InstaPot Yogurt
Greetings food adventurers! Today we continue eating our way through Dungeon Crawler World: Earth by making yogurt in an Instant Pot (aka InstaPot).
Scene: Book One, “Dungeon Crawler Carl”, chapter 9. Carl and Princess Donut reach a Safe Room and are greeted by a Bopca, a hairy greenish gnome-like creature. The Bopca introduces himself as Tally, and offers the pair food. He laments that he was unprepared for felines but offers plain yogurt to Princess Donut while he makes Murgh Vindaloo for Carl. ** Note: Do Not Give Yogurt To Cats, this is a fantasy book. It will make real cats sick. **
Yogurt isn’t just for breakfast!
Try it in soups: Winter Squash & Fennel Soup, Spiced Carrot Soup, or Dwarven Snap Pea & Mint Soup
Use it in savory dishes: Crockpot Chicken Shawarma, Infused Mushroom Meatloaf, Lamb Meatballs with Mint Raisin Pesto, Spiced Braised Cabbage, Tzatziki, or the Murgh Vindaloo mentioned above.
Of course, when it IS for breakfast… I can’t resist sharing this one too: Honey Oat Granola
You can see why I needed a less-expensive way to get yogurt. I use a lot of it.
Yogurt can be made pretty easily at home if you have an InstaPot. It needs the live cultures from yogurt to start, so it’s kind of a get-some-to-make-some sort of thing. Why do this when you can just buy yogurt? I did the math, and it’s less expensive (at least right now) to buy a gallon of milk and make two batches of yogurt with it than to buy the approximately equivalent quantity of yogurt. This recipe uses 8 cups of milk (a half-gallon) and ends up with about 4 cups of yogurt. This recipe makes either regular or Greek Yogurt, depending on how long you strain it. Greek Yogurt is just thicker because it is strained longer and has less whey in it.
Yogurt starter: When you open up your tub of store-bought yogurt, I recommend portioning out a couple of 4-Tablespoon containers and freezing them. This way, if you unexpectedly run out of yogurt, you have a starter on hand for the next batch. Just take one out of the freezer a day or two beforehand so it’s completely thawed for yogurt day. I have done this twice and both batches were successful.
Cheesecloth: I use a washable cotton cheesecloth (Urban Villa brand) with ultra-fine weave and hemmed edges. I got a set of six of these a couple years ago and they are the best cheesecloths I’ve ever used. The loosely-woven cheap kind that falls apart is not the way to go. I don’t want to link to Amazon so I will encourage everyone to look for these at your local kitchen supply stores.
Disclosure: I have done this recipe a BUNCH of times. A few times, it didn’t work – the yogurt just turned weird like sour cream and didn’t set properly. I suspect it was either that I hadn’t brought it up to the proper temperature or possibly the starter I used did not actually have live cultures like it advertised. Either way, the success ratio is very high and I still use this as my go-to for yogurt. Just know, if it doesn’t work, it might be things outside your control, and it’s worth trying again with a different batch of starter yogurt.
The first heating part can actually be done in the Instant Pot too, but I have found that the temperature of the first phase is inconsistent and takes longer than doing it in a pot on the stove. It’s an extra dish, but the Dutch Oven is the clear winner.
Recipe adapted from Blackberry Babe and inspired by Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series.
Instant Pot Yogurt
Special Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Enameled Dutch Oven or other heavy-bottomed pot
- Instant-Read Digital Cooking Thermometer
- Strainer / Colander
- Cheesecloth
Ingredients
- 8 cups milk (whole is best but 2% will work)
- 4 Tbsp store bought Plain Greek yogurt (with live cultures)
Instructions
- Pour 8 cups of milk into a heavy-bottomed pot. Put the pot on the stove on medium-low heat, uncovered.
- Stirring frequently, heat the milk to between 170 and 180 degrees F. Use an instant-read thermometer to confirm (this will take about 20 to 30 minutes). Do not let it boil.
- Pour the hot milk into the pot of the InstaPot. Let it sit on a counter until the milk cools down to 115 degrees F. (about 30 to 40 minutes)
8-hour Instapot Phase:
- Stir 4 tablespoons of store-bought Greek yogurt into the warm milk.
- Put the InstaPot pot into the InstaPot. Close the lid and set it to Sealing.
- Press the Yogurt button. If it doesn't default to say 8 hours (8:00), press the Adjust button once or twice until it does.
- When the yogurt is done, the InstaPot will beep. Place cheesecloth in a colander set in a large bowl and pour the yogurt into the cheesecloth. This will strain the liquid whey into the bowl and keep the yogurt in the cheesecloth.
- Strain for 3-4 hours or overnight (depending on how thick you want your yogurt). *If the bottom of the strainer is close to the bottom of the bowl, you may want to check on it after a few hours and pour out any whey so it isn't just sitting in liquid and not straining the rest out.
- After the straining time, use a serving spoon to remove the yogurt from the cheese cloth and place it into a bowl. If the yogurt is too thick, add a few tablespoons of the liquid whey back in and stir. If it is too thin, pour the liquid out of the bowl and continue straining for a few more hours.
