014 and continues to this day. From February 2018 to February 2019, yogurt sales in the US decreased by 3.4 percent. Greek yogurt especially has become unpopular, but Icelandic-style yogurt is on the rise. In 2018, this style of yogurt had a 24-percent boost in sales, reporting $173 million in earnings that year.
According to the USDA, 170 grams or one container of Greek nonfat yogurt contains:
- 100 calories
- 7 grams of total fat (1 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 2 grams of saturated fat (1 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 1 grams of monounsaturated fat
- 0 grams of trans fat
- 9 milligrams of cholesterol (3 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 61 milligrams of sodium (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 240 milligrams of potassium (6 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 6 grams of carbs (2 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 0 grams of dietary fiber
- 6 grams of sugar
- 17 grams of protein (34 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 18 percent calcium
- 21 percent cobalamin
- 5 percent vitamin B6
- 4 percent magnesium
Is Yogurt Vegan?
Although the above section makes it sound like yogurt is never vegan, that’s simply not true. Since the early 2000s, plant-based yogurts begun appearing on grocery store shelves everywhere. The byproduct used to make vegan yogurt is known as plant milk.
What is plant milk, you ask? It’s not dairy milk, don’t worry. Instead, plant milk is a juice produced from various plant species that has a color much like dairy milk. The same creamy taste and mouthfeel of dairy milk are present in plant milk as well, making it a delicious alternative that vegans and those who are lactose intolerant can enjoy.
Examples of plant milk are coconut, almond, nut, rice, and soy milks. Any of these non-dairy milks can be fermented like cow’s milk and then made into yogurt. The textures and flavors of vegan yogurt can vary depending on the plant milk source, which is also true of dairy yogurt, as we said. Some people have complained that coconut, almond, and soy-based yogurts lack the smoothness of dairy yogurt.
The reason for this is that plant milk does not contain lactose. This sugar is usually what Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus feed on to grow, but that doesn’t mean plant milk yogurt is completely deprived of bacteria. The strains used include Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus casei.
Here are the nutrition facts for soy-based yogurt Silk in a 170-gram serving:
- 110 calories
- 4 grams of total fat (5 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 5 grams of saturated fat (3 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 0 grams of trans fat
- 0 milligrams of cholesterol
- 65 milligrams of sodium (3 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 10 grams of carbs (4 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 2 grams of dietary fiber (7 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 5 grams of total sugars
- 4 grams of added sugars (8 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 7 grams of protein (14 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 2 micrograms of vitamin D (10 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 260 milligrams of calcium (20 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 1 milligram of iron (6 percent of your recommended daily value)
- 440 milligrams of potassium (10 percent of your recommended daily value)
Since both the nutritional profiles for dairy yogurt and plant-based yogurt are for 140-gram servings, we can directly compare them. Greek dairy yogurt in this case is lower in calories, but that may not always be the case. It’s less fatty but has far fewer vitamins and minerals compared to plant-based yogurt.
Our Favorite Vegan Yogurt Brands
If you’re new to the vegan diet, you might have no idea which yogurt brands to shop for. Here are some high-ranked picks among vegans that ought to tickle your tastebuds as well!
Silk OatYeah Oatmilk Yogurt Alternative
First on our list is Silk and its collection of OatYeah oatmilk yogurts. Select flavors like mango, vanilla, strawberry, or mixed berry. All Silk OatYeah yogurt is gluten-free, non-GMO, dairy-free, and vegan-safe.
The ingredients for the mixed berry OatYeah oatmilk yogurt are vitamin B12, vitamin D2, live and active cultures, vegetable and fruit juices for color, lemon juice concentrate, natural flavors, calcium phosphate, pectin, fava bean protein, blackberry puree, organic coconut oil, strawberries, blueberries, tapioca starch, cane sugar, water, oat bran concentrate, filtered water, and oatmilk.
Lavva Plant-Based Yogurt
Lavva’s plant-based yogurts are made with pili nuts sourced from the Java almond tree. Pili nuts taste like sunflower seeds if you eat them raw. Roasted pili nuts are chewy on the inside and almost buttery. Lavva’s pili yogurt line is available in flavors like original with no added sugar, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, mango, and vanilla.
You can be assured that you’re eating non-GMO, kosher-free, no-sugar-added, gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, vegan yogurt each time you open a cup of Lavva yogurt. The raspberry yogurt contains organic Himalayan salt, organic lime juice, organic cassava root starch, organic coconut powder, pili nuts, plantains, organic raspberry, organic coconut cream, and organic coconut water.
Forager Project Unsweetened Plain Yogurt
If you’re looking for vegan cashew milk yogurt, Forager Project has you covered. You can buy their yogurt plain or in fruity, tasty flavors such as peach, strawberry, blueberry, vanilla bean, and unsweetened vanilla bean. Forager Project’s vegan yogurt is USDA-certified organic, Vegan.org-certified vegan, kosher, gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free.
The ingredients are live active cultures, organic coconut cream, organic locust bean gum, organic tapioca starch, organic cashews, and filtered water.
Nancy’s Plain Oatmilk Yogurt
Dunk your spoon into Nancy’s oatmilk yogurt, which is kosher, vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO. The range of flavors is quite impressive, including plain, vanilla, strawberry hibiscus, passion fruit banana, blueberry, apple cinnamon, and cold brew vanilla.
The strawberry hibiscus yogurt is made with live probiotic cultures, citric acid, agar, vegetable juice for color, hibiscus natural flavors, strawberry natural flavors, apple concentrate, hibiscus concentrate, coconut oil, tapioca flour, strawberry puree, organic cane sugar, fava bean protein, whole oat flour, and oatmilk.
Some non-dairy probiotic cultures are included in Nancy’s yogurt, such as Lactobacillus rhamnosus LGG, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium lactis BB-12.
Kite Hill Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt
The artisanal blend of ingredients in Kite Hill’s almond milk yogurt has to be tasted to be believed. You have an awesome variety of flavors, including raspberry, key lime, strawberry, blueberry, peach, vanilla, plain, and plain unsweetened. With no artificial preservatives and no artificial flavors, you can feel good about treating yourself to this yogurt. Kite Hill yogurt is also non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, kosher, and vegan.
The key lime flavor includes live active cultures, xanthan gum, citric acid, locust bean gum, citrus fiber, lime juice concentrate, natural flavors, starch, cane sugar, and almond milk.
Oatly Oatgurt
Last but certainly not least is Oatly Oatgurt, which is oat-based vegan yogurt, as we’re sure you can guess. With its somewhat thick texture, you won’t miss dairy Greek yogurt. Oakgurt is only available plain and includes ingredients like live and active cultures, locust bean gum, tricalcium phosphate, guar gum, calcium carbonate, potato protein, pea protein, dextrose, potato starch, low-erucic acid rapeseed oil, and oatmilk.
Conclusion
Yogurt can be vegan if it’s made from plant milk, which includes everything from soy to oats, peanuts, peas, hemp, rice, coconut, and almonds. We recommend trying as many flavors of vegan yogurt as you can so you can pick your favorites. Your taste buds will certainly be in for a tasty treat along the way!