Cooking with Chobani in Uptown Charlotte

I had the privilege of attending a Chobani holiday cooking event last week. The maker of Greek yogurt invited a group of Charlotte food bloggers, and Andrea brought me along as her guest. Until that event, I didn't know Chobani, which is headquartered in Norwich, New York, had opened a sales office here, located on the 16th floor of the Charlotte Plaza building in Uptown. The Charlotte office opened about six months ago, and it has a large test kitchen, which is where the cooking event was held.

There were about 14 of us in attendance, hosted by two Chobani Charlotte chefs and two coordinators from their New York office (including Andrew Emerson who took the photos you see here). The Chobani team had a layout of recipes ready for us, and we worked in pairs to cook eight dishes that would come together for a compete meal. Each of the dishes featured Chobani yogurt as a main ingredient.

Andrea and I were tasked with cooking the holiday stuffing, which was made of unseasoned cubed bread stuffing, onion, celery, garlic cloves, extra virgin olive oil, low-sodium chicken broth, fresh oregano and thyme, salt, pepper, butter, and two-and-a-half cups of Chobani Low-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt. It took us about 20 minutes to prep and then about 30 minutes for it to bake in the oven. I enjoyed the whole process (which was enhanced by the free-flowing wine).

 

The rest of the group cooked up Chobani-inspired versions of gorgonzola crostini, salad with honey walnut dressing, steamed asparagus with hollandaise, pumpkin risotto, smashed potatoes with broccoli, roasted butternut squash soup, and an iced gingerbread bundt cake. When it was all done, we sat down and ate the large, yet healthy, meal. It was delicious and has opened my eyes to the many possibilities of cooking with yogurt.

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You can find the recipes for what we cooked, along with plenty others, in the recipes section on Chobani's website. Since first hitting store shelves in 2007, Chobani has gone on to become the top-selling yogurt brand in America.