Learn how to make homemade yogurt in your oven, no special equipment needed. It’s super easy and delicious and will save you money too!
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You all, I’m so excited to finally show you all how to make homemade yogurt from scratch! So many of you have emailed me or messaged me asking for my easy homemade yogurt recipe after seeing it on my menu plans. And if you are one of the people waiting for me to post it…thanks for your patience! 🙂
I’ve been making homemade yogurt for at least 8 years now and we eat so much of it that I cringe to think how much it would cost us if we started buying store bought instead of using homemade!
The thing I love about this recipe- besides that fact that it’s super cheap and saves us money- is that the method used for the yogurt making process is very simple and basic. You don’t need any fancy equipment and there’s a good chance that you already own all the things that you need to get started making your first batch of homemade yogurt!
Yogurt Making Tips
Making homemade yogurt isn’t difficult, but there are a few things that are helpful to know before you get started.
MILK
You can use any type of dairy milk to make homemade yogurt (including raw milk!), although whole milk will produce the thickest, creamiest yogurt.
YOGURT FOR THE STARTER
To get your milk to culture and become homemade yogurt, you will actually need to add a bit of yogurt to it. You can use regular or Greek yogurt as long as it lists “Live Active Cultures” in the ingredients or on the container. That culture is what will make the milk turn into yogurt. It’s best to use unflavored yogurt for this, although I have occasionally used vanilla flavored yogurt and it’s worked okay too.
GELATIN
You can actually make homemade yogurt without adding the gelatin if you want. Adding it just thickens the yogurt a bit and makes it less runny and we prefer the consistency of the yogurt with it in.
CULTURE TIME
My recipe says to culture the yogurt for 8 hours. You can actually adjust that time if you prefer. Basically, you need to let it culture for at least 4 hours for it to become yogurt.
The longer yogurt sits and cultures, the thicker and tarter it becomes. We love the taste and tartness of 8 hours, but feel free to play around with it. And if you are like me and put the yogurt in the oven to culture overnight while you are sleeping and you happen to sleep longer than 8 hours, stay calm- it will still be good! It just might be a bit more tart than usual!
GREEK YOGURT
If you are a fan of Greek yogurt, you can make yogurt using this recipe and then just strain it. Straining it will drain off the whey, leaving you with a thicker, denser Greek style yogurt. (Most people like to use cheesecloth to do the straining.) If you strain it, you’ll obviously end up with less yogurt as well as whey. If you aren’t sure what to do with the whey, Google it! There are lots of great uses for it!
Alright, are you ready to get started? Here’s my easy step-by-step process to make yogurt!
Super Easy Homemade Yogurt (made in the oven)
Super Easy Homemade Yogurt (made in the oven!)
Ingredients
- 2 qt. milk
- 1/2 c. sugar*
- 1 Tbsp. unflavored gelatin
- 2 Tbsp. (heaping) unflavored yogurt** (must contain Live Active Cultures)
- 1 Tbsp. vanilla
Instructions
- Mix gelatin into 1/3 c. cold water. Let set.
- Using medium heat, heat milk to 190 degrees, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and add gelatin, sugar and vanilla. Whisk well.
- Cool to 130 degrees.
- Add commercial yogurt and stir well with a wire whisk.
- Pour into 2 quart jars (or whatever containers you want to use); screw on lid.
- Place in oven close to the oven light. Turn oven light on and close the oven door. Let set for 8 to 10 hours.
- Remove from oven and refrigerate.
Notes
To add flavor, stir in fruit (whole or blended), jelly, pie filling or dry flavored jello.
Patsy
My oven light doesn’t work. Can it be done without?
Lydia Beiler
Do you have an Instant Pot? If so, you can make it in that and then use the yogurt setting for a minimum of 8 hours and up to 24 hours. You can also fill a cooler with warm water and put the jars in that (water up to the neck of the jar) for 8 to 10 hrs. I have also heard of people putting the pot of warm milk on a heating pad set to low, and then covering it tightly with a blanket or towel. And if you look in the comments below, someone asks about making it in the Crockpot and I explain a way of possibly doing that as well. I hope you are able to give it a try!
Rebecca Targgart
I have a yogurt maker, how would i use this recipe with my yogurt maker, i like the idea of adding the sugar and gelatin and want to incorporate it into the recipe, any suggestions
Lydia Beiler
I have no experience with a yogurt maker, but I think you would just add the sugar and gelatin at the end of the heating cycle like I did in this recipe. I hope that helps!
Rebecca Targgart
Thanks, yes it did
Kathy
Could you use a crockpot on just the warm setting instead of the oven?
Lydia Beiler
I haven’t ever made this in a slow cooker, but I have friends that have. This is how they say they do it. Once the yogurt it 130 degrees, you would put it in the Crockpot (without turning it on) and cover it with a couple of big towels or a blanket. The Crockpot along with the blankets will insulate it enough to keep it at a pretty consistent temperature.
You can even try heating it in the slow cooker on low or warm instead of using the stove top (takes several hours though). The important thing is to bring the yogurt up to 180 degrees and then turn the Crockpot off to let it cool to 130 (can go down to 120 or so without it being a problem). At that point, then you’d cover it as I mentioned above. I hope that helps!