A complete guide to making Instant Pot Yogurt using the Cold Start Method, or No-Boil Method. Step by step directions to use your electric pressure cooker for yogurt, greek yogurt, sweetened yogurt, yogurt tubes, as well as a section on troubleshooting homemade yogurt.
WHY MAKE YOGURT AT HOME?
When you can buy yogurt at the store for very little money, why bother making your own? Here are a few reasons why people like home-made yogurt.
- No additives. No need to add sugar, gum, gelatin, or other additives. Milk. Yogurt starter. Done.
- Choice of milk. Whole milk, 2% milk, skim milk, goat milk, sheeps milk, or even yogurt made with half and half–all of this is possible with Homemade Yogurt.
- Non-dairy milk yogurt. With a little know-how, you can make almond milk yogurt, soy milk yogurt, or coconut milk yogurt. If you want a dairy-free yogurt, making it at home is a fine way to do it.
- Mild or Tart. The longer you let it incubate, the more tart your yogurt. Usually, it sets in about 8 hours. If you let it keep incubating for 12 hours, you will have a very tart yogurt. So you have some control over the final product.
- Flavorings and sweetness of choice. Some of us like plain yogurt. Some of us like cardamom yogurt, or Vietnamese sweet yogurt. Some want to use a keto sweetener. Making yogurt at home lets you make any variation you prefer. You can also add vanilla extract or oddly enough, Crystal Light if you want to keep it low sugar yogurt.
- Sense of accomplishment. Honestly, this alone is reason enough to do it. It’s easy. It’s fun. Your kids will love doing it with you.
The creamy consistency of homemade Greek yogurt can be used in a variety of recipes, or you can simply add it to your morning smoothie or enjoy it by itself with some fruit, coconut and nuts garnished on top.
What is Cold Start Yogurt?
This is the perfect way to make your yogurt if you do not want to deal with boiling milk or straining
Cold Start Yogurt is when you start with room temperature milk and place it in the Instant Pot. You skip the whole first step of heating the milk, then cooling the milk, so it also referred to as the No-Boil Method.
Does it work? Absolutely it does. When I first shared my cold start method with Fairlife milk 3 years ago, I got a lot of push back on the safety of this method. Since Indians have been making it in this way for centuries, I wasn’t that worried 🙂
How to Make Cold Start Instant Pot Yogurt
- Pour the milk. Pour 1/2 gallon milk into the Instant Pot liner. Place the lid and set your valve to VENTING or use a glass lid.
2. Mix Starter. Using a whisk, blend together the milk and about 2 tablespoons of full-fat plain Greek yogurt with active, live cultures such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus. Do NOT use sweetened yogurt.
3. Incubate. Press YOGURT and set it for 8 hours. Place the lid and set your valve to VENTING or use a glass lid.
4. Chill. Place the yogurt in the fridge overnight. This helps the yogurt set properly without getting tart, and it gets thicker.
5. Drain. Once the yogurt is set, you want to strain out the whey if you want Greek Yogurt, or you can eat it as it is.
You can use cheesecloth or a large coffee filter in a large stainless strainer, place the strainer over a bowl and let it drip in the fridge overnight.
Alternatively, you can buy a Cuispro Donvier yogurt maker which is easier to clean up. For larger quantities of yogurt, a Eurocuisine Greek Yogurt Maker works better.
8. Sweeten or flavor. I find it best to sweeten the yogurt after it is drained so you’re not draining your lovely honey down the drain. You can use honey, agave, or a keto-friendly sweetener. You could also consider adding sugar-free syrups.
9. Store. Place into individual yogurt jars and refrigerate for up to a week.
Find the directions and video for how to make Instant Pot Hot Start Yogurt here.
Tips & Tricks for Perfect Instant Pot Yogurt
- Use HTC milk, Ultra-filtred milk or high protein milk like Fairlife for thick, yogurt especially for cold start yogurt.
- Do not use sweetened flavored yogurt.
- Use yogurt with live cultures.
- Use greek yogurt as your starter. Since extra whey has been drained out, it has more live cultures per tablespoon.
- Save 2-4 tablespoons of your yogurt as a starter before your family devours all of that deliciousness.
- If you intend to use it within a week, the starter will do fine in the fridge. Any longer than that, and you will want to freeze the starter.
- You can also make the yogurt in jars rather than the Instant Pot liner, as I did with this Vietnamese Yogurt recipe.
No Instant Pot? No Problem! Find directions for how to make homemade greek yogurt in your slow cooker, oven, or on countertop here.
Troubleshooting Instant Pot Yogurt
People in the Instant Pot Community WAY overthink yogurt. However, it’s not complicated!
But if you’ve never made it before, you may have a few questions. So here’s your troubleshooting guide with the most commonly asked questions about making yogurt.
1. Your starter was no good or weak.
2. Your milk was too hot.
3. You need to let it ferment longer. You can always add more starter to your milk/yogurt mixture and allow it to ferment again.
1. It hasn't yet set.
2. You need to let it chill in the refrigerator.
3. The milk you used was thin.
4. You need to drain it using te methods described above.
1. You let the yogurt ferment too long.
2. The temperature around the yogurt was too warm, allowing the fermentation to proceed faster than anticipated.
3. Simply add some delicious sweeteners such as agave nectar, sugar or honey!
4. One way to stop yogurt from fermenting as quickly is to break up the curd. Using a spoon, stir up the yogurt. Usually, this stops it from fermenting as fast.
It is not. Ancient cultures have been making yogurt for centuries without access to refrigeration. It was in fact, a way to preserve milk without refrigeration. As long as it's not too tart, and has no mold on it, it's good to go.
It smells sour, and there's a lot of extra liquid on top. Sometimes you see a visible bubbling and active fermenting. Throw it out.
Homemade yogurt usually lasts for 5-7 days with no issues. Since it's not sealed in a plastic container, and since it doesn't contain preservatives, it doesn't last quite as long as commercially prepared yogurt.
Yup! Blend together 1 cup yogurt, 1 cup fresh berries or other fruit, a tablespoon or two of honey, and about 1/4 cup of milk. Make it a nice pouring consistency, and put into these refillable tubes.
LOOKING FOR DELICIOUS YOGURT RECIPES? LOOK NO FURTHER!
- Indian Lassi
- Indian Yogurt Soup | Instant Pot Gluten-Free Indian Kadhi
- Borani Persian Yogurt Spinach Dip
- Instant Pot Indian Chicken Curry with Spinach & Yogurt
- Labneh Dip
- Cardamom Yogurt (Noosa style)
- Vietnamese Yogurt
- Mango Frozen Yogurt
- Saffron Scented Yogurt
- Homemade Greek Yogurt
- Hot Start Yogurt
Now that you know how to make your very own Instant Pot Yogurt, you'll never want to have store-bought ever again! Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon Whole Milk
- 2 tablespoons Full-Fat Greek Yogurt, plain, full fat
Instructions
Instant Pot Cold Start Yogurt
- Pour 1/2 gallon room temperature milk into the Instant Pot liner.
- Using a whisk, blend together the milk and about 2 tablespoons of full-fat plain Greek yogurt with active, live cultures. Do NOT use sweetened yogurt.
- Press YOGURT and set it for 8 hours. Place the lid and set your valve to VENTING or use a glass lid.
- Place the yogurt in the fridge overnight. This helps the yogurt set properly without getting tart, and it gets thicker.
- Once the yogurt is set, you want to strain out the whey if you want Greek Yogurt, or you can eat it as it is. You can use cheesecloth or a large coffee filter in a large stainless strainer, place the strainer over a bowl and let it drip in the fridge overnight. Alternatively, you can buy a Cuispro Donvier yogurt maker which is easier to clean up. For larger quantities of yogurt, a Eurocuisine Greek Yogurt Maker works better.
- I find it best to sweeten the yogurt after it is drained so you’re not draining your lovely honey down the drain. You can use honey, agave, or a keto-friendly sweetener. You could also consider adding sugar-free syrups.
- Place into individual yogurt jars and refrigerate for up to a week.
Watch The Video
Tips & Tricks for Perfect Instant Pot Yogurt
- Use HTC milk, Ultra-filtred milk or high protein milk like Fairlife for thick, yogurt especially for cold start yogurt.
- Do not use sweetened flavored yogurt.
- Use yogurt with live cultures.
- Use greek yogurt as your starter. Since extra whey has been drained out, it has more live cultures per tablespoon.
- Save 2-4 tablespoons of your yogurt as a starter before your family devours all of that deliciousness.
- If you intend to use it within a week, the starter will do fine in the fridge. Any longer than that, and you will want to freeze the starter.
- You can also make the yogurt in jars rather than the Instant Pot liner, as I did with this Vietnamese Yogurt recipe.
Grace
I need to make col start yogurt with almond milk but I don’t know how. Can you help me, please?
Esperanza
Hi.
What happens if you use FairLife fat free milk? Will it still be thick or will it not work and be runny?
TIA!
TwoSleevers
It will still work if you use low fat milk, but you are correct. It will be thinner than if you used milk with a higher fat content.
Nani
Why is it called Cold Start if milk is recommended to be room temperature? From the fridge, how long does it take to get to room temperature & what temperature is room temperature-seems that would vary for where you live or season? Otherwise, how much more time to I add on if using cold from fridge milk? I tried a differ recipe that called for an expensive specialty milk with little success, so Im excited to try this recipe using whole milk. I love my Eurocuisine - great product!
STO
I'm Indian and thanks for reminding me my mother used to make yogurt on the kitchen counter all the time and it was no big deal. Are you supposed to pour room temperature or cold milk into the instant pot? You say both in different places. I poured in cold milk and dumped in an entire little snack container of yogurt. It did not set in 8 hours so I set for 4 more hours but after 2.5 hours it was ready!
Thanks for this recipe!
STO
Sorry! disregard my comment, I should have read others' first...
Sana
Does the milk have to be room temperature when starting the incubation? I made yogurt using fairlife milk twice, both times it was not done in 8 hours. I used refrigerated milk without bringing it down to room temperature.
URVASHI PITRE
Right so if you use refrigerated milk just allow more time. Incubation doesn’t truly start until the milk is at about 100°. The colder the milk you start with, the longer it’s gonna take to come to temperature. All of that is time when fermentation is not happening. It’s totally doable, just takes longer that’s all
Patsy
I went ahead and bought the Eurocuisine Greek Yogurt Maker to give this a try. I couldn't find FairLife milk so I used just regular whole milk. I can't tell you how good this was. It was fabulous! I used honey to sweeten it and then put a Splenda in each serving I took from the bowl. It took me three times to put the yogurt into the Eurocuisine, but I just put it in to the top and each day (three) I got thick yummy yogurt. I will do this much more often than the heat the milk way. It was so easy!
Celine
The instructions make no sense. In the first part, the steps jump from 1 to 4. In the printable section, the steps are numbered consecutively (not matching the steps above), but there are still missing steps.
Step 4 (or 1) - Warm what? Milk? How did it get warm? Room temperature isn't warm.
Step 5 (or 2) - Press Yogurt again? When did we press it the first time? Put the liner back in the instant pot? When did we put the liner in or take it out the first time?
I would love to make yogurt without having to heat and cool the milk, constantly checking the temperature so it doesn't get too hot or too cool, etc., but it looks like some cut and paste gremlins chewed on the instructions. 🙁
I hope this can be fixed as it sounds like a wonderful and convenient way to make yogurt.
Cristina
All you have to do really is pour the milk into your IP then add 2 TBSP Greek yogurt, whisk it really good cover withe the lid (vent) but I always used a big plate (been making this cold start yogurt a lot), press your “YOGURT” button which will default to 8 hours and that’s it!!! you have to refrigerate it for me is overnight 🐸🤗👍🏽👍🏽
Elaine
I used almond milk, unsweetened unflavoured and plain yogurt for a starter. I brought it up to 180 then cooled to 110 and added the plain yogurt. After 8 hrs on the yogurt setting on the Instant Pot, it looked the same, still as watery as milk. Also I guessed that the 1/2 gal milk was a US gal so I used 6.5 cups of milk, hoping that was close to your amount in recipe. Any suggestions?