Matsoni substitute

Best substitute

Plain whole-milk yogurt

Use the same amount softened with 1-2 tablespoons milk per cup if it is very stiff as the matsoni you are replacing

Best for eating with honey, fruit or walnuts

Different taste

Plain whole-milk yogurt is the workable swap, used 1:1, though it will taste noticeably sharper than matsoni, so a teaspoon of honey or a splash of cream per cup brings it back toward matsoni's mildness. For a closer texture match, look for filmjolk or viili, which are also mesophilic and slightly viscous in the same way. And if you are cooking rather than eating it, whisked plain yogurt substitutes cleanly in matsvnis soup, spas, tanabur or a marinade, provided you temper it into the hot liquid so it does not curdle.

Other matsoni substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Filmjolk or viili
Close match
Use the same amount by volume
Nordic room-temperature soured milks cultured with closely related mesophilic bacteria.
What changes
Best for
eating plain, breakfast bowls, home fermenting with no incubator, pouring over fruit or muesli
The best match on character, because these are cultured the same way matsoni is and land in the same mild, buttery, barely-sour register rather than yogurt's sharp one. Filmjolk is smooth and pourable, so it is a shade thinner than matsoni; viili is ropier, so it overshoots on stretch. Either is a much closer eating experience than yogurt. For anyone keeping a live culture at home, they behave identically to matsoni on the counter.
3Greek yogurt thinned with milk
Different taste
Use ¾ cup Greek yogurt plus ¼ cup milk for every cup of matsoni
Strained yogurt let back down to matsoni's soft pourable-but-set consistency.
What changes
Best for
soups and stews, sauces that must not run, marinades, spooning over vegetables
Useful when you want body and stability, since the higher protein resists curdling better in a hot dish. Straight from the tub it is far too stiff and far too tart to stand in for matsoni, so thinning is not optional. Even thinned it tastes cleaner and sourer, so in a sweet application add honey. Whisk it smooth before thinning or the milk will not incorporate evenly.
4Kefir
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
Fermented milk cultured with bacteria and yeasts, thin, sour and faintly fizzy.
What changes
Best for
drinking, marinades, baking, cold soups
The furthest from matsoni in personality. Matsoni is thick, mild and gentle; kefir is thin, sharply sour and slightly yeasty with a prickle on the tongue. In a marinade or a batter that difference is irrelevant and kefir performs well. As a bowl of breakfast it reads as an entirely different food, so cut it half and half with plain yogurt if you want to close the gap.
5Buttermilk
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
Cultured pourable milk, thin and sour, mainly useful when matsoni is an ingredient rather than a dish.
What changes
Best for
baking and doughs, pancakes, cold soups, marinades
Right acidity, wrong body. In any batter it substitutes perfectly, because all the recipe wants from matsoni is sour liquid, and it reacts with baking soda the same way. It is far too thin to eat with a spoon and tastes saltier and sharper than matsoni, so keep it to the mixing bowl.
6Skyr or quark thinned with milk
Different taste
Use ¾ cup skyr or quark plus ¼ cup milk for every cup of matsoni
Strained fresh dairy loosened to matsoni thickness, with quark being the milder of the two.
What changes
Best for
high-protein swaps, spoonable breakfast bowls, dips and fillings, soups off the heat
Quark is the better choice here because it is mild and only lightly acidic, much closer to matsoni's gentleness than skyr, which is very tart. Both are thicker than matsoni and slightly grainy where matsoni is glossy, so thin them well and whisk hard. Good when you want matsoni's substance and do not mind a fresh-cheese note in place of its yogurt tang.

What is Matsoni?

Matsoni is Matsoni is a Georgian cultured milk, sold in Japan as Caspian Sea yogurt and related to the Armenian matsun or madzoon, made with mesophilic bacteria that set milk at ordinary room temperature into a mild, only lightly tart yogurt with a distinctive slightly stringy, honey-like thickness.

Cooking tips

Matsoni's defining quality is mildness, not thickness, so if a substitute tastes too sour you have missed the point of the ingredient. A teaspoon of honey, a spoonful of cream, or simply choosing the freshest yogurt on the shelf all pull it in the right direction, since yogurt keeps souring in the fridge.
In Georgian matsvnis supi and Armenian spas or tanabur, the yogurt goes into hot broth and will split unless you protect it. Whisk an egg or a tablespoon of flour into the yogurt first, then ladle in hot broth a little at a time before returning it to the pot, and never let it reach a rolling boil.
Do not stir a matsoni substitute to a smooth cream if you are serving it as a bowl. Matsoni is a set curd that you break with a spoon, and whipping it destroys the soft body that makes it pleasant.
For home culturing, matsoni is mesophilic, so it sets on a kitchen counter at roughly 20 to 27 C over about a day with no yogurt maker at all. That is why it spread as a household culture. A regular yogurt starter will not set at those temperatures, so if you are recreating it, look for matsoni, filmjolk or viili cultures rather than a supermarket yogurt.
Matsoni is traditionally made from whole milk and tastes considerably worse made lean, because a lot of its glossy, gentle quality comes from fat. Whatever you substitute, choose the full-fat version.

Frequently asked questions

Is matsoni the same as regular yogurt?

It is a yogurt, but a different kind. Matsoni is cultured with mesophilic bacteria that work at room temperature, so it sets slowly and ends up mild, glossy and only slightly tart, often with a faint elastic pull. The yogurt in a supermarket tub is cultured hot with thermophilic bacteria and is much sharper and cleaner tasting. Plain yogurt substitutes fine, but expect more tang.

What is the difference between matsoni, matsun and madzoon?

Largely language. Matsoni is the Georgian word, matsun and madzoon are Armenian, and the products overlap heavily. In Armenian usage matsun is also the general word for yogurt, so an Armenian recipe calling for madzoon may simply mean plain yogurt, which makes plain yogurt a safe substitute. The specifically mesophilic culture marketed as Caspian Sea yogurt is the narrower, milder version described here.

Can I just leave matsoni out?

Not if it is the liquid or the acid in a recipe, and not at all if it is the dish. In a soup it is the body and the sourness, so omitting it leaves a thin broth. In a dough it is the liquid and the acid your baking soda needs. Any cultured milk on this page fills the gap; at worst, milk plus a tablespoon of lemon juice per cup covers the chemistry.

Can I use sour cream instead of matsoni?

In a hot dish, yes, and it has the advantage of splitting far less readily than yogurt. Use it 1:1 and add a squeeze of lemon, since it is much less tangy. What you will notice is the richness: sour cream is roughly five times the fat of matsoni, so a soup finished with it tastes plush rather than fresh. Do not use it as a breakfast bowl substitute.

Where can I buy matsoni?

Georgian, Armenian and Russian grocers sometimes stock it fresh, and Japanese shops sell it as Caspian Sea yogurt. Home-fermentation suppliers sell matsoni cultures that you maintain by stirring a spoonful of the last batch into fresh milk. Elsewhere, plain whole-milk yogurt or filmjolk are the realistic answers.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Matsoni substitute

Other matsoni substitutes

2Filmjolk or viili

3Greek yogurt thinned with milk

4Kefir

5Buttermilk

6Skyr or quark thinned with milk