Vegan Yogurts Reviewed

Your baked items are only as good as your ingredients. I'm unaware of a single case where this isn't true. It's one of the reasons I stopped using tofu in my recipes years ago, although there are certain rare occasions where it shines. Plain yogurt provides a great way to add complex flavor and introduce mild binding properties to your recipe. It's not going to bind as much as an egg, but in things like cakes, pancakes and muffins you don't need powerful egg replacers anyway. Read on for my review of the top four plain vegan yogurts currently on the US market.

The market for vegan food products is expanding, much to the delight of everyone, except probably Anthony Bourdain (sorry dude). Part of this expansion means a wider selection of baking ingredients. Right now there are at least four major vegan yogurts with national distribution. I tracked them down and decided to give them each a round of taste testing to see what's best for your cheesecake, coffee cake, pancakes and sweetbreads. This review uses the methodology that the vegan yogurt with the best texture and flavor, along with being closest to dairy yogurt, is probably going to be the best one to bake with. Your mileage may vary and if it does, be sure to leave a comment on what you found in the comments section at the bottom of this review.

Silk Live Soy Yogurt

Silk is the major soy manufacturer in town, owned by Dean Foods. Silk Live is marketed as having six probiotic cultures to aid in your health and theoretically enhance the flavor of their yogurt. It's made with organic soy beans.

The Taste Test

Gelatinous and pudding-like. Shakes like jello. This probably has something do to with the amount of starches that are in it. Creamy but leaves a lingering metallic aftertaste.

Ingredients

Organic soymilk (filtered water, whole organic soybeans), rice starch, dextrose, organic evaporated cane juice, tricalcium phosphate, natural flavors, cultured glucose syrup solids, pectin, locust bean gum, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), yogurt cultures (L. bulgaricus, S. thermophilus, L. acidophilus, B. bifidum, L. casei, L. rhamnosus).

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Taste 2
Texture 2
Overall 2

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 227g
Protein: 6g
Calories: 150g

WholeSoy & Co Soy Yogurt

WholeSoy yogurt features four active cultures. It's made with organic soy beans.

The Taste Test

Very smooth, velvety texture and good consistency. Slightly sweet, almost apple cider vinegar flavor. Good cultured taste but not as intense as dairy yogurt so it might not work as well if being used as a drop-in replacement. Good overall flavor. Although not spot on with dairy yogurt in the flavor department, it's still a great tasting yogurt due to it's complex sweet flavor.

Ingredients

Pasteurized and Cultured Organic Soymilk (Filtered Water and Ground Organic Soybeans), Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Cornstarch, Natural Flavor, Lactic Acid (from Vegetable Source), Tricalcium Phosphate, Live Active Cultures (L. Acidophilus, B. Bifidum, L. Bulgaricus and S, Thermophilus).

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Taste 3
Texture 4
Overall  4

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 170g
Protein: 6g
Calories: 150g

WildWood Probiotic Soyogurt

WildWood soy yogurt has seven active cultures and contains organic soy beans.

The Taste Test

Great texture that's not too starchy. It was the densest of the bunch, being closest to dairy yogurt. It had accurate cultured plain yogurt flavor that was the most similar to dairy yogurt out of the group. Great complex flavor. This is what a cultured soy product should taste like.

Ingredients

Soymilk (Filtered Water, Soybeans*), Water, Rice Starch*, Chicory Fiber (Inulin)*, Contains 2% or less of each of: Flaxseed Oil*, Calcium Carbonate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Choline, Dextrose*, Tapioca Starch*, Guar Gum*, Sodium Citrate, Agar, Non-Dairy Active Live Cultures (S. Thermophilus, L. Bulgaricus, L. Acidophilus, L. Casei, L. Rhamnosus, B. Bifidum, L. Lactis). *Organic.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Taste 5
Texture 5
Overall 5

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 170g
Protein: 8g
Calories: 120g

So Delicious Cultured Coconut Milk

So Delicious is taking a gamble in being probably the first to market with a cultured coconut yogurt. It's pretty amazing that coconut yogurt now has national distribution to health food stores and supermarkets. I'll bet you never expected that to happen right? This yogurt is great for people with soy allergies or for those who are just trying to cut back on all of this soy infiltrating our diets right now.

The Taste Test

Smooth, sweet custard-like texture and simple, flavor lacking complexity. The least similar to dairy yogurt of the bunch on basis of flavor and texture and probably the least likely to perform like dairy yogurt in vegan baking applications. Enjoyed by testers that were not into sour, cultured flavors. It tasted very mild. This reminded me more of pudding than yogurt but it still tasted good on it's own.

Ingredients

Water, Coconut Milk, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Pectin, Chicory Root Extract, Dextrose, Algin (Kelp Extract), Magnesium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Rice Starch, Locust Bean Gum, Agar, Live Cultures, Carrageenan, Guar Gum, Dipotassium Phosphate, Vitamin B12. Live Active Cultures include: L. Bulgaricus, S. Thermophilus, L. Plantarum, L. Rhamnosus, L. Paracasei and Bif. Lactus

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Taste 2
Texture 2
Ovrerall 2

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 170g
Protein: 1g
Calories: 130g

The Verdict

Silk Live is probably the most consistently distributed soy yogurt nationwide due to it being owned by Dean Foods. I didn't prefer it's metallic taste and gelatinous texture, but I'd happily use it if there were no other soy-based options.

WholeSoy & Co's soy yogurt was well balanced and should fare equally well in baking or eaten on it's own. I found it's flavors to be middle-of-the-road, which would be preferable if you didn't want too much yogurt sourness to come through in your baked item.

The WildWood Probiotic soy yogurt was my favorite due to it having a texture and flavor that was the closest to dairy yogurt, reminding me of when I used to eat dairy yogurt when I was younger. It's performed wonders in cheesecakes that I've made. WildWood is based in the West Coast so they don't have the same sort of distribution channels as most of the other brands. It took considerable effort to track it down in New York City but it's worth looking out for and highly recommended. It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for non-dairy yogurts.