National Dish USA: Frozen Yogurt (Recipe)
In this article
Frozen yogurt tastes fresher and tangier than cream-based ice cream, because yogurt rather than cream forms the base. For two servings you need just 300 g of yogurt, a little honey and a squeeze of lemon. An ice cream maker is handy but not essential. With a fork and three hours of patience, it works in the freezer too.
About Frozen Yogurt
Frozen yogurt, known in the USA simply as froyo, is frozen yogurt sweetened with sugar or honey. Unlike ice cream, it contains hardly any cream and no egg yolk, so it is lighter and has a distinct sharpness. Fresh from the machine, it is as soft as soft-serve. In American froyo shops, customers pull it into cups themselves and pile on toppings, from berries and granola to chocolate chips and crumbled biscuits. At home, the texture works best with full-fat Greek yogurt. It contains less water, so it forms smaller ice crystals. Frozen yogurt is eaten as a dessert, and on hot days also as an afternoon snack.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 300 g Greek yogurt (10 % fat)
- 50 g runny honey or 50 g icing sugar
- 2 tbsp cream (30 ml)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 100 g fresh berries to garnish
- 2 tbsp granola or chopped nuts as a topping
Shopping for the ingredients
The yogurt is what matters most. Greek yogurt with 10 % fat gives a creamy result, while plain yogurt with 3.5 % tends to turn icy and hard once frozen. If you only have ordinary yogurt, drain 450 g of it overnight in a sieve lined with a tea towel. You will be left with about 300 g. A mild blossom honey stays in the background, while forest honey comes through strongly. For the toppings, choose blueberries, raspberries and strawberries in season. In winter, frozen berries are a better choice than imported fresh ones.
Preparing the dish
If your ice cream maker has no built-in compressor, put its bowl in the freezer at least 12 hours beforehand. Without a machine, have a flat metal or plastic container ready in which the mixture will stand no more than 3 cm deep. The yogurt, cream and honey should also be well chilled. The colder the mixture is at the start, the faster it freezes and the finer the crystals will be. Wash the berries and pat them dry.
Step-by-step instructions
- Whisk together the yogurt, honey, cream, lemon juice, salt and vanilla extract until the honey has completely dissolved.
- Taste the mixture and add more sweetness if needed, as the cold noticeably dulls sweetness.
- With an ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the bowl and let it churn for 20 to 25 minutes until firm and creamy.
- Without a machine, pour the mixture into the prepared container and put it in the freezer at about minus 18 °C.
- After 45 minutes, stir the mixture vigorously with a fork, and repeat every 30 minutes, four to five times in total.
- After about 3 hours, the frozen yogurt will have a firm but spreadable consistency.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to shape two portions and top them with berries and granola.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
Frozen yogurt is gluten-free as long as the toppings are. Granola and biscuits usually contain oats or wheat. Use gluten-free granola, chopped almonds or toasted coconut chips instead. For the lactose-free version, you will find lactose-free Greek yogurt and cream in the chiller cabinet, and both behave exactly like the regular products when frozen.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
The recipe is already vegetarian. For a vegan version, use 300 g of plain soya yogurt or an unsweetened coconut yogurt, which is especially creamy. Replace the honey with 50 g of agave syrup or maple syrup, and the cream with 2 tbsp of tinned coconut milk. Oat yogurt is rather watery, so stir 1 tsp of locust bean gum into the mixture to help.
More tips and tricks
After a day in the freezer, frozen yogurt turns rock hard because it contains little fat. So take it out 10 to 15 minutes before serving. A tablespoon of glucose syrup from the baking aisle in the mixture keeps it noticeably softer. Well sealed, it keeps for about two weeks, after which it starts to taste of the freezer. Too much lemon juice makes the mixture seem grainy, so one tablespoon is enough.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
For fruit froyo, purée 120 g of strawberries or mango and fold the purée in before freezing. If you like it chocolatey, stir 2 tbsp of cocoa into the honey until smooth. A layer of peanut butter or caramel sauce, swirled through the half-frozen mixture with a spoon, gives you ripples. Leftovers of a New York Cheesecake, cut into small cubes, also make a good topping.
Ingredient substitutions
Instead of honey, icing sugar, maple syrup or date syrup all work. Granulated sugar dissolves poorly in cold yogurt and stays crunchy, so icing sugar is the better choice. Skyr can replace the Greek yogurt, but it is low in fat, so stir in 4 tbsp of cream instead of 2. Vanilla extract can be swapped for the seeds of half a vanilla pod or a little grated lemon zest.
Drink pairing ideas
Frozen yogurt goes well with a cold iced tea or an American Sweet Tea with lemon. If you enjoy the tang of the yogurt, try rhubarb juice topped up with sparkling water. An espresso alongside tastes almost like an affogato. For children, a homemade lemonade with little sugar is a good choice.
Serving and presentation ideas
Serve the frozen yogurt in chilled glasses or small bowls, so it melts more slowly. Layered with berries and granola, it looks like a parfait. A scoop next to a slice of Strawberry Shortcake turns a cake into a dessert with two temperatures.
A bit of history
Frozen yogurt went on sale in New England in the 1970s, among other names under the brand Frogurt. The early versions are said to have been rather sour. In the 1980s, chains such as TCBY grew quickly; founded in Little Rock in 1981, it already had more than 100 outlets by 1984. Frozen yogurt was seen as a lighter alternative to ice creams such as Rocky Road Ice Cream. In the mid-2000s, new chains such as Pinkberry appeared, followed later by self-service shops where you pay by weight. In Germany, frozen yogurt only caught on from around 2010, and today there are shops in several large cities.
More recipe ideas
For even more ideas, explore more American recipes.
Summary: Frozen Yogurt
Good frozen yogurt above all needs rich, drained yogurt and enough sweetness, because the cold swallows a lot of it. With an ice cream maker it takes 25 minutes, without one three hours of regular stirring. It is creamiest eaten fresh.
