Easy Homemade Yogurt
Homemade yogurt is a one of the many nourishing foods we enjoy daily. In this post, I’m sharing how we make our yogurt. This recipe is simple, wholesome, and packed with everything we love about real, raw dairy.
You can make this recipe with a crock pot, stock pot, oven, or anything that can hold a steady temp for 8-24 hours. But my favorite is the Instant Pot. It does all the work for you.
Jump to RecipeI grew up on a farm, with the rhythm of dairy animals, dairy goats to be specific! Now, with dairy animals of my own, that rhythm continues here on the homestead.
Spring and summer bring an abundance of rich, golden raw milk, and we put it to good use. Our family favorites are turning it into creamy butter, raw milk ice cream, panna cotta, fermented whey sodas, and of course, turning it into one of our everyday staples: yogurt.
Homemade yogurt pairs the nutritional richness of raw milk with the gut-supporting benefits of live cultures. Since raw milk isn’t pasteurized, it holds onto its natural enzymes, beneficial bacteria, and essential nutrients like vitamins A, D, B12, calcium, and omega-3s. When it’s fermented into yogurt, those nutrients become even more bioavailable, making them easier for your body to absorb. Plus, the live cultures introduced during fermentation help nourish your gut microbiome, support digestion, and give your immune system a healthy boost.
Have you heard about the gut-brain connection and how critical gut health is to our overall mental health? The research is fascinating. Read more about that here. I digress, but I do find it so amazing that our bodies have been created intricately and that all of our body systems are interdependent. Another plus to making raw milk yogurt at home is that it’s free from additives, thickeners, and excessive sugars. This makes it a clean, high protein option for our family and I feel great about that!
Raw milk yogurt…. your new favorite recipe:
Simple: Homemade yogurt is incredibly easy to make because it just a few minutes of prep and your Instant Pot takes care of the rest.
Nutritious: Yogurt is packed full of protein, and rich in beneficial bacteria that supports gut health.
Tasty: Raw milk gives this yogurt a rich, developed flavor and a thick, creamy texture can be achieved through heating and straining. It makes the perfect breakfast or snack that even picky kids will gobble up. It’s delicious with fresh fruit, blended into smoothies, or simply savored on its own.
Ingredients
Milk: 1/2 gallon of raw milk (or store bought milk!) You can use whole milk if you’d like a cream top yogurt, or you can skim the cream off the top to save it for ice cream (or butter!) and use the skim milk for your yogurt! We do a little of both.
Live cultures (or yogurt starter): I use 3 tablespoons from a previous batch of yogurt to kick off a new batch.
Tools to have on hand:
- Live cultures (aka: a few tablespoons of a previous batch of yogurt)
- Instant Pot, Crock Pot or Dutch Oven
- An extra Instant Pot silicone seal (optional, but recommended for best flavors, I have one seal for savory meals, and one for sweets, like yogurt!)
- Thermometer
- Yogurt strainer or cheese cloth
- Whisk or blender
How to Make Yogurt, Step-by-Step
- Using an Instant Pot, crock pot or dutch oven, heat milk to 120 degrees for raw yogurt, or 180 degrees for non raw yogurt. Heating your milk to 180 will yield a thicker yogurt, but it will not be raw.
- Immediately cool it down to 110 degrees. Using an ice bath helps speed this process, but you can also just set it on the counter and wait.
- Add your yogurt starter. My ratio is 3 tablespoons of previous batch of yogurt, per half gallon of milk.
- Then let your yogurt set for 8-16 hours (the longer it sets, the tangier it will be). The key here is holding that temp of 110 degrees. My instant pot has a yogurt setting to hold the temp. If using a crock pot or Dutch Oven, you can place it in the oven with the light on to hold the temp, or place it in a warm spot and wrap it in a thick towel!
- Once it’s set, strain to your desired consistency using a yogurt strainer or cheesecloth. Then whisk or blend your yogurt to make it smooth and store in the fridge!
- Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup or a handful of berries.
Tips & Tricks
- If you’re looking for a thick, Greek-style yogurt, you have two options. First, you can make raw milk yogurt as usual, then strain it until it reaches your desired thickness. The second option is to heat your milk to a higher temperature. If you bring it to 180°F, then let it cool before continuing with the recipe, you’ll end up with a much thicker yogurt, though it will no longer be raw.
- Raw yogurt is naturally thinner, and we still make it this way often and love it for its flavor + amazing health benefite. But when I’m after that thick, creamy texture, I heat the milk to 180°F.
- I highly recommend having an extra seal to switch out if you’re using an instant pot. This will ensure your yogurt doesn’t pick up any of the other flavors from other things you cook in your instant pot. I have a sweet seal and a savory seal. Nobody likes a giant batch of yogurt that tastes like bone broth, right?
- There are various preferences when it comes to yogurt consistencies. The important factors to remember here are the temperature (the higher the temp, the thicker the consistency of the final product) and straining to your desired consistency using a yogurt strainer or cheesecloth as the second to last step in the process (just before whisking or blending).
Serving Raw Milk Yogurt
We love plain yogurt. But we also love to have fun with it! A few of our favorites are:
- Serve the yogurt fresh out of the insta pot while it’s still warm, with a drizzle of maple syrup. Just trust me! It tastes like a delicious custard dessert
- With a drizzle of honey and some fresh berries
- Add it to smoothies or shakes for a boost of protein
- Yogurt parfaits, topped with granola and peanut butter (trust me again, ha!)
- We also love to top the fresh yogurt with a homemade strawberry jam for a special treat
Needing a little pick-me-up? My warm drink of choice will be just the ticket for you. Here’s my recipe for a yolky latte.
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Simple Homemade Yogurt
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot, crock pot or Dutch Oven
- 1 thermometer
- 1 yogurt strainer or cheese cloth
- 1 whisk or blender
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon raw milk
- 3 tablespoons yogurt from previous batch (or a yogurt starter)
Instructions
- Using an Instant Pot, crock pot or dutch oven, heat your milk to 120 degrees for raw yogurt, or 180 for a pasteurized yogurt. *See notes on choosing your heating temp
- Immediately cool it down to 110 degrees. Using an ice bath helps speed this process, but you can also just set it on the counter and wait.
- Add 3 tablespoons of a previous batch of yogurt, per half gallon of milk. Can substitute a yogurt starter here.
- Then set your Instant Pot to the yogurt setting for 8-16 hours (the longer it sets, the tangier it will be). The key here is holding that temp of 110 degrees. My instant pot has a yogurt setting to hold the temp. If using a crock pot or dutch oven, you can place it in the oven with the light on to hold the temp, or place it in a warm spot and wrap it in a thick towel!
- Once it's set, strain to your desired consistency using a yogurt strainer or cheesecloth. Then whisk your yogurt to make it smooth and store in the fridge!
- Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup or a handful of berries.
Notes
- If you want thick greek yogurt, you have two options. You can heat the milk to 180 degrees in the first step, then follow the rest of the steps as listed. This will result in a very thick yogurt, but it will not be raw. Or you can strain your raw milk yogurt until it reaches your desired consistency. This will result in more whey, and less yogurt.
- If you want raw yogurt, you can only heat it to 120 degrees in the first step. This will ensure the milk will still be raw. It’s important to note that if you do it this way, you will NOT get a thick consistency. Raw yogurt is much thinner. We still do this often, and love it!
- If you’re using raw milk, for a cream top yogurt, use raw whole milk. For a regular yogurt, skim the cream off and save that for raw milk ice cream (or butter!) and use the skim milk.
- I highly recommend having an extra seal to switch out if you’re using an instant pot. This will ensure your yogurt doesn’t pick up any of the other flavors from other things you cook in your instant pot. I have one seal for savory meals, and one seal for sweets!
- There are various preferences when it comes to yogurt consistencies. The important factors to remember here are the temperature (the higher the temp, the thicker the consistency of the final product) and straining to your desired consistency using a yogurt strainer or cheese cloth as the second to last step in the process (just before whisking or blending)
I make this every week with our raw milk! It’s perfect
How do I get raw milk yogurt from a previous batch if this is my first time making it?
You can either purchase a yogurt starter, or just buy plain yogurt from the store to get yours started!