This homemade yogurt recipe makes it easy to save up to 90% of the cost of store bought yogurt making it yourself at home. You can also make Greek yogurt!
Easy Homemade Yogurt Recipe and Tips
Homemade yogurt is one of the simplest things you can make! You may be wondering, “Why in the world would I waste time making homemade yogurt?”
Let me put it to you this way: If you buy regular yogurt in the store it will cost you $13 a gallon. Greek yogurt will cost $28 for a gallon. TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!!! That’s a lot!!!! If you make it at home with this yogurt recipe, you can make both for around $2-$3 a GALLON!!!! That’s a HUGE, HUGE savings!!!!
Easy Homemade Yogurt Recipe
1/2 cup dry milk*
4 cups whole milk
1/4 cup store bought yogurt with live cultures
2 Tbsp. honey (optional)
In a saucepan or microwave safe bowl, combine dry milk, milk and honey. Mix well. Place over medium heat and bring to 180 degrees or microwave about one minute until very hot (about 180 degrees). If you’re using the stovetop, stir constantly. (If you don’t have a candy thermometer, 180 degrees is hot, but not boiling, so when it starts to move around and is just starting to simmer, it should be about right. Don’t let it boil or it will burn.)
Let mixture cool to 110 degrees. You will know it’s the correct temperature when you put your finger in and it’s very warm but you can still keep your finger in. This can take from 1-3 hours. You can place your pan in an ice bath to speed up the cooling process.
Whisk in yogurt. Pour into a clean quart jar.
There are several ways you can incubate your yogurt. I am going to list them all and you can pick the one that is most convenient for you.
- Crockpot – Place dry milk and milk in the crockpot. Heat on high until it reaches 180 degrees, about 30 minutes to an hour. Then turn off the crockpot and let the mixture cool to 110 – 115 degrees. Add yogurt starter and whisk. Put the lid on, cover with a large towel and place in the oven (with the oven off) to incubate overnight (8-12 hours).
- Oven – Turn on the oven and let it heat just a few minutes until the oven is slightly warm, around 120 degrees. Then turn off the oven. Pour your yogurt into a 4 quart mason jar and place on a cookie sheet in the oven. Then put the lid on and cover with towels. Let incubate overnight (8-12 hours).
- Heating Pad – Turn your heating pad on low. Place the milk mixture into mason jars. Place a heating pad on the counter with a towel on top. Then put your mason jar on the towel and cover the jar with another towel. Let incubate overnight (8-12 hours).
Notes:
- This homemade yogurt can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- *You don’t have to use dry milk but it does help the yogurt to thicken. If you don’t use the dry milk, you will just have a thinner homemade yogurt.
- If your yogurt is really thin after 8 hours, leave it so that it can keep culturing for another 4-6 hours.
- Save 1/4 cup yogurt from your last batch to use as a starter to make the next new batch.
- Heat will kill your yogurt cultures, so do not add your yogurt until the milk has cooled.
- The lower the fat content in the milk, the thinner your yogurt will be.
- You can mix some unflavored gelatin with some hot milk and dissolve and then add it to your yogurt to make it very thick.
- This homemade yogurt recipe may be double or tripled and it still works great!
- Add any sweeteners, jams, jellies or fruit you like and enjoy!
How to Make Greek Yogurt
After your homemade yogurt is done incubating, line a colander with cheesecloth or a flour sack dishtowel. Then place on top of a bowl and pour your yogurt into it. Let it drain for several hours and you will have thick Greek yogurt. Place the yogurt in jars after draining and enjoy! The leftover over juice is whey and can be used in smoothies.
I have made yogurt for years, using an electric yogurt incubator with individual glass jars inside. I have a propane cook stove that has a permanent pilot light on, and I found out that I could make a substantial amount of yogurt and incubate it in the oven using only the pilot light as a heat source. Follow your regular directions,and incubate in the oven for a minimum of 8 hours, and preferably 12 hours, or overnight. I always put a note on the top of the range in large letters to remind me that there is yogurt in the oven. Leave overnight, then cover and refrigerate.
Do you use organic unpasteurized milk or regular pasteurized store bought milk?
Regular pasteurized store bought milk.
When this recipe came about there really wasn’t any such thing as organic unpasteurized milk unless you owned a cow. I would like to give everyone a heads up – I know many of you love unpasteurized milk but I had a friend who almost died from drinking it. She thought it was the best stuff in the world but was in the hospital for 2 weeks. We just recently had 3 deaths here from the same thing. There is a reason they started pasteurizing milk in the first place and that was because so many people were dying from unpasteurized milk. My friend drank it for a long time and she swore it won’t hurt you and then it hit her bad.
Yikes!
Is this in C or F degrees?
F all of our recipes are in F
love these recipes for homemade yogurt. i am making another batch right now. my mother loves it. only thing i can get her to eat right now. i use the crock pot method. works wonders.