Yogurt has it all: it’s loaded with nutrients (hello, Calcium!), it helps improve gut bacteria, and it’s a delicious dessert/breakfast/snack! Store-bought yogurt is a good choice, but making your own yogurt is a great one. It costs less, you can make it tangier, you can make it creamier. Making your own yogurt at home may sound complicated, but it’s actually quite simple! You just need a pressure cooker and a food thermometer.
Basically, you only need to bring the milk to boiling point, let it cool down, add the yogurt starter, stir, seal and leave overnight in the pressure cooker. Don’t forget to wrap the appliance in some blankets to keep the temperature constant. Keep in mind what kind of yogurt you want when choosing the ingredients. Make sure the starter yogurt has active live bacterial cultures.
Pro tips:
-Let it incubate 6 hours for gentle flavored yogurt. For tangier yogurt, at least 8 hours.
-For creamier yogurt, use whole milk. Try using skim or low-fat milk for runnier yogurt.
Ingredients (for plain yogurt)
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt with active live bacterial cultures
- 8 cups milk
Directions
- Add milk to the inner pot of your pressure cooker. Select Sauté/Soup setting (check the setting in your pressure cooker) and press Start. Boil the milk until it comes to 180°F. Use the thermometer to check temperature.
- Pour milk out of the pressure cooker into a heat-proof container and let it cool down for a few minutes, until the temperature is 115°F. Meanwhile, clean the inner pot.
- Add the starter yogurt to the milk and stir. Pour the yogurt mixture back into the pressure cooker inner pot.
- Cover with the lid and secure. Make sure the pressure release valve is locked. If your pressure cooker has a Yogurt setting, start it now. If not, wrap the pressure cooker in a couple of blankets and let it sit for 6 to 8 hours. The longer you incubate your yogurt, the thicker and tangier.
- Once the yogurt is ready (after 6/8 hours), open the pressure release valve and carefully open the lid. Transfer the yogurt to a sealed container and store in the fridge.
