Instant Pot Yogurt

I have made yogurt EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK. since I got my Instant Pot. It’s seriously that amazing. I love making my yogurt myself, because I know exactly what is in it. It does take a decent amount of time, but it takes minimal effort.  Most of the time you can go about your day while your yogurt is brewing in the pot. This recipe is making yogurt using traditional dairy milk.  At some point I’m going to try to make yogurt with nut milk, but I haven’t yet.

Here’s what you need:

• Milk – You can use any milk you like, whole, 2%, 1%, etc. half-gallon, gallon, etc. – it just depends on how much yogurt you want and what type of milk you prefer
• Yogurt – You will need 1/4 cup of yogurt as your starter (bacteria)

That is literally it!

How to make it:

• Pour your milk into your instant pot, cover the pot with the lid, and press the yogurt button twice until “boil” is blinking. Let it do its thing.  You can have the pressure release valve open or closed, the Instant Pot won’t be pressurized for this so it doesn’t matter.  I usually keep my valve on open though.
• Once your Instant Pot beeps that the “boil” is over, use a digital thermometer to check the temperature of your milk.  It should be at least 182 degrees F. If it isn’t I will use the saute function to bring it up to temperature.  Be careful with this as it can heat very quickly.  I usually have a whisk and then turn the Instant Pot off immediately after reaching temperature.
• At this point, remove the inner pot and place on a wire rack to cool.  I like to let mine cool to room temperature on its own.  However, I have placed it in an ice bath in the sink when I was in a rush.  It usually takes about an hour to cool when I use a half-gallon.  If you’re making a gallons worth it will take longer though.
• Once your milk has reached 110 degrees F, add your existing yogurt and whisk until completely incorporated.
• Place the lid back on your Instant Pot and press your “yogurt” button until “8 hours” shows.
• Let the Instant Pot do it’s thing! Sometimes I’ll set this right before I go to bed so when I wake up my yogurt is ready to be cooled.
• Once your 8 hours is up, I like to place in the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours, then I strain it.

I strain using a colander with cheese cloth.  There are specific strainers you can buy for this, but my method has worked fine for me! The longer you strain out the whey the thicker it will become, and that’s how you make Greek yogurt! You can use the liquid whey as broth, to cook rice, in smoothies, anything where you cook with liquid you can substitute the whey.

Enjoy!

A great tip is to have a separate silicon ring just for your yogurt.  I have 4 rings and blue is yogurt only! The actual Instant Pot doesn’t seem to smell like food you’ve previously cooked, but the silicone ring can sometimes take on the smell of other food you’ve cooked.  You don’t want your yogurt having a faint taste of bay leaves!