Coconut Yogurt substitute

Best substitute

Cashew or almond yogurt

Use the same amount as the coconut yogurt you are replacing

Best for raita, tzatziki and cucumber sauces

Close match

Cashew or almond yogurt is the closest dairy-free swap at one to one, and it is the better choice whenever coconut flavor would be wrong, as in a raita or a ranch dressing. Soy yogurt is the one to use for baking and for marinades, because it has real protein and therefore tenderises and sets the way dairy yogurt does. If you have no yogurt at all, the thick cream from a chilled tin of coconut milk with two or three teaspoons of lemon juice stirred in per cup will cover the tang and the richness in a curry or a dressing. And if dairy is fine, full-fat plain yogurt swaps one for one, just sharper and thinner.

Other coconut yogurt substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Soy yogurt
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
The only plant yogurt with protein in the same range as dairy, which changes what it can do in a recipe rather than only how it tastes.
What changes
Best for
baking, cakes and muffins, marinades for chicken and paneer, flatbread and naan dough, anything that needs to set or thicken, high-protein breakfasts
Tangier and beanier than coconut yogurt, and thinner unless you buy a Greek-style soy version, but the protein makes it the more capable ingredient: it tenderises a marinade properly, it thickens a sauce rather than just enriching it, and it holds structure in a bake. Because it has much less fat, a curry finished with soy yogurt tastes leaner and sharper, so a spoonful of oil or coconut cream alongside closes the gap.
3Coconut cream plus lemon juice
Taste and texture differ
1 cup coconut cream plus 2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice, stood 5 minutes
The emergency route when you have coconut in the cupboard but no yogurt.
What changes
Chill a tin of full-fat coconut milk, scoop off the thick cream, stir in the acid.
Best for
finishing curries and dals, smoothies and smoothie bowls, creamy dressings, no-bake desserts, chilled soups
Gets the coconut richness and a clean sourness in roughly the right proportions, and in a curry it is very close indeed. What it lacks is the complexity that fermentation gives, so the tang is one-dimensional and slightly bright rather than rounded and lactic, and it has no live culture, which matters if that is why you were eating it. It is also thinner than set yogurt, so it will not hold up as a spoonable topping.
4Full-fat dairy yogurt or Greek yogurt
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
If dairy is not the reason for the coconut yogurt, this is the most straightforward swap of all and behaves better in most cooking.
What changes
Best for
baking, where it swaps directly for sour cream too, marinades, raita and savory sauces, curries added off the heat, breakfast and granola
Sharper, much higher in protein and lower in fat, so a curry finished with dairy yogurt tastes brighter and thinner and is more likely to split if it boils, whereas coconut yogurt is the more heat-stable of the two precisely because it has so little protein to curdle. In a cake, dairy yogurt gives slightly more structure and coconut yogurt slightly more moisture and richness. Greek yogurt is the closer match on thickness.
5Silken tofu blended with lemon juice
Different taste
1 cup silken tofu plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice and a pinch of salt, blended smooth
A dairy-free, nut-free, high-protein stand-in that gives you thickness and tang without any coconut flavor.
What changes
Best for
baking and muffins, savory dips and dressings, creamy pasta sauces, vegan tzatziki, high-protein smoothies
Completely neutral, which is both the advantage and the catch: it needs the salt and the acid or it tastes flat and faintly beany. Blend it a full minute or it stays chalky. It has protein and almost no fat, so it behaves like a lean yogurt, thickening and binding well but never tasting rich. In a smoothie bowl where you want the luxurious mouthfeel of coconut yogurt, it disappoints. In a dressing or a bake, it works well.
6Blended soaked cashews with lemon
Different taste
1 cup raw cashews, ½ cup water, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Soak, blend until completely smooth, and you have a thick, rich, tangy cream that stands in for coconut yogurt in almost any cooked or blended use.
What changes
Best for
curry finishing, vegan sour cream and dips, creamy dressings, no-bake cheesecake, creamy soups
Richer and denser than coconut yogurt with a mild nutty sweetness, and thicker straight out of the blender, so thin it with a spoonful of water for a pourable consistency. No live culture and a simpler sourness than a fermented product, but it is neutral rather than tropical, which makes it the better choice in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. Soak four hours in cold water or fifteen minutes in boiling water first.

What is Coconut Yogurt?

Coconut Yogurt is coconut milk cultured with live bacteria and usually set with a starch or a gum, which makes a thick, tangy, dairy-free yogurt that carries far more fat and far less protein than the dairy kind.

Cooking tips

Read the tub before you cook with it. A great many coconut yogurts are sweetened and vanilla-flavored, which is fine on granola and disastrous stirred into a curry or a marinade. For savory cooking buy one whose ingredients are coconut milk, cultures and possibly a starch, and nothing else.
Coconut yogurt is more heat-stable than dairy yogurt, because it has almost no protein to coagulate, which is why it splits less readily in a curry. It is not immune, though. Stir it in off the heat at the end, and if you must warm it, keep the pan below a simmer.
Most brands are thickened with tapioca starch or gums, and those thickeners can turn slightly slimy or stringy if you whisk the yogurt while it is hot. Fold rather than whisk into anything warm, and add it last.
In baking it swaps one for one for dairy yogurt or sour cream, and it brings fat as well as acid, so if a recipe seems rich you can hold back a tablespoon of the oil or butter. It reacts with baking soda the same way dairy yogurt does, so the rise is unaffected.
If your coconut yogurt is thinner than the recipe needs, strain it. A sieve lined with muslin or a clean cloth over a bowl in the fridge for two to four hours takes it to a Greek thickness and gives you a thin whey to discard or use in a smoothie.
To culture your own, warm full-fat tinned coconut milk, whisk in the contents of a probiotic capsule or two tablespoons of a live yogurt, and hold it at around 40 to 43 C for twelve to twenty-four hours. Because it is a fermentation, work with clean equipment and refrigerate it as soon as it has set. If you are following a tested fermenting, pickling or canning recipe for anything else, do not alter its ingredients or acidity to fit a substitution in, and consult the National Center for Home Food Preservation for anything shelf-stored.

Frequently asked questions

Will coconut yogurt curdle in a curry?

Less readily than dairy yogurt, because curdling is mostly a matter of milk protein coagulating and coconut yogurt has very little protein. It can still split, particularly if it boils or meets a lot of acid at high heat. The reliable method is the same either way: take the pan off the heat, stir the yogurt in a spoonful at a time, and return it to a very low heat only if you need to warm it through.

What is the best coconut yogurt substitute for baking?

Soy yogurt, because its protein behaves closest to dairy yogurt in a batter and it gives a better crumb than the very high-fat coconut versions. Cashew or almond yogurt at one to one also works well. If you have no plant yogurt, a cup of silken tofu blended with a tablespoon of lemon juice is a good stand-in, and unsweetened applesauce plus a teaspoon of lemon juice covers the moisture and acidity in a plainer cake, though it adds sweetness and no richness.

Is coconut yogurt a good protein substitute for Greek yogurt?

No, and this is worth being plain about, because the tubs sit side by side and look alike. Greek yogurt is one of the higher-protein everyday foods, while most coconut yogurts contain very little protein and considerably more saturated fat. They are interchangeable in cooking, where you are using the tang and the thickness, and they are not equivalent nutritionally. Soy yogurt is the plant yogurt to choose if protein is the point.

Can I use coconut milk instead of coconut yogurt?

Not directly, since coconut milk is thin and sweet and coconut yogurt is thick and sour, and swapping one for the other will leave a sauce runny and flat. What does work is the thick cream from a chilled tin of full-fat coconut milk with two or three teaspoons of lemon juice stirred in per cup, which gets you close on both richness and acidity. In a curry that is a very serviceable substitute; as a bowl of yogurt for breakfast it is not.

Can I just leave coconut yogurt out?

It depends on which of its jobs the recipe needs. As a dollop on a curry or a bowl of granola it is a topping, and the dish is fine without it, just less rich and less cooling. In a marinade it is providing the acid that tenderises, so replace it with another yogurt, with lemon juice thinned with a little oil, or with buttermilk. In a cake it is providing both moisture and acid, and removing it will leave the batter dry and the baking soda with nothing to react against, so it has to be replaced with something.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Coconut Yogurt substitute

Other coconut yogurt substitutes

2Soy yogurt

3Coconut cream plus lemon juice

4Full-fat dairy yogurt or Greek yogurt

5Silken tofu blended with lemon juice

6Blended soaked cashews with lemon