Instant Pot Yogurt: Step by step directions for making yogurt in an electric pressure cooker. Includes directions for nonfat, full fat, and Greek yogurt. Also, ways to naturally sweeten yogurt. This is EVERYTHING you need to know about making Instant Pot Yogurt.
I am all about making things at home when I can.
I prefer to make fruit roll-ups, chicken stock, granola bars, and even rotisserie chicken.
However, making yogurt at home, never appealed to me--and frankly overwhelmed me.
I can purchase high-quality yogurt with simple, wholesome ingredients at every grocery store around me.
But I was intrigued to try my hand at making yogurt shortly after getting my Instant Pot--and let me tell you, I am so glad I gave it a try.
Instant Pot Yogurt
There are two reasons that I will no longer purchase yogurt at the store and make yogurt in my Instant Pot.
- Taste
- Cost
You guys, homemade yogurt is so much creamier and less tangy than store-bought yogurt. The first time my kids had homemade yogurt they asked if I put sugar in the yogurt. Nope just plain yogurt--just a less tangy. But man, they loved it. And so did I.
And the cost of making homemade yogurt is so much cheaper than store-bought yogurt. By making homemade yogurt you cut the cost in at least half!!!
Now that you are intrigued, let's get started.
Making yogurt at home is time-consuming, but NOT at all hard. With an instant pot, it is nearly fail-proof!
How to make Homemade Instant Pot Yogurt
Step One: Clean your Instant Pot.
- This sounds like a no-brainer. But I am not talking about simply washing your Instant Pot--you need to sanitize your inner pot.
- You can prepare your inner pot for making yogurt by pouring boiling water in the inner pot and then discard the water.
- This step can be skipped, but it helps drastically in the flavor of your yogurt--especially if you have been making a lot of Instant Pot Chili.
Step Two: Heat your Milk in your Instant Pot.
- Pour ½ gallon milk into the inner pot of your electric pressure cooker, and put the lid on the Instant Pot (vent can be sealed or not sealed in this function). Hit yogurt function and then the adjust button until it says Boil.
- When the Instant Pot beeps that it is done, remove the lid and test the temperature to be sure the milk has reached 180 degrees.
- I like to leave the inner pot in the Instant Pot for 5 minutes before removing it. This helps the yogurt thicken up a bit better.
Step Three: Cool the milk to approximately 105-115 degrees.
- Cooling the milk to this temperature takes about 1 hour if placed on the counter.
- I like to speed the process up by placing the inner pot into a large mixing bowl in ice water. This takes about 15-20 minutes.
Step Four: Remove the "skin" off the milk.
- Once your milk has reached the proper temperature, skim off the top layer of milk "skin" that has formed on top of the liquid.
- This helps to give you the creamiest of yogurts.
Step Five: Whisk in a yogurt starter.
- Use either prepared yogurt or a yogurt starter and whisk into your prepared milk.
- It is important to note that if using prepared yogurt you need to be sure it is plain yogurt with live and active cultures.
- If your starter is sweetened or does not have live cultures, making yogurt at home will NOT work!
Step Six: Allow your yogurt to Incubate.
- To finish making your yogurt, place your inner pot back in your Instant Pot with the lid on (again, it doesn't matter which way the valve is set).
- Hit the Yogurt button again button.
- Adjust until it reads 8:00 or 8 hours.
- Then let the Instant Pot do its thing.
Step Seven: Enjoy!
- Transfer to glass jars or a plastic container.
- Refrigerate and Enjoy!
How to Make Yogurt without a Yogurt Button
It is a bit harder to make yogurt without a yogurt button on a pressure cooker, but it is possible.
- It is a bit harder, but it is possible.
- Pour milk into the inner pot of the pressure cooker.
- Turn on the Sear/Saute function.
- Heat milk to 180°F. Use a thermometer to check the temp often and be sure to stir very often so the milk does not scorch.
- Once the milk reaches 180°F, turn off your pressure cooker.
- Remove the inner pot and cool it to 108 degrees.
- Once your milk has reached 108 stir starter yogurt and whisk until incorporated.
- Put inner pot back in instant pot and place lid on the pressure cooker.
- Wrap in a large towel, or two regular towels and incubate for at least 8 hours or 10 hours.
How to Make Greek Yogurt
- If you would like to make Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt, follow all the instructions for homemade yogurt.
- Once the yogurt is prepared, place a large strainer lined with cheesecloth over a large mixing bowl.
- You may need to do this in batches depending on the size of your strainer.
- Allow the yogurt to drain in the strainer overnight.
- Scoop out the thick yogurt into containers to store and discard the cheesecloth.
What to do with the extra whey from the yogurt?
- You can either discard the whey or you can use it in smoothies, oatmeal, protein shakes, etc. It will be filled with protein and probiotics.
How to make Instant Pot Fat Free Yogurt
Can you use skim milk to make yogurt in your electric pressure cooker?
Yes, you can, with a few important tips.
- I have found for nonfat yogurt, 3 tablespoons of yogurt added to ½ gallon of milk works best.
- Nonfat yogurt will have quite a bit more liquid on the top than yogurt made with full or reduced-fat milk.
- Just carefully drain off the layer of liquid that forms on the yogurt and discard it.
- As nonfat yogurt sits, the liquid will begin to separate again, just mix it into the yogurt before serving.
How long does Homemade Yogurt last?
- Homemade yogurt should last for up to 10-14 days in your refrigerator.
- Be sure to save 2 tablespoons of your homemade yogurt to make your next batch.
How to Sweeten Homemade Yogurt
I have found homemade yogurt to be so much smoother and a bit sweeter than store-bought yogurt and simply enjoy it topped with fresh berries or homemade granola.
Homemade Vanilla Yogurt
- Make yogurt as directed.
- Mix in 1 tablespoon vanilla extract into prepared yogurt.
- This will flavor the yogurt without any added sweeteners.
**If you like your yogurt to be sweet, you can add in honey, maple syrup, or sugar adjusted to your desired level of sweetness. I would start with no more than ¼ cup, and increase by a tablespoon at a time.
A few tips for making yogurt at home
- I use 1 tablespoon of prepared yogurt for every quart of milk. Therefore for ½ gallon of milk, I whisk in 2 tablespoons of already prepared yogurt into my milk.
- You can cut this recipe in half if you would like. If you have an 8-quart pressure cooker, you can also double this recipe for homemade yogurt.
- Do NOT try to make homemade yogurt with flavored yogurt as your starter. You need to either use a yogurt starter or plain yogurt with active live cultures. How do you know if your store-bought yogurt has live cultures? The label on the yogurt will say Lactobacillus bulgaricus or Streptococcus thermophilus.
- A huge tip for making yogurt in the future is to FREEZE your starter immediately after fresh yogurt is made. I recommend using an ice cube tray. Each ice cube holds 1 tablespoon of yogurt so you will know exactly how much yogurt to defrost when making a new yogurt batch. Just be sure to thaw your yogurt cubes in the fridge to not alter the cultures in the yogurt.
- If you would like tangier yogurt, set an incubation period to 10 hours instead of 8 hours.
- If you need more tips on how to use your Instant Pot or are confused about some of the functions or pieces I mentioned, check out my Instant Pot 101.
- Get more easy, healthy instant pot recipes here.
Homemade Yogurt is great for:
- Yogurt Peanut Butter Dip
- 2 Ingredient Homemade Gogurts
- Peanut Butter Power Smoothie
- Skinny Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Skinny Spinach Artichoke Dip
How to make yogurt at home in an Instant Pot:
Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients
- ½ gallon milk
- 2 tablespoons prepared yogurt with cultures
Instructions
- Pour milk into inner pot of Instant Pot. Push yogurt button until the screen reads "boil." (Usually you will need to hit the yogurt button two times) This will take about an hour.
- Once the Instant Pot beebs that the boil cycle is complete, carefully remove the lid and test the temperature. It should be around 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Let inner pot sit in instant pot for 5 minutes and then remove inner pot.
- Allow the milk to cool to 105-115 degrees. This will take an hour on the counter top or about 15 minutes if you place your inner pot into an ice bath.
- Gently skim off the "skin" on the yogurt and discard.
- Whisk in the prepared yogurt.
- Place inner pot (be sure to dry off well if you had in ice bath),put lid on and press yogurt button again and then adjust until screen reads 8:00. (The pressure should also read normal--if it reads less, hit adjust again until normal is lit up.)
- Once the pressure cooker beeps that the yogurt cycle is complete, remove the inner pot from the inner pot and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 8 hours before transferring to individual containers or stirring the instant pot.
- Once refrigerated for 8 hours, you can strain the yogurt to prepare Greek yogurt and/or set some yogurt aside for future yogurt making. To make Greek yogurt, strain the yogurt in a strainer lined with cheesecloth overnight in the fridge (be sure to place over a large mixing bowl while draining.)
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Instead of prepared yogurt as your starter, you can use a yogurt starter. Just follow directions to determine how much starter to add to ½ gallon milk (each brand is a bit different.)
- You can use any percentage of fat to make homemade yogurt.
- To make Greek yogurt, strain the yogurt in a strainer lined with cheesecloth overnight in the fridge (be sure to place over large mixing bowl while draining.)
- Homemade yogurt should last for about 10-14 days.
- If sweetening yogurt, I have found it is best to add in sweeteners/vanilla after the yogurt has set up in the fridge for at least 8 hours, or after straining.
- If you find your milk is not reaching 180 degrees after the boil cycle, you can turn to saute function for a few minutes, watching VERY closely to help it reach to 180 degrees.
- Nutritional values are approximate and have been calculated using 2% milk. The serving size is approximately 4 ounces.
Kathy
Just wanted you to know I used 1 gallon of non-fat milk and my 8 qt IP. I did use 6 T starter. The fun part was using a turkey baster to remove 99% of the whey after the incubation, prior to putting the pot in the fridge for what was supposed to be 8 hours, but turned out to be 13! The final product was no tangier than had it sat for just the 8 and there was not a lot more whey produced. Lesson learned? Go ahead an put it in containers after basting off the whey and eliminate the 8 hours standing time in the fridge. Again, thank you for all of your help. I post your IP yogurt 'page' on FB all the time as others ask questions. Yours has such detailed information.
BTW, the 8 qt Duo has the yogurt button, but does not operate the same way as the 6. It is only for the time. To get it to 'boil', you have to use the adjust button. To get it back to the time, you have to use the adjust button again. My IP is a little over 2 years old. It heated the gallon to 180 on the boil setting the first time - something my 6 qt is unable to do without a saute assist. I will most likely use the 8 qt for 1/2 gallon, should I feel a reason to make a smaller batch.
Kristen Chidsey
I am so glad you have such success with this recipe Kathy! Thank you for recommending. And I love the tip about the turkey baster!!! What is genius. Thank you for sharing.
Krista Searle
I’m glad I found this recipe as most say to use a can of condensed milk and I didn’t want one that had that. I just made it and didn’t read the comments until just now. I didn’t wish it after. It did have a lot of liquid. I just put in mason jars and put I. The fridge. So am I supposed to put the entire pot in the fridge for 8 hours and the whisk and then store? I think I’m going to add some frozen berries to a portion and take it to work. Hopefully it tastes great. How much vanilla would one add to a 1/4 cup of yogurt?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Krista. It does work best to not stir until after 8 hours of setting up in the fridge, but I have enjoyed many times immediately. It just may be a bit thinner. Keep in mind frozen berries will add a bit more liquid, but still be delicious. For vanilla, I would add about 1/8 teaspoon for one portion. I hope you enjoy!
joyce
Hi – I have just finishing making my umpteenth batch of yogurt. Up til now every time has turned out great. I’m at the point I hardly even have to refer to the website/my notes. But tonite that changed. I went to take it out after the 8 hours in the Yogurt function & it was thin – hadnt thickened up at all. EEK!! The only difference was I used whey as my starter this time. The whey was frozen & then thawed Before I added to the cooled down milk. I have frozen regular yogurt before & thawed it & used that as starter but this was the first time I used whey. Any thoughts what happened?? I followed all the steps – Yogurt function to Boil; Cool; stir in whey; Yogurt function to 8 hours. Can I just go through all the steps tomorrow using the milk I used today?. I have covered & refrigerated the milk. Geeze I hate the thought of throwing out all that milk!! Also the milk was fresh and I’ve been using my digital thermometer.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Joyce. It would certainly be the fact that you used frozen and thawed whey. That does not have the same active cultures as the yogurt. I would personally start with new milk to ensure food safety, but you can try to use the same milk if you feel it did not go bad (I just always ere on the side of caution). I know technically whey works as a starter, but I have found it to be a bit more finicky--especially if frozen and then thawed.
joyce
Kristen - an update - So, this last batch, I used plain store-bought plain yogurt that had freshly been opened as my starter. Better but still runny (kind of like you would expect a drinkable yogurt smoothie to be). This is after several hours draining (which in the past has been plenty of time). This time I had to drain it FOREVER to have it thicken up a little more. I am considering buying "yogurt starter packets" on Amazon. There are a MILLION choices - any recommendations on which one?? I hate to give up because way more cost effective to use what I already have on hand, but I'm getting really frustrated. Once you've had home-made yogurt, there's no going back!! I have been making your recipe since August & most batches have come out great & our family loves it!!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Joyce, I am so glad that you enjoy homemade yogurt so much and that most of your batches come out perfectly. I really would stick with store bought plain yogurt (chobani or store brand seem to work best). Instead, I would check your thermometer to see if that may be off a bit. The starters on Amazon can be great, but are pricey, and a few readers have had issues with getting expired starters off amazon.
Mom sandy
Hi
I’ve tried this now 3 times and same result. Runny spoiled curded milk.
Any ideas? My instapot is on normal setting and I used a starter found on amazon yogourmet freeze fries starter. I followed receipt to a T. Maybe a bad starter or what. Using whole organic milk.
Thanks
Kristen Chidsey
Did you heat your milk to 180 and then cool to 110 degrees? If so, I would say that it was a bad starter for sure, since you know you had your Instant Pot on normal setting.
Mandie
Amazon is known for selling expires food goods and counterfeit products! Double check your expiration dates on your starters.
Laurie
How do I convert this to strawberry yogurt? How many strawberries? Or do you just stir in cut up strawberries to vanilla, or plain yogurt?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Laurie! I would wait until after the yogurt has set up and then add in strawberries, strawberry puree or strawberry jam as desired. Enjoyed
Sherri
Hi, I made this yogurt for the first time about a week ago and decided to ask a question. The yogurt tasted good but for some reason I had little chunks I think of the top skin in it. What is the best way to make sure I get all the skin off the top? Also how do I save some yogurt for the starter for next batch?
Thanks so much!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Sherri! You can use a spoon to gently skim off the skin if some forms then whisk the yogurt well after it has fully set up. For your starter, I set aside 2 tablespoon measurements and stored in the fridge for 5 days or freeze in an ice cube tray (each ice cube is about 1 tablespoon) and then freeze until solid. Pop out the cubes and store in a freezer safe bag for 1 to 3 months. Defrost before making a new batch of yogurt. Hope that helps.
Karen
Hi, I made this yogurt a few weeks ago and it came out perfectly (first time making instant pot yogurt though have made it on the stove before), so thank you!!
I do have a question - I live at about 6500ft and because things boil at a lower temp, the milk is not 180 when it’s done boiling. I can’t quite remember what I did to heat it more last but today, the same issue. And did boil again but still only 175. I saw your hi altitude adjustments say none needed, so are you saying 175 temp is ok or are you believing it will still get to 180? Recipe states to check that temp is 180 but doesn’t tell you what to do if it is not.
Sorry this is lengthy, just haven’t been able to figure this out. 🤔. Thanks!
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Karen! There is no change to the incubation period if living at high altitude. But you are correct that it is harder to get the milk to reach 180 degrees using the boil function. Try turning onto saute and stir carefully. Glad you have enjoyed this before😍
Mary
I also live at high elevation. I use the boil button with my lid on and not vented which allows it to heat up. I usually do it for 10 minutes then open, skim, stir, and check temp. Then depending on what it's at I do another 8-10 minutes. It takes me usually 20-25 minutes but it works
Kristin
Love this recipe, I’ve lost count how many times I’ve made it! This last time it turned it a little different though. The top layer was “crackly” looking, but below was typical smooth. Also found what looked like random bits of hardened milk bubbles? No weird smells, tastes fine. Do you have any theories on what happened to my yogurt? 😆
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kristin! I am so glad you have made this so many times and enjoyed! Did you happen to use a powdered starter? It could be that it was not whisked in well. It also could be that you scorched your milk a bit when boiling and those hard bits were incorporated.
Gab
HI there. I have had great success with this recipe many times. But yesterday, it didn't seem to set, so now I have two jars of sour chunky milk. Maybe I did something wrong with the temperature?
Any thought what I can do with my sour milk now or should it be tossed?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Gab, it does sound like your yogurt went bad and I would discard. SORRY! My guess is that you accidentally had the incubation temperature set to low not normal, or your milk went bad. I am glad this recipe has been successful in the past though!
Kathy
I used this for my very first try at Instant Pot yogurt. The instructions were easy to follow, thank you! I do have one question. How do you 'carefully drain' off the liquid when making non-fat yogurt? You were absolutely right about lots of liquid. I am not a Greek yogurt fan so I used a sieve to remove a lot of the liquid, but it wasn't clear and the remaining yogurt is lumpy. It tastes fine and is just for me, but I would like it smoother. Is there a better way? Thank you for the recipe.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kathy, how you removed the liquid is fine. It does help to wait 8 hours to strain at times, but you should be able to whisk the remaining yogurt well to remove lumps. So glad you found the instructions clear and easy to follow 🙂
Kathy
Do you mean I can put the pot in the fridge for 8 hours, then strain? I have another question - when it is sitting there for the 8 hour incubation, is the IP actually heating the milk? It was very cool when I started straining. I didn't take the temperature, but I am assuming I won't be getting food poisoning?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kathy! Yes, you would put the pot in the fridge for 8 hours and then strain. And your incubation period the instant pot should be at 110-115 degrees. If it felt cool, I would check to be sure when you set incubation time your yogurt was on normal not low setting.
Kathy
It was on normal. I had to reset it when I noticed it was on low after the beep. Should I just toss this batch since I don't know what the temperature actually was, or is there a way to tell it is OK to eat? I started straining immediately after the 8 hours were reached. The outside of the IP felt room temperature. There was moisture on my glass lid, if that means anything! Thank you for your help.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Kathy! Honestly, I think it will be fine--the moisture means there was heat inside the instant pot. The outside rarely gets hot for me either. That said, do what makes you feel safe.
Kathy
My lumpy yogurt is just fine! Can't wait for my next batch tomorrow and chilling for 8 hours before daining. Love the flavor, even if it does look funny! Thanks again.
Kristen Chidsey
So glad you are enjoying Kathy!
Kathy
Putting the entire pot in the fridge overnight was perfect! I ladled some of the liquid out prior to putting it in and got the rest out easily this morning. Perfectly smooth and creamy! It is slightly thicker, too, but not Greek style, so I got a little less, volume wise, but will make it in my 8 qt, double the recipe the next time. I assume 6 T starter for a gallon of non-fat milk?