Knowledge is power but SO IS experience!
I know it may sound crazy or complicated to make certain items yourself but it’s not. I know you could just go to the store and buy it but all you need to do is make them once (or maybe twice) to see how easy and delicious it is. It is worth it.
This is my first batch of homemade yogurt. Why has it taken me so many years to make this myself? ??♀️ It was so easy and it’s so delicious, even without straining it. This is another item I will scratch off the grocery store list from now on. ? It’s always so hard to find full fat or even 2% Greek yogurt anyway. They want to sell everything fat-free. ? However, for those who want to make their yogurt instantly, you can purchase greek yogurt culture products online.
And for those who want to save a little extra, this method is CHEAP. It cost 31¢ per 1/2 serving and that was using organic milk!
Seriously, just 4 simple steps to make Greek Yogurt in your Instant Pot!
So here are just a few things that I will NEVER buy from the store again. I just keep ingredients on hands to make my own.
1. Mayonnaise—-> Once you have a good mayonnaise, you use it and everything. We go through at least one batch a week. At least one. ? This 
recipe takes less than 1 minute!
2. Sweet Pickles and Relish —-> For years I stopped buying sweet relish because of the sugar but after making some low-carb crunchy sweet pickles and making relish from it, I am hooked. ? Now I use it along with my mayo in my eggs salad, chicken salad… It’s just so delicious! It taste 1 million times better than the stuff from the store. Promise you.
3. Taco seasoning —> This one is a no-brainer. Perfect in taco soup, taco salads and sprinkled on steaks to make fajitas!
4. Ranch seasoning—-> This makes the perfect ranch dip, ranch dressing and even makes a unique burger and roast chicken seasoning.
5. Guacamole —-> You know my thoughts on guacamole. It’s just delicious and I keep avocados on hand almost every week to make fresh guacamole. Again, it is so easy and so much better than the stuff in the store and it is a perfect FULL of fat!
6. Now: Greek Yogurt! For 31¢ a serving, it’s not only delicious but a bargain!
(Place your cursor over pictures below for full description.)
Greek Yogurt as EASY as 1-2-3-4
What a sale on organic milk! At this price, my yogurt comes out to about 31¢ per 1/2 cup serving.
This Greek yogurt was so simple to make I want to kick myself for not doing is sooner!
If you want the science behind it and why you should be eating yogurt, please check out this link. I’m wanting to keep this short, sweet and simple so you realize how NOT complicated it is. 🙂
What you will need
For this recipe, you are going to need an Instant Pot. I have THIS one. If you don’t have an Instant Pot, there are other ways to make it but I will not address them in this post. I really have enjoyed my Instant Pot and they are a good investment! 🙂
You will also need a thermometer. Digital is great!
Of course you will need milk and greek yogurt with NO sweetener or flavoring.
Easy Greek Yogurt (Instant Pot)
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon full fat milk
- 2 tablespoons full fat Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Heat milk to 180° F
- Cool milk to 110° F
- Add yogurt culture and incubate for 10-12 hours.
- For Greek Yogurt: Strain
That’s really it. All the other stuff in this post is just giving you more information on these specifics.
Sterilize
Before you begin, make sure your instant pot is clean and sterilized. This is kind of a no brainer but important. You don’t want your yogurt tasting like your batch of chicken broth you made yesterday. Then proceed:
Step 1:
Heat 1/2 gallon of whole milk (that has not been ultra pasteurized) to 180°F. My Instant Pot has a yogurt setting but it is only for the incubation period. So to reach 180°, Simply use your “sauté” mode on your Instant Pot. It should take 10 to 12 minutes. Stir occasionally and use a digital thermometer to check temperature. Do NOT scrape the bottom.
Step 2a:
Once 180°F has been reached, cool milk to 110° in an ice water bath, stirring occasionally. Again, use digital thermometer for accurate reading. Once the temperature has been achieved, removed from ice bath. This should take around 10 minutes if using an ice bath.
Step 2b:
Add 2 heaping tablespoons of full fat, unflavored and unsweetened yogurt to a clean bowl and add about 1/2 a cup of the cooled milk to the yogurt mixture and mix well.
Step 3:
Add the yogurt slurry back to your tempered milk and stir well. Place back into Instant Pot, add lid and hit the “yogurt“ setting. Allowed to incubate for 10-12 hours. The automatic time that comes up on the Instant Pot is 8 hours and you can adjust it up to 10. Once time is up, the Instant Pot will read “YGRT.” DO NOT disturb yogurt during this time. Your patience will be rewarded.
Technically after it has incubated, the yogurt is done. Of course you will want to chill it in the refrigerator. To make Greek yogurt, see below.
Yield: 1/2 gallon of milk yields approximately half a gallon of regular yogurt
For Greek yogurt, Step 4:
While chilling the yogurt, you would also strain it for 4 to 6 hours to remove whey. What you’re left with is thick and delicious Greek yogurt. You can strain it through cheesecloth or do what I did and just use coffee filters over a strainer. Refrigerate and let it separate. The longer you strain, the thicker the yogurt becomes. If it is too thick in the end, you can always add some of the whey back.
Yield: For 1/2 gallon of milk, I yielded 1 quart of Greek yogurt and 1 quart of whey after letting it separate for 5 hours.
That’s it folks. Homemade Greek Yogurt. Taste better than anything you can get at the store and SO MUCH cheadefinitelyfinteily better for you!
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