Make Homemade Yogurt in the Crock Pot
My children devour yogurt. I was searching for a way to make homemade yogurt without having to buy a yogurt maker.
I found an incredibly easy way to make homemade yogurt.
The Crockpot.
I was thrilled when I found this wonderful recipe on the delicious site, A Year of Slowcooking. I promise it really is simple. You’ll feel like a homemaking queen when you make this easy treat!
Everything you need to made easy homemade yogurt.
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Milk {I’ve used Skim, Whole, store bought & raw}
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Starter yogurt {for the active cultures}
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Fruit {if you choose}
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Crockpot {of course}
How I make Homemade Yogurt the easy way:
Start your yogurt making fun on a day that you plan to be home all day. It’s an easy process, just slow going.
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I fill my 6 qt crock pot with the amount of milk needed. If I want two quarts of yogurt, I use 2 qts of milk. {See, you’re smart. You get the idea.} I let the milk sit in my crock pot, on LOW, with the lid on–for 3 hours.
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After 3 hours I add in 1 cup “starter” yogurt. This is what grows your lovely active cultures. I’ve used plain yogurt or flavored. Like everything, it’s all about what I have. I whisk the starter yogurt into the warm milk I also add sugar or Splenda at the point. Again, it’s all about preference here. Some wait until the yogurt is done and simply sweeten with natural honey or fruit.
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UNPLUG your crockpot and let it sit for 8 hours. The original post that I got this recipe from suggested wrapping your unplugged crockpot in a towel while it sits. I do that.
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Drum roll please!!! Now after 8 hours your yogurt is nearly ready. At this point I mix in the fruit that I’d like to add. We make blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, peach, etc. The yogurt is not thick. It’s like low-fat yogurt and thin. But we like it and the price is RIGHT!
See. Simple.
*The first time I made this I was confused and thought that the volume would expand. My reasoning was the milk would get thicker and therefore increase the volume. I learned though the amount of milk I used was the exact amount of yogurt it would yield.
I always make my homemade yogurt with skim milk because that is what we drink. I do have friends who use raw milk, goats milk and other natural varieties. I’m just not there yet, wink.
This is homemade Strawberry Yogurt.
Strawberry and Peach Yogurt.
Storing homemade yogurt is very easy too. I simply use small plastic containers. By doing this the yogurt is ready for little tummies at a moments notice.
I love my homemade yogurt! These are great directions for someone without a yogurt maker. By the way, if you want thicker yogurt, you can drain it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before adding the fruit. Most people use a coffee filter in a colander. I use a piece of unbleached muslin. The yogurt is nice and thick within a couple of hours, but if you leave it overnight you get a great substitute for cream cheese.
Thank you for those “thickening” tips. We’re use to it being somewhat thin, although it’s not bad that way. My older son said it’s like a “thick smoothie.” He’ll pour his in a cup and drink it, lol. Like a lot of homemade things, people have to take the basic directions and make it work for them
We recently made homemade yogurt too! Here's the recipe I found. We let ours rest in the crockpot overnight.
http://jessatinchristalone.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-ideas-for-my-crock-pot.html
I've made yogurt for years, though not in a crock. The past year I've used goat milk from our beautiful Nigerian dwarf goats. TOO YUMMY!!!
To make thicker yogurt, I will sometimes add a tablespoon of gelatin. It's not necessary, and when I'm turning my yogurt into yogurt cheese it can't be used. (It binds the whey, which is what you drain out of the yogurt to thicken it for yogurt cheese – which turns out rather like a cream cheese.) But for those who would be happier with a more solid yogurt, a little gelatin makes a big difference. Just sprinkle it over your milk before starting, and mix it in after several minutes.
I will try a little gelatin next time we make it. It is ooooh so yummy
If I wanted to make vanilla yogurt how much vanilla would you suggest I add?
My mom once bought my little girl those dannon drinkable yogurts. This sounds like a great alternative since it is thin. New treat for the lunch box!
Thanks!
Sara@ http://yourthrivingfamily.blogspot.com
I am so excited about this! We have our own cows, so milk is available. This will save a bundle! I’ve always wanted to try making yogurt, but all the recipes I’ve seen have scared me. This one seems quite managable! Thanks for sharing!
Rachel, at the time I posted this we didn’t have a source for fresh cow milk. Now we do, and it turns out wonderful! ;D
you are my hero! i just love your posts! you’re the coolest mom ever!
thank you
Just wanted to let you know that we have been making the yogurt here at our house! Even my skeptical husband loves it! He didn’t think it would really work. I did learn two important lessons though. #1) Don’t turn on the crock pot before you put the milk in it! #2) You can’t put cold milk in a warm crock pot!! LOL!! I turned on the crock pot but got distracted and forgot to put the milk in right away!! When I realized it and put the cold milk in the warm crock pot, the bottom part of the ceramic crock cracked totally off the top part!! Well, needless to say, I had a big mess, spilled milk , a broken crock pot and no yogurt!! Thankfully, I have another one!!
Oh my, I’ve never had that happen! Maybe it was just a fluke? I’m so glad that the yogurt is working out well. We love it. We’ve been picking a gallon of blackberries off of our bushes daily; can’t wait to make blackberry yogurt!
Hi I can’t wait to try this! I was curious if you can reuse your yogurt as the starter for the next batch?
You can do that. I usually pick up another small container at the store though. It works well both ways
You can add dry milk INSTEAD of gelatin; which is what we do.
Also, if you choose, you can just take the crock out of the heater device and wrap a beach towel around it and throw it in the cool oven. Let sit overnight 8-10 hrs and oh something magical happens and its yogurt!!!
Please make sure that you let the warmed milk cool to about 110 degrees otherwise you can kill off the cultures that make it “yogurt”.
ALSO; if you want to go one step further and have GREEK yogurt…
You can get cheesecloth and line your colander with it; strain out the “whey” (BUT DONT THROW IT OUT!,)
Once you strain the whey out for several hours, you have greek yogurt.
They whey is GREAT for using in place of buttermilk, great in pancakes etc …
AND you can freeze the whey in ice cube trays and then pop them out when you need buttermilk etc.. or pop them into a freezer bag..they keep indefinitely. Also, if you raise chickens, they love the whey!
I do, indeed, have a crock pot that I could use for yogurt, but I do mine on the stove. Heat to 180-185, cool to 110, add starter, put on a heating pad for 7(ish) hours. I found a site (http://www.makeyourownyogurt.com/make-yogurt/what-you-need) that suggested that for thicker yogurt you can do 2 things: keep the temperature at 180 for longer (not hard if you’re using a double boiler), up to half an hour, and also letting it sit on the heating pad for longer (which also gives it a stronger taste). No gelatin needed. When I keep it at 180 for half an hour, mine turns out nice and thick. And I keep mine plain and put granola in mine. My kids take the plain yogurt and put a spoonful of strawberry jam in theirs or honey. Yummy! And everyone gets what they like.
Every few hours, I turn on the crock pot to “warm” for 5 minutes, to keep the temperature up. I leave mine for 12 hours in the crock pot.
Another tip: Cool the milk to 45 degrees C, or 110 degrees F before adding the starter yogurt, so as to not kill the cultures. These tips will help to thicken the yogurt.
Do you think you could do this with soy or almond milk?? And for the starter just use some soy or almond yoghurt? It would be the same thing, right? I can’t do milk, and I do like goat’s milk, but it’s expensive, and strong tasting…..if I made it with the other, I could get my kids to eat it also.
Emily, another reader asked this on Facebook today and I’m honestly not sure. It would certainly be worth a try!
I tried this and it didn’t ever go beyond the liquid stage. I’m so sad
I followed the instructions exactly. And ideas about what went wrong?
if you try it again try adding gelatin powder to thicken it.
hope this helps.
Very interesting! I never would have thought to make yogurt in the Crock-pot! Thanks for linking up!
I need to try this soon. It has been on my to do list for awhile now. My boys love vanilla flavored. So i would need to play with that flavor. Thank you for the easy instructions.
How long will homemade yogurt last for in the fridge? Thank you for this recipe! I look forward to trying it.
Loren, we always eat ours within 2-3 days. It never keeps for longer because it’s gone.
I always add 1 cup dry milk to 1/2 gallon skim milk to thicken my yogurt. Works great! Love your blog, thanks for sharing!
I just want to mention that if you want thicker yogurt all you have to do is add in some unflavored gelatin powder & it thickens it nicely.
Just wondering – how long will homemade yogurt last – do you base it on the expiry of the milk used or
does it have a longer shelf life? Thanks
We eat it within a few days…it goes quick! I’m sorry that I can’t give you an exact time-frame. I usually use milk from the store that I’ve frozen. Recently I’ve been making homemade yogurt from fresh cow milk too.