If you'd like to make strawberry yogurt (optional):
2cups choppedfresh strawberriesor other fruit
1tablespoonhoney
Equipment you'll need:
Instant Pot cookeror follow the alternate instructions below if you don't have one
2quart-sized mason jarswith lids
silicone spatula
food thermometersuch as one used for making coffee/espresso
Additional equipment you'll need if you're making Greek yogurt:
colander
glass bowl
cheesecloth
Instructions
Boil the milk: Pour the milk into your Instant Pot and place the lid on in the Venting (non-pressure cooking) position. For those making yogurt without an Instant Pot, pour the milk into your soup pot instead; no pot cover is required for this step. Press the “Yogurt” button and then press a couple more times or until you see the “More” mode show on the display. After about ten seconds, you’ll hear a few beeps and the display will then show “boil” while your milk heats up to temperature. Once the boil mode is complete, the Instant Pot will beep again and display “Yogt” instead of boil. This process takes about 20 minutes or so.
Test the temperature: Open up the Instant Pot and test the temperature of the milk with a food thermometer–it should be right around 180°F.
Cool the milk: Take the inner pot out of your Instant Pot (careful, as it will be hot) and cool the milk temperature down to 110°F using your thermometer to test as it cools. You can either let the inner pot sit on a wire rack until it cools down to that temperature, or place the inner pot into a larger pot (or kitchen sink) of ice water to achieve the temperature much more quickly. For non-Instant Pot yogurt making, use the same process for your milk that’s been heated on the stove.
Inoculate: Use a soup ladle to transfer about a cup of cooled milk out of your pot into a glass measuring cup and add 3 tablespoon of your store-bought yogurt (or homemade yogurt if you have some already made) and incorporate into the cup of milk. Add this mixture back into the rest of the pot and gently incorporate again using a silicone spatula.
Ferment: Place the inner pot containing your incorporated milk and yogurt cultures back into the Instant Pot and close the lid, again in venting position. Press the yogurt button and then use the plus/minus buttons to set the fermentation time, using the default 6 hours if this is your first time making yogurt. If you’re fermenting yogurt without an Instant Pot, there are a couple ways to do this but you’ll have to experiment a little to find the optimal way for your kitchen. First, cover the pot you used to incorporate the milk and cultures, and then either leave it for 6-8 hours on the top of your refrigerator or in the oven with the oven light on. The idea is to keep it just warm enough to ferment slowly. You’ll have to taste test it after six hours and see if it’s to your liking; for more tartness, continue fermenting.
Test and store: Once the Instant Pot is done fermenting, it’ll beep and display “Yogt” once again; your yogurt is now finished and you can transfer it into your two mason jars and refrigerate it. If you find that you'd like it to be a little more tart after a quick taste test, just use the Yogurt program again and set it to 30 minutes or an hour to keep fermenting before storing in the fridge.
To make Greek Yogurt: If you'd like to make Greek yogurt from your fresh yogurt, you’ll need a colander, a glass bowl and some cheesecloth. Make a double layer of cheesecloth and then line the colander with it. Next, place the colander into a glass bowl which will collect the whey as it strains. And finally, slowly pour in your freshly made yogurt and let the yogurt strain overnight in the refrigerator. In the morning, you’ll have Greek yogurt waiting for you.
To make Strawberry Yogurt: Chop up about 2 cups of strawberries per quart of yogurt and place in a mixing bowl. Add a tablespoon of fresh honey and use a potato masher to gently crush the berries and incorporate the honey. Then, simply fold the fruit mixture into your yogurt and serve or store in the fridge. Enjoy!
Notes
Milk: Whole milk that is not "ultra-pasteurized" works best--just look for "pasteurized" milk instead.Yogurt: You can use store bought yogurt if this is your first batch, or just use some of your homemade yogurt if you’ve already made this recipe and want to make another batch.