A Guide to Vegan Yogurt

There is an abundance of vegan options on the market today. Vegan alternatives to meat, cheese, eggs, ice cream, yogurt, and other products are widely available in many forms and flavors. Vegan yogurt is a great option for individuals avoiding dairy, and these products do not disappoint. Many brands offer different flavors and styles of vegan yogurt, and these products can often be found in grocery stores. This guide will introduce you to the many different brands and flavors on the market and help you select the perfect one for you.

Taste Test

Brands sampled: Daiya, Forager Project, Good Karma, Stonyfield O'Soy, Silk, So Delicious, Nancy's Cultured Soy, Kite Hill, and Almond Dream

First, we tasted Daiya's Greek yogurt alternative blueberry and black cherry flavors. These yogurts are colorfully packaged and both flavors were bright shades of purple with visible chunks of fruit throughout. The flavors were vibrant and the consistency was smooth and creamy. The yogurts had a thick texture and required stirring prior to eating.

From the brand Forager Project, we tried their strawberry-flavored Cashewgurt. Packaging and overall appearance were similar to dairy yogurt. It was a light shade of pinkish/red, had a mild flavor, and a smooth, creamy texture.

For Good Karma, we sampled the blueberry flavor. Similar to the Daiya yogurt, it had a thick, custard-like texture that needed to be stirred before eating. The flavor was intense and sweet.

We tasted the raspberry flavor of Stonyfield O'Soy yogurt, which had a light, smooth appearance. This product had the fruit on the bottom, so it needed to be mixed prior to eating. The texture was creamy, and it had a sweet but soy-like flavor.

We sampled the soy vanilla and soy peach & mango flavors of Silk yogurt. These had vibrant colors and appeared smooth. These products had a slightly thin consistency with chunks of fruit throughout the flavored options, which added a satisfying taste. The flavor was quite sweet, and it did not have a noticeable soy taste.

For So Delicious, we tried the raspberry flavor. This yogurt had a smooth appearance, a thick texture, and a creamy consistency. The raspberry flavor was very light and had mild coconut undertones.

We sampled the plain soy flavor of Nancy's Cultured Soy. This yogurt was very lumpy in appearance. It was separated out and required a lot of stirring before eating. The product was thick and had a tart taste; however, the flavored options might be sweeter. The plain flavor would probably be best used in smoothies or with added sweeteners.

For Kite Hill, we tried the plain, vanilla, and peach flavors. These products had a smooth, vibrant appearance. They had a thin, creamy consistency. The plain flavor had a slightly sour taste and could be used as a substitute for sour cream. The vanilla and peach options had prominent, authentic flavors that were mildly sweet.

We also sampled Almond Dream's coconut flavor. It had a thin consistency and slightly grainy texture due to the almonds. It had a mildly sweet and good flavor.

Overall, we thought that each of the brands offered unique textures and flavors. We found that Daiya had the thickest consistency of the ones we tried, while Kite Hill was the thinnest. We thought Kite Hill had the most authentic flavors, and Stonyfield O'Soy Organic had the sweetest flavor.

Nutritional Analysis

We compared the nutrient content of nondairy yogurt options to the leading brands of dairy yogurt options. These included Yoplait for the original forms of yogurt and Chobani for the Greek-style yogurt. Mixed berry options were used in the comparison for both Chobani and Yoplait since many of the nondairy options are fruit flavored. These comparisons are made based on the container size produced by the company, so the total serving size in grams might vary slightly from brand to brand.

Overall, the coconut-based yogurts (excluding the Coconut Dream brand) were generally much higher in calories, fat, and saturated fat and lower in protein than Yoplait and the other nondairy options. The almond-based products tended to be similar in most nutrients, but higher in fat than the soy-based products and Yoplait. The soy-based yogurts were also comparable to Yoplait, although they were higher in calories and lower in saturated fat.

Please note: More thorough nutritional analysis information can be found online at:

https://www.vrg. org/nutshell/Guide_to_Vegan_Yogurt_2017.pdf

Cost

A vegan diet centered around whole foods in their natural form, such as rice, beans, potatoes, pasta, and vegetables, can be one of the most inexpensive ways to eat. However, some of the vegan meat and dairy substitutes can be pricier than their non-vegan counterparts. Some of the vegan yogurt alternatives are more expensive than dairy yogurt. A 6-ounce container of Yoplait Original Yogurt costs around $0.65, while a 5.3-ounce container of Silk Soy Yogurt costs about $1.49. For the Greek style yogurts, a 5.3-ounce container of Chobani Greek Yogurt typically costs around $1.00, while a 5.3-ounce container of Daiya Greek Yogurt Alternative costs around $1.69.

Brand Characteristics and Purchasing Options

Common flavors that most brands offer include plain, vanilla, strawberry, peach, raspberry, blueberry, and chocolate. In addition, there are some unique flavors offered by different brands. Kite Hill has key lime and caramel options; Daiya has black cherry; Silk offers a pineapple flavor; and Nancy's Cultured Soy offers blackberry. The most common bases for vegan yogurts are almond, soy, and coconut, and the base each brand uses is listed below. In addition to this, all of the vegan yogurts that we found are non-GMO and gluten-free. Organic options are offered by So Delicious, Nancy's Cultured Soy, Stonyfield O'Soy, Coconut Grove, and Forager Project.