Homemade Yogurt

Homemade yogurt is a snap to make All you really need is good quality milk, a few spoonfuls of your favorite plain yogurt to use as a starter culture, and some.
Table of contents

Pour warm milk in a glass or pyrex bowl and add the Mahdzoon starter or store bought"live culture" plain yogurt. Mix well by stirring the starter in, and cover. Completely cover the bowl with towels top and bottom to maintain an even temperature. Keep covered at room temperature until mahdzoon has set, about hours.

Refrigerate for 8 hours before serving. To store, keep in refrigerator. Most Recent Most Popular. Close Attach Photo Would you like to attach a photo to your submission? Close Report this post? Are you sure you want to report this post for review? Close Log in You must be logged in to interact with the activity feed. Log in now Cancel. Close Missing Input Please enter a rating or review before submitting. Close Missing Input Please enter a reply before submitting. Please enter your before submitting. There was an error processing your submission. Please refresh and try again!

Like what you see here? Close Add to collection.

How to Make Homemade Yogurt

Close Share this recipe: There are no results for your search. Please modify your search and try again. This week on GK: Just curious to see if you know what the calorie count is and how much protein per serving. Kimberly, Just wanted to send out a belated thanks for this wonderful recipe! I wondered if it would make a sweeter cream cheese labneh, so I made your yogurt, then made the labneh. While I still like the usual Greek yogurt I obtain from a plain Greek yogurt starter, it makes delicious cream cheese.

Some of my family did not like the tarter flavor of labneh made from Greek yogurt, but really liked the cream cheese made from the French-style yogurt. Spoons down and thumbs up! Fantastic, Joyce, thanks so much for the feedback and also the info about the French-style yogurt! And if you leave it in the strainer even longer you get a creamy cheesy product that you can add herbs to.

You can form it into balls and put it into olive oil with any fresh herbs like rosemary and hot pepper flakes. I was actually already thinking of doing a separate post on that. I have frozen the yogurt and used as a starter. So, this reply had me concerned. I looked it up and this is what I found. Kimberly, Thank you so much for posting this. I never buy yogurt anymore. Plus, I love the control this recipe gives me over the consistency. Adjust the straining time to meet your preferences for both consistency and protein content.

Yes, the meat thermometer will do perfectly fine. That said, there is wiggle room here by a few degrees. Costco has no fat, low sugar 7 grams per 32 ounces Greek yogurt. Kirkland brand We live on it. You should avoid anything that is low or no fat. The enemies are carbohydrate, sugar, and trans fat. I made it this weekend and it came out perfect! I posted my experience to my blog and put up a link to your recipe. I also made your Beef Pepper Stew this weekend. The Greek yogurt goes great in that stew. Thanks so much for the link, I really appreciate that. We love this homemade yogurt.

I just finished another batch today. And the bath I made a few days ago I let strain extra long and have made a thick herbed cheese spread out of it — delicious! Thanks again, Jim, really appreciate the feedback! Hi Robin, yes it can. But before you do that, considering reading the article I link to in my first paragraph about full fat dairy: I tried this, and discovered that the process is very forgiving.

I do have two questions for you, though. The first one is, do you drain the yogurt at room temp or in the fridge? The second question is, do you stir it at all during the draining process? I ask because I left mine sit for 4 hours and while it was very solid, almost cheese-like against the cheese cloth, the rest of it was still pretty liquidy, and I did not get as much whey as expected.

Apart from these questions, I was very pleased with how simple the process is. We already had some of the yogurt with our lunch and it was very nice. Not tart like fat-free yogurt is…. To answer your questions — Room temp or fridge for draining: That also gives the probiotics longer to develop. When you say liquidy was it more liquidy than regular yogurt, or just not as thick as Greek yogurt? Thanks for your answers, Kimberly.

The center was just more like regular yogurt than Greek. But the outside was quite dry against the cheese cloth, almost like yogurt cheese. What has occurred to me is that the outside may become dry because we live in such a dry climate.


  1. How to Make Homemade Yogurt (Easy, Step-by-Step)?
  2. Homemade Yogurt;
  3. The Four Seasons, no. 2: Summer (Cello & Bass Part) - Cello/Bass.

I had the same Problem and it only happens when I use a specific type of yogurt as my starter.. Never happens when I use Stoneyfield whole milk yogurt. I think it does depend on the brand. I tried making this last night! I woke up this morning to check on my yogurt but i had no seperation of whey…just thick milk. But if the yogurt was too runny then yes, something went wrong. It could have gone wrong at any of several different stages. I hope you have better luck next time!

How to make homemade yogurt - save money, get healthy

I tried again with no luck! My temperatures were right and followed all the instructions. Glad other people found success but i wont be trying this again. Ilana, that is so strange! What kind of milk did you use? Just regular pasteurized milk from the grocery store? Did you use whole fat plain yogurt with live cultures in it it will say in the ingredients? I make it in my multi cooker which has a yoghurt setting and I use UHT full fat, fresh milk is double the price here.

I just dump it all in and push go, wait 8 hours, then strain Do you leave the lid on when letting the yogurt cool to ? Assume you could to hasten the cooling process. It took over 4 hrs ge to degrees.


  • 14 Gedichte (German Edition)!
  • Homemade Yogurt.
  • How to Make Homemade Yogurt.

    • Not sure why, maybe because I t the milk in straight from the fridge? Hi Luci, I do leave the lid. Yes, it can take that long. It varies depending on the slow cooker itself and the size of the slow cooker how large the surface area is. Hi Kimberly, just back from santorini and been eating tzaki all week there , love it. So I found your recipe and will be making a batch of yogurt at the weekend. I am wondering if you use a single layer of cheesecloth or perhaps more when you wrap it over the colander?

    Thanks for the great recipe! Hi Jared, thanks for asking that. Yes, I just use a single layer, otherwise it will take forever to drain. It is critical though that the yogurt is properly set before pouring it into the cheesecloth otherwise everything will come pouring through been there, done that ;. I had to experiment with my cheese cloth, having never used one before. In future, I will order the one you recommend. It took 3 times to get yogurt mixture to separate!

    Watch this quick video of my homemade yogurt recipe:

    I bought Faberware Canning Cheesecloth and learned not to unfold it and double layer it…straining whey perfectly now! So I was so excited to try this and everything went perfectly until the straining process. My yogurt is straining straight through the cheese cloth and not separating out the whey.

    Do you know what I did wrong. Currently what I have tastes exactly like yogurt just thinner. I wanted to comment on the previous two comments about the yogurt being too liquidy. Getting the temperature right at both ends heating and cooling is extremely important and I recommend using an instant-read thermometer. The key is getting the yogurt to set properly before straining it. And I used the cheesecloth that Kimberly recommends in her post and everything has turned out perfectly following the directions exactly. Thanks for the feedback, Katherine. I have to wonder though if the freshness of the milk and the yogurt culture is connected to the outcome.

    Thanks for the recipe! I love greek yogurt! Let us know how it turns out! For something similar but not quite Greek, I use the Caspian Sea yogurt aka matsoni starter. At any rate it turned out great! Nothing at all like store bought yogurt. So creamy, and mild. I was eating it right out of the bowl plain and loving it! I got a lot of the whey water, and about 4 cups total of yogurt in the end. I let it sit on a single layer of cheese cloth for about 7 hours.

    I stirred it a little but it was still runnier then I like and I noticed that I had some thicker looking yogurt on the bottom of my bowl once I drained off the whey water. SO…I emptied my yogurt from the cheesecloth and put my yogurt in a bowl. I cleaned the colander and lined it with double thick cheese cloth, put all the yogurt back in it, and added the thicker yogurt that had strained through. I then put it in the refrigerator for about another hour or so. It turned out perfect but all total a lot less then I was expecting.

    Next time I will double the recipe. I wanted to ask you if you have any suggestions for getting the yogurt out of the cheesecloth. Any tricks to make it easier? I will be making this A LOT now! The amount of yogurt you get in the end is directly related to how much whey you strain out. To save time and mostly electricity! Let us know how it goes! So which is this? Or how many cups would you use in place of a gallon.

    Hi Sharon, all of the recipes on my blog are in U. S measurements, so this is a U. There are 16 U. I made this for the first time last night. I like my yogurt so thick you can eat it with a fork. My first attempt turned out fabulous! I like the fact that I have complete control over the final product and it was so easy! I will never buy store bought again unless in a happy, drugged yogurt stupor I forget to reserve a cup for my next batch.

    OK, I can see that happening! But I promise, no buying brand yogurt to eat, just to use as starter. Thanks again for this fabulous recipe. Gotta run, fresh blueberries, raspberries and Heavenly yogurt are not just calling my name…they are screaming it! I mean, look at the ingredients — besides gelatin like you already mentioned, they often pack the yogurt full of cornstarch and the texture is just awful, nothing like yogurt should taste.

    I agree, this homemade yogurt is so rich and thick and creamy, we love it! And it needs no further embellishing than fresh berries and a little dab of honey — heaven indeed! I made the yogurt according to your instructions was very careful about temperatures , and everything seemed correct up until I strained the yogurt — it went right through the cheesecloth. How do I know if the yogurt set properly? After it settled a bit I moved the colander to a different bowl and it seems like only whey is straining now. Any advice or wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

    Something went wrong with the culturing process. Make sure the slow cooker is wrapped well with a towel in a draft-free, warmish place for the full time. I also added a couple more specific guidelines that I had in my post but not the recipe box, namely it is imperative that the yogurt starter you use has live cultures in it, i. The other thing is to make sure that when stirring it the yogurt is dissolved and evenly distributed. It sounds like you got really close to the right finished product, hopefully with a little minor tweaking it will turn out perfectly next time.

    Why can you not stir? Hi Kim, my yogurt starter has l acidophilus and bifidus,l. Hi Kathy, I think those should be fine. The main thing is that the yogurt starter has live cultures and yours does. Well, our first batch is wrapped in the towel. Temperatures were dead-on, and we are excited to see how this ends up!

    We already make our kefir and are hoping this new venture is as successful as that. This will be another tool in the toolbox. Let us know how the yogurt turns out! Experimenting never tasted so good. After sharing with family, the first batch is just about gone. And, I needed an excuse to use up the remainder of that, dare I say it? I know, it really is exciting when you discover how to make your own yogurt, and how EASY it is!

    I think I made three batches the first week I ever tried it: We used skim milk and this stuff is awesome! I should have started with more than 1. Hi Martin, adding things to the yogurt while the cultures are developing can interfere with the thickening process, but I would think that adding a vanilla bean would be just fine. If you try it please let us know how it turns out! By the time I added the starter to the milk and wrapped it up overnight the total time would be 7 hours not the hours. Have I ruined this or shall I leave it until I get home from work which would give it 18 hours?

    Is it ok to sit on the counter in the crockpot for that long…I guess I should have not jumped the gun so quickly! Well, I can appreciate your enthusiasm because making your own yogurt IS exciting! Store-bought milk has been super pasteurized so 18 hours should be fine. It came out amazing! I strained it overnight and am enjoying my first ever bowl of homemade yogurt. Thanks you so much for the recipe! I would like some fruit in the bottom. When is the best time to do this?

    Is there anything special I need to do to the fruit? Hi Rebekah, adding fruit during the culturing process will interfere with it. Wait until the yogurt is completely set and strained, then add the fruit. Hi Patricia, I use this one and it does a great job. This is my third post. I made my first batch in August. All have been delicious and amazing. I constantly have the crockpot going with yogurt.

    I had to buy a second pot for other dishes and even had both going with yogurt in them a couple of times as I made extra for friends and family. My extended family is now on the homemade yogurt bandwagon as well. There will be no turning back!!! Haha, this is awesome!! But getting a second crockpot really is a great idea. You can find such inexpensive ones and that way you can always have some yogurt brewing while the other one is freed up for cooking meals.

    Thanks so much for the feedback! I just made greek yogurt. I may have gone wrong. My yogurt has a tan tent to it. Is this caused by over heating? Is it still oaky to eat? It tastes kind-a sweet but very greek yogurt like. Hi Elisabeth, wow, I have no idea. Did the milk burn on the bottom? I used a different slow cooker the last time I made yogurt and my yogurt had a tan color around the edge. I think the borrowed slow cooker got the milk hotter at the edge of the crock cooked less evenly than my regular crock pot.

    Worked for me, thanks for the help. Any idea on that? Whey is full of so many other great nutrients, too. Thank you for this great post, and especially for your attentiveness to the comments. After reading your post and comments, I was left with the question: I found that there is a second protein, casein, which does not get strained with the whey. Is it from the protein, casein, then, which becomes more concentrated in strained yogurt?

    But most of the protein is left in the yogurt and because the yogurt is so concentrated after all liquid has been strained out, a cup of yogurt has a higher protein content than a cup of milk, for example. First go and even though it did thicken its didnt set enough to obtain the curds. I used very fresh raw milk from our Jersey. I was also wondering if I over scorched it as when it reached f even after switching off it went higher and the edges of the pot were covered in a skin and slightly burnt. Thanks so much for this incredible recipe and advice.

    I have a slow cooker that takes 4 pints of milk, and have used that perfectly. So I thought about it for a while, and set a programmable timer to switch on and off every 15 minutes 15 mins on and 15 mins off and with the slow cooker setting on LOW it keeps the temperature at a constant degrees over night perfectly. Hi Chris, thanks for conducting that experiment and sharing the results.

    Thanks also for sharing my site with your friends and for you kind words, I really appreciate it! Is it okay to use raw milk for this, since it sits at room temperature for so long? I started making my own yogurt a couple years ago and Love the Greek yogurt. Mine is a slightly different process. I heat the milk up in the microwave. Then I pour the milk into the crockpot and allow it to cool to I only use 3 tablespoons of yogurt for the starter. I wrap it up in towels and put the crockpot in the oven with the oven light on.

    For me personally the cheesecloth was just a big pain in the butt. I feed the whey to my dogs. They love that and the yogurt too. Hi Claire, I think there was another reader that commented on using a microwave method as well and I appreciate your input! Hi Claire, Did you check the temperature in your oven with the light on? Mine gets to F — F degrees. Is that too hot?

    Homemade Yogurt Recipe - Genius Kitchen

    I am so anxious to try this! Does the towel protect it from overheating? I would have to put it in the oven also as our house is too cold. We are used to cooler temperatures here in Canada and it is already getting cold outside. Our house temperature is set between 65F to 70F. I have made this so many times! If it is too hot, then like yeast used for baking, it will die. If it is too cold, same thing. Seems to like this process…then when I add the second towel, it is mostly as insulation on the bottom half. Every time you uncover it, it cools it too fast. I also started making this when I started raising chickens.

    They absolutely love it, and it is GOOD for them, their health, and eggs, although I learned to serve this in small containers because they loved it so much they would huddle in the mass… — my dogs adore it, and I have had no health issues with them since giving them a bit each day. Hi Karen, thanks so much for all of you insights! So interesting that you feed it to your dogs and chickens, that never would have occurred to me. Being Persian, I grew up with homemade yogurt.

    I love the sourness of it. I never heard of making yogurt in a slow cooker — genius! Kimberly — I luv this post. Pinning, saving and making! Love the super photo detailed post on how to make your own yogurt! Have never made my own but would love to try! I use Greek yogurt all the time and could easily use up a batch a week! Need to give this a try. When covered with the towel, should the slow cooker be set to anything or is it off completely?

    Yes, turn it off completely and let it sit completely wrapped in a large towel in a draft-free place. Hi Kimberly, I am trying your recipe but my house is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though you said to turn off the crock, I am wondering if this will be too cold for a towel wrap to keep it warm enough for 12 hrs.

    So, will it work to keep it the crock on warm or to put in oven on warm with door left cracked open? Hi Bea, funny timing — I just made a batch myself last week and it was especially cool in the house. I wrapped the slow cooker up tightly with a thick towel to sit overnight but the next morning it was just a thick yogurt drink consistency. I brought it up way higher than degrees accidentally and then brought it down to 85 before I got back to it. Now I am heating back up to the so I can add the yogurt starter.

    Thank you for your timely responses! Kimberly, in case anyone is interested the yogurt still turned out. Is it usually fairly smooth and creamy or a little lumpy? Thanks for the recipe and the feedback! Hi Bea, thanks for checking back in with the update! And yes, the yogurt is usually smooth and creamy.

    Do you think adding a pint of heavy cream or more…yummmm would increase thickness or no?? It may likely even interfere with the culturing process. The thickness is directly related to how long you strain the yogurt, so you can make it as thick as cream cheese if you want! The first two times I made this it came out perfectly. I see this happened to some other of the commenters.

    Directions

    Wondering if anyone figured out why. I followed the instructions and did the same each time. I do live in Alaska and it is getting colder. I got totally hooked on this yogurt and want more of it! Hi Debbie, thanks for your feedback! It may very well have to do with the decrease in temperature, it really is vital to keep the yogurt as warm as possible during the culturing process. I would wrap a couple or three layers of large towels around your crockpot and hopefully that does the trick.

    Hi Debbie, Not sure what went wrong but like others mine did not set up enough. The temps were all right but it might not have been warm enough during the culturing process. I will definitely try again and wrap it up with more towels and try setting it in the oven with the light on. I hope my next try turns out as this looks wonderful. Hi Brenda, a use for yogurt soup, absolutely! Throughout Europe in addition to kefir you can get plain and flavored yogurt drinks. It cultured perfectly above our wood stove that was burning overnight and the yogurt is now draining.

    I do have 4 layers of cheese cloth between them…. Stainless steel should be perfectly fine but avoid any other metals that are reactive to acidic foods. I am going to attempt this next weekend with real milk. I really like greek yogurt but would like more natural thanks PE. One commenter said he times his CP to come on and off every 15 mins to keep mixture at all night, and you approved.

    Can I put the CP in the oven at the setting? Is the cream essential to the yogurt? Can I use extra rich milk instead? I also still have to strain the Fage and have to toss about a cup or so of whey away to get the yogurt thicker. Then I could just grab all corners and lift it out and drain that way by squeezing and rolling it in the cloth to quicken the process up?

    I really want a very dry yogurt left. Turn it off and fully wrap it in a large bath towel to trap in the heat. One concern would be that in cooking the cheesecloth you would get strands of fiber in your yogurt. If your purpose for doing that is simply to to get very dry yogurt, using the colander method will let you achieve that perfectly. All that matters is how long you strain it. Keep straining it until it reaches the consistency you want, you can even leave it in the refrigerator overnight to strain longer. Good luck and let us know how your first batch turns out! Culturing is a temperamental thing.

    My store-bought Greek yogurt is an FP. THM also promotes good, healthy fats. Hi, I just wanted to tell you how much I love your yogurt-making write up! I use whole grass-fed milk and started the first batch with some store bought whole milk grass-fed Greek yogurt. I keep the yogurt in those little 4 ounce Italian hermetic seal jars with a metal clamp and a rubber seal ring and flavor them with a bit of fruit spread with no sugar or honey with vanilla and Vietnamese cinnamon.

    Saves me a ton of money on the pro-biotic, ensures I am getting grass-fed yogurt plus I can control what goes in for the flavoring! And I really enjoy making it! Thank you for sharing! And thank you for sharing how you store and use your yogurt. Have you tried kefir or making your own? If not, I think you would be thrilled with the results. It not only has different strains of beneficial bacteria that yogurt does not have, it also has much more of it. Made yogurt yesterday using your instructions. It turned out wonderful! I have a couple questions. I would like to know what yogurt starter you use.

    Do you use your homemade yogurt as a starter? If so, how many times do you use it? And, although my milk did not burn when I was heating it to degrees in the crock pot, it did form a skin on top that I removed. Does that happen when you make yours? Hi Mary, fantastic and thank you! For yogurt starters it depends: You can use the same batch of starter for up to two weeks.

    Can I use raw cows milk to make my yogurt? The only yogurt that I will ever eat sore boughten. No, you cannot use raw milk for this. I am moving to the country and will get free range cow milk. Is there a special way I have to treat the yogurt? Hi Margit, by free range do you mean raw not pasteurized? I just read your answer to Jen. I was wondering the same thing. Do you know the reason why raw milk wont work? Hi Margit, it has to do with the types of strains of healthy bacteria as well as the high quantity of them in the raw milk which prevents the milk from thickening the same way pasteurized milk does.

    The family who runs the local farm where we buy our raw milk makes their own yogurt using the raw milk, but they pasteurize it first. The difference though is that the pasteurized milk in the grocery stores is pasteurized via high heat, killing off all of the healthy bacteria and the enzymes and completely altering the natural nature and molecular structure or the milk, but the method this family uses is very low heat pasteurization.

    Do you have a recipe for kefir? Could I use the kefir I have as a starter or do I need to buy one? First time making yogurt and this recipe is incredible!! Thank you for sharing your recipe and tips. I am wondering how you would calculate the calories? When you drain the liquid whey, does that change the amount of calories? I also wonder, do you find the next batch turns out just as good with using 1 cup of the homemade yogurt or are you better to buy store bought for the 1 cup each time?

    Again — this is awesome!!! Thanks — honestly the taste and texture of this yogurt is so awesome made with whole milk …. I could care less about the calories….. LOL One other quick question — when you begin the process, do you leave the crock pot lid on while the temp reaches ? Hi Jeannie, leave the lid on at all times, otherwise a thick film will form on the top of the milk. I will never buy yogurt again. This recipe works like a charm. So easy and so much better and cheaper then store bought. Thanks so much for this and all your recipes.

    I set a timer to alert me when two hours are up. Today I was outside when the timer went off and the heat went over degrees…probably exceeded time by 45 minutes. Can I cool it to degrees and expect okay results? This is a great site for questions and information…this is exactly as I have been making it with generally very good results. I know, full fat yogurt is ridiculously hard to find which is just…ridiculous! With tons of new research over the last few years, the FDA has finally admitted to this myth, but the unlearning of decades of false indoctrination usually takes at least a generation.

    Hi Ter, not using this particular method, it would involve a different process and different culture starters. So excited about this! Thanks for the recipe. Is this milky whey still usable in the recipes you provided above? Thanks for the help! How much protein in in the yogurt once you strain out the whey? I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to post your recipe and process on the internet. I also wanted to make note of a tip I read elsewhere on the internet: Instead of using cheesecloth I use coffee filters.

    I have a huge stash of the number 4 cone-type and no coffee maker to use them in. I just cut the edges and line my colander. It works like a charm, the Greek yogurt falls right off at the end of the draining process, no wasted yogurt at all, and they are inexpensive.

    I usually hate plain yogurt and cannot believe how mild and creamy this is. Thank you so much for the recipe! I just made this yoghurt for the first time yesterday and was so excited by how well it worked!! My question is, some other recipes I have read suggest every few batches you may need to use a commercial yoghurt to start again. Apparently reusing your own yoghurt, the amount of the good bacteria lessens with each subsequent batch and this can change the flavour and consistency of the yoghurt!

    Have you found this to be true and if so approximately how often are you starting again with a store brought yoghurt? Hi Kate, I am so happy to hear that! Hello, I have never made yogurt before and excited for it to be done, only thing is i missed the f and added the store bought yogurt at f. Will it still work? But yes, you can absolutely drink it! We use raw milk exclusively for everything except for making this yogurt.

    You can leave raw milk out almost indefinitely — it becomes more and more sour with tons of healthy bacteria. You make that simply by letting raw milk sit out at room temperature for at least a day and up to several days. Clabbered milk was used like buttermilk and it helped baked good rise. For using raw milk as a yogurt drink I usually just keep it out for 24 hours, otherwise the flavor becomes too strong for my taste.

    I just finished my 3rd batch of yogurt using the crock pot. I let it drain to a Greek yogurt consistency. It is so good and my husband is now addicted to yogurt and berries every morning, as am I. I have to make it once every week and a half just to keep up with our demand. Your directions are so clear. Also making my own sauerkraut which is another fantastic probiotic. I make my own as well and eat it raw for the probiotics and cooked for my favorite German dishes. My first batch was excellent. I had to leave after about 2 hrs of heating.

    When I got home a little late the temp was degrees. Will my yogurt still turn out or should I just scrap it and start over? Sometimes one batch can be forgiving while the other is finicky. The only way to know is to try. I use raw milk from the cow. I let the fresh milk sit overnight in the fridge. Skim off the cream in the morning, to make butter. Put the rest in the slow cooker and proceed as directed. A couple of times I got soup, but now it is working fine. Have you tried it without skimming the cream for a whole-fat raw yogurt?

    Do I have use a glass bowl and plastic strainer or can I use stainless steel? Silly, but i want to get it right. I just made my second batch today. I used the whey in pancakes this morning. We feasted on homemade Labneh made from the first batch Lebanese cream cheese balls in herbed olive oil and crackers and fruit all weekend.

    Thanks for the reminder that I need to make some labneh again soon! Hello and thank you for the recipe, it worked beautifully. My issue is in the straining- after the whey has separated I had a hard and messy time trying to remove the yogurt from the cheese cloth and feel like I lost a lot of my yogurt. There really is no getting around some of the yogurt adhering to the cheesecloth as it thickens, I just simply take a spoon and scrape it off back into the bowl, not much is lost that way.

    I tend to wonder around the Internet, always searching for new recipes to make favorites ie- still looking for a good sourdough bread recipe, 6months later. But last week I made my first batch of greek yogurt. I used this recipe… And this week we need more yogurt, and I figure why mess with success? My kids loved it. I used whole milk and stoneyfield organic greek as a starter. As our slow cooker is a bit unreliable at times.

    But it was easy enough even on the stovetop. I did strain it for quite awhile… 8hrs?

    BEST Easy Homemade Greek (or Regular) Yogurt

    And it came out quite thick and lovely. Lastly I flavored it with a bit of honey 2Tbls and vanilla bean. It is quite yummy. Had we ended up with more than a 1. Alas, I left it for the kiddos. Next time I will! Thanks for the great recipe and instructions. It is actually same as we do in turkey. You may be right about that, Huseyin. Here in the U. Thank you so very much Kimberly for sharing this recipe.

    I would definitely invest in one of those to make the process easier at the end. Would you be so kind as to share the link or name of the strainer? I believe one of my readers mentioned using coffee filters. Hi, do you have a recipe here for yogurt made with almond milk? Can almond milk yield yogurt cultures? I do have yogurt with the needed live cultures. If you give it a try please let us know how it goes! I use My Fitness Pal to control my weight, which it does by counting calories. Do you know how many calories are in the finished Greek yogurt or any other nutritional information?

    Or do you know where I can find that information? The best you can do is guess. So for obvious reasons, the calorie count on this wonderful-looking recipe is important to me so I can try it but still stay on track with my weight loss. I ended up using nutrition information from a store bought plain Greek yogurt. That was my best guess on how to do it. So I attempted to make this yesterday and failed. I have milk soup this morning. If you read through the comments, a few readers have had a failed batch and when they paid closer attention to some of the critical details it turned out perfect the next time.

    I read through most of the comments too.

    Homemade Yogurt

    I have made many batches in the last 4 months, twice the yogurt had a bitter taste, do u have any idea of what I did wrong. Rest of time has been very mild and sweet. Could my starter been old or soured. Also,will frizzing the yogurt kill good bacteria??? Why would the yogurt turn out bitter. I have made many batches and had no problems, always been sweet and mild that I eat it just plain, this time It is bitter???

    I have never tasted the starter, could it have been soured?? Any idea of what I might have done wrong? Was that the first time you used Fage or is that what you have been using all along? I would really like to try this, we eat containers of yogurt a week here and your recipe seems very sucessful from all the comments!

    This may be a dumb question but I have to ask- I am lactose intolerant. I eat commercial Greek yogurt and am fine unless the brand adds extra, non-cultured dairy. Do you know if the resulting yogurt is safe for lactose intolerant to eat? Hi Kate, thanks for asking! Yes, you can use lactose-free milk and follow the directions in the same way. Whichever way you proceed, let us know how it goes! I used organic lactose free one percent and whole milk. However, no problem I just lined the colander with 3 layers of cheesecloth and restrained it.

    The yogurt took 7 hours of additional straining g after initial 3 hours to come to the consistency of Greek yogurt. I appreciate the feedback, thank you. And speaking of the difficulty of finding lactose free Greek yogurt in stores, can you imagine how much it would cost if you did?? So mine didnt thicken,but, I have a consistency of kefir. I love the mild flavor of this. I made ranch dressing, my kids loved that!! Going to try again next week. Keep trying, Dee, and let us know how the next batch goes!

    Ranch dressing was a great call. I truly enjoyed the kefir texture of my mistake, lol. Made my second batch perfectly!! Do you have a kefir recipe? I do make my own kefir and am planning on publishing an article about it, including some recommendations for the best kefir cultures to use. Our family exclusively drinks raw milk, we get it from a small local farmer down the road from us, but for making yogurt we use the pasteurized stuff.

    Not sure which would be better, the slow cooker or an actual yogurt maker. My concern with my slow cooker is that it has preset temps at and , on up, etc. What do you suggest? Should I just use a instant thermometer? Will using my slow cooker be as convenient as a maker? Appreciate your recipe, tips, etc. Yep, I totally understand juggling between the convenience factor and wanting reliable results.

    Give it a try with your slow cooker and then make a decision whether or not to get the yogurt maker. Set your slow cooker to to heat up the milk then turn off the slow cooker and follow the directions as outlined. Alternatively you can also use a stock pot and heat the milk that way, stirring constantly towards the end as it reaches to prevent it from scorching.

    It requires more attentiveness during the heating up step but it also goes much more quickly than the slow cooker. Let us know how it goes if you decide to try it without the yogurt maker! Thanks for your helpful reply. What about the difference between the greek and regular yogurt? Do I just strain it less or is there a different recipe? Yes, the difference simply comes down to how long the yogurt is strained. You can strain it to whichever consistency you prefer and the longer you strain it the thicker it will be ie, Greek yogurt.

    Strain it really long and you can make some fabulous soft cheese eg, labneh with it. Do you suggest the cheesecloth for the easiest method of straining or buy a yogurt strainer of some sort, if cash is not an issue?