Slow Cooker Yogurt

Healthy creamy and thick homemade slow cooker yogurt you can eat with berries, add to smoothies, and enjoy in baked goods.

A great recipe to save money buying store-bought yogurt or a professional yogurt maker and make, completely hands-off, a batch of delicious creamy yogurt.

If you love made-from-scratch recipes that can also serve as a base in baking and cooking, you just need to buy milk and starter yogurt to make a batch of plain unflavored yogurt with me.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• 10 times better than any store-bought yogurt
• Easy homemade yogurt you don’t need to babysit.
• Only 2 ingredients, cow’s milk and yogurt, and you get your own slow cooker yogurt, healthy (natural probiotic), fresh, and delicious.
• No yogurt maker is required!

Kitchen Equipment

• 6-qt Crockpot
• Instant-read thermometer
• Optional, cheesecloth, coffee filters, or strainer lined with cheesecloth
• Optional, thick bath towel or tea towel 

How To Make Yogurt In A Slow Cooker

1: Cook The Milk

1. Pour milk into the slow cooker insert. Cover and cook on low for 2 ½ hours. The milk temperature will be around 180 F.
2. Unplug or turn off the cooker and allow the milk to cool for 3 hours until it is 110 F, covered.

2: Add Yogurt

1. Stir in the yogurt. Cover and let it sit for an additional 8-12 hours. The yogurt should thicken over this time. You can wrap the slow cooker in a thick bath towel to keep the same temperature and darkness throughout the whole time.
2. At 6 hour mark you can put the whole thing in the fridge to keep going without worrying about bacteria.
3. Transfer the finished yogurt to an airtight container or proceed to turn it into Greek yogurt.

3*: Optional, Make Greek-Style Yogurt

• Once the yogurt is done, start straining the yogurt until it becomes thicker Greek-style yogurt. The longer the yogurt mixture drains, the thicker it will be.
• You can let it drain in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Storage

Store fresh homemade yogurt in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 weeks.

Note, that the slow cooker yogurt will become thicker and more tangy the longer it sits in the fridge.

Can I Freeze Homemade Yogurt?

While it is possible to freeze homemade yogurt for up to 2 months, I don’t recommend it.

It tends to become grainy. However, you can still use frozen yogurt for smoothies or baking where you can’t see the change in texture. Just thaw at room temperature.

Substitutions & Variations

• If you want thick Greek-style yogurt, you can strain the yogurt through a cheesecloth while it sits in the refrigerator.
• Reserve ½ cup of the yogurt to use when making your next batch to use as a starter culture.
• You can achieve the desired consistency by adjusting the milk. Raw milk makes thicker yogurt while lower fat content milk will make a thinner yogurt. It is possible to use skim milk too for a less fatty yogurt.
• Use milk kefir to make yogurt. It will add more flavor and tang.
• Fruit-flavored yogurt. Add fresh fruit or fruit puree to the yogurt and mix well. If using frozen fruit, blend them with yogurt as if making a smoothie.
• Vanilla yogurt. If you don’t like plain yogurt, you can add extracts. A simple choice will be vanilla extract. You can add honey for sweetness too.
• This delicious yogurt can be made with another type of milk if desired – I have not tried it yet. Dairy milk, non-homogenized milk, pasteurized milk, even powdered milk can work.

Expert Tips To Make The Best Crock Pot Yogurt

• Save some more yogurt that you can use for the next batch and store it separately with a time stamp.
• Serve homemade yogurt with honey, granola, fruit, coconut syrup, or maple syrup.
• This homemade yogurt can replace sour cream and plain Greek yogurt in pretty much any baking or cooking recipe.
• Temperature is very important so get an instant-read thermometer.

If you love this easy recipe for basic foods, you’re going to love these other basic recipes you didn’t know you could make at home too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Use This Yogurt In These Recipes

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken

Strawberry Cheesecake Frozen Yogurt

Parfait Cups

3-Ingredient Homemade Bagels

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