Instant Pot Yogurt Recipe: How To Make Yogurt In The Instant Pot (2024)

FAQs

How to use Instant Pot yogurt setting? ›

Add the milk to the Instant Pot, secure the lid, and leave the steam release valve open. Press the yogurt button until it says "boil" and press start. Check the temperature. Once the boil cycle is over and the Instant Pot beeps to signal it's done, check the temperature using a clean cooking thermometer.

It's so much easier than I expected! It's also much cheaper, and in my opinion, more delicious than any store bought yogurt you can get. Making this Easy Instant Pot Yogurt has quickly become one of my favourite weekly rituals.

The Instant Pot is actually very good at making yogurt, whether you have the yogurt button or not. First, you have to add the main ingredient: milk. Then, you bring it up to the right temperature. Then you cool it down to the right temperature, add the starter, then you cover it and let it sit.

Pasteurized milk is an excellent choice for making yogurt at home. HTST (High-Temperature Short Time) or Flash Pasteurized milk is heated to 161ºF and held there for 15 seconds. If your bottle of milk is labeled “pasteurized,” it has most likely been treated in this way.

Pour the milk into the Instant Pot. Lock the lid in place but leave the pressure valve open (you can also cover with a glass lid if you have one). Press the yogurt button until it says boil. For most Instant Pots, you'll just need to hit the yogurt button once or twice and then press start.

Troubleshooting Instant Pot Yogurt Issues

The first question to ask yourself is how long did you allow your yogurt to incubate? If it's only been a couple of hours, let it go a minimum of 4 hours and start checking every hour. If it's still not setting up, it could be that you used too much starter.

I usually do it overnight, about 10-12 hours. The longer the time, the more tart the yogurt will be. (The Instant Pot does not have to come to pressure for this process, so you can use a glass lid, or just set the valve to “venting”.)

* If you find that your yoghurt is stringy or slimy rather than like thick pot-set yoghurt, chances are that wild yeasts or other bacteria have gotten in to the mixture somehow.

Fermentation time: The longer you ferment the more tart, and thicker, your yogurt will be. Different cultures work at different rates, but as a general guideline: 6-8 hours produces a mild yogurt, 8-12 hours a tart yogurt, and more than 12 hours produces a sour yogurt.

If too much starter culture is used, the bacteria will be crowded and run out of food (lactose) before the yogurt is set. Too much starter can produce a sour taste, rather than the desired tart taste.

Why is my Instant Pot yogurt lumpy? ›

Yogurt Starter

Without it, you'll end up with a pot of warm milk. In general, you need 1 Tablespoon of starter per ½ gallon of milk. Too much starter can overcrowd the bacterial balance, leading to thin or lumpy yogurt.

You need to strain it more.

If your yogurt has set up properly, but is just a little too thin for you, you can simply leave it to strain for a few more hours until it reaches the desired consistency.

A yogurt starter can be from any jar of store bought yogurt that says “active cultures” on the carton. Make sure your yogurt is plain (no sweeteners) and full fat for the best results (though I've heard low fat and even Greek yogurt will work fine as a starter as long as it has active cultures).

Heating milk before culturing denatures one of the main whey proteins, lactoglobulin, which allows it to join in the mesh (instead of remaining inactive) and effectively increases the amount of protein in the milk that will be available to thicken the yogurt.

One of the ways you can get a better firmness in yogurt is to add powdered milk. This increases the volume of milk solids, so the resulting yogurt is thicker.

Because it doesn't require stabilisers, pot-set yoghurt tends to separate into milk solids and whey, which can be poured out for use in cooking. Pot-set yoghurt is sometimes sold unhom*ogenised, which leaves a layer of cream on the top. Use this style of yoghurt for curries and dressings.

The yogurt does not set and is runny.

You may not have incubated the yogurt long enough. Keep at it, checking every hour or so. You may have added the starter before allowing the just-boiled milk to correctly cool. Very hot milk can kill the cultures you're depending on.

Place the bowl containing the strainer or colander in the refrigerator and allow to drain for two to three hours. After draining, take the cloth containing the yogurt and put it in the sink, but do not remove the string. Place the palms of your hands on the bag and press down to force out any remaining liquid.