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Making yogurt at home has never been easier, thanks to the Instant Pot! This healthy recipe for Instant Pot yogurt has no artificial sweeteners or flavorings. No need to buy store bought yogurt when you can make it at home in just a few steps!
This is a great recipe to have on hand for meal prep or as a healthy sour cream substitute. Healthy Instant Pot yogurt is a delicious breakfast that can be customized with your favorite toppings so your whole family will love it!
Where’s the recipe?
Here at My Crazy Good Life we like to make our recipes extra helpful, so anyone can make them! In this post you’ll see lots of cooking tips, diet information, and other helpful info about the process and ingredients for this recipe.
If you’d like to skip past this, you can scroll to the bottom of the page where you will find the easy to print recipe for Easy Instant Pot Homemade Yogurt.
Which Instant Pot has a yogurt maker?
The following models have a yogurt button and can make healthy Instant Pot yogurt:
- Instant Pot Duo
- Instant Pot Duo Plus
- Instant Pot Smart
- Instant Pot Ultra
The Instant Pot Lux does not have a yogurt button. If you don’t have a yogurt button on your Instant Pot, you can follow these instructions for making yogurt in an Instant Pot without a yogurt button.
Ingredients
- Milk: You’ll want to buy ultra-pasteurized milk (see note in recipe tips for more info). If you’re on the 21 Day Fix use 1% or 2%. If not, any fat content will do.
- Greek yogurt: plain with live active cultures (this is your starter)
- Vanilla: optional for flavored yogurt.
- Honey: optional for sweetened yogurt.
Directions
- Sanitize your Instant Pot
Before you start, you’ll want to sanitize your Instant Pot to clean it but also to get rid of any unwanted smells or tastes. See recipe tips for more info on this! - Pour the milk
Add ¼ gallon of the milk to the Instant Pot insert. - Add the starter
Mix in the Greek yogurt. - Optional add-ins
Mix in the vanilla and honey (if you want plain yogurt, skip this step). Once the honey is dissolved, mix in the remaining ¼ gallon of milk (it’s easier to mix this way). - Cover your pot
Tightly cover your Instant Pot with a lid. I prefer this silicone lid, but any lid is fine. If you use the Instant Pot lid, be sure to leave the pressure valve open so it doesn’t build pressure. - Incubate your yogurt
Press the yogurt button on your Instant Pot twice to bypass the boil stage. Let the yogurt incubate for 8-9 hours. - Refrigerate
Once the incubation is done, remove the Instant Pot insert and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Do not stir the yogurt or it will break apart the enzymes and become runny. - Serve
The next day, remove the yogurt from the refrigerator and transfer it to an airtight container. Serve with fruit and this homemade granola recipe.
Recipe tips
- A note on boiling: If you’re using ultra-pasteurized milk, you don’t have to boil your yogurt. Boiling gets rid of bacteria, as does ultra-pasteurizing. If you’re using unpasteurized or raw milk, you’ll want to boil your yogurt. Some people have reported not boiling their unpasteurized milk and not getting sick-it’s your choice in the end!
- You’ll want to sanitize your Instant Pot before you begin. This, of course, keeps your yogurt sanitary (especially when you think about it sitting in the liner/pot for hours) but it also helps to avoid any other smells or tastes being transferred to the yogurt. I highly recommend grabbing another Instant Pot sealing ring if yours smells like meat or other strong smells.
- It’s very important that your starter uses live yogurt cultures and is fresh, not old. At the grocery store, look on the yogurt container to make sure that it says it has live cultures.
- The longer the yogurt incubates, the more tart it will get. My yogurt wasn’t tart at all after incubating for 8 hours.
- Don’t stir the yogurt until it’s completely finished. Stirring your yogurt breaks apart the enzymes and causes it to become runny.
- Before refrigerating, pull out 3 tablespoons to use as a starter culture for your next batch!
- To make extra thick yogurt, like Greek yogurt, you can strain the yogurt using cheesecloth for about 10 hours. This also makes a great cream cheese substitute or healthy sour cream alternative.
- I have tried to make dairy free Instant Pot yogurt and the result was not good. It was very thin and runny, and never really “set up” the way yogurt should. I’m just as bummed as you are about this – believe me!
- I have not frozen this yogurt, but I’d love to hear how it turns out if you do it.
- Storage: You can store this yogurt in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.
- Here are some recipes that contain Greek yogurt to use this in :)
Healthy eating plans
21 Day Fix
This 21 Day Fix yogurt is counted as ¾ cup = 1 red container.
If you add honey to the batch, I’d add a teaspoon of sweetener as well.
This is a healthy fix approved sour cream replacement too!
Weight Watchers
1 serving (without honey and using 1% milk & fat-free Greek yogurt): 2 Points on the 2023 Plan | 2 Blue Plan Points | 3 Green Plan Points | 2 Purple Plan Points
With honey, this recipe counts as 6 points on the 2023 Plan.
More healthy Instant Pot breakfast recipes
- Copycat Starbucks Egg Bites
- Blueberry Lemon Zest Oats
- Fajita Breakfast Casserole
- Instant Pot Amish Baked Oatmeal
- Pressure Cooker Turkey Chorizo Breakfast Casserole
Healthy Instant Pot Yogurt
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6 qt
- Sealing Rings
- Silicone Lids
Ingredients
- ½ gallon milk 1% or 2% to be fix approved, but any fat content will work | ultra-pasteurized
- 3 tbsp Greek yogurt with live cultures plain, this is your starter
- 1 tbsp vanilla optional
- ¼ cup honey optional
Instructions
- You'll want to sanitize your Instant Pot before you begin. This keeps your yogurt sanitary, and also helps to avoid any other smells or tastes being added to the yogurt. I highly recommend grabbing another Instant Pot sealing ring if yours smells like meat or other strong smells.
- Add 1/4 gallon of the milk to the Instant Pot insert. Mix in the Greek yogurt. The plain Greek yogurt is needed because it contains the live yogurt cultures. 3 tbsp Greek yogurt with live cultures
- Next, mix in the vanilla and honey. This is optional, if you want plain yogurt then leave out the vanilla and honey and skip to step 3. Once the honey is dissolved, mix in the remaining 1/4 gallon of milk (it's easier to mix this way). 1 tbsp vanilla 1/4 cup honey
- Tightly cover the Instant Pot with a lid. I prefer this silicone lid, but any lid is fine, if you use the Instant Pot lid be sure to leave the pressure valve open so it doesn’t build pressure.
- Press the yogurt button twice to bypass the boil stage. Let the yogurt incubate for 8-9 hours. The longer the yogurt incubates, the more tart it will get. My yogurt wasn’t tart at all incubating for 8 hours.
- Once the incubation is done, remove the Instant Pot insert and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Do not stir the yogurt or it will break apart the enzymes and become runny.
- The next day, remove the yogurt from the refrigerator and transfer it an air tight storage container. Store in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. Serve with fruit and homemade granola.
Video
Notes
1 serving (without honey and using 1% milk & fat-free Greek yogurt): 2 Points on the 2023 Plan | 2 Blue Plan Points | 3 Green Plan Points | 2 Purple Plan Points With honey, this recipe counts as 6 points on the 2023 Plan.
Nutrition
Make This Recipe?
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Is this recipe able to be doubled?
I’d stick to one batch at a time since it’s a finicky recipe – you can try to double it but I haven’t tested that.
I did not stir it and it still got runny. I used whole milk, is that okay?
Whole milk should be fine. Is there a chance that you didn’t let it sit long enough? If you stirred at the end, maybe that was too soon?
I make yogurt in my instant pot every week. I have always wondered how it fit into a tracking type of diet. Thank you for that information.
My recipe is very different and I always use a 2% lactaid free type of milk. (I tried once with oat milk that didn’t turn out at all — but I read later that I should have let it set overnight). The recipe I use is easy and makes great yogurt – I strain mine for a couple of hours to get the preferred Greek yogurt.