What can I do with defrosted Greek yoghurt?

January 16, 2021 4:13 AM

I froze a big tub of Greek yoghurt because I was going out of town for a few weeks. I've now defrosted it in the fridge and it's gone from thick and creamy to a watery soup. Can I put it to good use? Perhaps in baking or in a curry or something... Or should I just throw it away?
posted by iamsuper to Food & Drink (14 answers total)

Thin it out a bit and use it in place of buttermilk in recipes (waffles or pancakes or muffins.)
posted by needs more cowbell at 4:19 AM on January 16, 2021 [3 favorites]

This Mark Bittman recipe is a really good quickbread which uses 1.5 cups of yogurt per loaf. It allows you to sub milk, so I see no reason why mere soupiness would render yogurt unworkable. If you don't like a strong molasses flavor, you can sub part of it with brown sugar. Seriously, this is a great bread for toast as long as you don't mind small slices. Most fruits will do - I've made it with a mixture of dried apricots, raisins and prunes because that was what I had.
posted by Frowner at 4:21 AM on January 16, 2021 [5 favorites]

I think it ought to be good for anything where you can use liquidy yogurt - smoothies, biscuits/scones, quickbreads/muffins, waffles, pancakes, etc. Salad dressing!

Is the problem that it has separated, or that it has gotten thinner overall? (This probably has to do with what stabilizers, if any, the yogurt contained before you froze it, plus how quickly it froze and thawed.) What happens if you stir it back together? It might get sufficiently thick and creamy again for you to consider using it as usual.
posted by mskyle at 4:29 AM on January 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

I would use it as a yogurt marinade on chicken and prep a big batch of it. (Something like yogurt, lemons, garlic, oregano, or yogurt, limes, cilantro, poblano...) Set some yogurt aside for a sauce with similar ingredients as the marinade, or use it as a dressing on some crunchy greens, or to thicken a simple lentil (or other vegetable) soup that I’d eat with the chicken.
posted by Mizu at 4:53 AM on January 16, 2021 [4 favorites]

I'd make some Greek salad dressing similar to this.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:52 AM on January 16, 2021

Really really like this yogurt kadhi - it calls for some ingredients you might not have if you don’t cook Indian food regularly but not a ton and you could probably freestyle on the seasonings, the base is thinned yogurt cooked with chickpea (gram) flour.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 6:04 AM on January 16, 2021

I would use it anywhere you can use regular yogurt - some of the thickness of Greek yogurt is culture type but I think some brands are just strained more to make them thicker. The ideas above are great and we also use yogurt in mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs or to make chili or other soups creamy.
posted by brilliantine at 7:15 AM on January 16, 2021

I prefer to use yogurt in quiche rather than cream or milk or another dairy product. Really works well texture-wise.
posted by rdnnyc at 7:27 AM on January 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can you pour off the separated liquid and eat the now-even-thicker yogurt that is presumably sitting below the watery soup?
posted by heatherlogan at 8:50 AM on January 16, 2021

There are plastic cone strainers specifically made for straining the liquid in yogurt and the remaining consistency is like cream cheese.
posted by effluvia at 9:05 AM on January 16, 2021

Strain and make shrikhand.
posted by praemunire at 9:33 AM on January 16, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for your answers, looks like there are quite a few options! Even after mixing the consistency is very watery, only a bit thicker than milk, quite similar to melted ice cream. I think maybe baking or perhaps a marinade looks like the best route to go down.
posted by iamsuper at 10:50 AM on January 16, 2021

This recipe is great!
posted by rossination at 1:28 PM on January 16, 2021

Dutch hangop basically uses muslin to strain off the liquid from either yoghurt or buttermilk, so you end up with superyoghurt as a result. Technically this is similar to what you do to get Greek yoghurt, so you might get megayoghurt as a result, but I think the world needs to know.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 1:46 AM on January 17, 2021