High Protein Yogurt: Greek, Skyr and Regular Compared

A high protein yogurt is one that gives about 10 g of protein per 100 g, as plain Greek yogurt and skyr do. Regular plain yogurt gives about 4 g. To get 20 g of protein you need roughly 190 g of Greek yogurt or skyr (113–119 kcal). Regular nonfat yogurt takes 473 g and 237 kcal. I compared nine yogurts: seven from USDA records, such as the plain nonfat Greek entry, and two skyr from maker pages. Everything sits in one table, in grams and calories for the same 20 g.

Which has more protein: Greek yogurt, skyr or regular yogurt?

Skyr and Greek yogurt tie, and both carry well over twice the protein of regular nonfat yogurt in the same weight. The table ranks them by the calories it takes to reach 20 g of protein. On a UK label the same food reads yoghurt.

Yogurt (state)	Energy per 100 g	Protein per 100 g	Grams for 20 g of protein	Energy for 20 g of protein
Skyr, plain, nonfat, Siggi’s label, 150 g cup	60 kcal	10.7 g	188 g	113 kcal
Greek, plain, nonfat	61 kcal	10.3 g	194 g	118 kcal
Skyr, 0% fat, plain, Arla UK page	63 kcal	10.6 g	189 g	119 kcal
Greek, plain, lowfat	73 kcal	9.95 g	201 g	147 kcal
Greek, vanilla, nonfat	78 kcal	8.64 g	232 g	181 kcal
Greek, plain, whole milk	95 kcal	8.78 g	228 g	215 kcal
Regular, plain, nonfat	50 kcal	4.23 g	473 g	237 kcal
Regular, plain, whole milk	77 kcal	3.82 g	523 g	404 kcal
Soy yogurt, plain	66 kcal	2.64 g	758 g	500 kcal

The skyr rows come from the makers’ pages. Siggi’s rounds to whole grams: 90 kcal and 16 g of protein for a 150 g cup, so 60 kcal and 10.7 g per 100 g. Arla’s UK page lists 63.2 kcal and 10.6 g per 100 g. I read both. USDA’s Greek yogurt record is within 0.4 g of both, so treat the three as a tie.

You can rebuild the last two columns for any row. Divide 20 by the protein per 100 g and multiply by 100 to get the grams, then multiply the grams by the energy per 100 g and divide by 100.

Regular yogurt has real protein, just spread thin. That shows up in the bowl: it takes about 2.4 times the weight of Greek yogurt to match it. A 245 g cup of plain skim-milk yogurt has 14.0 g of protein and 137 kcal. Compare per 100 g on the label, not per cup, because cups in these records run from 150 g to 245 g. A big cup can hide a thin yogurt.

Why is Greek yogurt higher in protein than regular yogurt?

Greek yogurt is strained. Making it drains off liquid acid whey, as a 2022 study describes, so the same milk ends up as less, thicker yogurt. Skyr is made the same way, and Siggi’s calls it a strained nonfat yogurt. Plain nonfat Greek yogurt has 10.3 g of protein per 100 g against 4.23 g for regular. It costs only 11 kcal more per 100 g (Greek, regular).

The Siggi’s cup lists only skim milk and live cultures, and that short list is what I look for on every tub. A longer one means something else went in.

Does flavored Greek yogurt cost you protein?

In the USDA records, yes, and it adds sugar too. Per 100 g, the vanilla nonfat Greek record has 78 kcal, 8.64 g of protein and 9.54 g of sugars. The plain lowfat Greek record from the same database has 73 kcal, 9.95 g of protein and 3.56 g of sugars (vanilla, plain). In a 150 g container that is 9.0 g more sugar and 2.0 g less protein for the vanilla one. The fat level differs between the two records, so read the protein gap as rough.

The Guidelines cap added sugar in a yogurt snack at 2.5 g per ⅔ cup. They also say plain milk’s own sugar isn’t added sugar (2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines). The extra 9 g in the vanilla cup is most likely added sugar, well over that line, which is why I skip the flavored ones. Buy plain and add your own fruit, and weigh the fruit as its own entry.

Should high protein yogurt be nonfat or whole milk?

Nonfat is the pick for anyone counting calories. In the records, 20 g of protein costs 118 kcal in nonfat Greek yogurt and 215 kcal in whole-milk. That’s 97 kcal more. The Guidelines say to include full-fat dairy with no added sugars when you eat dairy, and they set 3 dairy servings a day in a 2,000-calorie pattern (Dietary Guidelines).

To see what share of your day a tub covers, get your own number from your weight with the protein calculator. It uses the 1.2–1.6 g per kg range from the Guidelines and never goes below 60 g; how much protein you should eat a day explains that range.

My take: if you eat to a calorie goal, nonfat gives the most protein per kcal, and I’d pick it for a daily snack. If you don’t count, whole milk tastes better and the Guidelines accept it. Plain Greek yogurt also replaces mayonnaise well, as in high protein egg salad, and blended into milk it makes a shake without powder, the way high protein shakes counts it. Take a 156 g container. Nonfat gives 16.1 g of protein for 95 kcal. The whole-milk record gives 13.7 g for 147 kcal, which is 52 kcal more for 2.4 g less. Eaten daily, that is about 365 kcal a week. For other low-fat protein foods to put next to it, see high protein low fat foods.

How do I log yogurt without guessing?

Log the grams on the scale, then use the label per 100 g, or a USDA record that matches your yogurt in type and fat. The cup you buy won’t always match a generic entry.

Calsa can scan the barcode on the cup, or read a photo of the nutrition label, so the yogurt you actually bought goes in your diary instead of a generic one.

A few limits apply. If you avoid dairy, plain soy yogurt gives little protein: the record has 2.64 g per 100 g, so 20 g takes 758 g. With kidney disease, the protein target comes from your doctor. A milk allergy rules out the whole top of the list.

Pick the plain version of the type you like, check the ingredient list and weigh the first tub. After that, you know your own number.