If you avoid dairy, you can still eat fermented foods: plant “yogurts” made with live cultures, fizzy water kefir, tempeh, miso and natto, and all the lacto-fermented vegetables from sauerkraut to kimchi. This page covers the dairy-replacement part – what plant yogurts are, which one is easiest to make well at home, and two popular “dairy-free ferments” we don’t recommend.
Do You Need to Avoid Dairy?
It depends on why. People with a milk allergy or who eat vegan need plant-based options. If lactose is the only problem, fermented milks may still work: the live cultures in yogurt help digest its lactose – a health claim the European Food Safety Authority accepted (EFSA, 2010) – and many people with lactose intolerance tolerate yogurt and kefir better than milk.
Plant Yogurts Are Not Nutritional Copies of Dairy Yogurt
Two label surveys show how much they vary:
- Of 249 non-dairy yogurt alternatives sold in the US, only 45% had calcium fortified to at least 10% of the daily value, and only about one in five had that level of vitamin D or B12. Half were high in sugar. Coconut-based products were the only group high in saturated fat (Craig & Brothers, 2021).
- Of 98 fermented plant yogurts in Switzerland, soy-based ones came closest to dairy yogurt in protein, while coconut-based ones were lower in protein and higher in saturated fat and calories. Only 18% were fortified, and swapping dairy yogurt one-for-one for unfortified versions lowered modeled intakes of calcium, iodine, B12 and other nutrients (Barth et al., 2026).
So when you buy, look for plain, unsweetened products with live cultures listed on the label and added calcium, vitamin D and B12. When you make your own, start with a fortified soy milk if those nutrients matter to you.
Soy Yogurt: the Most Reliable One to Make
Soy milk has the protein to set into a spoonable yogurt without thickeners, so it behaves most like dairy milk. Use a soy milk made from just soybeans and water (plus added calcium), and a starter that really contains live cultures: a few spoonfuls of a plain plant yogurt whose label lists them, or a packet of dairy-free yogurt starter. Then hold it warm, 40–45°C, until it sets (recipe card below) – the same method as making dairy yogurt at home.
Opened probiotic capsules are a poor starter. Supplement strains are chosen to be taken as pills, not to sour and thicken milk quickly, and a weak start gives other bacteria a chance.
Coconut Yogurt
Coconut milk is rich but low in protein and sugar, so it doesn’t set on its own. The same method works with full-fat coconut milk if you add a teaspoon of sugar for the culture and a thickener such as agar (heat it in, then cool before adding the starter); it thickens further in the fridge. Expect a dessert-like yogurt with little protein, and more saturated fat than soy.
Two Dairy-Free Ferments We Don’t Recommend
- Fermented raw-cashew “cheese”. Between 2013 and 2021 there were three salmonellosis outbreaks in North America linked to cashew cheese made from soaked, fermented cashews. Raw cashews can carry Salmonella (Louvau & Harris, 2023), and in a UC Davis experiment, Salmonella on soaked cashews held at 24°C grew more than 100,000-fold in a day without a starter – and still grew with a starter culture; adding salt or citric acid didn’t change that (Louvau et al., 2024). The many online recipes that leave blended raw cashews on the counter for 1–2 days skip this step entirely. For a cashew spread, blend it with lemon juice and keep it in the fridge instead of fermenting it.
- Rejuvelac. Water fermented with sprouted grain is often used as a “probiotic” starter for nut cheeses. In a 2026 analysis of homemade quinoa rejuvelac, there were no lactic acid bacteria at all – the drink was dominated by environmental bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Enterobacter (Brasileiro et al., 2026).
Other Dairy-Free Fermented Foods
For a fizzy drink with live yeasts and bacteria, water kefir is easy and quick (how it compares with kombucha). For protein, fermented soybeans such as tempeh, miso and natto are covered in our fermented soybean guide. And if the goal is live cultures every day, see fermented foods to eat every day.
