Upgrade Your Boring Yogurt Parfait With One Simple Ingredient

Yogurt parfait is a great treat that has protein, B vitamins, and more, making it a favorite among many looking for a nutritious breakfast option. However, while some spruce it up by adding toppings, some believe parfaits suffer from being too plain or lack overall flavor. Though making yogurt more flavorful can sometimes come at the expense of yogurt's overall health factor — like with some unhealthy but popular flavored yogurt brands in stores today — it can also be accomplished using ingredients that will naturally improve the parfait without sacrificing any of its nutritional value. Chief among these ingredients is undoubtedly lemon zest, which gives yogurt a strong boost in tang and sweetness while also making it even more nutritious.

For those unfamiliar with what lemon zest is, the useful ingredient is comprised of pieces of grated lemon rind that add flavor to your favorite recipes. It's at its best when it's mixed into your yogurt before adding other ingredients to the equation, thus giving the parfait's base a massive boost in flavor. Plus, the use of lemon zest also provides an upgrade in potassium and vitamin C. Zest won't sour the yogurt, either, which can sometimes happen when using lemon juice; the combination of Greek yogurt and lemon juice creates a great substitute for sour cream but is, unsurprisingly, not ideal for a yogurt parfait.

When it comes to using lemon zest in your yogurt parfait, using Greek yogurt over regular is the first important action to take, as the thicker, tangier yogurt complements the lemon zest very well and sets you up for success from the get-go. Beyond that, however, there are a few paths to go down when it comes to completing the snack with add-ons. For starters, you can double down on the tart, fruity taste that the lemon zest provides by looking at other ingredients with similar flavor profiles. Sour cherries and cranberries — ideally in sauce form — are great choices for this, as they are able to take the tangy nature of the lemon zest parfait to a new level.

However, you may opt to balance the strong flavors of lemon zest with contrasting ones in order to give parfaits a more complete taste. This can be done by adding subtly sweet fruits like strawberries and blueberries — both of which are staples of mason jar yogurt breakfast parfaits — to contrast with the much sharper, sour taste that lemon zest is known for. Alternatively, you can stray away from fruity flavors entirely by adding richer toppings, such as granola and toasted coconut flakes, to bring the treat together beautifully.