This One Ingredient Turns Plain Yogurt Into Dessert

As a restaurant critic for a monthly magazine, my days eating indulgent meals out fluctuates throughout the year, and fall and winter are the quietest for me. It means that right now, I’m focused on nourishing my body and eating what I want, rather than treating meals like an assignment. I crave simple, but still delicious things.

Every night that I’m not eating out for work, I have a modest after-dinner treat of Walmart’s Great Value Greek yogurt. I pay less than $3 for a 32-ounce tub that lasts me more than a week. Plus, I’ve found a workaround that makes it taste like a special dessert that still feels good to eat: a spoonful of Nutella. If you whisk it in, the yogurt becomes a dupe for chocolate mousse—it’s sweet and delicious, but still feels nourishing.

Sometimes, a gal’s just gotta have some chocolate—and hazelnuts. I started my journey to this satisfying sweet treat with virtue in mind. I added dark chocolate cocoa powder and honey to my yogurt. It was intensely chocolatey and rich, but one day, the jar of Nutella in the pantry called to me. It beckoned with the promise of a sweeter, more delicious dessert. Over time, I refined it into my favorite reward for a day of hard work.

How To Add Nutella to Yogurt

I like my yogurt closer to room temperature than right-out-of-the-fridge, so I pull it out of the fridge as I finish cooking dinner. I put three heaping tablespoons of yogurt in a bowl and let it sit out on the counter. 

After dinner, I add one tablespoon of Nutella to the yogurt. I’ve tried whipping it with a whisk to make it light and airy, but I’ve found that my favorite texture, which is a little denser, comes from whisking the Nutella into the yogurt with a fork. 

When I want to thicken it up even more, I mix in a tablespoon of chia seeds. The nutty-tasting seeds expand in the yogurt’s moisture and go from crunchy to smooth and slippery. It takes a little time to plump up, so I add it right when I take the yogurt out of the fridge. 

I love berries in my yogurt, so I top them on top of my fluffy Nutella dessert, too. My favorites are raspberries or blueberries. The only thing better than the texture of the creamy, chocolatey yogurt is when it’s briefly interrupted by the burst of a fresh berry. 

Now, when I reach for the yogurt, I know it will only take one ingredient to take it from boring to delectable.