9 Creative Ways to Incorporate Yogurt Into Your Meals

Many people keep a tub of yogurt in their fridge: It makes an easy, speedy breakfast when topped with fruit and granola, and is also delicious eaten on its own. But the ingredient can also be used to prepare many other dishes, like creamy dips, spreads, and smoothies. Yogurt makes an excellent marinade, and gives baked goods a light, tender crumb. The dairy is one of the most versatile ingredients you can keep in your fridge, and there are myriad of ways to cook with it. Below, we’ve gathered nine creative ways to use yogurt in your everyday cooking for more flavorful meals.

1. Put it On Every Damn Thing You Grill

Whether you’re grilling eggplant, cabbage, or lamb, pretty much everything that comes off the grill could use some acidity and creaminess to wake up all the smoke and char. A smear of yogurt, done up with some lemon and herbs for good measure, is as easy a sauce as they come.

2. Super-Quick Dips and Sauces

In my kitchen, a mix of Greek yogurt or labneh, some funky, oniony asafoetida, lemon juice, and dill is both a salad dressing and roasted vegetable topper. Try mixing yogurt with curry powder and spoon it over lentil soup, or toss in some cumin and drizzle it over eggplant and chickpeas. For quick weeknight dinners, I finish poached or baked salmon with a dollop of dill-yogurt sauce or a refreshing mixture of yogurt, herbs, and cucumber.

Need a bulk recipe to keep around? This minty, cumin-inflected yogurt sauce is as all-purpose as they come, and caraway-yogurt sauce will brighten up any platter of raw or roasted vegetables. And while cucumber raita is usually paired with Indian dishes, the combination of yogurt, grated cucumber, and chaat masala goes just as well with simply roasted cauliflower or fried potatoes.

3. Full-Flavored Marinades

Yogurt blended with salt and, well, anything is an instant marinade, adding tang and moisture to every meat you can pair it with. Chicken takes especially well to the yogurt-marinade treatment; try it with simple kebabs or go all-out with a tikka masala that’s probably better than your local Indian restaurant’s.

4. Stir it Into Soups and Grains

Yogurt takes beautifully to puréed soups, both cold and hot—the latter works just fine if you incorporate the yogurt at the end and stay gentle with your heat to prevent curdling. We’re especially fond of this springy asparagus and ramp soup, a good template for all your yogurt soups, and this yogurt-topped creamy carrot soup.

5. Make a Quick Salad Dressing

With yogurt as your base, it doesn’t take a lot of time or ingredients to make a quick, flavorful salad dressing. My top pick for salad that makes any table look brighter and more cheerful is this fresh and pickled carrot salad, which gets tossed with a tangy, spiced mixture of yogurt and nutty ghee. For a salad that looks much more complicated than it really is, I make this make-ahead salad stacked with layers of chickpeas, endive, cucumber, and onion. It gets finished with blue cheese or feta (I always opt for feta), sunflower seeds, a speckling of pomegranate seeds, and—of course—yogurt dressing.

6. Bake With It

Yogurt is cake magic: all the ease of mixing an oil-based cake plus the sophisticated richness of a creamed butter version, plus some twang to keep that sweetness in check. It does wonders in this fragrant Persian cake, gives this coffee cake a touch of tanginess, and keeps the batter of these comforting bran muffins thick.

7. Freeze It

Not a fan of sickeningly sweet frozen yogurt at the mall? Making your own is easy: Just churn some full-fat yogurt with sugar. You can also incorporate it into rich, creamy fruit popsicles.

8. Whip It

Frozen isn’t the only way to eat yogurt as a sweet treat. And in the winter, I’m partial to desserts that don’t make me even colder than I already am. This whipped Greek yogurt is exactly what it sounds like—a cross between light whipped cream and rich, heavy yogurt. Along with the yogurt and heavy cream, we add golden syrup, a dash of rosewater, and a pinch of salt to the stand mixer. When most fresh fruits aren’t in season, I’ll eat this whipped yogurt with homemade applesauce, orange segments, or a dollop of fresh jam.

9. Incorporate It Into Beverages

Of course, there are drinks, like this bold coffee smoothie and refreshing salted mint lassi. Yogurt effortlessly adds protein, acidity, and body—everything you want in a creamy beverage.

June 2015