This Yogurt Is Made With Cow’s Milk, But It’s Lactose-Free

These days, the grocery store is teeming with non-dairy yogurts: soy, coconut, almond—there are a bunch. While these yogurts provide creamy bites in granola bowls for vegans and lactose-intolerant folks, the protein count is usually pretty low. For people who avoid dairy purely for the lactose (sorry, vegans), Yoplait has recently launched an alternative. YQ by Yoplait is a thick, 2-percent fat yogurt made with ultra-filtered milk that renders it 99-percent lactose-free.

After the success of Oui, Yoplait’s French-style yogurt that launched last summer, it’s clear that Yoplait wants to develop more more ways to provide us with a high-protein, low-sugar alternative to other yogurts on the market.

YQ is made with ultra-filtered milk, which concentrates the amount of protein in the milk while removing much of its naturally occurring sugar, also known as lactose. What Yoplait describes as “a special churning technique” renders the yogurt super-thick and similar to a Greek-style yogurt.

Their website says that YQ allows people to enjoy thick yogurt “without the tart tang or chalky aftertaste of Greek-style yogurts.” Interestingly, this is what I missed the most as I ate a plain-flavored YQ. I found myself waiting for the familiar tang I look for in yogurt, but it never came. In fact, the YQ didn’t taste like much of anything, but I did genuinely enjoy its texture. Though I didn’t feel the yogurt needed more sweetness, I would’ve enjoyed pairing this one with fruit or granola simply to get some flavor up in there.

The other flavors of YQ yogurts weren’t quite as good as the plain. Unlike other coconut-flavored dairy yogurts, I found this one to smell and taste like coconut-scented sunscreen—likely because it’s made with coconut water concentrate and natural coconut flavor, not coconut meat. The other flavors, however, were made with real fruit (blueberries, peaches, mangoes, limes, and strawberries) or vanilla beans, and that certainly came through in the flavor.

Ultimately, I think YQ is a great option for people who are lactose-intolerant and are bothered by traditional yogurt. Though I don’t think it’ll replace Fage, my personal favorite Greek yogurt, I wouldn’t be upset if I were offered a container of plain YQ, but I would reach for some honey to put on top.