19 Recipes That Show Why We Love Baking With Yogurt

updated Jun 13, 2023

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Lemon poppy seed muffins freshly baked in muffin tins. — Credit: Photo: Ghazalle Badiozamani; Food Styling: Brett Regot

We love our yogurt in the morning with granola, fruit, or both. We also love to plop it into our smoothies or swirl it into hot cereal. But yogurt is also an excellent dairy to bake with. Because of its acidity, yogurt reacts with baking soda to encourage leavening. It also adds nice, tangy flavor that hardly overpowers, but instead keeps everything in balance.

Which Style of Yogurt Bakes Best?

Both plain Greek and thinner, regular yogurt are magical ingredients to reach for when baking. Try to reach for the full-fat stuff, though, which will lend the most moisture and flavor.

If a recipe calls for regular yogurt and you only have Greek, simply thin it with a little milk or water until it is the texture of regular-style yogurt. And if you need Greek yogurt but only have regular, simply strain off some of the whey.

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Our Favorite Ways to Bake With Yogurt

1 / 19

Cocoa Yogurt Cake

This simple chocolate cake is as good on day one as it is one day two, especially if you warm it just slightly so the chocolate chunks melt a bit.

2 / 19

2-Ingredient Yogurt Drop Biscuits

This is the easiest from-scratch biscuit recipe you’ll ever make. It calls for just two simple ingredients, no rolling or cutting, and just a few minutes of your time.

3 / 19

The Best, Easiest Gluten-Free Banana Bread

An easy, one-bowl recipe for gluten-free banana bread using oat and almond flour.

4 / 19

Apricot Yogurt Scones

These scones are sweet, but not too sweet, and have lots of chewy bits of apricot to savor. And yes, rest assured, they are perfect with coffee.

5 / 19

Double Chocolate Muffins

These double chocolate muffins walk the line between breakfast and dessert. Greek yogurt add tenderness and protein.

6 / 19

Herbed Yogurt Biscuits

Every cook needs a foolproof biscuit recipe. This version is just that, along with a welcome addition of yogurt, fresh herbs and black pepper.

7 / 19

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

A step-by-step guide to making the very best classic lemon poppy seed muffins.

8 / 19

Farmers Market Breakfast Bread

Made with any combination of beets, carrots, zucchini, or summer squash, this tender quick bread is the perfect way to highlight the earthy sweetness of summer vegetables at their peak.

9 / 19

Carrot Quick Bread

Swap carrots for zucchini in this easy quick bread with a tangy yogurt glaze.

10 / 19

Chocolate-Cherry Granola Muffins

These muffins are flavored with cocoa powder and dark brown sugar, but also have eggs, yogurt, and milk in the batter.

11 / 19

This yogurt cake doesn't need a mixer or more than one bowl — or more than 10 minutes, for that matter. And its tangy, fluffy texture is just a perfect pair for summer berries.

12 / 19

Apple Yogurt Cake with a Cinnamon-Sugar Streak

It's a moist cake with a crumb that's almost creamy, swirled with cinnamon, and juicy with small bites of apple. It will take you about 15 minutes to make.

13 / 19

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Cake with Lemon Cream

This fragrant lemon cake — scattered with juicy blueberries and dolloped with soft lemon cream — is the perfect unfussy cake, just the thing to bring to a last-minute spring dinner party or to snack on with afternoon tea.

14 / 19

One-Bowl Yogurt and Honey Olive Oil Cake

This humble cake is moist, tender, and perfumed with just a touch of fresh thyme and lemon zest.

15 / 19

Banana Bread Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze

These scones have a mild, not-too-sweet banana flavor and a soft biscuity interior.

16 / 19

Coffee Cake Muffins

With a buttery, crumbly topping and a slightly sweet glaze, they are truly the best of both worlds.

17 / 19

Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake

This update to lemon cake uses yogurt and vegetable oil instead of butter. As a bonus, you don’t even need an electric mixer to make it.

18 / 19

Almond Fig Breakfast Loaf

The streusel topping sinks into the loaf as it bakes, and gets all toasty and fragrant — it’s the perfect little cap to each slice and you’ll be happy you had a generous hand with it.

19 / 19

Peach Yogurt Cake with Cinnamon Glaze

This yogurt cake never fails to turn out generously moist. It's just a little special, too, spiced up with a pinch of cloves and ginger, and with nuggets of warm, juicy peach hiding inside.

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