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What do you do when it’s scorching hot outside? Whip out a tub of ice cream? Gulp down ice cold water? Make a smoothie? Let me know your favorite way to cool down in the summer!
Unfortunately the days are numbered for really hot days here in Canada. However, if you’ve been here for awhile, you know that my motto is that there is no “right” time of year to enjoy your favorite food and drink!
A Sweet Plain Lassi is probably one of the most simple yet extremely refreshing drinks you’ll ever try. You can make it whenever you want and it’s ready in literally 30 seconds, and it’s bound to be a new favorite! If you’re ever feeling hot and want to cool down instantly, this lassi recipe is for you!
Watch the video to see just how easy it is! It would mean a lot to me if you would please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’re not already, and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my new recipe videos are live! Let’s get mixing!
What is a Sweet Lassi?▼
A lassi is an Indian and Pakistani yogurt-based cold drink. Lassis are consumed in both India and Pakistan because they originate from the Punjab region of India, which is now separated between India and Pakistan. Lassis are the most famous cold drink in India, comparable in popularity to the hot chai! Lassis can be sweet, salty, or fruity. You may be familiar with the famous Mango Lassi, but there are many others that I’ll describe later on in this post!
Lassi is typically enjoyed as a summer treat since it is super refreshing. However, nothing stops you from having a lassi whenever you’d like! Once you see how simple it is to make this basic lassi recipe and how delicious it is, you may want to have a lassi every day!
Health Benefits of Indian Sweet Plain Lassi
- Yogurt contains probiotics, making it good for digestion and to boost immunity
- Light on the stomach
- High in calcium
- Protein-packed
Why You’ll Love This Sweet Lassi Recipe!
- Cools you down on a hot day
- Super fast to make
- Two ingredients needed
- Minimal kitchen tools needed
- Awesome for children!
Do I need a Blender for Sweet Plain lassi?▼
For this Basic Lassi recipe, you won’t need a blender, since you’ll just need to mix water and sugar with the yogurt. If you want to crush the ice with these ingredients, then of course use it. More “advanced” lassi recipes may require a blender if you need to break things down to add to the texture of the drink, such as dried fruits.
Equipment Needed to Make a Basic Lassi
Ingredients for This Plain Lassi Drink
You’ll only need TWO ingredients that you most likely already have to make yogurt lassi, meaning you can make it whenever you’d like! If you want to make a large amount of lassi for a crowd, check out the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD for all ingredient quantities and to scale the recipe based on how many portions you want to make!
- Plain yogurt: My favorite type of yogurt is the Balkan yogurt. It’s very thick and creamy and not overly sour. However, pretty much any yogurt you have on hand will work! As I describe in my free guide to motivate you to get creative in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!, I always suggest to use up ingredients that you already have before rushing to the store to get new products, unless a specific ingredient is actually crucial to the recipe. If you have Greek yogurt, then you can just add more water to thin out the yogurt. Greek yogurt will also contain more protein. If you have vanilla yogurt on hand, then you can add less sugar. If your yogurt is fat-reduced, then you won’t need much water, or you can mix with milk or half and half cream to increase the creaminess.
- Granulated white sugar: Regular table sugar is the perfect sweetener for this classic lassi recipe. It’s cheap and a staple household ingredient. If you want, you can certainly try other sweeteners! Play around with brown sugar, honey, cane sugar, agave syrup or maple syrup for natural sweetener options. If you want zero calorie sweeteners, try Splenda or Stevia.
- Water: As required to thin out the yogurt.
- Ice: Ice cubes are optional if you want an even colder drink.
- Ground green cardamom: I love to add this to my Indian sweet recipes, such as Rice Kheer (pudding) or Gajar ka Halwa (carrot pudding). This is optional, but if you want to enhance the flavor of your lassi a little more, then I definitely recommend it!
- Garnish: Optional. As you can see, I left my lassi plain, but if you want to dress up this simple lassi a little more, garnish with some chopped almonds or pistachios, rose petals, or strands of saffron.
Variations of This Plain Lassi Recipe
- Salty: You could do sweet and salty or just salty. Add some salt (Himalayan pink salt is my preference), or black salt.
- Mango: One of the most famous lassi options that you’ll see on pretty much any Indian restaurant menu! See how to make Sweet Mango Lassi in just a few minutes! This is my favorite lassi recipe as well!
- Fruit: There are plenty of fruits you can make lassi with! Popular ones include strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, blood orange, or banana.
- Chocolate: If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I love chocolate! However, believe it or not I’ve never tried a chocolate lassi! I’m so ashamed to say this! But this is probably what I would try next! You can make it with cocoa powder and a chocolate bar.
- Masala: If you want a spicier lassi, try throwing in some freshly ground spices like, green cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, star anise and black peppercorns. You could even roast and grind some cumin seeds.
- Dry fruits: In India, nuts are also referred to as “dried fruits.” You can make lassi with almonds (known as Badam lassi), pistachios, cashews, figs, or raisins.
- Herb: Some savory lassi recipes include cilantro, and some sweet and savory have mint. A super refreshing combination for the hottest of days is mint and cucumber.
- Kesar: This lassi is made with saffron threads soaked in warm milk, sugar, and ground green cardamom.
- Rose: Prepared with rose syrup.
How to Make Lassi
Add your yogurt into a mixing bowl or directly in your serving glass. Add some water to thin out the yogurt and whisk well.
Then, add in sugar and more water and whisk.
Enjoy!
Tips for This Simple Lassi Recipe
- Use ice cold water or room temperature water depending on how cold you want the drink.
- If you want to have the best lassi, be ambitious and use homemade yogurt, made with boiled milk and some yogurt.
- I encourage you to whisk the yogurt and sugar so that it’s whipped and smooth. Mixing with a spoon instead of a wire whisk can result in the sugar being grainy.
- Enjoy your lassi immediately for best results.
- Use milk instead of water to thin out the lassi for an even richer drink.
- Experiment with different lassi flavors to see what your favorite is!
- Add a dollop of cream or butter on top to truly bring your lassi together and enhance the creaminess and flavors!
Serving Suggestions for Lassi
You can enjoy lassi whenever you want! It’s perfect to enjoy during dinner, such as Homestyle Chole or Rajma Masala to cool you down from the heat or spiciness of the food! It’s also a great dessert to sip on for a light treat. It’s also awesome to have in the afternoon on a hot summer day.
Can You Make Lassi in Advance?▼
You could make this Plain Lassi in advance! Simply store extra lassi in an airtight container, tall glass jar or bottle, or in a mason jar. I wouldn’t keep this drink in the fridge for longer than two days due to the yogurt splitting. If your yogurt has split from the water, simply give your glass or bottle a shake to bring everything together.
Other Easy Summer Drinks!
- Mattha - Indian-Spiced Yogurt Drink
- Iced Brown Sugar Shaken Espresso
- Strawberry Cheesecake Protein Smoothie
- Starbucks Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
Getting the Consistency and Sweetness Right
This is a two-ingredient drink, so everything comes down to ratio and to tasting as you go. The base is 3 tbsp of plain yogurt to 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, with water added a splash at a time until it pours the way you want. Start with less liquid than you think you need, because you can always thin a lassi and you cannot easily thicken it back up. For a thicker lassi, use less water, or swap the water for cold milk, which is what I do when I want something closer to a dessert. In India, buffalo milk yogurt is common and makes a noticeably richer drink than the cow's milk version most of us buy. Whichever you use, whisk rather than stir: a wire whisk dissolves the sugar and whips air into the yogurt, where a spoon leaves it grainy. A blender does the job, so does a jar you can shake, and the traditional tool is a wooden churner, a mathani, spun between the palms.
Sweetness is personal, so taste test before you pour into large glasses. Yogurt varies enormously in sour flavor, and that is really what you are adjusting for: a Balkan-style yogurt is mild, while a sharp Greek one may want closer to 2 tbsp of sugar per serving to come into balance. Jaggery is the traditional Indian sweetener here and brings a faint caramel note that white sugar does not; honey and cane sugar both work too. A pinch of ground green cardamom lifts the whole glass, or a full teaspoon cardamom powder if you are mixing a jug for several people, and a few drops of rose water takes it somewhere floral. Kids almost always prefer it sweeter and thinner than adults do. If you want it properly indulgent, float a spoonful of malai, the cream that sets on top of boiled milk, or a little heavy cream on the surface. Chill your glasses in the fridge first, because lassi is at its best cold and drunk straight away; left standing in the refrigerator it separates and you have to whisk it again.
Lassi, Curd and Chaas: What the Names Actually Mean
The vocabulary trips people up more than the recipe does. Curd is simply what yogurt is called across most of India, so any recipe asking for curd wants exactly the plain yogurt used here. Lassi is that yogurt thinned, sweetened and whipped until it is drinkable. Chaas, which you will often see translated as buttermilk on Indian menus, is the savoury sibling: the same yogurt thinned much further with water, seasoned with salt and roasted cumin and often cilantro or mint, and served as a digestive alongside lunch rather than as a treat. Worth knowing that this is not the cultured buttermilk sold in cartons in North America, which is a different product entirely. A salted lassi sits between the two, thicker than chaas but savoury rather than sweet. And mango lassi, the one everybody orders in restaurants, is this same base with mango pulp blended through it; ripe sweet mangoes or good tinned Alphonso pulp both make a genuinely good version, and strawberries do the same job once mango season has passed.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Cool down fast with a creamy, refreshing Sweet Plain Lassi. This quick and easy yogurt drink is perfectly chilled and sweetened for a classic taste you will love on hot days.
No-cook
Rate this recipe ✦
2 min
Prep
2 min
Total
1
glasses
easy
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
- (24 g) plain yogurt
- (4 g) granulated white sugarShop →
- water(as needed)
Instructions
- 1
Add your yogurt into a mixing bowl or directly in your serving glass. Add some water to thin out the yogurt and whisk well.
Add your yogurt into a mixing bowl or directly in your serving glass. Add some water to thin out the yogurt and whisk well.
- 2
Add your yogurt into a mixing bowl or directly in your serving glass. Add some water to thin out the yogurt and whisk well.
Add your yogurt into a mixing bowl or directly in your serving glass. Add some water to thin out the yogurt and whisk well.
- 3
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Nutrition per glass
47
Calories
2g
Protein
7g
Carbs
1g
Fat
0g
Fiber
7g
Sugar
25mg
Sodium
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
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