Homemade Yogurt

Anna

5 from 2 votes

Learn how to make homemade yogurt! This homemade natural yogurt recipe is so good and incredibly easy, you'll never buy yogurt from the grocery store again! This recipe will guide you through from start to end, whether you making plain or Greek-style yogurt.

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Incubation Time 6

Total Time 6 30

Servings: 8 cups

Course: Cooking Basics, Sauce, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: American

Calories: 162

Ingredients Equipment Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

2l/2qt of milk
¼ cup natural store-bought yogurt just make sure that on the pot of yogurt says: ACTIVE OR LIVING CULTURES.

Equipment

Large Saucepan
Bowl
Glass jars with lids
Sieve
Cooler or yogurt maker
Cheesecloth

Method

Milk:

Place the milk in a large saucepan and heat to 82°C /180°F, stirring constantly to prevent skin from forming. Keep the milk at that temperatura for 15 min.

Cold bath:

Transfer the saucepan of milk to an ice bath (fill the sink with ice and water), to cool the milk to 45°C /115°F.

Season:

Pour out ½ cup of milk into a clean bowl. Stir in ¼ cup of plain yogurt, and mix it well until the yogurt is well incorporated. Add the milk and yogurt mixture to the remaining milk and mix well.

Incubate:

Pour the milk into glass jars and close with a lid, wrap in a warm damp towel to keep warm, and place in the oven with the light on OR place in a cooler with water heated to 40-48°C/104-118℉ OR use a yogurt maker. Let the bacteria make your yogurt by incubating it for 6 to 12 hours.
When the incubation process is complete, remove the jars and place them in the refrigerator. Let the yogurt cool completely before eating.

Strain:

If you desire, you can go one step father and strain it to make Greek-style yogurt. To strain, line a mesh strainer with cheesecloth (or a kitchen towel, coffee filters, etc.) and pour in the yogurt. Place over a large bowl and let strain in the refrigerator for a few hours (or overnight) until desired consistency is reached.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 162kcalCarbohydrates: 12.6gProtein: 8.4gFat: 8.6gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.5gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 114mgPotassium: 352mgSugar: 13gVitamin A: 425IUCalcium: 301mg

Notes

*If you use the oven light-on method, this should be enough to keep the milk warm for fermentation. You can also turn the oven on for 1 minute (just enough to warm it up a bit) now and then. We aim to keep the milk/yogurt at around 45°C-113 ℉ throughout the entire process.