Yogurt in a Slow Cooker

By golly, it worked. IT WORKED!!!! I made yogurt in my slow cooker and it’s phenomenal. It tastes a zillion times better than the plain yogurt you buy at the store and it was *SO* easy, and it’s cheaper to boot!

I used this video  for the basic recipe and then, of course, I tweaked it a bit.

To make a quart-ish you need:

• 4 Cups milk (I used whole)
• 1/4 c plain yogurt (for the cultures, use store bought for your first batch. After you make yogurt remember to save 1/4 cup of it for the next batch!)
• slow cooker (I used the 4qt bowl of my 3-in-1 slow cooker , I wouldn’t use smaller & I’d double the recipe if you have a larger or wide slow cooker)

What you do:

• Pour the milk into the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 2.5 hours
• Turn the slow cooker off and let it sit for about 3 hours, or until the milk cools to about 110 degrees F (mine took a little over 2 hours)
• Ladle out 2 cups of milk and to it add the plain yogurt, stir well and pour back into the crock.
• Cover the slow cooker with a thick towel or blanket and let it sit for a minimum of 8 hours, but no more than 11 or so. Mine sat for 10 hours overnight.
• Place the crock in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill. If your crock isn’t removable transfer the yogurt to a glass container, cover and chill. The whey will separate from the yogurt, you can drain it off if you want but it’s easier just to mix it back in.

THAT’S IT!!!

The yogurt I made was identical in thickness to store-bought but my kids begged me to make a drinkable yogurt, like those D’animal cup things. I put the yogurt (all of it, I have lots of kids, LOL) into my Ninja Blender (I’m spoiled, any blender will do) and added about 2 cups of frozen peaches and 2 Tbsp of sugar. The peaches thinned the yogurt out perfectly and the kids immediately drank the entire batch.

TIPS:

Any cow’s milk will work but whole milk makes a thicker yogurt

Adding the powdered milk (see the video) is supposed to make the yogurt thicker as well, but the yogurt I made was pretty darn thick without it, experiment to see what you like best.

Since I was making a drink I didn’t thaw the peaches, if you want your yogurt to remain thick to eat with a spoon you’ll want to thaw and cut the fruit first and mix in by hand.  Oh, and the sugar is purely optional, I added 2 Tbsp to the entire quart-ish.

COST ANALYSIS:

Whole milk: $3.79 gal = $.95

1/4 cup plain store-brand yogurt for starter: $.59 (this cost is eliminated after you make your first batch)

Total cost of 1 quart homemade plain yogurt: $1.54 first batch / $.95 subsequent batches

Cost of 1 quart store-brand plain yogurt: $1.79