Yummy Yogurt: What You Need to Know About Making Yogurt at Home (2024)

Summary: Everything you need to know about making yummy yogurt at home! Includes our favorite recipe (with step-by-step help), tips on sweetening & flavoring, and more.
In this post:
Why Yogurt?
Why Homemade Yogurt?
The Basics of Making Yogurt

Our Favorite Yogurt (Recipe)
–> Jump to Short Version of Recipe

Taking it Further (What Else Can You Do with Yogurt?)

Why Yogurt?

Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you already know some of the basic benefits of yogurt. The milk itself is a good source of nutrients, including protein, vitamin A, and calcium. It (yogurt) is one of the most familiar natural sources of good bacteria for our guts. And it’s easy to fit into a diet — delicious on its own, and useful as an ingredient in a variety of other recipes.

Why Homemade Yogurt?

But whyhomemade yogurt? Even though yogurt is pretty simple to make at home, itisa process, and people have asked if it’s really worth it. It depends on your purposes, but there are definitely some reasons to prefer homemade, and most of them boil down to quality.

Real milk is nutritious — real, unpasteurized, unhom*ogenized milk with the fat still in it. It has lots of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that are beneficial for building health, including vitamin A and calcium which require the fat in order for the body to assimilate it. (In particular, the best yogurt for babieshas the fat still in it, because fast-growing young bodies need the fat even more than everyone else.) But most of the yogurt you’ll find at the supermarket is low-fat. (And pretty much none of it is made with raw milk.)

There are a few brands that are available in full-fat versions, but even then, they’re usually full of additives…and typically largely plain. I don’t know about you but, although it’s useful for other purposes, I don’t consider the plain stuff a very yummy yogurt for eating. If I’m going to eat it for breakfast, I want it to be vanilla or something.

And finally, if you can find a full-fat, flavored yogurt with a minimum of additives, it’s usually pretty pricey. Around here, a quart of Stonyfield yogurt is usually around $4 (when it’s actually in stock, which it’s often not). Agallonof milk is about that much.

Once you’ve gotten familiar with making it, yogurt isn’t too much trouble, so it’s worth it for us — although we typically do a mix, buying some when we’re really busy (or running out), and making more when we have the time or when we have a surplus of raw milk.

The Basics of Making Yogurt

The basic process of making yogurt is actually quite simple:

1. Raise the temperature of the milk sufficiently to kill off any undesirable bacteria (so they won’t interfere with the growth of the bacteria you do want).
2. Lower it again to a temperature that will allows the “good” bacteria to grow.
3. Add the bacteria you want
4. Hold it at that temperature long enough for the bacteria to grow.

The trickiest part is that fourth step (called “incubation”). There are a number of ways you can hold the milk+starter at the right temperature (between 110 and 115 degrees F) for 6-8 hours.

• an actual yogurt maker (machine made for this specific purpose)
• tray-style dehydrator, like an Excalibur
• InstantPot
• slow cooker
• oven with a pilot light, on a “keep warm” setting, or turned on to warm up ahead of time and turned off before putting the yogurt in
• wrapped in towels in a cooler for insulation

(Of course some of those require that you have the yogurt in containers inside, while others let you pour the yogurt straight in. Use your own common sense.) In my experience, the more “manual” methods — the ones that don’t electronically maintain a set temperature — are pretty finicky, and I was never able to get them to work. Your mileage may vary, so if you have milk and an oven, for instance, that might be worth trying. But if you have trouble getting the temperature to stay right for long enough, you might just need a more reliable incubation method.

I personally use an Excalibur dehydrator, and it works great. If you have an InstantPot, you can use that.

Sweetening & Flavoring Yogurt

Most yogurt recipes — like most of the good quality yogurts at the store — are plain. I think that’s pretty gross for eating by itself, mixing in with granola, etc. And mixing sweetener into plain yogurt just is not effective, as far as I’m concerned. It just tastes like plain yogurt plus whatever you mixed into it. But I was intially afraid to try adding honey during the yogurt-making process because honey is antibacterial and I didn’t know if it would work. Turns out, it does.

Over the years, we’ve found two different methods we like for adding sweetening and/or flavoring to make yummy yogurt. Either we add honey and optional flavoring when we’re first adding the starter yogurt, we add liquid stevia at the time we’re making the yogurt, or we mix liquid stevia drops into the (plain) yogurt when we’re ready to eat it. (The consistency of the liquid stevia seems to allow it to meld better with the yogurt.)

When I sweeten my yogurt with honey, I like to mix it up jar by jar. This way I don’t have to figure up amounts differently every time depending on how much I’m making, and I can make several different flavors at once if I want. Our process looks something like this:

Add 2-3 Tbsp. honey, 1/2 Tbsp. vanilla or other flavoring if desired, and 2 Tbsp. plain yogurt to serve as starter into each quart jar. When the milk has been heated and recooled, pour a little into each jar and swirl or shake to dissolve the honey and mix it well. Add more of the warmed milk to fill the jar and stir or shake again before incubating. (This can make the jars a little sticky if they leak, so keep a clean, warm, wet washcloth on hand to wipe off the jars if/as necessary.)

We’ve found that we prefer vanillapowderover traditional vanilla extract, because it doesn’t bring an alcohol flavor with it. Don’t forget to leave some of the yogurt plain so you can use it as starter for the next batch!

When sweetening the yogurt with stevia, we sometimes add the stevia at the time we’re making the milk, and sometimes add it later. If you’re adding it while making the yogurt, you’ll probably want about 35-50 drops of liquid stevia. How much depends on the brand and flavor you’re using, so it will probably take a little trial and error at first.

If we make it all plain to start with, when we’re ready to eat it, we mix liquid stevia drops into the yogurt. This may take a little bit of trial-and-error to figure out. We found that we liked about 6-7 drops of NuNaturals lemon stevia per 1/2 cup of yogurt, or 5 drops NuNaturals vanilla stevia. (This makes it a little less sweet than storebought vanilla, which I think is a better balance.) But if you have a different brand or flavor — or just different preferences, you might want a different amount.

Our Favorite Yogurt (Recipe)

The “you’ll need” is what I use; after reading through the instructions, there are some things you will find you can adapt. The ingredients, of course, are required, and the incubation method is necessary.

You’ll need:
milk
plain yogurt (for starter – be sure it has active live cultures; or you can use a commercial starter if you prefer)
vanilla (opt.)
honey (opt.)
liquid stevia drops (opt. – for use at eating time, not cooking time)

jars (I use four quarts and a pint, when working with a gallon of milk*)
large saucepan or Dutch oven
wooden spoon
ladle
candy thermometer
heat source/incubation method (I use an Excalibur dehydrator.)
*It takes very little additional work or time to make a gallon of yogurt vs. a quart, so you might as well do a gallon at once.

What to do:

1. Pour a gallon of milk into a large saucepan and set it over moderate heat. Attach/insert the candy thermometer.

Scald the milk by bringing it to about 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring it occasionally with the wooden spoon so it won’t burn. (Scalding should bring the milk to just below the boiling point. Apparently, this is 180 at sea level. You can just watch for when tiny bubbles begin to form on the surface, but I find a candy thermometer easier. If you are very far above sea level, you might need to let the milk come to a slightly higher temperature.) For me, this usually takes about 45 minutes. I like to stir it one last time to make sure it’s fairly evenly heated.

2. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it sit until the milk has cooled back down to between 110 and 115 degrees. (Leave the candy thermometer in.) It will begin to form a skin on top as it cools. I don’t stir it, so I don’t break up this skin and mix it into the milk, but I do usually swirl the pan a bit occasionally to help mix the milk underneath the skin. This step usually takes about 1-1/2 hours.

3. While the milk is cooling, prepare your jars. I like to measure everything out into each individual jar and mix it in the jars, rather than stirring everything into the pan later. There are two reasons for this. One, I don’t have to mess with the math if I am making a larger or smaller batch; I just measure the ingredients jar by jar. Two, I can do different flavors (or un-flavors) in each jar. (This is also handy when experimenting with new flavors.)

Into each clean quart jar, measure 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt. (This is your starter. It’s non-negotiable.) For vanilla yogurt, also add 2-3 tablespoons of honey (We found that we prefer 3; you can do different amounts in each jar the first time to experiment, if you like.) and 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla. (You can also add the sweetener but not the vanilla, if you like.) OR add liquid stevia drops (and no honey or vanilla) – about 35 vanilla; 50 lemon or orange; or 24 orange + 16 vanilla. Add half as much starter to the pint jar and leave it plain; you can use the contents of this smaller jar as starter for your next batch.

(Of course if you prefer, you can omit everything but the starter. If you’re makingonlyplain yogurt, you can whisk all the starter — about 1/2 cup per gallon of milk — straight into the saucepan and then pour into your jars, with no need for preparing anything jar-by-jar.)

4. When the milk has cooled to the proper temperature, remove the skin. I just scoop it off with the wooden spoon and throw it out. (I think you can feed this to chickens, but we don’t have chickens. Yet.) Remove the candy thermometer so it’s out of the way, and ladle a ladleful or two of the warm milk into each jar. Put the lids on, and shake them well until the starter is evenly distributed, the vanilla is mixed in, and the honey has dissolved. If necessary, wipe off the jars where some dribbled around the lids and down the sides.

5. Remove the lids and ladle in the remaining milk. Be sure to leave a tad bit of headspace in each one, because you will have to shake them again. Replace the lids and shake each jar one more time to mix the starter-filled milk from the bottom with all of the new milk you just added. Wipe down the jars again, if necessary. (Use something warm and wet, because the honey in it will make them a little sticky.)

6. Incubate the yogurt by holding it at 110-115 degrees for 6-8 hours. I use an Excalibur dehydrator, and it’s great. I can put it in at an exact temperature and set a timer for 7 hours. Because it doesn’t hurt anything for the yogurt to sit at room temperature for a few hours, I can even do this overnight. It will turn itself off when it’s done and I can put it away in the morning. (I had to start doing it this way exclusively, so my little one couldn’t change the temperature!)

When it’s done incubating, just pop it in the fridge.

Mild Flavor Yogurt Starter Culture | Cultures for Health | Non GMO, Gluten FreeCandy/Deep Fry Thermometer50 Billion Probiotics 15 Strains with Prebiotics

Yogurt Troubleshooting & FAQs

Is it thick enough? Don’t I need to add powdered milk or gelatin or something?

I use whole milk, and the texture of our yogurt has been wonderful, without the addition of anything else. It is plenty thick, and not runny at all. I intentionally do not add powdered milk, as I prefer not to use powdered milk when I can avoid it. The heat processing of the milk can negatively alter the milk proteins, and most skim milk powder has other ingredients added.

If your yogurt is not turning out as thick as you would like, you can add gelatin as a stabilizer. I haven’t tried this, as I haven’t needed to. If you would like to give it a try, the recipe I got the original flavoring ratios from suggests a heaping 1/2 Tbsp. of unflavored gelatin, soaked in 2 Tbsp. cold water and well mixed, stirred into each quart before adding the flavorings.

Help! My yogurt didn’t set up! What did I do wrong?

If your yogurt doesn’t set up, it’s usually a problem with your starter — either the temperature didn’t stay warm enough for the bacteria to grow, or it wastoo hot and it killed them. (Yogurt is pretty similar tobread in this respect.)

If you’re still experimenting with incubation methods, you might need to make adjustments. (Things like the towels-in-a-cooler method often, in my experience, cool down too fast.) If your incubation method has a temperature setting on it, make sure no one’s been tampering with it.When I was first making yogurt, my toddler interfered with the process a few times, by changing the temperature setting on the dehydrator while it was incubating.

Although it’s not “perfect,” I found that failed yogurt can often be rescuedby stirring in new starter yogurt and incubating it again (at the proper temperature!)

My milk is raw; won’t I be destroying the benefits of raw milk by scalding it first?

It is my understanding that if you are using raw milk, you can make raw milk yogurt by not scalding the milk first — however, it can affect the texture of the yogurt, as there are competing bacteria. It would have health benefits that regular yogurt does not have, but the tradeoff is probably pretty minimal. There’s plenty of good bacteria in yogurt, so you don’t have to worry about losing bacteria by scalding it. And it’s still unhom*ogenized. If you really want to make raw milk yogurt, but you’re finding it too thin, you might want to try adding gelatin as indicated above.

Do I have to use existing yogurt as a starter? Is there something else I can use?

Plain yogurt is typically the easiest starter to find. Any old plain yogurt with live cultures from the grocery store should work. (I recommend finding one you like the flavor of, because the balance of bacteria in your starter will influence the balance of bacteria in your finished yogurt.) But there are other options.

You can use a commercial starter culture. For our purpose, you’re looking for a “thermophilic” (heat-loving) culture. (Some traditional yogurt cultures incubate at room temperature, which is great, but not the familiar kind of yogurt we’re talking about here.)

You may also be able to use the contents of probiotic capsules. This may produce more, or less, reliable results, depending on the particular probiotic you use and what strains of bacteria it includes. Certain strains of bacteria, like S. thermophilus, are usually present in yogurt starters and provide a pretty reliable, consistent, yummy yogurt, but aren’t usually present in probiotic supplements. It might be worth trying — especially if you’re aiming for a dairy-free yogurt — but be aware you’ll likely be experimenting a little. Most recommendations are to start with one capsule per quart of milk.

Taking it Further (What Else Can You Do with Yogurt?)

Of course yogurt can be eaten just as a snack in its own right, or mixed into things like granola. But that isn’t all you can do with it.

You can often substitute yogurt for sour cream. Definitely in baking, as basically a 1:1 swap. You can also use it as a base for dips or dressings, although you may have to dilute it slightly with milk (for dressings), or thicken it (for dips). Just be aware that it’s tangier than sour cream, so you might need to adjust sweeteners and/or salt accordingly.

Speaking of thickening, you can strain the whey out of it, thickening the yogurt to varying degrees to make it a viable substitute for Greek yogurt or even sour cream. This is a pretty simple process. Spoon the yogurt into a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, set it over a bowl or jar, and leave it to sit in the refrigerator. The whey will slowly drip through the strainer, and you can use both the yogurt and the whey.

Ours kept getting knocked over in the fridge, so I went looking for a more self-contained version. You can buy dedicated yogurt strainers, but they seem kind of pricey to me for what you get. Instead, I bought an 80mm-diameter mesh tea strainer (with a “lip”), which will sit inside a wide-mouth mason jar, so I can put the lid on it. It doesn’t strain asmuchat a time, but it’s pretty inexpensive and it isn’t bulky to use or to store.