How to make your own Greek yogurt frosting:
Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese Frosting:
It can be soy-free, oil-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, grain-free, nut-free, egg-free, and sugar-free
Above, I used it to frost a Low Fat Banana Mug Cake, shown above.
The yogurt takes the place of butter or shortening found in traditional frosting recipes, adding creaminess and texture without all the unhealthy fat.
Many readers have asked for a soy-free version of my original healthier cream cheese frosting recipe.
So, with leftover homemade yogurt after making Greek Yogurt Mac & Cheese, I gave the idea of how to make greek yogurt frosting a spin. And do you know where I ended up using the rest of this frosting???
Carrot cake cupcakes! It’s almost Easter, which clearly means carrot cake needs to make an appearance on the site.
So that will happen soon.
Very soon.
Keep your eyes peeled—no pun intended.
Edit: Here is the healthy carrot cake cupcakes recipe.
Greek Yogurt Frosting
How To Make Greek Yogurt Frosting
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp cream cheese (such as Trader Joes vegan)
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp plain Greek yogurt – I used dairy-free homemade Greek yogurt
- pinch uncut stevia OR 4-5 tbsp powdered sugar
- scant 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Blend all ingredients together until completely smooth. If a thinner frosting is desired, you can add a little milk of choice to thin it out. If using this greek yogurt cream cheese frosting to ice cakes or cookies, it’s best to serve the items immediately after frosting. Refrigerate leftover frosting for up to 4 days.
Ways To Use The Homemade Greek Yogurt Frosting:
1. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
Full recipe: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bars
2. Sunday Morning Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Full recipe: Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
3. Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal
Full recipe: Cinnamon Roll Baked Oatmeal
4. Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes
Full recipe: Healthy Red Velvet Cupcakes
5. Breakfast Granola Cups
Full recipe: Breakfast Granola Cups
Saar says
22nd March 2015 at 2:05 pmMaybe I’m just being dense, but doesn’t TJ’s cream cheese have soy in it?
Has anyone tried Daiya cream cheese? I believe that’s soy-free.
Amanda says
22nd March 2015 at 3:32 pmIt says it CAN be soy-free. I use daiya, so I’ll try it out in this recipe and report back with results.
Amanda says
22nd March 2015 at 4:57 pmVerdict? It tastes great with daiya! 🙂
Saar says
22nd March 2015 at 5:17 pmAwesome! Thanks. I just thought this recipe was supposed to be a replacement her frosting recipe with soy, so was confused.
Ellie H. says
22nd March 2015 at 2:48 pmOnce again, this looks great! What sprinkles do you use / where can I buy them?
Chocolate Covered Katie says
24th March 2015 at 6:01 pmThose are just store-bought sprinkles. However, if you’re looking for organic sprinkles, Whole Foods usually sells at least one brand that is vegan and has no food dyes. Look for “Let’s Do Organic” brand.
Cassie says
22nd March 2015 at 3:54 pmBeautiful, Katie! I love this!
Toni says
22nd March 2015 at 4:55 pmOh goodness! I just finished making chocolate chip cookie dough bites. Now I need to make something to put this Greek Yogurt frosting on. Yeah! Thanks for posting it.
Tiffany says
22nd March 2015 at 6:20 pmWow, Katie! This looks great!
Did you hear the sad news that whole soy is going out of business this month? Such sad news as I love their product and the company.
Chocolate Covered Katie says
24th March 2015 at 6:01 pmI hadn’t heard, and that makes me really sad to hear. They are/were my favorite brand.
Amanda says
22nd March 2015 at 10:48 pmHey Katie! Great recipe, I was wondering if you know a way to make a thick consistency healthy frosting? One that would hold up as roses for decorating? Thanks!
Chocolate Covered Katie says
24th March 2015 at 6:03 pmI’d think your best bet might be to just combine powdered sugar or maple syrup or powdered coconut sugar with melted coconut butter. You can buy rose candy molds and freeze the mixture in them, then pop right out!
Karen says
23rd March 2015 at 12:57 amIf I wanted to make a chocolate version of this would simply adding cocoa do it and would it be sweet enough with that addition or would melted chocolate work better?
Chocolate Covered Katie says
24th March 2015 at 6:03 pmI’ve not tried, but be sure to report back if you experiment 🙂
Sherry says
23rd March 2015 at 1:31 amI’m not a huge fan of Greek yogurt – not sure why, I guess I feel like it’s too thick (I go back and forth with yogurt, sometimes in the mood for it, sometimes not liking it at all, I’m weird! LOL).
Anyway, I’m still curious how this frosting tastes, because I do love cream cheese frostings. And I’d be curious how it tastes on your carrot cake bars, from your cookbook! In fact, I just made them this past weekend because my sister loves carrot cake and came to visit for the weekend. Katie, those carrot cake bars were SO good! Big hit with my sister and with me. There’s still some left, so I’ll try to take a picture and send it in. 😀
Thanks always for the yummy recipes!
Chocolate Covered Katie says
24th March 2015 at 6:04 pmThank YOU for making them… and for buying the book! I can’t even tell you how much that means to me.
Alyssa @ Renaissancerunnergirl says
23rd March 2015 at 2:35 amCan’t wait to try this frosting – I think it’ll go great with banana bread muffins…
Katalina @ Peas and Peonies says
23rd March 2015 at 3:05 pmThis is so good and almost guilt free, I can just make the frosting and eat it fro breakfast!
Lovely Sharice says
23rd March 2015 at 10:40 pmThat looks healthy & delicious….you can’t go wrong!
http://www.lovelysharice.com/shop/
Mandie | Mandie's Kitchen says
23rd March 2015 at 8:42 pmThis frosting looks simply splendid! And those cinnamon rolls! Ooh, I’ve GOT to get your cookbook!
easypeasy says
24th March 2015 at 12:58 amThat is such a cool idea and healthy too! 🙂
Awdur says
25th March 2015 at 1:35 amI made this to go with your cinnamon roll baked oatmeal. I just realized that in the last five days I’ve made six of your recipes! (This frosting, the oatmeal, your peanut butter bars, greek yogurt macaroni, Texas sheet cake, and your vanilla chai shake). They’ve all turned out really well! Thanks for posting!
Elisabeth says
2nd April 2015 at 2:13 pmCan I use vanilla flavored greek yogurt and take out the added sugar and vanilla?
Clementine Buttercup says
28th April 2015 at 1:31 pmI love the idea of this. Can’t wait for your carrot cupcake recipe. Sounds delicious!
Jackie says
4th May 2015 at 2:51 amI could still taste the yogurt in the frosting. Will try it with vanilla flavored yogurt next time maybe that would help mask the taste. But really great alternative to regular frosting!
Marla says
8th June 2015 at 8:03 pmWould this freeze well??
Marcie says
24th July 2015 at 4:56 pmI am making this for my 1 year old and we have been eating a high fat content yogurt instead of greek yogurt. can I use a regular yogurt instead of greek yogurt? thank you
Janet says
26th July 2015 at 5:29 pmI want to make your zucchini cake and wondered if I could use Fage 0% greek yogurt in place of the homemade version? I’m just desiring to make it without the wait. Thank you it looks so good!! Love your site!
margret says
10th October 2015 at 9:53 amHow much frosting does this make? Will it be enough for one cake?
L says
29th October 2015 at 10:33 pmHi! I noticed you mentioned the frosting can be dairy-free among other ‘-free’s’. What would you replace the cream cheese & greek yoghurt with to make it dairy-free?
EbsFamily says
1st March 2016 at 11:13 amI have very rarely put frosting on anything my kids eat and now I can. Yum! Very happy with this recipe. I used xylitol as a sweetener. The recipe worked great to put a dollop of frosting on 12 whole wheat carrot muffins.
5/5
5/5
Shirley OMalley says
21st March 2016 at 4:27 pmDo you think using a fat fred greek yogurt would work for this frosting?
Noelle says
29th March 2016 at 10:31 amHi Katie! This frosting is DELICIOUS – love it. I recently made your carrot cake cupcakes and lamenting the fact that they are now gone (finished the last one yesterday for dessert!). I still have a good amount of the frosting left and don’t have immediate needs for it – have you ever frozen it for later use? If so – how was it? Thanks!
5/5
5/5
Chelsea says
5th May 2016 at 2:55 pmThank you for this! I always appreciate the recipes on your website for how healthy but tasty they are. I’ve been using yogurt in frosting for the first time lately but it involves so much powdered sugar and is still runny. My next project will be even better with this fluffy looking frosting :-)!
5/5
5/5
Linda says
10th August 2016 at 7:02 amI want to cover a watermelon cake with a Greek Yogurt frosting and make it low calorie is this possible and if so please could you tell me the recipe
Many thanks
Linda
Linda says
10th August 2016 at 7:04 amdo you have a recipe to cover a watermelon cake
Emi says
16th January 2017 at 9:16 amHi! This looks delicious! Can you please tell me how much this recipe yields? Was thinking of using it for a double-layered cake. Thanks!
Sarah says
19th May 2017 at 2:16 pmIS it possible to make the frosting the day before using. I know you shouldn’t frost the cake until the day of, but wasn’t sure if you could make the frosting in advance.
Thank you!
Melissa says
25th November 2017 at 7:53 pmHi Katie! I’m doing a baby shower next weekend and I am excited to try your carrot cake healthy cupcakes and this yogurt frosting! I see that the cupcakes recipe makes nine large cupcakes, does the frosting recipe cover nine large cupcakes if piped on? Or should I double the frosting recipe? Thank you so much! Melissa Beach
Debbie says
14th December 2017 at 2:30 amThank you for this. Difficult to get cream cheese here in India so I used paneer (precipitate milk protein using lemon juice and paneer is the solid part). But following this ratio it was very runny. Made again and just reduced the curd and its great. Thanks.
Sam says
5th July 2018 at 11:32 amArrgghh what are cups! Can Americans please, please weigh out ingredients! It is so frustrating as there is so much variation between cups and the way people measure. It’s not very helpful to a precise baker/non-American.
Bre says
16th July 2018 at 12:17 amIs there another alternative sweetener besides stevia? I’m trying to avoid processed sugars and I need an alternative that’s safe for a pne year old. I’m planning my daughter’s first birthday and I don’t care much for stevia or splenda or sweet n low. I normally use raw honey but that’s not considered safe for indants.
Jason Sanford says
16th July 2018 at 5:17 amWhat about pure maple syrup?
Eva says
24th June 2019 at 3:49 amCan I have the recipe in ozs or grams please?
Eileen Chilson says
1st August 2019 at 9:52 pmI haven’ t tried the recipe, but I wonder if you could substitute a little bit of Benecol margarine for a little more flavor? Benecol is good for your heart.
Jason Sanford says
2nd August 2019 at 8:32 amI don’t see why not!
Jason
Eileen Chilson says
2nd August 2019 at 7:47 pmI think I will try it. I love frosting!
Melinda says
30th September 2019 at 10:39 amThis was a great topping on my healthy carrot cake! I used 5% milkfat Greek yogurt and just tried not to get too much liquid. It was very easily spreadable and solid enough to ice the sides of the cake.
Rhona says
11th October 2019 at 9:48 amTotally runny, even when added extra cheese – couldn’t use it 🙁