nine containers unsweetened plain vegan yogurt stacked behind labneh and bagels made with the two (unindicated) winning products

Product Review: Unsweetened Plain Vegan Yogurt

The versatility of unsweetened plain yogurt made this product review my most involved yet! I strained, tasted, garnished, baked, and mixed nine US-nationally available vegan alternatives in sweet and savory applications to define the best plant-based options.

The Contestants

Each of the following items can be found at such widespread chains including Walmart, Target, Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods Market. Regional and local companies may carry them as well.

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Product Preview

Yogurt Equity

Two contestants, Culina and one of the Kite Hill products, are Greek-style dairy yogurt alternatives. Considering Greek (or Greek-style) yogurts are thicker than regular ones, I decided to strain the regular ones to make them Greek too. Differences in texture, consequently, are not the result of differences in yogurt type.

Transforming non-Greek into Greek yogurts also enabled me to choose a single dairy-based prototype: Chobani Lowfat Plain Greek Yogurt.

This dairy-based container of gut biome bliss is quantifiably the most popular source of probiotics in the United States. As such, it’s likely what a given US-American diner will seek for breakfast. I thus aimed my tests at answering, “Which vegan yogurt is most like Chobani?” not, “Which vegan yogurt do I like best?”

Spectral Analysis

After straining, as I did for my review of sweetened vanilla vegan yogurt, I organized all contestants by color (lightest to darkest) and texture (thickest to thinnest).

So Delicious is closest in color to Chobani; 365, texture. But keep reading lest you think these are my recommendations!

Color (lightest to darkest)

elongated semicircle of nine vegan yogurts arranged lightest to darkest from left to right

Texture (thickest to thinnest)

elongated semicircle of nine vegan yogurts arranged thickest to thinnest from left to right

The Process, Part I: Taste Test

Again, like my review of sweetened vanilla vegan yogurt, these products amalgamized into distinct categories:

Use the following buttons or scroll to discover how I’m using “remarkably”, and of course, how they all rank.

Trader No’s

  1. Trader Joe’s Organic Creamy Cashew Cultured Yogurt Alternative

I’ve noted something fungal about certain yogurt alternatives, but Trader Joe’s is unbearably next-level. Its moldy taste is so intense I could hardly bring myself to eat enough for this assessment.

How are products like this allowed to exist? My mouth wanted to reject it. In fact, if Trader Joe’s released a “new and improved” version, I’d be hesitant to try that too.

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remarkably-textured yogurts

  1. Forager Project Cashew & Coconut Yogurt Alternative
  2. 365 (Whole Foods Market) Non-Dairy Almondmilk Yogurt
  3. So Delicious Coconut Yogurt Alternative

Subpar tastes and flavors can be complemented, balanced, and masked for an overall positive gustatory experience; texture, however, is less easily transformed.

All products in this category lack an acceptable consistency for yogurt. Even the best of them, Forager Project, reminds me of a runny nose (365 is stretchy, and So Delicious reminds me of cheap slime).

No amount of berries and granola can fix these.

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Kite Hill yogurts

  1. Kite Hill Greek Style Yogurt
  2. Kite Hill Almond Milk Yogurt

If I didn’t like coconut, the Kite Hill yogurts would be my favorites. They are especially delightful with agave, mint, and pomegranate arils.

Yet unadorned, their taste is…curious. I struggle to explain this any other way, but there is “something fungal” about cultured almond products! And Kite Hill seemingly adds extra acidity to combat it.

I prefer the viscosity of the Greek variety despite a slight chalkiness presumably from soy. To me, this mildly unusual sensation is nothing like the entirely odd textures of the previous category; I can willingly accept that protein powder is added to mimic the nutrient profile of dairy Greek yogurt.

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coconut-flavored yogurts

  1. Cocojune Organic Cultured Coconut
  2. Culina Greek-Style Dairy-Free Yogurt
  3. Harmless Harvest Organic Cultured Coconut

Keep scrolling if you don’t like coconut.

If you do, though, these products are supreme. Their alabaster hue, spoon memory, and silky mouthfeel are wildly close to dairy yogurt. Even their tang is comparable!

Cocojune (strained) has the strongest tang and weakest coconut flavor making it my favorite. But Culina is a close second – and doesn’t need to be strained to boot.

Harmless Harvest, by contrast, is more like unsweetened coconut pudding. I needed to strain it, and there was barely any tang as my reward.

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The Process, Part II: Bake Test

A review of unsweetened plain vegan yogurts could reasonably end here. Yet thanks to fellow food blogger Arman Liew behind The Big Man’s World, I am aware of a recipe that isolates how yogurt functions in baking: 2 Ingredient Bagels.

With only self-rising flour and Greek yogurt, I could be certain any differences between batches of bagels were due to the (strained) yogurt alone. Indeed, all other elements were controlled including:

  • Brand of Every Non-Yogurt Ingredient – I’m not brand-loyal by default, but when I create content, I source US-nationally available products. I used Pearl Milling Company Self-Rising Flour for this comparison project.
  • Pan and Method of Preparing It – Two Calphalon rimmed nonstick baking sheets each lined with a Miu France silicone mat went to work!
  • Mixing Bowls, Utensils, and Method of Mixing – I wanted to be certain gluten was no more developed in one batch of bagels versus another.
  • Method of Measuring – Every ingredient was weighed to the gram.
  • Appliances – As a business of one, I have only one oven!
  • Cook and Rest Times – Each batch baked for 22 minutes, then sat in-pan for another 22.
  • Temperature Upon Tasting – I waited until all bagels were at room temperature before taking bites and notes.

I even baked all 10 batches – 9 each with a different vegan yogurt, one with Chobani – in the same day 🥴

Like the taste test, the bake test revealed similar categories. Use the following buttons or scroll to see the results of this test:

coconut-flavored yogurts

  1. Harmless Harvest Organic Cultured Coconut
  2. Culina Greek-Style Dairy-Free Yogurt
  3. Cocojune Organic Cultured Coconut

Bagels should not taste like coconut!

Technically, these yogurts worked well, but especially Cocojune imparted a strong coconut flavor.

I like coconut, so I might not mind this flavor in sweet applications, yet the thought of pairing these bagels with cream cheese is gross to me. (vegan lox? Forget it!)

I can see myself using the milder Harmless Harvest or even Culina in a key lime vegan cheesecake, but in general, my advice for baking with these products is:

Proceed with caution.

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so-sogurts

These yogurts are fine, I guess. The majority of any moldiness I noted in the taste test subsided in my oven; even Trader Joe’s wasn’t as bad after baking!

Yet there remained an off-putting sensation particularly in the Forager Project bagels.

So Delicious and 365 are my preferences here with 365 ranking highest. This mild Whole Foods Market brand product yielded a dough I could knead as easily as the Chobani prototype.

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Kite Hill yogurts

“Something fungal” this way goes! (as in away.)

That odd taste present in the straight-from-the-fridge version of these products disappeared after being exposed to heat.

Both non-dairy alternatives in this list produce workable doughs and smooth, versatile bagels. However, the Greek variety functions almost identically to Chobani!

I thus have found my go-to vegan yogurt for sweet and savory baking.

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Parting Notes

The results of this product review are more complicated than most. Do you like coconut, or hate it? Are you making a savory dip, or a sweet baked good?

Overall, my recommendation is Kite Hill Greek Style Yogurt. Its lack of coconut flavor makes it a more versatile product for all sweet and savory preparations – hot and cold.

Yet if you like coconut (as I do), you may prefer the mouthfeel of Cocojune Organic Cultured Coconut or Culina Greek-Style Dairy-Free Yogurt for cold dishes. Strained Cocojune reigns supreme in my opinion, but if you don’t want to wait 8-12+ hours for yogurt to thicken, look for Culina instead.

Did I miss one?

Leave a comment if you see a plant-based unsweetened plain vegan yogurt at Walmart, Target, Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and/or Whole Foods Market that’s not on this list. I’d love to test it against my winner and update my content!

Please know I support and shop local when I can. Everywhere I’ve lived – and the number of places is many and growing – I have discovered numerous small companies making fantastic vegan alternatives.

Yet as much as I commend them, they are not the focus of this blog. My goal instead is to curate and present information that travels with me to wherever I go, and then travels again from wherever I am to wherever you are ❤️

Published by Does It Vegan?