Do you want the benefits of eating yogurt without needing to deal with the hassle of consuming dairy? If so, there’s a great alternative and that’s dairy-free yogurt.
One challenge with this is the fact that you don’t currently eat yogurt will make you wonder how to use it. Sure, you can eat it plain, but this might not be appealing to you as yogurt is an acquired taste.
Fortunately, you can use dairy-free yogurt for several different purposes. This means that you can easily incorporate it into your diet without needing to force anything.
It’s difficult to be healthy and if you don’t like what you’re eating, then you’ll have a hard time sticking with it. When you find ways to make your food more enjoyable, you won’t dread your meals and you’ll be more likely to make good eating decisions.
To help you enjoy dairy-free yogurt, we’ll take a look at a few great ways that you can use it below!
Sauces
The first thing you can use dairy-free yogurt for is making sauces.
Yogurt can be used as a substitute for sour cream, which is an ingredient for many different sauces. This includes things like salad dressing, dips, and soup.
Any food that calls for sour cream can be replaced with a plain dairy-free yogurt. Try it on foods like tacos, chili, and nachos. It will add a dash of cream with a hint of tanginess.
Even better, you can make a savory yogurt dipping sauce for fries and steak. By adding lemon juice to yogurt, you get a nice combination of acidity and cream that creates a fresh flavor with a bite.
Sometimes yogurt is also used as a replacement for milk. This might be relevant for something like a cream-based soup. Try replacing some of the milk with dairy-free yogurt for a thicker texture and unique flavor.
Dairy-free yogurt can be used for a variety of liquids and sauces, making it great if you need a touch of creaminess.
Smoothies
Dairy-free yogurt is also perfect as an inclusion in smoothies.
When you think of a smoothie, what are the core ingredients? Fruit, juice, and yogurt are the three most important inclusions.
Smoothies are a great way to start your morning off healthy and they’re easy to consume on-the-go. They require a little bit of prep work, but you’ll need to make an effort for any decent breakfast.
Rather than using standard yogurt, you can easily swap in dairy-free yogurt for your smoothies. This will keep your consistency the same without needing to suffer from the side effects of dairy.
If you’ve ever tried to make a smoothie without yogurt, then you likely know how unappealing it is. Avoid this problem entirely by using dairy-free yogurt!
Baked Goods
You can also use dairy-free yogurt to create baked goods.
A variety of baking recipes call for yogurt because it’s useful for adding moisture and tanginess. This makes it great for baked items, specifically cake.
Cake tends to be spongy and this can easily lead to dryness if you aren’t careful. By adding dairy-free yogurt, you can keep the cake moist, which will give it a much more enjoyable texture.
Most baked items that call for milk can be replaced with dairy-free yogurt. This may adjust the thickness of your batter, so be ready to add extra flour or water if needed.
If you want a great way of adding tang and moisture to your baked goods, use some dairy-free yogurt!
Eat It Plain
As a last suggestion, you can always eat dairy-free yogurt straight out of the container.
This is the most obvious way of eating dairy-free yogurt and it’s a pretty decent option. Many dairy-free yogurts are tasty and very closely resemble standard yogurt.
As you might imagine, each dairy-free yogurt will taste a little differently. Furthermore, it’s going to have a slight favor resembling what the yogurt is made from.
For example, yogurt made from almonds or cashews is going to have a slight nutty taste to it. This is sure to be subtle and won’t be overpowering, especially if it’s flavored.
If yogurt from the container sounds boring, feel free to put it in a bowl and add some fresh fruit and oats to it.
Dairy-free yogurt can certainly be delicious, with or without extra fixings! Try to have a serving per day to get a nice dose of probiotics and nutrients that go a long way toward improving your overall health.
Closing Thoughts
Yogurt is an essential part of a balanced diet, but dairy may not be something that your body can handle. You can still get all the benefits of yogurt without needing to consume dairy by eating dairy-free yogurt.
This is yogurt made from dairy-free sources, like coconut, cashews, almonds, oats, and soybeans. The resulting product is quite tasty and hard to differentiate from dairy-based yogurt.
A few ways that you can use dairy-free yogurt include as an addition to sauces, smoothies, baked goods, and you can also eat it plain. There are many uses for yogurt in cooking and this can easily be replaced with a dairy-free alternative.
The health benefits of yogurt are too good to pass up, so find a way of incorporating a dairy-free option into your diet to give your body the goodness it deserves!
