In my pursuit of clean eating and eliminating sugar from my eating habits, I found how simple it is to make my own yogurt with my Instant Pot, seriously one of my favorite kitchen appliances.
There are a lot of recipes out there and unfortunately a lot of them add sugar or sweet condensed milk, which in all honesty almost nullifies the health benefits of eating yogurt.
To "sweeten" my yogurt I generally use a little pure vanilla extract or some of my Sugar-Free Jam. Whatever you decide to use, make sure you read the label to ensure there is little to no additives in the sweetness you choose and it is in its most natural form. Your body and gut health will thank you.
Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients:
Use 1 bottle of ultra pasteurized milk, I use Fairlife.
2 Tablespoons of Greek Yogurt from store as a starter or 2 Tablespoons of yogurt from a previous batch.
*Recipe can easily be doubled.
Directions:
1. Combine milk and yogurt in inner liner of the Instant Pot with whisk stirring well.
2. Cover top of Instant Pot with a clean towel or paper towel to absorb condensation and place lid over towels.
3. Press Yogurt button on Instant Pot to set for 6 hours. Note: The longer it cooks the more tangy or bitter it becomes.
4. When done, *Chill in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 hours. Then stir well, add vanilla extract if desired, and store in fridge for up to 2 weeks.
*For thicker yogurt, I use a yogurt strainer. After yogurt is done cooking, I transfer it to the strainer, and then chill in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 hours.
Benefits of straining yogurt is you are able to control the consistency of your yogurt and you are able to render whey from your yogurt.
If you strain your yogurt you will be left with whey that can be used in place of water in many baking recipes. If the strained yogurt becomes too thick, simply whisk some whey back into it to reach desired consistency.
I make yogurt every week and have found it helpful to pour unused whey into ice cube trays (1 Tablespoon per ice cube) and freeze. Then I simply grab 2 of the frozen cubes of whey as needed for recipes.
Jelly Jars are the perfect serving sizes and I love these one piece red lids.
Enjoy!
In the last 3 years, one of the biggest achievements for me has been learning more about "Clean Eating" and making adjusts in what my family consumes. I also always wanted to learn canning methods to preserve my own food. So in that quest, I found a very simple strawberry jam recipe and customized it to support my family's goal of eating more natural whole foods that are not overly processed with chemicals. Sharing my recipe for anyone interested.
