Drinking Yogurt substitute

Best substitute

Plain yogurt whisked with milk or water

Use 1 cup drinking yogurt for every ¾ cup plain yogurt + ¼ cup milk or water

Best for drinking

Close match

The real answer, since drinkable yogurt is nothing more than yogurt with liquid stirred in. Thinning with milk gives a creamier, rounder drink; water gives a lighter, more refreshing one that tastes more sour. Sweeten with honey or syrup and add fruit puree if the original was flavored.

Other drinking yogurt substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Kefir
Different taste
Use the same amount
Naturally pourable cultured milk, so no preparation at all.
What changes
Because it ferments with a wider range of bacteria and yeasts, it tastes sharper, more complex and slightly effervescent, with a faint yeasty note - a glass of it next to a bottle of drinking yogurt reads as distinctly more sour and grown-up.
Best for
drinking, smoothies, marinades, salad dressings, baking
For a sweet drink, blend 1 cup kefir with 2 teaspoons of honey and some fruit to soften the tang.
3Cultured buttermilk
Different taste
Use the same amount
Already thin and sour, so it drops straight into any recipe where drinkable yogurt is functioning as tangy liquid.
What changes
In pancakes, quick breads, marinades or a chilled soup you would not be able to tell them apart. Drunk on its own it is thinner and chalkier, with a saltier finish and none of the sweetness.
Best for
pancakes and quick breads, marinades and brines, cold soups, dressings
It is usually saltier than a yogurt drink, so taste before adding salt to the rest of the recipe, and do not expect it to work as a sweet beverage.
4Lassi
Close match
Use the same amount for sweet uses
The South Asian version of exactly this drink - yogurt thinned with water or milk and sweetened, often with mango and cardamom.
What changes
As a stand-in for a sweetened or fruit-flavored drinking yogurt it is essentially the same product; only the spicing gives it away.
Best for
sweet yogurt drinks, smoothies, desserts, fruit-flavored recipes
Homemade lassi contains no stabilizers, so it separates as it stands. Stir or shake before pouring.
5Ayran or doogh
Different taste
Use the same amount for savory uses only
Turkish ayran and Persian doogh are salted yogurt drinks, sometimes carbonated and flavored with dried mint.
What changes
Poured into a savory cold soup or a marinade they are an excellent match. Used where a sweet drinking yogurt was intended, the salt clashes with the sugar and the result tastes wrong rather than merely different.
Best for
savory cold soups, marinades, drinking alongside spicy food, savory dressings
Rinse the recipe's salt back if you use ayran, since it is seasoned already.
6Milk soured with lemon juice (least-bad option)
Taste and texture differ
1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice, rested 10 minutes
Honest about its limits: this gives you thin dairy plus acid and nothing else.
What changes
There is no cultured flavor, no body and no cling, so it works in a pancake batter or a quick bread where the acid reacts with baking soda, and fails completely as a drink or in any recipe where the yogurt's tang and texture are the point.
Best for
pancake and quick bread batters, biscuits and scones, recipes needing acid for baking soda
It will look slightly curdled after resting, which is normal and fine for baking. Do not try to drink it.

What is Drinking Yogurt?

Drinking Yogurt is Drinking yogurt is cultured yogurt thinned to a pourable consistency, sold in bottles as a beverage and usually lightly sweetened and flavored.

Cooking tips

Work out whether the drinking yogurt is being used for its liquid, its acid, or its flavor. In a batter it is thin acid; in a marinade it is acid plus cultures that tenderize; in a smoothie it is body and tang. Ayran fails as a sweet drink and a sweetened bottled yogurt fails in a savory soup, even though both are technically drinkable yogurt.
Thin with milk for a creamy drink and with water for a lighter, tarter one. The ratio is the only real variable: roughly three parts yogurt to one part liquid pours thickly, and equal parts gives you something genuinely drinkable.
Sugar does not dissolve well in cold dairy. Use honey, maple syrup or a simple syrup rather than granulated sugar, or blend for a good 20 to 30 seconds so it goes into solution properly.
Homemade versions separate within an hour because they have no stabilizers, unlike commercial bottles. That is not spoilage - just shake or whisk before serving.
Do not boil it. A thinned yogurt has even less protection against heat than the thick stuff, so it splits almost immediately. Add it to hot soups off the heat, and use it cold wherever you can.

Frequently asked questions

How do I make drinking yogurt at home?

Whisk 3/4 cup of plain yogurt until smooth, then stir in 1/4 cup of milk or cold water a little at a time until it pours. Sweeten with a teaspoon or two of honey, or blend in fruit. That is the whole recipe, and it takes less than a minute - there is no reason to buy a bottled version unless you want the shelf life.

Can I use kefir instead of drinking yogurt?

Yes, one for one, and it needs no preparation at all. Kefir is sharper, thinner and slightly fizzy because of its wider mix of cultures, so as a drink it tastes considerably more sour. In cooking - marinades, batters, cold soups - the difference is barely detectable.

Is drinking yogurt the same as kefir, lassi or ayran?

They are all thin cultured dairy drinks, with different seasoning and different cultures. Lassi is the Indian version, sweet or salted. Ayran and doogh are salted Turkish and Persian versions. Kefir is a different fermentation - tangier and mildly fizzy. Drinking yogurt is the generic supermarket version and is usually sweetened.

Can I just use regular yogurt instead?

In a recipe, yes, provided you account for the missing liquid: use 3/4 cup of yogurt plus 1/4 cup of milk or water for each cup of drinking yogurt. Thick yogurt used straight will make a smoothie too dense to pour and a batter too stiff.

Can I leave the drinking yogurt out of the recipe?

It depends what it is doing. In a smoothie you can swap in milk plus a squeeze of lemon and lose only the cultured flavor. In a marinade or a cold soup it is the acid and the body at once, so leaving it out changes the dish fundamentally, and you would be better off thinning whatever yogurt, kefir or buttermilk you do have.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Drinking Yogurt substitute

Other drinking yogurt substitutes

2Kefir

3Cultured buttermilk

4Lassi

5Ayran or doogh

6Milk soured with lemon juice (least-bad option)