We Taste-Tested 10 Plain Yogurts—Here Are Our Favorites
After tasting our way through 10 plain yogurts—including Dannon, Trader Joe’s, and Brown Cow—we found an overall winner that we'd happily pair with our granola, turn into dip, or just eat plain.
I never leave the grocery store without a tub of plain yogurt: It’s a key ingredient in many dips, spreads, and baking recipes, and when topped with granola and fresh fruit, makes for an easy breakfast or snack. If you’ve ever stood in front of the wall of yogurt at a grocery store, then you’ll know there are many, many options. The question is: Which plain yogurt is worth buying?
To find the cream of the yogurt crop, our editors sampled 10 different plain whole-milk yogurts you’re likely to find at your local supermarket. (If you notice 11 in the photo below, that's because we cut one of the yogurts we tasted from our rankings because it turned out to be a strained yogurt.) We placed each in unmarked bowls, then sampled them in random order without knowing which yogurt was which. After tasting our way through 10 bowls of plain yogurt, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner we’d be happy to enjoy with granola or incorporate into our favorite dips and desserts. We also found an admirable runner up for those who prefer a yogurt made from grass-fed milk.
The Criteria
There are different kinds of yogurt, including strained varieties such as Greek yogurt, Icelandic skyr, and Middle Eastern labneh. For this taste test, we focused on plain, unstrained, whole-milk yogurt. Plain yogurt should be creamy, thick, and smooth without being overly set with thickeners such as pectin or stabilizers. It should be pleasantly tangy, but not sour. It should have the subtle, natural sweetness of milk, but not taste sweetened.
Overall Winner
The Best Nationally Available Plain Yogurt: Dannon Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
Though this yogurt is not quite as tangy as others we tasted, our editors enjoyed its mild tartness and loved its thick, creamy texture. “Good body,” our associate visuals director, Amanda, noted. Our senior social media editor, Kelli, thought it was “all around good,” while both our editorial director, Daniel, and associate editorial director, Megan, described it as pleasantly smooth. “Creamy, mild, tasty,” Megan wrote. “I like it!”
While some overly sour yogurts may not be great in dips and desserts, this yogurt’s mildness makes it a versatile ingredient that can be used in myriad ways, be it savory or sweet. Use it to prepare frozen yogurt, incorporate it into baked goods, marinate chicken thighs, or just eat it on its own.
Runner Up
The Best Grass-Fed Plain Yogurt: Alexandre Family Farm 100% Grass-Fed A2/A2 Organic Plain Yogurt
“Good milk flavor, has that real mammalian funk,” Daniel wrote. “This is a compliment!” Amanda had lukewarm feelings about the “earthy” flavors of the yogurt, but Megan—who adores plain yogurt and says she eats it every single day—thought it was “extremely mild and cream-forward.” Though this yogurt was slightly thinner than some of the brands we sampled, it is still creamy and has good body. Many dairy cows are fed a total mixed ratio diet, a nutritionally-balanced blend of grains and proteins, resulting in sweet, malty milk. Dairy from grass-fed cows, however, is often described as having a more complex vegetal or barnyard-like flavor. While Daniel, Megan, and I all enjoyed the flavor of this yogurt, Kelli and Amanda did not. Grass-fed dairy may be an acquired taste, but if you want a slightly funky, earthy yogurt, you may enjoy this one.
The Contenders
- 365 Organic Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
- Alexandre Family Farm 100% Grass-Fed A2/A2 Organic Plain Yogurt
- Brown Cow Plain Yogurt
- Dannon Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
- Family Farmstead Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
- Nature’s Promise Organic Whole Milk Yogurt
- Seven Stars Farm Organic Yogurt Plain
- Stonyfield Organic Whole Milk Plain
- Trader Joe's European-Style Organic Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
- Trader Joe's Organic Plain Whole Milk Yogurt
In Conclusion
Our editors enjoyed the majority of the plain yogurts we sampled. However, our testers had very different yogurt preferences: While some preferred mild and subtly sweet yogurts, others preferred dairy with more complexity, like those of the grass-fed kind. Most of the yogurts we sampled have just two ingredients: pasteurized milk and live cultures. Some yogurts, however, contain pectin, an ingredient that’s often used to thicken yogurt. In our tests, our editors preferred yogurts that had been naturally thickened during the fermentation process: When bacterial cultures convert the milk’s lactose sugars into lactic acids, it thickens and sours it simultaneously. Both our winners contain just pasteurized milk and live cultures, have just the right amount of tang, and are smooth and creamy.
Our Testing Methodology
All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation possible.
