Soy Yogurt substitute

Best substitute

Unsweetened coconut yogurt

Use the same amount as the soy yogurt you are replacing

Best for curries and dals

Different taste

Unsweetened coconut yogurt is the everyday swap at 1:1, and unsweetened cashew or almond yogurt is closer in flavor because it is more neutral. If you are baking, either works 1:1 and so does blended silken tofu with a teaspoon of lemon juice per half cup. The catch is protein: soy yogurt is the thick, high-protein one, so coconut yogurt marinades grip less and coconut yogurt sauces are looser. If you are avoiding soy rather than dairy, plain whole-milk dairy yogurt is a straight 1:1 with no downside at all.

Other soy yogurt substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Unsweetened cashew or almond yogurt
Close match
Use the same amount
Cultured nut milk, mild and creamy, the closest match to soy yogurt's neutral flavor.
What changes
Best for
baking, raita and cucumber salads, salad dressings, creamy sauces, anywhere the yogurt flavor shows
Flavor-wise this is the best swap available: cashew yogurt in particular is mild, rich and genuinely tangy, with none of the coconut sweetness. Cashew is thicker and higher in fat than soy yogurt, so a dressing made with it is richer and clings more; thin it with a tablespoon of water if a sauce turns claggy. Almond yogurt is thinner and slightly more watery than soy yogurt, so in a cake batter reduce the other liquid by a tablespoon per cup. Neither has soy yogurt's protein, so both are less reliable in high-heat sauces.
3Plain whole-milk dairy yogurt
Close match
Use the same amount
Ordinary set yogurt, the correct answer if your reason for wanting a swap is a soy allergy rather than dairy.
What changes
Best for
every use, marinades and tandoori, baking, curries, raita
There is no downside here, and it is worth saying plainly because a lot of people arrive at soy yogurt through a recipe rather than a dietary need. Dairy yogurt is what soy yogurt was designed to imitate, so it behaves the same or better: same acidity for baking soda reactions, similar protein for marinades, slightly richer mouthfeel. It is marginally sweeter and less beany than soy yogurt, which is an improvement in most dishes. Use plain, not vanilla, and full fat if the recipe is a curry, since low-fat yogurt splits more readily.
4Oat yogurt
Different taste
Use the same amount
Cultured oat base, the most neutral-tasting plant yogurt and the mildest in acidity.
What changes
Best for
baking, breakfast bowls and overnight oats, smoothies, mild sauces
Fine in baking, where its very mild flavor is an advantage and its acidity is still enough to work with baking soda, though the rise is a touch less lively than with soy yogurt. Where it falls short is savory cooking: oat yogurt is noticeably sweeter and less sour than soy yogurt, so a dal finished with it tastes rounder and vaguely milky instead of bright, and you will want a good squeeze of lemon to bring the sourness back. Some brands also thin dramatically when stirred, so add it off the heat at the end.
5Silken tofu blended with lemon juice
Different taste
Use 1 cup blended silken tofu plus 2 tsp lemon juice for every cup of soy yogurt
A pantry stand-in that copies soy yogurt's protein and body, made from the same bean.
What changes
Best for
baking, creamy sauces and dips, cheesecakes and puddings, thick smoothies
The best swap for structure rather than flavor, and useful because it is soy-based like the original, so protein and thickening behavior match closely. Blend it completely smooth or it will show up as pale flecks in a batter. What you do not get is fermented flavor: it tastes clean and faintly beany rather than cultured, and the lemon juice supplies acidity without any of the complexity, so a dip made this way tastes plain until you season it hard with salt, garlic and more lemon. Not suitable if you need soy yogurt's probiotics.
6Plant milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar
Taste and texture differ
Use ¾ cup plant milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice or cider vinegar, rested 10 minutes, for every cup of yogurt
The emergency baking fix, which supplies the acid but none of the thickness.
What changes
Best for
muffins, pancakes and quick breads, cakes leavened with baking soda
Use this only in baking, and only when soy yogurt was providing acid for the leavening. It is much thinner than yogurt, so the batter will be slack; use three-quarters of the volume called for and expect a slightly flatter, less tender crumb, because you have lost the fat and protein that made the crumb moist. It does nothing at all for a curry, a raita or a marinade, where the whole point of the yogurt was body. Soy milk sours and thickens best here; oat milk barely thickens at all.

What is Soy Yogurt?

Soy Yogurt is plain yogurt made by culturing soy milk with the same live bacteria used for dairy yogurt, labeled soya yogurt or soy yoghurt in some countries, with a mild lactic tang, a thick spoonable body and far more protein than most other non-dairy yogurts.

Cooking tips

Buy plain and unsweetened, and check the tub twice. Most supermarket soy and coconut yogurts are sweetened and vanilla-flavored, and a vanilla yogurt stirred into a chicken curry or a cucumber raita is unfixable. If sweetened is all you have, use it in baking and reduce the recipe's sugar by a tablespoon per cup.
Soy yogurt is the plant yogurt least likely to split in a hot pan, but it still can. Take the pan off the heat, whisk two tablespoons of the hot sauce into the yogurt to warm it, then stir that back in. If you are using coconut or oat yogurt instead, this step is not optional, because they curdle far more easily.
In tandoori and other yogurt marinades the yogurt is doing a mechanical job, not just a flavor one: its protein and acid cling to the surface and tenderize it. Lower-protein swaps like coconut yogurt slide off, so whisk in a tablespoon of chickpea flour or cornstarch per cup to give the marinade something to hold onto.
For anything that calls for hung curd or thick Greek-style yogurt, strain your substitute in a cloth-lined sieve in the fridge for two to four hours. Soy and cashew yogurt strain well and thicken noticeably; coconut yogurt is usually thickened with starch and releases very little liquid, so straining it achieves almost nothing.
In baking, soy yogurt is contributing acid, fat and moisture at once. If you swap to something thinner, hold back a tablespoon or two of the other liquid, and do not reduce the baking soda, since you still need something acidic for it to react with.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use regular dairy yogurt instead of soy yogurt?

Yes, one for one, with no adjustment, as long as dairy is not the reason you were avoiding it. Soy yogurt was created to behave like plain set dairy yogurt, and dairy yogurt matches or beats it on every practical measure: same acidity for baking, similar protein for marinades, slightly richer texture and a cleaner, less beany flavor. Use plain rather than vanilla, and choose full fat for curries and sauces, since low-fat yogurt breaks more easily when heated.

Which non-dairy yogurt is closest to soy yogurt for Indian cooking?

Unsweetened cashew yogurt, because it is thick, properly tangy and has no competing flavor, which is what you want standing in for dahi in a raita, a kadhi or a marinade. Coconut yogurt is the more available option and works in spiced dishes where its sweetness gets buried, but it reads as sweet in a plain raita and its low protein makes it a weaker marinade. Whichever you use, taste for sourness at the end and add lemon juice, because plant yogurts are usually milder than dahi.

Can I use soy milk instead of soy yogurt?

Only in baking, and only with help. Soy milk has none of the thickness and none of the acidity, so it will not tenderize a crumb or react with baking soda on its own. Sour it first: stir a tablespoon of lemon juice or cider vinegar into three-quarters of a cup of soy milk and leave it ten minutes for each cup of yogurt the recipe wants. In a curry, a dip or a marinade, plain soy milk is not a substitute, because the body of the yogurt was the point.

Can I just leave the soy yogurt out?

It depends what job it was doing. In a marinade you can leave it out and simply season the meat with the spices, salt, oil and lemon juice, and you will lose tenderizing but still get a good result. In a cake or muffin recipe you should not, because you would be removing the acid that lifts the crumb and the moisture that keeps it soft, giving you something dense and dry; sour some plant milk instead. In a curry, leaving it out means a thinner, sharper, less rounded sauce, and a splash of coconut milk or a spoonful of cashew paste gets you closer than nothing.

Does soy yogurt curdle when you cook with it?

Less than most plant yogurts, because its soy protein is relatively heat-stable, but it will split if you drop cold yogurt into a boiling pan or let the pan boil hard afterwards. Take the pan off the heat, whisk a couple of tablespoons of the hot liquid into the yogurt to bring its temperature up, stir it back in, then keep the sauce at a bare simmer. A teaspoon of cornstarch whisked into the yogurt first makes it near enough bulletproof, which is a standard trick in Indian kadhi.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Soy Yogurt substitute

Other soy yogurt substitutes

2Unsweetened cashew or almond yogurt

3Plain whole-milk dairy yogurt

4Oat yogurt

5Silken tofu blended with lemon juice

6Plant milk soured with lemon juice or vinegar