28 Recipes That Prove Yogurt Is More Than Just For Breakfast
Get creative with this dairy staple.
Here at Delish, yogurt is very much not just for breakfast. Sure, it brightens up every parfait or cinnamon roll overnight oats, but it's so much more than that. It adds richness and tang to all our favorite marinades, desserts, dinners, and soups, and is a staple in so many different cuisines, from Greek food to Indian food. After trying all these delicious yogurt recipes, you'll see just how much yogurt adds that certain je ne sais quoi to your favorite recipes.
First things first: When it comes to choosing your yogurt, do yourself a favor and go full-fat. Whole milk is your friend here, adding more richness and flavor possible to these recipes than 0% can. 0% could never!! We've even seen 10% yogurt at the stores (no surprise, it's incredible). Want to make your own? Try our Instant Pot yogurt recipe.
Some recipes call for just regular plain yogurt or Greek, so do keep that in mind. Greek yogurt is a strained version of yogurt, which means it will be quite a bit thicker, making it perfect for tzatziki sauce, halal cart-style white sauce, and Greek feta dip. After you try those, you'll have to check out all our favorite Greek yogurt hacks and swaps.
Yogurt also lends an incredible acidic brightness that perks up any marinade, sauce, and soup. Marinating lamb or tandoori chicken with yogurt helps to tenderize the meat and imparts insane amounts of flavor. We also love drizzling it when finishing our mulligatawny soup and green goddess soup, and swirling it into a lentil dal or tuna salad.
Best-Ever Tzatziki
Tzatsziki is a simple sauce that goes well on chicken shawarma, served with more cucumbers and pita, and everything else you want it on. It's the condiment we always keep in our fridge—just in case.
Get the Best-Ever Tzatziki recipe.
Yogurt Toast
This TikTok number has taken breakfast tables by storm, and for good reason. It involves topping bread with a shortcut egg-yogurt “custard” to create a slightly sweet, fancy-ish dessert with barely any effort. The choices of toppings are ripe for your imagination. (FYI, Team Delish favors a bit of chocolate in the custard.)
Get the Yogurt Toast recipe.
Homemade Naan
Traditional naan is a South Asian flatbread that is usually cooked in a tandoor oven. The bread quickly bubbles up when being baked and yields a soft texture with slightly crisp edges. Made with yogurt to keep it soft, naan has a very slight tang making it extra flavorful and perfect for soaking up all of that extra sauce from chicken tikka masala or served as an appetizer along with garlic hummus.
Get the Homemade Naan recipe.
Mulligatawny Soup
With roots in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and England, there are endless iterations of Mulligatawny soup, a brightly colored blended lentil soup with the perfect balance of spicy, creamy and sour with a hint of sweetness. The most crucial elements of Mulligatawny are a blend of south Indian spices, creamy lentils, and a subtle sour punch from Granny Smith apples and lemon (or tamarind if you have it!).
Get the Mulligatawny Soup recipe.
Cucumber Raita
This South Asian yogurt-based condiment comes in infinite varieties, from cooling cucumber like this one to sweet bananas to bright and crisp sliced onion. Though typically served with South Asian dishes like biryani, kebabs, and naan, raita can improve pretty much anything—from hamburgers to falafel.
Get the Cucumber Raita recipe.
No-Bake Blackberry Cheesecake Bars
This no-bake cheesecake gets a stunning, swirly topping of blackberries that looks more like art than dessert. The cheesecake is tart and fluffy with the creamiest texture. You may not use all of the blackberry topping for the swirling, but save it; you can serve the cheesecake with the extra sauce to get more of that blackberry flavor.
Get the No-Bake Blackberry Cheesecake Bars recipe.
Gyro Sandwich
This lamb sandwich is found in casual shops and restaurants all around Greece. Pronounced YEE-roh or ZHEE-roh (it rhymes with hero), gyro sandwiches are packed with delicious spiced lamb, crunchy fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and a tangy herb-and-cucumber yogurt sauce called tzatziki.
Get the Gyro Sandwich recipe.
Greek Feta Dip
Loaded with cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta, this dip was inspired by Greek salad. (Though it's missing the olives, onion, and oregano.) For a smoother, fluffy consistency, we added yogurt and cream cheese. Full disclaimer: This recipe makes a lot of dip and can easily be halved. But we've never had a problem demolishing it with some fluffy pita bread.
Get the Greek Feta Dip recipe.
Green Goddess Soup
We’re huge fans of salad year-round, but when the temperatures drop, all we want is a big, comforting bowl of soup. For this recipe, we took inspiration from one of our favorite salad dressings, green goddess. The creamy dressing is wholesome, herbaceous, and can improve even the most lackluster of salads, so we knew it had potential to be an incredible soup. Eating our greens just got a whole lot easier and tastier!
Get the Green Goddess Soup recipe.
Mango Lassi
Like a cross between a milkshake and a smoothie, mango lassi is a simple pleasure: All you need is about equal amounts of sweet mangoes and creamy full-fat yogurt, a little ice, and a high-powered blender to force the two ingredients into one drinkable treat.
Get the Mango Lassi recipe.
Chicken Tikka Alfredo
This recipe marries two of our favorite creamy comfort foods, spicy chicken tikka masala and rich, garlicky fettuccine alfredo. We marinate boneless skinless chicken thighs in yogurt, before whipping up the flavorful sauce and broil the chicken until perfectly charred and tender. Toss with a long pasta (we love bucatini) and that's it: an amazing, unique dinner on your table in just over an hour!
Get the Chicken Tikka Alfredo recipe.
Raspberry Almond Pound Cake
We love a classic pound cake, but it never hurts to fancy things up a bit. This one uses both almond flour and extract to give it extra almond-y flavor then gets topped with more almonds after being drizzled with a beautiful glaze. The inside is studded with ripe raspberries for a pop of tartness.
Get the Raspberry Almond Pound Cake recipe.
Instant Pot Yogurt
Why in the world you make homemade yogurt in an Instant Pot? Because it tastes extra-fresh, creamy, and smooth. And it earns you major bragging rights (even though it's insanely easy).
Get the Instant Pot Yogurt recipe.
Creamed Brussels Sprouts
Even the biggest Brussels sprouts hater will love this creamy baked casserole. With yogurt, fontina, and Parmesan cheese, these creamed Brussels sprouts are one of our favorite holiday sides.
Get the Creamed Brussels Sprouts recipe.
Falafel Burgers
Roasting the chickpeas to the point before they start to crisp draws out a ton of moisture, leaving you with a perfectly tender patty. Stirred up with herbs, spices, and onion, the patties stay together easily and go insanely well with our easy lemon-yogurt sauce.
Get the Falafel Burgers recipe.
Egg Curry
We here in the Delish Test Kitchen absolutely love curry. And though we're sure you've had curries made with chicken, lamb, or even shrimp, you might not have had a curry made with perfectly cooked eggs. This recipe is so quick to come together and is a great way to use any leftover eggs you might have in your fridge.
Get the Egg Curry recipe.
Tandoori Chicken
There's no getting around the marinating time here—the spiced yogurt mixture is key to super flavorful and tender chicken. If you don't have 2 hours, give it at least 30 minutes. If even that won't work, browse through our easy chicken weeknight dinners (but definitely save this recipe for later!).
Get the Tandoori Chicken recipe.
Lamb Burger
These Greek(ish) lamb burgers are one of our favorite lamb recipes ever. The feta yogurt sauce is everything—slather it on both sides of the bun. If you end up with extra, it makes the perfect dip for raw veggies or pita chips.
Get the Lamb Burger recipe.
Best Tuna Salad
Tuna salad is one of our go-to healthy lunches. We love it between two pieces of bread, spread on a cracker, scooped over lettuce, or right out of the bowl. If you want to step up your tuna game, the easiest way is to splurge on olive oil-packed tuna—you'd be shocked at how much extra flavor you can get!
Get the Best Tuna Salad recipe.
Flatbread Pizza
Homemade pizza is super-delicious, but it takes a bit of time and special attention. These flatbread pizzas come together MUCH faster, and they're just as cheesy and flavorful. We love topping ours with tomatoes and arugula when they're in season, but if you're making them in the winter, try them topped with root veggies like roasted Brussels sprouts or roasted carrots instead!
Get the Flatbread Pizza recipe.
Mackenzie Filson is a food writer and contributing digital food producer at Delish. Her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate-pine. If wine was an astrological sign she'd be a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. She's never met a bag of Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos she didn't eat in one sitting.