How To Make Yogurt Instant Pot

Why Use Instant Pot To Make Yogurt

Most Instant Pots have the yogurt setting which provides a controlled temperature setting that is perfect for making yogurt. That means you get consistent results every time.

Yogurt temperature settings in Instant Pot

• More for pasteurizing/boiling milk: 160~180°F .
• Normal mode for setting yogurt: 96.8 ~ 109.4°F

How Can I Enhance My Yogurts Texture And Flavor

The recipe below has three optional ingredients to enhance your yogurt: heavy cream, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract. You can use them all together, or one or more in-tandem.

Heavy cream yields a rich, creamy yogurt. It can be added to thicken lower-fat milk. If, for example, you have some skim milk you want to use up, you can buy a pint of heavy cream to make a thicker yogurt.

Sweetened condensed milk is for anyone who prefers sweetened yogurt. It adds flavor and sweetness without any graininess.

Vanilla extract is great if you typically buy vanilla yogurt. Yogurt made with both the sweetened condensed milk and the vanilla is delightful. I didnt test any additional flavors, but if you like fruit-flavored yogurt, I suggest adding jam or fruit to the bottom or top of individual servings.

Which Yogurt Starter Is Best For Homemade Yogurt

Store-bought plain Greek yogurt is the easiest yogurt starter. The most important thing is that the yogurt must have ACTIVE cultures, so check out the ingredient list to make sure it includes Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. In fact, many yogurts now say contains active cultures without you even remembering those names. Once you have made homemade yogurt once, that batch of yogurt can be used as the next starter. Winning!

Tip: If you think making this homemade yogurt recipe is easy, you will love our Instant Pot Cheat Sheet that makes cooking all the basics extra easy!

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Bonus: How Make Thickened Yogurt

For thick Greek- or Icelandic-style yogurt, spoon the yogurt into a strainer lined with a kitchen towel, coffee filter, or cheesecloth and allow to drain in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to overnight. The liquid that drains off is protein-rich whey. The author of the yogurt recipe profiled here, Daniel Shumski, suggests using it in place of water in your favorite bread dough or pizza recipes. But you can also use it in place of buttermilk in my favorite biscuits, or stir it into smoothies.

Now that you know how to make yogurt in an Instant Pot, feel free to stir in some peach jam, toss on a myriad of savory toppings, or use it to dress a gorgeous platter of Instant Potcooked beets with dill and lime:

Why Didnt My Homemade Yogurt Set

Your homemade yogurt probably wasnt kept warm enough during incubation which is why an Instant Pot really is so important as it does that hard work for you. Dont worry though, failed yogurt can be salvaged by re-heating it carefully over low heat back to 110ºF and incubating it for the second time.

Culturing your homemade yogurt for too long, at too high a temperature, or with a starter culture lacking active cultures can also cause yogurt to separate or turn lumpy. If your yogurt turns lumpy, strain it to remove the whey, then beat the yogurt solids in a bowl until it turns smooth.

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Instant Pot Homemade Yogurt

Description

Just prep all the ingredients before you go to bed and let your Instant Pot do its magic overnight. In the morning, your homemade vanilla yogurt will be ready to chill.

Recipe Tags

• Clean glass containers for storing

Directions

A Few Tips For Making Yogurt At Home

• I use 1 tablespoon prepared yogurt for every quart of milk. Therefore for ½ gallon of milk, I whisk in 2 tablespoons of already prepared yogurt into my milk.
• You can cut this recipe in half if you would like. If you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can also double this recipe for homemade yogurt.
• Do NOT try to make homemade yogurt with flavored yogurt as your starter. You need to either use a yogurt starter or plain yogurt with active live cultures. How do you know if you store-bought yogurt has live cultures? The label on the yogurt will say Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Streptococcus thermophilus.
• A huge tip for making yogurt in the future is to FREEZE your starter immediately after fresh yogurt is made. I recommend using an ice cube tray. Each ice cube holds 1 tablespoon of yogurt so you will know exactly how much yogurt to defrost when making a new yogurt batch. Just be sure to thaw your yogurt cubes in the fridge to not alter the cultures in the yogurt.
• If you would like tangier yogurt, set an incubation period to 10 hours instead of 8 hours.
• If you need more tips on how to use your instant pot or are confused about some of the functions or pieces I mentioned, check out my Instant Pot 101.

• Electric Pressure Cooker with Yogurt Function

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How Do I Set My Instant Pot To 110 Degrees

Once milk hot remove inner pot with hot pads and set aside to cool to 110 degrees. Add 3-4 Tbsp of plain yogurt in your cooled milk and whisk. Place the inner pot back into the IP and seal the lid with a closed seal. The IP is off at this point.

How Do I Make Yogurt In My Duo Gourmet Instant Pot

Instructions

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What Type Of Milk Is Best

You can use any milk you want to make your Instant Pot yogurt in jars. I use raw milk from a local farm, but you can use whole milk from the store if youd rather.

Ive never tried it with milk that wasnt full fat, so Im not sure what the results will be if you use low-fat or non-fat milk. When it is completely cool, I add fresh fruit and granola to the top.

You can also stir in homemade jam and nuts or just enjoy it plain with a little bit of honey or maple syrup.

If you want to try something that is dairy-free, this recipe uses almond milk.

Heat Milk To 180 Degrees F

• Add milk to Instant Pot: Pour milk into the inner pot of your electric pressure cooker. Close the lid and set pressure release valve to Venting. Press Yogurt button until display reads Boil.
• Milk will take about an hour to heat up: When its finished, Instant Pot will beep, turn off and display will say Yogurt.
• Make sure milk is hot: Open the lid and using a food thermometer check milks temperature. It should be 180 degrees F and higher.
• If milks temperature is not 180 degrees F: Press Saute button and give the pressure cooker 5-10 minutes to heat the milk further. Check again.

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Which Instant Pot Has A Yogurt Button

I use the Blue Tooth Enabled variety, so if you have a different type or different brand, your directions may be slightly different. But this particular style does have a button for it.

I went with the Blue Tooth Enabled version because I can monitor it on my iPhone. Its handy for those days that you are so busy you forget what time it is. I tend to have a lot of those.

What Kind Of Yogurt Starter Do I Need To Make Homemade Yogurt

A store-bought yogurt is the easiest way to start homemade yogurt. Make sure the yogurt you use includes live active cultures. You can use dairy-free, Greek, powdered yogurt, etc., but be sure to choose a plain yogurt with flavor and texture that you like! Fat content of the yogurt doesnt matter.

Fage and Oui brands and most Greek style yogurts are considered mild, while Chobani, Siggis, and Greek Gods are more tangy. Oikos brand can be considered to be either, depending on how it tastes to you! Different brands may have different blends of cultures so your results may vary a bit.

Yogurt with L. Casei may be thicker and set up more quickly. Fresher yogurt is better for those cultures to get to work!

Go for a plain yogurt that hasnt been opened for longer than 7 days. You can use vanilla yogurt, if you need to, but dont expect it to be a source of flavor for your Instant Pot yogurt.

I place a glass lid from my pots and pans on top of the Instant Pot while the yogurt cooks. You can use a dinner plate, silicone lid, or the Instant Pot glass lid instead. The lid does not need to seal.

Once it is done in the Instant Pot, just cover the pot insert and place it in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours. Do not stir until it is fully chilled.

This Instant Pot yogurt is so thick and creamy! Especially, right out of the pot after chilling. It will thin out when you stir it because you are breaking up the protein strands.

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Dahi Curd Or Yogurt Whats The Difference

Curds, in western countries, often refers to the curdled milk solids that are obtained in the process of curdling/splitting of the milk, while making cheese. In India however, curd and dahi are the same thing.

Curd or dahi in most parts of India refers to the product obtained by fermenting warm milk by introducing live strains of bacteria. These live strains of bacteria are obtained from a starter culture . This starter culture is a small portion of dahi/curd that is used to make the next big batch of dahi. In India, curd is prepared from scratch everyday in most households and therefore, the bacterial strength may differ from one home to another. Commercially made dahi is more standardised as compared to homemade dahi, which people have been making here for years.

How To Make Yogurt Without A Yogurt Button

It is a bit harder to make yogurt without a yogurt button on a pressure cooker, but it is possible.

• It is a bit harder, but it is possible.
• Pour milk into the inner pot of pressure cooker.
• Turn on the Sear/Saute function.
• Heat milk to 180°F. Use a thermometer to check the temp often and be sure to stir very often so the milk does not scorch.
• Once the milk reaches 180°F, turn off your pressure cooker.
• Remove the inner pot and cool it to 108 degrees.
• Once your milk has reached 108 stir starter yogurt and whisk until incorporated.
• Put inner pot back in instant pot and place lid on the pressure cooker.
• Wrap in a large towel, or two regular towels and incubate for at least 8 hours or 10 hours.

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Add Milk To Instant Pot And Saut

Start by adding some milk to your Instant Pot and click the sauté button. You can use whatever type youd like, but I usually go for organic whole milk to maximize the creaminess. I also prefer to leave the lid off so I can keep an eye on it.

Note that this method only works for dairy milk. While you can use milk alternatives like almond milk or coconut milk, youll need to use some extra ingredients and do things a little differently to get it to work.

I have an Instant Pot Duo and have used up to a gallon of milk at a time to make yogurt. You can make however much you want, but youll need to adjust the amount of yogurt that you add later on based on how much milk you use.

Why Make Yogurt At Home

First, lets talk about why youd want to make your own yogurt at home. Here are my top reasons, in no particular order:

• It tastes amazing. I know, you think yogurt is yogurt is yogurt but until you make it at home you might not realize how good it can really taste when its made fresh.
• It saves on waste. If you eat as much yogurt as we do you might find yourself with a towering stack of quart-sized yogurt containers. While yogurt containers can be re-used or recycled, it still feels wasteful to use this many. Make your own yogurt in mason jars and those days are over!
• It saves money. One quart of yogurt = one quart of milk plus some starter, which can either be the yogurt you made last or a packet of starter. Depending on the milk you buy this means you can cut the cost of yogurt consumption about in half. Plus, if you buy your milk in glass jars youve basically just eliminated the waste associated with your yogurt habit.
• Its easy. I promise. Read on to learn more.

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What Is A Starter Culture

A starter culture for milk is basically a milk product that is essentially rich in active lactic acid bacteria. This culture aids in souring of milk. The bacteria present in the culture changes lactose into lactic acid which causes the milk to sour, in other words, ferment.

Weve noticed that starter cultures are not easily available here in India, so we decided to experiment with packaged dahi itself. Were so pleased with the results and we just had to share it with you.

If you already set dahi at home for everyday use, you have a head start! Because you already have a starter culture to work with. We on the other hand, werent so lucky. Hence, we ventured out on a journey to figure out the best starter for our yogurt.

Five: Whisk In A Yogurt Starter

• Use either prepared yogurt or a yogurt starter and whisk into your prepared milk.
• It is important to note that if using prepared yogurt you need to be sure it is plain yogurt with live and active cultures.
• If your starter is sweetened or does not have live cultures, making yogurt at home will NOT work!

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Tips For Making The Best Tasting Yogurt

How To Make Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt

Step One: Clean your Instant Pot.

• This sounds like a no-brainer. But I am not talking about simply washing your Instant Pot–you need to sanitize your inner pot.
• You can prepare your inner pot for making yogurt by pouring boiling water in the inner pot and then discard the water.
• This step can be skipped, but it helps drastically in the flavor of your yogurt–especially if you have been making a lot of Instant Pot Chili.

Step Two: Heat your Milk in your Instant Pot.

• Pour ½ gallon milk into the inner pot of your electric pressure cooker, put the lid on the Instant Pot . Hit yogurt function and then the adjust button until it says Boil.
• When the Instant Pot beeps that it is done, remove the lid and test the temperature to be sure the milk has reached 180 degrees.
• I like to leave the inner pot in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes before removing it. This helps the yogurt thicken up a bit better.

Step Three: Cool the milk to approximately 105-115 degrees.

• Cooling the milk to this temperature takes about 1 hour if placed on the counter.
• I like to speed the process up by placing the inner pot into a large mixing bowl in ice water. This takes about 15-20 minutes.

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