Easy Homemade Yogurt in the Instant Pot XL Multicooker

Delicious homemade yoghurt - who would've thought?!

Ingredients
1.9L of pasteurized milk (preferably organic whole milk)
2.5 tablespoons store-bought yoghurt (to act as a starter culture)

Equipment
Thermometer
2-3 large heat-safe glass jars with lids for storing yogurt
Instant Pot removable inner pot (cleaned and sterilized)
Tray or small roasting sheet (for keeping sterilized items together)
Metal spoon (for skimming milk skin)
A small mixing bowl
Whisk
Colander
Cheesecloth or nut milk bag

Instructions
Place all glass jars, metal utensils, and the inner pot on a tray or roasting sheet.
Run them through a dishwasher cycle to sterilize them. Once cleaned, place them on the tray and keep them organized and ready for use.


Pour the milk into the sterilized inner pot. Press the “Yogurt” button, located at the bottom right on the Instant Pot control panel. Use the adjustment dial (temperature icon) to select “Boil.” This will bring the milk to 82°C to kill any unwanted microorganisms.

If the milk doesn’t reach the temperature on its own, press the red “X” to cancel the yoghurt function, then select the “Sauté” function (middle left button) and adjust to medium heat. Heat the milk until it reaches 82°C.

Once the milk reaches 82°C, cancel all functions on the Instant Pot.

Remove the inner pot to speed up cooling, allowing the milk to naturally reduce to 42°C. This can take up to an hour, or use an ice bath to cool in about 5 minutes. Gently skim off any milk skin with a slotted spoon.

Prepare the Starter
In a separate bowl, whisk together 2.5 tablespoons of store-bought yoghurt with 1/2 cup of the cooled milk until smooth. Pour this mixture back into the cooled milk in the inner pot and whisk to combine.

Return the inner pot to the Instant Pot. Press the “Yogurt” button and set the display to 8 hours. The temperature display should show two dots under the 8-hour timestamp, indicating it’s set for a nice, tangy yoghurt.

Gently rest the Instant Pot lid on top without fully locking it, as locking may trigger an alert. This setup will help keep the yoghurt sterile while it ferments.

Check the yoghurt after 4 hours, as in warmer months, it may ferment quicker. To separate the yoghurt from the whey and yield a creamier texture, place a colander over a large mixing bowl and line it with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag.

Pour the yoghurt into the colander to allow the whey to drain out. This process can take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours in the fridge, depending on your desired yoghurt thickness.

Once it reaches your preferred consistency, use your sterilized spoon to transfer the yoghurt into sterilized glass jars. The strained whey can also be reserved for use in smoothies or baking.