Make Delicious Yogurt in Your Crockpot

Have you ever thought of making your own yogurt at home?

It’s so creamy and delicious.

Did you know it’s also extremely EASY?

I’ve got a crockpot yogurt recipe that is almost impossible to fail at.

Now, I’ll admit, I have a couple times. 

As with almost anything you make from milk, it’s all about temperature and timing. 

My struggle is usually because I’m trying to do too many things at once. 

Oh, I’ll just pop down to the laundry room to switch the laundry, and then forget what I was doing. 

Sound familiar?  LOL! 

I’ll come back to the kitchen and find I let the milk get too hot.  Nothing kills good bacteria better than boiling it.

So the most important thing to be successful is to stay near and keep an eye on your temperatures.

I’ve found by putting the yogurt into serving size jars, my family is much more likely to eat it.  My youngest likes to make it vanilla with chocolate chips.  My husband prefers a scoop of his favorite homemade apricot jam in it.  I like throwing some frozen berries in the food processor for a couple seconds and stirring them into my yogurt with just a bit of agave sweetener.

The small container also make it great to take on the road for a quick breakfast, snack or lunch.

If you like a nice tangy yogurt, let is sit for the full 12 hours.  We prefer little to no tang, so I stop the process right at 8 hours.

We use our fresh raw milk with the cream and it always turns out a nice thick yogurt similar to Greek.  Before we had milk cows, I’d use 2% milk and it’d still turn out great, but was definitely a little thinner.

When grabbing a yogurt to use as your starter culture, look for a higher quality one like Nancy’s. I’ve also used Tillamok.  Definitely go for one with the least additives. After your first batch, you’ll use the yogurt you make for the next few batches.

Making your own yogurt is also a great way to save a little at the grocery store.  

Making delicious homemade treats out of milk is definitely addictive! 

Next, I think we will try cottage cheese!

Enjoy!

As with any recipe, it’s a good idea to read it all the way through, so there are not surprises!

Delicious Crockpot Yogurt

Prep Time: 15 mins Total Time: 12-18 hours

What You’ll Need:

• crockpot
• meat thermometer
• large cooler
• couple bath towels
• gallon of milk
• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt

Directions:

Pour a gallon of milk into your crockpot. You’ll need a 5-quart (or bigger) crockpot for this. If you have a smaller crockpot, or just want a smaller batch of yogurt, you can cut the recipe to meet your needs.

Position a meat thermometer in the crockpot, so you can keep up with the temperature of the milk. I stuck mine through a piece of ribbon to keep it from falling in, and tied the other end of the ribbon to my crockpot handle.

Once you have that situated, stick the lid on your crockpot, and set it to high.

Heat the milk to 180°F. This will take about three hours. Do not stir the milk or remove the lid during this process.

Turn the crockpot off, and wait for the temperature to drop to 110 degrees (this should take about 90 minutes).

While you’re waiting, pull a container of plain yogurt from the fridge, and allow it to come to room temperature.

Once your milk reaches 110°F, skim off the skin that has formed on the surface of the milk. Remove one cup of milk from the crockpot, and gently stir it into half a cup of plain yogurt. This will give you the beneficial bacteria that is required to make yogurt.

Add your starter to the crockpot and gently stir it in.

Remove the insert from your crockpot, and carefully slide it into a large cooler. Wrap the insert with towels to lock in the heat. Close the lid on your cooler, and leave it undisturbed until morning (8-12 hours).

Retrieve your crockpot from the cooler in the morning, and skim off any excess whey (liquid) from the surface.

Enjoy your yogurt plain, or flavor it with vanilla, honey, jam, fresh fruit or your favorite mix in.

A Couple Notes About Yogurt-Making

• If you save a half-cup of yogurt from this batch, you can use it to start your next batch. Just know that the bacteria will loose its oomph over time. I’d recommend using store-bought yogurt every few batches
• Homemade yogurt will be slightly thinner than store-bought. Commercially-produced yogurt includes artificial thickeners.
• Hooked on Greek Yogurt? You can make your own by straining more of the whey out of your yogurt. Pour your yogurt into a cheesecloth lined strainer, this will allow more of the whey to drain away.
• Every crockpot is different.  Mine is the flip from this recipe.  It takes only about 1 ½ hours to reach 180°F, but three hours to cool down to 110°F.
• I also do not use a cooler. I just wrap the ceramic part of my crockpot in a couple bath towels and let it sit on the counter.