•Curcumin powder formulation revealed the strongest bioactive properties.•Curcumin addition did not cause relevant changes in yogurt’s nutritional parameters.•Modified curcumin formulations achieved a higher colour homogeneity.•Nanoencapsulated curcumin exhibited the strongest colouring capacity.•The colour achieved with curcumin was maintained throughout storage time. Curcumin (E100) is a natural colorant that, besides conferring color, has bioactivity, serving as an alternative to some artificial colorants. As a hydrophobic colorant, its modification/compatibilization with the aqueous medium is required to improve stability and enable its application in hydrophilic food matrices. Herein, different formulations of curcumin (curcumin powder: PC, water-dispersible curcumin: DC: and nanoencapsulated curcumin: NC) were evaluated as yogurt colorants. PC showed the strongest bioactivity in all assays (EC50 values: 63 ± 2 to 7.9 ± 0.1 μg.mL−1; GI50 values: 48 ± 1 to 17 ± 1 μg.mL−1 and MIC values: 0.0625 to 0.5 mg.mL−1), which might indicate that DC and NC reduce the short-term accessibility to curcumin. The tested curcumin formulations produced yogurts with different appearance, specifically associated with their color parameters, besides presenting slight changes in nutritional composition and free sugars and fatty acids profiles. The water compatible formulations (DC and NC) showed advantages over hydrophobic (PC) having a wider industrial utilization.