Lassi substitute

Best substitute

Plain yogurt whisked with water

Use 1 cup lassi for every ½ cup plain yogurt + ½ cup cold water

Best for drinking

Close match

This is not really a substitute, it is the recipe. Lassi is thinned yogurt, so whisking the two together gives you the genuine article in under a minute. Add sugar and a pinch of cardamom for sweet lassi, or salt, roasted cumin and chopped mint for a savory chaas.

Other lassi substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Kefir
Different taste
Use the same amount
Already drinkable, already cultured, and it needs no preparation.
What changes
Kefir is fermented with a broader mix of cultures, so it is sharper, slightly effervescent and faintly yeasty, and a glass of it tastes distinctly livelier and more sour than a sweet lassi. Extra sugar or a ripe mango evens it out.
Best for
drinking, smoothies, marinades, cold soups
For a sweet lassi swap, blend 1 cup kefir with 2 teaspoons sugar and a few cardamom seeds to mask the fermented edge.
3Ayran or doogh
Close match
Use the same amount for savory uses only
Turkish ayran and Persian doogh are the same idea from a different kitchen: yogurt thinned with water and salted.
What changes
As a stand-in for salted lassi or chaas it is essentially identical. As a stand-in for sweet or mango lassi it is wrong, because the salt fights the sugar and the result tastes broken.
Best for
salted lassi and chaas, savory chilled soups, drinking with spicy food
Doogh is often carbonated and flavored with dried mint, which is pleasant on its own but noticeable if you cook with it.
4Cultured buttermilk
Close match
Use the same amount
Tangy and already thin, so it drops straight into any recipe where lassi is functioning as sour liquid rather than as a drink.
What changes
In a kadhi or a pakora batter you would struggle to tell the difference. Drunk plain it is thinner and blander than lassi, with a chalkier finish.
Best for
kadhi, marinades, pancake and pakora batters, quick breads
Cultured buttermilk is usually saltier than homemade lassi, so hold back on the salt in the rest of the dish until you taste it.
5Greek yogurt with milk and sugar
Close match
Use 1 cup sweet lassi for every ⅓ cup Greek yogurt + ⅔ cup milk + 1-2 teaspoons sugar
The best route to a rich sweet lassi if thick Greek yogurt is what you have.
What changes
Using milk instead of water makes it creamier and less sharp than a traditional lassi, closer to what a restaurant serves.
Best for
sweet lassi, mango lassi, smoothies, desserts
Sugar dissolves badly in cold dairy. Use superfine sugar, honey or a spoon of simple syrup, or blend for a full 30 seconds.
6Bottled drinkable yogurt or a mango yogurt smoothie
Different taste
Use the same amount
Convenient and close in body, but almost always sweeter than homemade and often flavored with vanilla or fruit purees, so the clean dairy sourness of a real lassi is buried.
What changes
Fine to drink, risky in cooking, where the added sugar can scorch and taste out of place in a savory dish.
Best for
drinking, smoothie bases, quick sweet lassi
Read the label for added gelatin or pectin, which make it cling unpleasantly if you use it in a marinade.

What is Lassi?

Lassi is Lassi is a blended yogurt drink from the Indian subcontinent, made by whisking dahi with water or milk and either sugar and fruit for sweet lassi or salt and cumin for salted lassi and chaas.

Cooking tips

Work out which job the lassi is doing. In a drink it is refreshment and cooling fat and sugar. In a marinade or a kadhi it is thin acid that tenderizes and adds tang. A savory ayran will ruin a mango lassi and a sweetened bottled yogurt drink will ruin a kadhi, even though both are technically thinned yogurt.
Ratio is the whole craft of lassi: roughly equal parts yogurt and water for a drinkable version, two parts yogurt to one part water for a thick restaurant-style one, and one part yogurt to two parts water for a thin, quenching chaas.
Salted lassi and chaas want roasted ground cumin, black salt if you have it, and fresh mint or coriander. Sweet lassi wants sugar, crushed cardamom and sometimes a strand or two of saffron. Do not mix the two directions.
Blend lassi for less time than you think. Over-blending warms the yogurt and thins it out permanently, and the drink loses its slight body. Ten to fifteen seconds is plenty.
If you are using lassi as the liquid in a hot dish, add it off the heat and do not let it boil, or the yogurt proteins will separate and the sauce will look curdled.

Frequently asked questions

What can I use instead of lassi in a recipe?

Plain yogurt thinned with water in equal parts. That is what lassi is, so it is an exact match rather than an approximation. If the recipe is savory, cultured buttermilk or ayran also work directly; if it is sweet, thin the yogurt with milk instead of water and add sugar.

Is lassi the same as a yogurt smoothie?

Close, but a smoothie is usually thicker, built on more fruit, and often has ice or banana in it. A lassi is yogurt thinned to a drinkable consistency with water or milk and seasoned simply - sugar and cardamom, or salt and cumin. A mango lassi is the point where the two overlap almost completely.

Can I use kefir instead of lassi?

Yes, one for one. Kefir is thinner, sharper and slightly fizzy because of its wider range of cultures, so it tastes more fermented than lassi does. In a marinade or a cold soup the difference disappears. As a drink, add a couple of teaspoons of sugar and some cardamom to smooth out the sourness.

Can I just leave the lassi out?

If it is the liquid in a curry, batter or marinade, no - but you do not need lassi specifically, just thinned yogurt or buttermilk in the same volume. If you are simply making a drink, there is nothing to leave out; the lassi is the recipe and it takes two minutes with yogurt and water.

What is chaas and how is it different?

Chaas is the thin savory version - more water, less yogurt, seasoned with salt, roasted cumin, ginger and fresh herbs. Salted lassi sits between chaas and sweet lassi in thickness. Ayran and doogh are the Turkish and Persian equivalents and can be swapped for chaas directly.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Lassi substitute

Other lassi substitutes

2Kefir

3Ayran or doogh

4Cultured buttermilk

5Greek yogurt with milk and sugar

6Bottled drinkable yogurt or a mango yogurt smoothie