13/08/2019

Homemade Yogurt in an Instant Pot

Homemade Yogurt is incredibly easy using an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. In this post I give you step by step instructions that will produce fresh yogurt with surprisingly little effort. Eat it just as it is, or strain to make thick and creamy Greek-style yogurt.

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I knew my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker had a yogurt function, but I didn’t really give it much thought. Although I do eat a fair bit of plain yogurt (in smoothies, salad dressings, baking and whatnot), I suppose I’d assumed making my own would be too much faff.

However, away on holiday and without my blender, we’d taken to buying flavoured yogurts instead of making our own smoothies at breakfast time. The price of the quality, organic ones got me thinking. Maybe I should try out that yogurt button on the Instant Pot when I got home?

I was surprised to find that the Instant Pot manual doesn’t actually include full details for making yogurt. But a bit of research told me it should be pretty easy. And I was over the moon when my first batch worked perfectly. I haven’t bought yogurt since.

MILK & STARTER

Yogurt is made by fermenting milk. This is done by adding live, but harmless, bacteria to it. The bacteria thickens the milk and gives it that characteristic tangy yogurt flavour.

I always use whole milk as I much prefer the taste and texture to lower fat versions. Although you can make yogurt with plant milks, I’ve only tested the method I’m sharing here with dairy milk.

For your first batch of Homemade Yogurt you’ll need two tablespoons of plain live yogurt. This is your ‘starter’ and you can’t make yogurt without it. Check the label to make sure it contains nothing but plain yogurt plus live bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus or bifidobacterium.

Once you’ve made some yogurt, you can put a little aside and use that as the starter for your next batch. I put it in a container in the freezer and it keeps fine in there. Once defrosted (it should be at room temperature when you use it) the yogurt has usually split and looks awful. But don’t worry. It will still work as a starter.

Interestingly, I’ve found that using more starter than about 1 tablespoon per litre (or 2 pints) of milk can actually make the yogurt less thick. I’ve no idea of the science behind this, but don’t be tempted to add lots of starter.

EQUIPMENT

To follow my method for Homemade Yogurt, you’re going to need an Instant Pot. Obviously.

Be aware though, that not all Instant Pots have a yogurt function. You can make yogurt in lots of different ways (including with other Instant Pot models) as long as you can keep it at the required temperature over several hours.

However, I have the Duo 7-in-1 Instant Pot (paid link) and it’s instructions for that and similar models which I give in this post. As you can see in the image below, the Yogurt button is on the bottom right of the panel, just above the Keep Warm/Cancel button.

You’ll also need a thermometer. If you have one which is glass, don’t dunk it straight into near-boiling liquids from cold, or vice versa. Extremes of temperature can cause the glass to shatter, so I keep a saucepan of warm-to-hot water nearby while making yogurt and stand the thermometer in there.

MAKING HOMEMADE YOGURT

You need the thermometer because there are two important temperature readings to take when making yogurt.

The first stage for Homemade Yogurt is to boil your milk. To be precise, you need to get it to a temperature of 83 degrees Celsius (around 180 Fahrenheit). This gets rid of any harmful bacteria which could multiply during fermentation, but also changes the structure of proteins in the milk which helps it to thicken.

Helpfully, some thermometers will have this temperature marked: on mine it says STERILISE next to 81 – 83 degrees.

STEP 1: BOIL

Before I start, I like to put some boiling water from a kettle into the Instant Pot inner and (carefully!) give it a swish about. This should help to ensure that any bacteria we don’t want has been zapped.

Once that’s done, I dry the inner with a paper towel and pour in the milk. Depending on the supplier, my milk comes in either 2 litres or 4 pints. I don’t think it’s worth making any less than this amount as the yogurt keeps for 10-14 days anyway.

With the power switched on, I put on the Instant Pot lid with the lever pointing to Venting. After pressing the Yogurt button, I hit the Adjust button until ‘boil’ appears on the display. [Update: people with newer models tell me that there’s no longer an Adjust button, but if you press the Yogurt button twice then ‘boil’ will be displayed].

Then you just leave it. The Instant Pot will let you know when it’s done by beeping. I’ve found it takes around 35 minutes, give or take a few, for this to happen.

Now you’ll need your thermometer to check that the temperature has reached the magic 83 degrees Celsius. Obviously the accuracy of your thermometer comes into play here, but I almost always find the milk to be 80 degrees at this point. I simply use the Sauté button to heat the milk a little more. It usually takes three to five minutes to get to the correct temperature.

STEP 2: COOL

Before you add your yogurt starter, it’s extremely important that the milk is cooled. That’s because otherwise the heat will kill off the good bacteria in your ‘live’ starter. The end result of that will be a large pot of tepid milk instead of Homemade Yogurt.

This is where you’ll need your thermometer again, to check that the milk’s cooled to 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) or less.

Switching off the Instant Pot and removing the inner, you could just leave it on the work surface to cool. This is likely to take a good hour though, so I put the inner in a washing up bowl half filled with cold water and a few ice cubes. This usually gets the milk down to 46 degrees in about twenty minutes. Less if you change the water a time or two.

At 46 degrees or below, there will be a bit of a skin on top of the milk, so just scoop it off. Our dog loves this as a treat.

STEP 3: FERMENTING

When the milk has cooled, you’re ready to add your starter and get fermenting.

The easiest way to combine your starter with the milk is to have the starter in a small bowl. Take out some of the milk and whisk it into the starter. Then tip the whole lot back into the milk and whisk again.

Next, it’s into the Instant Pot again with the lid on.

First pressing the Yogurt button once more, you then tap Adjust until the display reads ‘8:00’. This means the yogurt will ferment for 8 hours, which is the minimum time required. I’ve experimented with 10 hours but couldn’t really detect any difference in terms of taste or texture. Once you’re familiar with the method, do your own experimenting and see what you think.

And that really is it. The Instant Pot will count up to 8 hours and beep when it’s done. So you can just go off and do something else.

YOUR FIRST HOMEMADE YOGURT

I always start my yogurt in the morning so that it’s done by evening. And I always get excited taking off the lid off to see creamy milk almost magically transformed into thickened, tangy yogurt.

The yogurt, still in its pot, is best left overnight in the fridge to completely cool down and set a little more. I place a length of paper towel over the top to help catch any condensation. The next day, I whisk the yogurt and transfer to clean containers.

Once I knew I was going to make Homemade Yogurt regularly, I bought myself some lovely preserving jars especially for it. I prepare these just as I would for jam or chutney: a good wash in hot soapy water, rinse, then dry in a very low oven. Unlike with jam or chutney though, you must let the jars go cold before putting in the yogurt. Once the lids are on, you can pop the jars into the fridge until needed.

Stored like this, I’ve had yogurt stay fresh for up to two weeks.

Oh, and don’t forget to take out two tablespoons of yogurt and put it in the freezer, ready to use as the starter in your next batch of easy Homemade Yogurt.

GREEK STYLE YOGURT

Once completely cold, my Homemade Yogurt is medium thick. Not exactly runny, although still pour-able. But I love thicker and creamier Greek-style yogurt. So I strain about half of my yogurt by putting a clean muslin cloth in a sieve over a bowl and adding the yogurt. I bring together the sides of the cloth and tie with string.

After a couple of hours in the fridge, you’ll get rich, creamy yogurt ready to pack into a jar. The longer you strain it, the thicker it will get. Leave it overnight or longer and you can make labneh, the Middle Eastern yogurt cheese.

Don’t throw away the liquid that will have collected in the bowl either. This is whey and it’s full of nutrients and protein. Add it to smoothies, porridge, soups or use in baking. I save it in a jar in the fridge and use it to replace some of the water in my Crusty Homemade Bread.

EASY & COST EFFECTIVE

I hope you Instant Potters out there will give Homemade Yogurt a try. As well as being easy, I think it’s so satisfying making something like this yourself.

If you eat a fair bit of yogurt it’s also quite a money saver. Two litres or four pints of milk will make around two kilos of yogurt, but at less than half the cost of store bought yogurt.

So, Instant Potter yogurt virgins, what are you waiting for?

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