Greek yogurt has a permanent residency in many of our editor’s fridges. The creamy and thick yogurt is an easily dressed-up breakfast option (parfait, anyone?), and its seemingly endless uses extend well past the a.m. hours. It makes an excellent marinade, base for dips, and ideal substitute for sour cream. It even adds tenderness and protein to chocolate chip muffins.
Even if you’ve yet to experience the hype, Greek yogurt’s versatility (and popularity) should be obvious: Grocery stores are stocked with so many Greek yogurt brands. Some might say it’s even a little overwhelming. To help you narrow down the options, we wrangled several coworkers to spend an afternoon tasting a whopping 17 different Greek yogurt brands. (They’re really considerate people.)
The Best Greek Yogurt Brands at-a-Glance
We divided the towers of tubs into two categories — whole-milk and low-fat — because that’s what you’ll find lining your grocery store shelves these days. From there we focused on the plain (aka non-flavored) name- and store-brand Greek yogurts, narrowing down the field based on popularity, availability, and price. (They ranged from $3 all the way up to $10, although most were around $4 at the time of this tasting.) We also requested input from our editorial team to round out the list of 17 competitors.
After a dairy-filled afternoon of tasting and tallying, these are the two we’ll stock in our fridges forever.
Best Whole-Milk Greek Yogurt: FAGE Total 5% Whole-Milk Plain Greek Yogurt
Major credit to FAGE Total 5% Whole-Milk Plain Greek Yogurt. It stood out from the rest of the Greek yogurts, many of which tasted shockingly similar. Its “almost airy, whipped texture” had Alex, our assistant editor, from the start — and things only went up from this tangy tub. “The more I eat it, the more I like it,” Reece, our account manager, said, adding, “honestly, [it] tastes like whipped cream cheese.” (Yum!)
Several other testers at The Kitchn adored it, too. April, our strategic partnerships manager, ranked it her favorite and actually wrote down it had to be “FAGE” because it was so “balanced and creamy.”
Runner-Up: Maple Hill Creamery Greek Yogurt
Despite containing no added sugar, Maple Hill Creamery Greek Yogurt had the “perfect amount of creaminess and sweetness,” according to Reese. He liked the smooth and creamy yogurt so much, he asked us to reveal the name of the brand after the taste test so he could purchase some for himself. (So clearly, he would buy it with his own money!)
He wasn’t alone. Celia, our editorial assistant, raved over its “smooth thickness that’s ideal for breakfast with granola and fruit, or as a sour cream replacement.” She even wrote it had “the best texture and flavor of them all.” That said, it is one of the priciest Greek yogurt brands on this list. And a few tasters, like Alex, found it to be a bit “too thick” and have “too much richness.” To each their own!
Honorable Mention: Trader Joe’s Greek Whole-Milk Yogurt Plain
Alex described the Trader Joe’s Greek Whole-Milk Yogurt Plain in one word: “balanced.” She did expand from there, of course, specifically calling out the creaminess and flavor of the yogurt (although some people wished it had a little more tang). She also ranked it her favorite.
Ali, our associate groceries editor, was into this entry-point yogurt, calling it “easy to eat” and a great addition to banana bread. It’s also one of the most affordable yogurts on this list.
Find it in stores: Trader Joe’s Greek Whole-Milk Yogurt Plain, $2.99 for 16 ounces
Best Low-Fat Greek Yogurt: 365 by Whole Foods Market Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt
The main difference between whole-milk and non-fat Greek yogurt is, well, the fat content. Low- and no-fat Greek yogurt is made by removing fat during a process of spinning the milk until fat particles separate. The majority of the whole-milk Greek yogurts hovered around 5% fat, whereas the low-fat options were around 1% to 2% (and in some cases 0%).
365 by Whole Foods Market Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt was “tart, with a capital T,” wrote Ali, who loved its punchy, bright flavor. Mara, our Director of Groceries and Shopping called it “very smooth,” and said she would happily buy it. That was about the gist from the rest of our testers too. Lots of praise for its sharp, tanginess and smooth texture.
Runner-Up: Chobani Nonfat Greek Yogurt
Like Trader Joe’s, Chobani Nonfat Greek Yogurt had a more subtle flavor. Reece liked the “freshness” and said it reminded him of the brand he usually buys (at least, prior to this taste test). Although it has a thinner consistency, especially compared to the whole-milk options, Mara was also a fan of this Greek yogurt and its “glossy, smooth” texture. Other testers found that same subtleness lacked, well, flavor.
Honorable Mention: FAGE Total Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt
FAGE strikes again! FAGE Total Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt earned itself a very honorable mention because of its “tangy, deep flavor” with a very satisfying “smooth texture,” according to Celia. She wasn’t the only one. April, our designated FAGE superfan ranked this as her second overall (first was the Fage Total 5% Whole-Milk). She said the “subtle sweetness” would be “so good in a yogurt bowl.” A few testers wanted a little more creaminess, which is the only reason it didn’t end up higher on this very competitive list.
How We Tested Greek Yogurt Brands
We recruited seven yogurt enthusiasts who work at The Kitchn and Apartment Therapy Media (The Kitchn’s parent company) to randomly taste 17 different Greek yogurt brands sold at grocery retailers today. Maya, our associate studio producer, put yogurt from each brand into small paper cups for testers to sample, with spoons of course. We randomly assigned each one a letter — from A through Q — to conceal the brands’ identities. We also intentionally mixed the whole-milk and non-fat options together to keep any potential biases at bay.
Tasters were encouraged to sample the Greek yogurts in random order (to avoid giving any particular brand an advantage). They rated each of the Greek yogurts on a scale of one to five (1 = No, thanks; 2 = Meh; 3 = Pretty good; 4 = Really like; 5 = Yes, please!) across four criteria — look, smell, texture, and flavor — and included any specific observations, tasting notes, and general opinions worth mentioning. They were also asked to answer, arguably, the most important question of all: Would you buy this Greek yogurt?
To figure out which Greek yogurt brands are worth buying, we compiled a team of seven testers who work at Apartment Therapy Media, our parent company, to evaluate 17 different brands based on texture, look, smell, eagerness to buy, and, of course, taste.
Testers were unaware of the brands involved and sampled each one randomly. Each person independently filled out a score sheet, scoring and ranking each yogurt without larger discussion from the group throughout the entirety of the test. It was only after all evaluations were completed that we tallied the scores to reveal the winners.
Did your favorite Greek yogurt brand make the list? Tell us about it in the comments below.
