Yogurt in a smoothie
The base that turns a fruit smoothie into something with protein in it.
About ½ cup in a glass — 122 g and 72 calories at that amount. The readings are 3 of 3 for thickening, 3 for creaminess and 0 for sweetness. Thickness and creaminess are what yogurt is really for. Whatever the blend needs on the other axis has to come from somewhere else in the glass.
Strained yogurt is the most-used smoothie base on the site, and the reason is body rather than flavor. It holds its thickness against a jar of frozen fruit in a way milk cannot, and it brings almost no sweetness of its own, so the fruit still leads. Everything else it changes — protein, calories, how full the glass leaves you — follows from that one job.
In the ratio model every ingredient fills one of five roles. Yogurt is a creamy base: the part that adds richness and the staying power that comes with it. That is what decides how much of it goes in, which is the next question on this page.
How much yogurt to put in a smoothie
The creamy base owns about half a cup of a 2¼-cup glass. For yogurt that works out at ½ cup — 122 g in one serving.
Above that the base starts leading the flavor rather than supporting the fruit, and it carries the calorie total up with it. Below it the drink loses the body that stops it separating while you drink it.
The model portions one amount for this role, so there is no range to work within.
Change the amount and this moves with it — the calorie calculator does the arithmetic as you build.
What yogurt does to the texture
Every ingredient on this site is rated out of three on the only three jobs that matter in a blender. Those ratings are what the substitution engine scores against, so they are the same numbers the rest of the site works from.
This is the top of the thickening scale. Whatever yogurt goes into takes its texture from it, and taking it out is what leaves a blend watery.
This is the top of the creaminess scale — what turns a fruit blend into something that drinks like a milkshake.
None at all. Every bit of sweetness in the glass has to come from the fruit or from something added for the purpose, which is useful when you want to control it.
Thickness and creaminess are what yogurt is really for. Whatever the blend needs on the other axis has to come from somewhere else in the glass.
Yogurt nutrition
Per 100 g so it can be compared against anything, and per 1/2 cup so it matches what actually goes in the jar. One 1/2 cup of yogurt weighs 122 g.
Figures for greek yogurt (nonfat, plain). Everything on the site — every recipe, every calculator — sums from these same numbers, so a total you see elsewhere will always agree with this table.
What goes well with yogurt
Its best partners
strawberry , blueberry , mango , banana and honey . Each of those either covers something yogurt does not do, or leans the same way hard enough to make the drink taste deliberate.
What to use instead of yogurt
Each stand-in is scored against yogurt on all three jobs at once, by the same engine behind the substitution calculator. Calories and sugar are for one everyday measure of the replacement; the smaller figure underneath is the difference against the same measure of yogurt.
How to make a smoothie without yogurt works the whole swap through end to end, including what it does to the rest of the blend.
Browse from here
Two protein sources per glass — a powder plus a dairy or soy base.
Fiber from berries, greens, chia and flax rather than from a supplement.
Fast carbs alongside protein, built to be drunk soon after training.
Build a blend around it
Put yogurt in, add whatever else is in the kitchen, and watch the calories and macros move as you go.
Open the calorie calculatorEstimates, not advice. Every figure on this page is calculated from published per-100 g reference values and standard household measures, so your own brands, portions and equipment will move it. Nothing here is medical, nutritional or dietetic advice — talk to a qualified professional before acting on it, particularly if you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or feeding a child.