Long-time readers may remember how slow I was to climb on the Instant Pot craze. But one thing that has become a routine in my kitchen is making yogurt in the Instant Pot. It is so simple and always turns out. No more milk boiling over on the stove or struggling to keep the proper temperature.
I start by pouring a gallon of milk in the Instant Pot. I use raw cow's milk, but other types of milk will work too.
On my pot, I have a "yogurt" button. I press that button then toggle the "manual" button until it shows "boil." I place the lid on the pot, and it brings the milk to the perfect temperature - very hot but not quite boiling.
Meanwhile, I get out my yogurt culture. I buy a quart of plain yogurt and freeze it in an ice cube tray. I keep these yogurt cubes in the freezer. When I make yogurt, I pull out two ice cube portions and allow them to thaw.
When the Instant Pot beeps to show it came up to temperature, I sit the insert in a sink of cold water to cool the milk. I occasionally stir the milk, but usually just walk away and forget it for an hour. I want the milk to be below 110 degrees.
When the milk has cooled, I mix a cup of milk with my yogurt culture and stir it well. Then I stir the culture into the whole pot of milk and again stir well.
Next I place the pot of milk back in the Instant Pot and again hit the "yogurt" button. I press "manual" until it gets to "8:00." This will incubate the yogurt for 8 hours. I sometimes let this incubate overnight. Other times I start the incubating in the morning.
At the end of 8 hours, I pull the pot insert out of the Instant Pot, cover the top, and place in the refrigerator without stirring. After it is totally cool, I take the first dip into the fresh yogurt. I'm always awed that the liquid milk has turned into a totally different product. I then stir the yogurt well and place it into containers for serving.
Obviously this makes a lot of yogurt which is perfect for a large family. My favorite way to eat yogurt is with granola. You can add sweetener to the yogurt before you incubate it, if you wish. I prefer it plain, but my children like it a little sweeter.
Yogurt intimidated me until I tried it and found out how truly simple it was.
Thanks for sharing this! I had to smile when I clicked in your email n saw the title. The irony of it! I had just been thinking this afternoon about how to do yogurt in an instant pot, as I just got one. After I checked my email, I was planning to do a bit of research on Instant pot yogurt. :) Anyway, I'm excited to try it!
ReplyDeleteYes, i love my Cosori "instant pot " for the same... and brown rice, and dried beans, and much more!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Hi Gina!
ReplyDeleteI recently started making my own yogurt again, after a period of laziness and just only using store bought. They only sell small containers of yogurt where I live (as in, 100 grams/half a cup per container) and I use that entire container as a starter. But still, I love your idea of freezing the yogurt in ice cubes!
I dont have an instant pot but I just use the old method. However, I'll keep this in mind because I am considering buying an instant pot.
Thanks for sharing!
I've been making yogurt in my Crock-Pot a gallon at a time. I use a thermometer for correct temperature. Then when it's ready to incubate I 'put it to bed' by wrapping a thick blanket around the crockpot. I'm happy to be able to have big batches of yogurt for my big family.
ReplyDeleteI love using the instapot for making yogurt! For anyone out there who doesn't have the 'yogurt' button instapot, don't worry! I don't have one either! You can pinterest 'instapot yogurt no yogurt button' and it works well too. I also have had bad luck with buying thermometers that I don't think are accurate, so I just scald till foamy and bubbly, then cool till this: "when you can hold your pinky finger in there comfortably for about 5 seconds" or "when you return to your abandoned cup of tea and its that type of warm that makes you want to discard it". That is how I measure and it works fine! hahaha
ReplyDelete