Nearly $17 of my budget last month went to yogurt. That’s more yogurt in one month than we bought all year.
(“We”… as if I can share the blame. Do you see anyone else confessing their crumbs? Who am I kidding?!)
Once I did that math, making my own yogurt became number one on the to-do list after the grocery budget reset.
I read lots of sites and reviewed lots of different methods. Making yogurt is like making almond milk – it begs the question, “You mean, you can MAKE your own?”
Sure it can be done, but is it easy? Because if it’s not easy, I don’t want to do it. I want (and need) the simplest version available. Give me homemade yogurt for dummies.
My first choice was Katie from Kitchen Stewardship. Her instructions are super easy and given her experience in the kitchen, I had no doubt the recipe would work. But there was one big problem – I don’t have a large cooler for the yogurt to “cook” in. There was also another small hiccup…
The whole jar-in-a-pot-of-water thing.
Call me chicken, because I am, but sticking a filled – and open – jar of anything in big pot of boiling water really scares me.
The pictures show yogurt. My brain sees expensive organic milk spilling over from my jars into the water. OBVIOUSLY it can be done correctly, but I’m skeptical of my own yogurt-making skills… especially since they’re non-existant.
Scratch it off the list.
My second choice was Aimee from Simple Bites. Her yogurt 101 is also super easy and the cooking method was unbeatable – a heating pad! How can you screw up a heating pad? You can’t!
That is my kind of yogurt. Sign.Me.Up.
In full disclosure, there is a super-easy slow-cooker method, but I heard it comes out runny. Me no likey runny yogurt, but if you like runny yogurt, give it a whirl!
There may be a old wives tale saying milk cools at a rate of one degree per minute. This could be a byproduct of my imagination, but with “exercise” on my to-do list, I had something to keep me busy. You know, the typical day of a stay-at-home-mom – multi-task-mania. And as it turns out, the cooling rate is somewhat accurate too!
Yogurt is kinda sneaky. You can do everything right, but you won’t know it until 8 hours later. You can make one tiny little mistake, and you still won’t know it until 8 hours later.
Making yogurt is a leap of faith.
But the heating pad is a safety net.
Afraid to take make the jump? Grab your pad and follow along! I’ve included approximate times too, so you do something fun while the milk is cooling, like laundry or sweating. 
Homemade Plain Yogurt
adapted from Simple Bites1 quart milk (your choice of fat %)
1/2 cup powdered milk
2 T plain yogurt with active cultures, room temperatureIn a medium saucepan, combine milk and milk powder and heat to 180 degrees, stirring occasionally (approximately 15 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool to no warmer than 115 degrees (approximately 70 minutes).
Place the yogurt in a small mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup of the cooled milk. Whisk to blend well.
Add the yogurt mixture to the remainder of the milk and whisk to blend thoroughly.
Pour the milk to a clean quart-sized jar (or several smaller sized jars). Screw on the lid and place on a heating pad set to “low.” Wrap a towel around the jar and cover it with a large inverted soup pot.
Allow to incubate for 8 hours.
Here are some photos for those who are visual learners.
Heating pad set up on the counter. I took a bath towel, folded in lengthwise (hot dog) and placed one end on the counter. The heating pad is plugged in and on low, folded on top of the towel. I don’t know if the heating pad could burn the counter tops, but since we’re renting, I didn’t want to risk it.
My three jars on the heating pad filled with cooled milk/yogurt.
You can’t see it well in this picture, but I folded the towel over the jars first, then covered them with the pot. The term “incubate” from the recipe made me think “warm” and I thought another layer of towel would help the process.
Towel wrapped over inverted pot.
Ta da! The final product, 8 hours later! As you can see, the yogurt is really thick. I scooped some out and the yogurt didn’t fill in the hole – and this was right after incubation. It firmed up even more after refrigeration!
Have you made your own yogurt before?
This post may be shared at Make Your Own, Monday Mania, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Scratch Cookin’ Tuesdays, Hearth & Soul, Real Food Wednesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesdays, Whole Foods Wednesdays, Simple Living Wednesdays, Simple Lives Thursday, Fill Those Jars.
We’ve been making our own yogurt for a few months now and it has been a huge budget saver! I do use the crockpot method (which I had previously given up on because of the runny yogurt issue), but I’ve found this go-round that if you start with a greek yogurt starter the yogurt comes out MUCH firmer. Happy with it, so that’s what we do- cause I don’t have a heating pad!
Aha! Thanks for sharing that tip Jennifer! I wonder if that’s the key to removing milk powder from this recipe – supposedly it adds to the thickness. I’ll have to experiment on the next batch!
I’ve been making my own yogurt for a few months now and actually do the method from KitchenStewardship. I’ve never had a milk jump out of my jars so don’t be too intimidated! Sometimes if I have too much water and don’t turn down the temp a bit after it’s boiled I have water spill out of the pot but it’s never negatively affected anything.
Your method looks easy enough, maybe I’ll give it a try.
The best ever yogurt treat is a bit of berry freezer jam mixed in homemade yogurt with some granola on top… it’s almost better than ice cream!
Thanks Elizabeth, hearing that water jumps out, instead of milk, is a bit reassuring. Your yogurt treat sounds delicious! I’ve heard of people taking out entire pints of freezer jam in one sitting. That may be a dangerous temptation!
Ok seeing you have sucess makes me want to try one more time. My kids are addicted to Mountian High Yogurt. We love supporting a local company but wow it has gotten expensive. What kind of starter did you use?
I used either Trader Joe’s plain organic yogurt, or the Fage from Costco. We had both in the fridge at the same time, but I took from the one unopened. Now that one is gone and one is open, I’m not sure which it was! Based on another comment, I’d go with the Fage for thick yogurt though.
I use the crock pot method too, and it is so easy. Starting with Greek yogurt definitely helps and if it’s still too runny for you just pour off some whey or run it through cheese cloth.
Thank you for the idea!
Sooooo … how did it taste? Do you notice a difference in your fresh yogurt compared to the store bought stuff??
I’ve made yogurt in the past, even invested in a yogurt maker complete with a bunch of little jars and an incubator. I’ve been thinking about taking the plunge again, but now all I buy is raw milk from up the dairy farm up the street. Making homemade yogurt from raw milk has me a wee bit nervous.
The homemade version tasted like store-bought, but with less tang. I think reducing if not eliminating the powdered milk next time will fix that. Mixed with other stuff though, can’t tell the difference.
Making yogurt with raw milk CAN be done, and Kitchen Stewardship has a fantastic write-up on it. It requires a little more watching I believe, but I think you’ll be a pro after one attempt!
I have been making my own yogurt for years and just love the taste. So much better than what you buy from the stores. Hillary, RE: raw milk you need to pasturize it first….sort of. I know it has to be heated up to a certain temp. for a certain period of time. I believe the temp. is 180 degrees. Check on the internet and you can find the info. Tiffany, if you let you yogurt set longer than the eight hours, it will thicken more or you can double or even triple the amount of yogurt you are using for your starter. Also, if you let it incubate longer it will be tangier. I usually let my yogurt incubate for 12-14 hours and I don’t have any problems. One word of caution to anyone making their own yogurt,make sure containers and lids are thoroughly washed and rinsed..the hotter the water the better!
Thank you for all the wonderful tips Mary! I plan to make another batch this month and I’ll be sure to come back to this!
A heating pad! I like this idea. I gave up on the crockpot after the runny issue too. Fresh yogurt is simply THE best tasting yogurt in the world, so I’m happy to have another method to try!
Oh thank you for linking up! I love this and pinned and shared all around -
I did try the jars in the pot of water. I used ball jars. One of the jars bottom cracked clean off! What a flippin mess! And a waste of expensive raw organic milk. Now I make it the simple bites way, except I have a yogurt maker that holds small or large jars. My yogurt comes out delicious, creamy, and with very low tanginess. What a money saver making your own yogurt is.
this is awesome! i love it!!
Have a great night! Stop by nichollvincent.blogspot.com and say hello! xo
Love this. I’ve made yogurt on and off for years, and to incubate it I usually put it in the oven with the light on overnight, but I’ve recently moved into a new place with an oven with no light!! The heating pad is a good idea
I’d love it if you shared this over on my blog’s new link up – Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, it’s a perfect fit for the theme.
How cool! I haven’t seen this version. I think I’mgoing to try it.
My friend shared some with me that she made in the crockpot and then put in her icecream maker with some fruit. I definitely need to try this! If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to visit my Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and link up this and any other GF idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
Thanks Heidi!
I love making my yogurt in a yogurt machine. Turns out every time (well, unless I use non-dairy milks. That’s a different story!) and it’s SO easy. They cost about $30 and TOTALLY worth it. Thanks for linking up to Healthy 2day Wednesday; come back next week to see if you were featured.
I’ve never made my own yogurt but I have several friends who do. Your post is a great resource to get anyone started making homemade yogurt. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts!
This is a really great technique thanks for sharing it on foodie friday.
This looks wonderful! We eat so much yogurt but i never thought of making my own…I would love you to link this up to our recipe linky at Katies Language Cafe! ~~Katie
Thanks Katie!
Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you share this week! Have a wonderful week.
Michelle
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