How To Flavor Kefir

Kefir is a great way to get in your daily probiotics, but the taste of it plain can be pretty sour! Here’s how to flavor kefir (3 delicious ways).

 

I’m sure you are already familiar with Greek yogurt and all the amazing health benefits. However, some people just aren’t fans of the texture or even the amazing tanginess. Getting your nutrition in from whole foods is where it’s at though, so I’m happy to say there’s another way to get healthy little probiotics into your system – milk kefir!

Now, you can obviously grab some at the store, but I much prefer to make homemade kefir. It’s much cheaper to grab some grains and plain milk and let it do its thing. You can also easily control the ingredients this way and avoid excess sugar. And if you want to hide that tang with fruit, flavored kefir at the store almost always has lots of added sugar.

So today we’re whipping up three delicious flavors of kefir – strawberry, peach, and blueberry! (This recipe is a part of our dog-friendly recipes series as we launch our new dog food blog, BoneAppetreat.com! Scroll to the bottom to see how to make this recipe dog-friendly!)

Ingredients for flavored Kefir

This flavored kefir recipe is hardly a recipe at all. Two or three ingredients are all you need to be drinking down a cold fruit-flavored glass of kefir!

• Kefir: Drink your bacteria! Everyone knows we need good bacteria for gut health, and homemade kefir is an affordable and tasty option.
• Fruit: The sky is really the limit here. Cherries, bananas, apples, mango. Pretty much any fruit you can throw in the blender can be used here.

Strawberry Kefir

Seriously, when I said 3 ingredients I wasn’t kidding! And five minutes, too. You could easily strain your fresh kefir directly into the blender to flavor.

Slice up fresh strawberries and add them to your blender full of kefir.

And that’s it! Blend away into a frothy drink. How sweet your strawberries are will determine how much sweetener you need. Feel free to blend with just the fruit before tasting and adding your sweetener of choice.

Blueberry Kefir

You can see I used frozen blueberries here – fresh or frozen doesn’t matter. The ratio of fruit to kefir is less than when making a smoothie, so it won’t make it thick.

I definitely recommend a high-powered blender for fruits like blueberries so that you don’t have any pieces of skin left in your drink. Fresh blueberries can also be sour, so you will likely want to add sweetener to this option.

Make it fun and serve it up with a few pieces of fresh fruit and a matching straw!

Peach Kefir

Nothing says summer like fresh juicy peaches! You could even used canned slices here, just drain them first. And if they are canned in fruit juice you likely can skip the extra sweetener.

It’s summer sunshine in a cup!

How to flavor Kefir

Keep It Cold: Use frozen berries to have a dose of summer all year round. No need to thaw – you aren’t using as much fruit as you would in a smoothie so there’s no worry about it being too thick.

Buy Or Make: Grab some kefir at the store if you need to – just make sure it is plain and unsweetened. You can also always make your own kefir.

Can dogs have kefir?

Probiotics in kefir are great for humans and dogs alike. Pour some over their food, give them a small bowl of it to drink, or freeze it into pupsicles for them to enjoy! Just remember to ensure you are giving them fruits that are safe for them to eat, and leave out any added sugar. (For more dog food tips, check out our new site, Bone Appétreat!)