What Exactly Is Dry Yogurt And How Do You Make It?

Yogurt is a creamy, tangy, and healthy part of breakfast, lunch, and dinner — whether it's the foundation for your favorite granola, a garnish to cool off a spicy bowl of chili, or even a substitute for cream cheese to incorporate into a delicious cheesecake recipe. Another transformation it can make is dry yogurt, a viral trend demonstrated by countless social media videos. As its name implies, yogurt of your choice drained of excess moisture, resulting in a novel, spreadable, more solidified texture.

The process of making dry yogurt is hands-off and simple, requiring minimal equipment. You can use any type of yogurt, whether it's a strawberry-flavored sweet cup or a high-protein Greek yogurt. Simply spoon a cup of yogurt onto a cheese cloth- or paper towel-covered plate or colander, cover the yogurt with the cloth, set a heavy plate or bowl on top, and stick it in the fridge for two days. The yogurt will shed a good amount of water content, transforming into a cheese or labneh-like texture with a much more concentrated tang. After all, labneh is essentially strained yogurt and salt. When you take the yogurt out of the fridge, drain the water, and unwrap the cloth, you can transfer it to a plate and form it into a mound or ball to serve like cheese, or spread it onto a piece of toast or into a breakfast bowl.

While many viral videos that test the dry yogurt trend find successful execution, many question the point of drying the yogurt out at all. Some say the taste doesn't change enough to make the process worth the wait. Still, the textural and visual transformation is a fun and appetizing change that you can take in new directions. You can add a mix of two different yogurt flavors or add a drop of food coloring to separate portions of the same batch for a colorful or flavorfully diverse dried yogurt wheel. You can even stir in both a flavor and coloring agent, such as pumpkin puree, to give it a fall flavor and orange hue. Pair it with activated charcoal stirred into vanilla yogurt for a Halloween-themed dry yogurt board. The line of demarcation between colors stays intact as the yogurt dries, and you can use the cloth to help you form a mound or ball without blurring the colors together. 

Spread blueberry and strawberry dry yogurt over a wood serving board in bright blue and pink stripes to top with diced fruit, peanut butter chips, mini marshmallows, and coconut flakes for the ultimate brunch dessert board. Upgrade the nutrition and color of dried yogurt by stirring spirulina into Greek yogurt, turning it bright green. A tangy green dried yogurt can be a savory spread over toast or crostini to top with cherry tomatoes, shredded carrot, and a drizzle of olive oil.