Frozen Yogurt substitute

Best substitute

Vanilla ice cream

Use the same amount as the frozen yogurt you are replacing

Best for frozen yogurt pies and cakes

Different taste

Vanilla ice cream is the easiest 1:1 swap - it is richer and less tangy, so stir in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice per cup if you want the sour edge back. For smoothie bowls and toppings, thick Greek yogurt straight from the tub works and does not need to be frozen at all. For a dairy-free version, sorbet gives you the cold and the sweetness but none of the creaminess. Plain yogurt frozen in a tub is not a substitute - it sets rock hard.

Other frozen yogurt substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Greek yogurt, unfrozen
Different texture
Use the same amount sweetened to taste with 1-2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup per half cup
The right answer whenever the froyo was never really the point - smoothie bowls, breakfast bowls, a dollop on fruit or warm cake.
What changes
You get the same tang and thick creamy body, just cold rather than frozen, so nothing melts into a puddle.
Best for
smoothie and acai bowls, breakfast bowls, a spoonful alongside fruit or cake, parfaits
Freeze it for 20 to 30 minutes if you want it properly cold and slushy. Any longer and it turns into a solid brick.
3Blended frozen banana with yogurt
Different taste
Use about 1 ½ cups for every 2 frozen sliced bananas + ¼ cup plain yogurt
Blitzed in a food processor, frozen banana turns genuinely creamy and soft-serve-like without churning.
What changes
It tastes distinctly of banana and is sweeter and fruitier than froyo, so it works where fruit flavor is welcome and clashes with anything vanilla or chocolate-led.
Best for
soft-serve style desserts, kid-friendly frozen treats, smoothie bowls, no-machine desserts
Freeze the banana slices flat on a tray first. Blend, scrape the sides down, blend again - it looks crumbly for a minute before it suddenly goes smooth.
4Sorbet
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Dairy-free and refreshing, and it scoops properly.
What changes
What you lose is the whole creamy dimension: sorbet is fruit, sugar and water, so it reads as icy and bracing rather than smooth, and any dessert built around froyo's softness will feel thinner and more granular.
Best for
dairy-free and vegan desserts, fruit-forward frozen desserts, floats and spritzers
Lemon and raspberry sorbets come closest to froyo's tartness. Blending a scoop with 2 tablespoons of coconut cream buys back some of the missing richness.
5Soft-serve or gelato
Different taste
Use the same amount
Both are already soft and spoonable, which is the quality most froyo recipes actually depend on.
What changes
Gelato is denser and more intensely flavored with less air, so a scoop feels heavier and richer than the same scoop of frozen yogurt.
Best for
sundaes and cups with toppings, milkshakes, layered frozen desserts
Gelato melts faster than froyo because it holds less air. Assemble layered desserts quickly and return them to the freezer between steps.
6Plain yogurt frozen in the tub (least-bad option)
Different texture
not a reliable swap
Worth being honest about, because it is the first thing everyone tries.
What changes
Yogurt frozen without churning or added sugar sets into a hard, icy block you cannot get a spoon into, and it thaws grainy because the ice crystals have shredded the texture. It is not frozen yogurt, it is a yogurt ice cube.
Best for
blending into smoothies where texture does not matter
If this is your only option, whisk 3 tablespoons of sugar or honey per cup of yogurt, freeze it in a shallow dish, and stir it thoroughly with a fork every 30 minutes for about 2 hours. The sugar and the stirring are what make it scoopable.

What is Frozen Yogurt?

Frozen Yogurt is Frozen yogurt, or froyo, is cultured yogurt sweetened and churned like ice cream, giving a scoopable frozen dessert that is tangier and usually lower in fat than ice cream.

Cooking tips

The job frozen yogurt does in a recipe is a soft scoopable frozen texture plus a sour counterpoint to sweetness. Sugar is what keeps it soft, not the yogurt, so any homemade version needs roughly 3 tablespoons of sugar or honey per cup or it freezes solid.
Full-fat or Greek yogurt makes far better frozen yogurt than nonfat. Fat and strained-out water both mean fewer ice crystals, which is the whole difference between creamy and icy.
A tablespoon of honey, corn syrup or vodka per pint keeps homemade froyo scoopable straight from the freezer, because none of them freeze solid at freezer temperature.
Let any frozen substitute sit on the counter 5 to 10 minutes before you scoop or layer it. Gelato and homemade froyo need less time than commercial ice cream, so check at 5 minutes or you will end up with soup.
Frozen yogurt is not automatically the lighter choice. Once it is sweetened enough to stay scoopable, a shop-style cup can carry as much sugar as ice cream, and freezing does not preserve live cultures at any predictable level.

Frequently asked questions

Can I substitute ice cream for frozen yogurt?

Yes, 1:1, and it is the most reliable swap because ice cream is churned and stabilized to stay soft in exactly the same way. Expect a richer, sweeter, less tangy result. Stirring 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or a couple of tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt into each softened cup gets you most of the way back to froyo's flavor.

Can I just freeze regular yogurt instead?

Not straight from the tub. Without added sugar and without churning it freezes into a solid, icy block that is hard to scoop and grainy once it softens. If you want to try, sweeten it with about 3 tablespoons of sugar per cup, freeze it in a shallow pan, and stir it hard with a fork every half hour for two hours.

Can I leave the frozen yogurt out of the recipe?

It depends what it is holding up. In a smoothie or a milkshake, yes - use thick yogurt plus a few ice cubes. In a frozen yogurt pie or a layered frozen cake, no: the froyo is the structure, and without a churned frozen dessert in its place the whole thing collapses as it thaws.

What is the difference between frozen yogurt and ice cream?

Frozen yogurt is built on cultured yogurt, so it is tangy and generally lower in fat. Ice cream is built on cream and often egg yolks, so it is richer and coats the mouth more. Because the fat in ice cream slows melting, ice cream also holds its shape a little longer at room temperature.

Is frozen yogurt dairy-free?

No, standard frozen yogurt is made from milk. For a dairy-free version, either use sorbet, which is refreshing but not creamy, or churn a sweetened coconut or soy yogurt, which comes much closer to the real texture.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Frozen Yogurt substitute

Other frozen yogurt substitutes

2Greek yogurt, unfrozen

3Blended frozen banana with yogurt

4Sorbet

5Soft-serve or gelato

6Plain yogurt frozen in the tub (least-bad option)