Creamy Homemade Yogurt Recipe

The taste of fresh, creamy yogurt can’t be beat! Good quality ingredients, a warm place to incubate the milk and a little of your time is all it takes to produce nourishing, delicious yogurt full of healthy probiotics. Incorporating healthy probiotics into our daily diet helps to support a healthy immune and digestive system.

The higher fat content of whole milk will produce a creamy, nutritionally dense yogurt. Go to your local grocery store and purchase fresh, local milk. Even better, visit your local dairy. You will also need a yogurt starter. This can be a yogurt culture purchased from a cheese making company or a high quality plain, probiotic yogurt purchased from the grocery store.

The directions below describe making yogurt in a sauce pan. At the end of the post we describe how to use an Instant Pot.

You will also need a working cooking thermometer.

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Creamy Homemade Yogurt Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 quart 4 cups whole milk
• 1 Tablespoon plain yogurt or starter
• If you would like to make vanilla yogurt you will also need:
• 2 Tablespoons Organic Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla

Instructions

Stove Top Instructions

• Heat the milk to 180F
• If making vanilla yogurt, add sugar to the milk before heating up.
• Take the yogurt off the heat and cool to 110F.
• Add the starter to the warm milk and stir well.
• If you are making vanilla yogurt, add the vanilla.
• Pour the warm, cultured milk into a glass quart jar.
• Place jar into a container like a thermos or cooler
• Add 100F water around the jars
• Incubate for 8 hours
• Remove jar from container and refrigerate until cooled completely.

Instant Pot Directions:

• Place milk in Instant Pot pan.
• If making vanilla yogurt, add sugar to the milk before heating up.
• Use the saute mode bring the milk temperature to 180F. Stir a few times.
• Remove the pan from the Instant Pot, cool milk to 110F.
• Add starter to the warm milk and stir well.
• If you are making vanilla yogurt, add the vanilla.
• Pour the warm, cultured milk into a quart jar.
• Fill the Instant Pot pan ⅓ full with warm (100-110F) water.
• Place jar into the Instant Pot.
• Put Instant Pot lid on and select the yogurt mode.
• Set timer for 8 hours. This not a pressurized cycle.
• Chill yogurt completely in the refrigerator.