Did you know you can make your own delicious low carb yogurt using an Instant Pot? It’s so simple even a beginner should have no trouble on the first try!
I had a half gallon of organic whole milk that had been sitting in my basement refrigerator for a while. Thankfully, organic milk seems to always have a “use by” date pretty far out.
My son had been coming home from college and eating cereal and milk. So, I stocked up on whole milk. But, he hasn’t been around to drink it.
I decided to try making a batch of low carb yogurt since the expiration date was coming up in a few weeks. I used the method described at This Old Gal which is super easy!
Do you have an Instant Pot with the yogurt feature? If so, you must give this a try. It was so much easier than I thought it would be to make my own low carb yogurt.
The only ingredients you need are a half gallon of milk and two tablespoons of whole milk yogurt with active cultures in it. I had a container of Organic Stonyfield whole milk plain yogurt in the fridge which was perfect to use as a starter.
The Instant Pot makes it super easy to make your own low carb yogurt. All you do is dump your container of whole milk into the pot liner, put the lid on, then click the “Yogurt” button and use the “Adjust” button until “boil” is displayed.
The Instant Pot will then heat the milk up until it reaches 180°F. However, This Old Gal provided a very helpful tip. She recommends stirring the milk with a whisk in the middle of the boil cycle to ensure the liquid is evenly heated at 180°F. There is no pressure used when making boiling the milk, so you can open the lid as needed to give the milk a little stir.
Accurate temperature taking is important when making your low carb yogurt. You’ll want to have a digital meat thermometer handy to make sure your milk is at the right temperature. If you don’t reach the 180°F temperature and continue, you may end up with thin yogurt.
If the milk isn’t at 180°F, you’ll need to push the “Yogurt” button and “Adjust” button to continue the boil cycle until the temperature is reached. Once reached, you place the inner Instant Pot liner into a sink filled with cold ice water to drop the temperature down to 110°F.
Once the milk has reached 110°F, you add a little bit to your two tablespoons of starter yogurt to temper it before adding it to the warm milk. That keeps the cooler starter yogurt from curdling if it changes temperature too quickly.
The yogurt mixture is then added to the warm milk in the liner which is then placed back into the Instant Pot and the lid put on. Now, you set the pot to incubate the milk into low carb yogurt. And, the longer the better because more milk sugar will be eaten by the live cultures the longer it incubates.
To start the incubate cycle, you simply push the yogurt button and set the incubation time. The default is 8 hours. I set my timer to 15 hours. You want to be careful you don’t accidentally hit the yogurt button to many times and get the 24 hour setting which puts the yogurt cycle on low. This was another great tip from This Old Gal. You want to incubate with the yogurt cycle on “normal” not “low” for the lights in the center display.
Another tip I got from This Old Gal was that the timer counts up. So, when you set your incubation time (I chose 15:00), the timer will go to 0:00 and then start counting up to let you know how long it’s been going.
I started in late afternoon and let my pot sit in the yogurt cycle overnight. I stopped the cycle the next morning after about 13.5 hours. When I lifted the lid, in the morning, I was thrilled to see that my thin milk had turned into thick yogurt.
Since we want low carb yogurt, it’s best to strain out the whey so you end up with thicker Greek style yogurt. There are some carbs in the whey so straining it out ensures you’ll get the lowest carb count.
Another tip I got from This Old Gal is to let the yogurt chill before straining. So, I let the freshly made yogurt sit in the refrigerator for several hours before putting it in a strainer.
I put the yogurt in a colander lined with cheese cloth over a big bowl. I let it sit like this in the refrigerator until I got almost 4 cups of liquid strained out of the low carb yogurt.
The result was a thick and creamy Greek style yogurt. It was very tart so I mixed in some vanilla stevia and liquid monk fruit to each serving which gave a nice sweet vanilla flavor!
If you think yogurt has too many carbs, think again! The labels on yogurt are typically inaccurate when it comes to carbs because it counts sugars that the cultures have consumed so they are not longer there.
To learn more about why yogurt is much lower in carbs than stated on the label, I recommend reading this article. I typically count about half the carbs on the label to be safe, but plain whole yogurt is so sour, it’s safe to assume there’s almost no sugar in it.
How to Make Low Carb Yogurt in the Instant Pot
Making Low Carb Yogurt in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon whole milk preferably organic
- 2 tablespoons whole milk yogurt with live cultures
Instructions
- Pour milk into Instant Pot and close lid. Push "Yogurt" button and then "Adjust" button until "boil" is displayed.
- You'll want to remove the lid to stir the milk with a whisk to evenly heat the milk and speed things along during the boil cycle.
- While milk is heating, fill sink with ice water at least halfway full.
- Once the milk reaches 180°F, the Instant Pot will beep marking the end of the boil cycle. Using a thermometer, make sure the milk is indeed at 180°F. If not at temperature, initiate the boil cycle again until the milk is at 180°F.
- Place the inner liner of the Instant Pot (with the hot milk in it) into the sink with ice water. Using your thermometer, monitor the temperature of the milk until it reaches 110°F. Once temperature is reached, place liner back into Instant Pot.
- In a small bowl, add the two tablespoons of starter yogurt. Then, slowly incorporate 2-4 tablespoons of the warm milk from the instant pot to temper the yogurt. Add tempered yogurt into the warm milk in the Instant Pot and stir in.
- Place lid on Instant Pot and then hit "Yogurt" button. Hit "Adjust" button until you get a time displayed with the "Normal" light on. Use the "+" and or "-" buttons to adjust your time to 10 hours or more. This is the incubation time for the active cultures to turn the milk into yogurt. A longer time will result in more milk sugar being consumed by the cultures which gives a tarter and lower carb yogurt. NOTE: After you set your time, the display will go back to 0:00 and start counting up until the time you se is reached.
- Once your incubation time is up, you should have a thick plain yogurt. Place the inner liner into the refrigerator to chill for at least 4 hours.
- After yogurt has chilled, place it in a strainer or colander lined with filter paper or cheesecloth over a larger bowl to catch the liquid whey. All the yogurt to fully strain until no longer dripping liquid. I ended up with over three and a half cups of liquid whey.
- You should now have a thick Greek style yogurt. Enjoy it with a few drops of flavored stevia and monk fruit for the least carbs. Or, add some fresh berries along with the zero carb sweetener(s).
Notes
Nutrition
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Note on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Ginger Weigel says
I made this over the weekend with a gallon of organic milk, using Fresh Thyme Greek yogurt and a packet of prebiotic and probiotic. I incubated it for 14 hours, got it cold, then strained it for a couple hours. I got a ton of whey strained and this yogurt is super thick. Tried it tonight with 5 drops of monk fruit sweetener, a few blueberries and a little of Diabetic Kitchen’s Cinnamon granola. It was so delicious.
I’m tempted to mix in the sweetener and see what happens if I freeze it.
Also, shout out to all who make it with heavy cream, I’m going to have to try that, but a gallon of heavy cream will be expensive.
Lisa MarcAurele says
I do think the homemade yogurt would make a nice frozen yogurt treat. But I haven’t tried it myself.
cacarr says
” … but plain whole yogurt is so bitter …”
I think you mean “tart” or “tangy” — which are the exact opposite of bitter. Bitter things have a high pH; tart, tangy, acidic things have a low pH.
15 hours of incubation should have it very low carb indeed, and very tart (which is an indication that the sugars have been metabolized by the bacteria). And I suppose remaining sugars would be dissolved in the water, so straining it really well should really get the carbs way down.
Lisa MarcAurele says
Yes. Tart or sour is a better word. Thanks for pointing that out.
Preston says
After 15 hours, I opened the lid on my instant pot and my yogurt was very runny and smelled really “funky”
What could have caused this? Should I still cool it in the fridge and strain it to see if it firms up?
Thank you!
Lisa says
I always strain the yogurt. I’m not sure about the funky smell. Something may have gone bad in the process.
Fern Everett says
The gasket retains smells from other foods you have cooked. Since you aren’t using the pressure you don’t need the gasket. No more funky yogurt.
Lisa MarcAurele says
Great tip! A lot of people use different gaskets for different foods.
Christina says
This sounds great! I was wondering if you have any flavor suggestions? I typically add stevia and vanilla for myself, but my family is not a huge fan of vanilla, and I’m not sure what other carb friendly flavors I could use.
Thanks!
Lisa says
My daughter likes to add hopped strawberries. Berries are a good low sugar fruit.
Brandi Mills says
What is the serving size (200 g) in US cups or Oz? Wasn’t sure how to convert yogurt as i know it’s different for solids and liquids.
Lisa says
200g is just under a US cup.
Tisa says
Thanks for the info on the yogurt – it’s the one thing I’ve struggled with on LCHF and now I don’t have to! Great recipe also. I have been making yogurt in the InstantPot and it’s divine and so easy. Thanks again.
Lisa says
You’re welcome! It’s too bad they don’t test the product for the nutritional data so it can be more accurate on the carb information.
Mary says
I came across your page today and I must say I will be trying this recipe. I have been making my own yogurt for awhile in the slow cooker. I have an instant pot now and this is on my to do list. I do use raw milk and swerve to make mine. Off to try this. Thank you for sharing
Lisa says
Hope the yogurt works out for you in the pressure cooker!
Valerie says
Hi Mary. Do you use granulated or powdered swerve? Also, do you add it after culturing or process with the swerve already added? thank you!
Sonya says
I had a whole gallon of whole milk in the fridge that wasn’t opened and the expiration date was 2 days past so I decided to try your recipe. I used Oikos Vanilla Greek yogurt for my starter. When the whole instant pot process was done, I strained the yogurt for several hours, then put it in my mixer with some vanilla extract and honey and it came out delicious! This was my first try with yogurt and it was such a success I will definitely being doing it again. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Lisa says
Awesome! Great way to use up that milk.
Monica says
Do I need a new store bought yogurt for each batch or can I use my homemade for the next batch?
Lisa says
You can use your own homemade.
Jacki Prettyman says
You can buy a quart of high quality plain yogurt, put a tablespoon into mini muffin cups with the little paper liners and freeze them. Once they are frozen, simply pop them out, drop them all into a gallon sized ziploc bag and store in the freezer. When you are ready to make yogurt simply take two out, place them in a small bowl to thaw while heating the milk. Very inexpensive way to have your yogurt culture ready when you want to make yogurt. I make it weekly in my Instant Pot but I use Half and Half instead of whole milk to reduce the carbs further.
Lisa says
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Marlene says
Could you use half heavy cream half milk ?
Can you use skim milk?
Lisa says
Either should work. You just need some lactose for the culture to consume.
Nancy says
I always make my yogurt using heavy cream. Lowest amount of carbs that way. Also,, it is so decadently rich,, you really don’t have to eat much to feel satiated. Between 1/4-1/2 cup more than does it for me.
And tip,, adding heavy cream, or half and half increases the thickeness and gives you much less whey if your straining. one half gallon of cream nets me 1 cup of whey.
Lisa MarcAurele says
That is a good tip as there is more whey in whole milk.
Carrie says
This is seriously the best greek yogurt I’ve had! It’s like ice cream! Here in the Seattle we have local greek yogurt called Ellenos that everyone goes nuts over, and I swear this is BETTER! So Delish with a bit of Stevia in it. Thanks so much!
Lisa says
I agree! It’s much better to make the yogurt at home and the taste shows the freshness.
Ginger Schooling says
I have an 8 quart instant pot, and it only took 20 minutes in the boil period to get milk to 180 degrees. Then in the sink ice bath it only took 3 minutes to cool to 110 degrees. Pretty fast! I used a half gallon of milk.
Ginger Schooling says
Approximately how long will this last in the fridge? I want to make a big batch.
Lisa says
It depends, but generally one to two weeks and maybe longer.
Ginger Schooling says
Approximately how long does it take to get the milk to 180 degrees? Then how long to cool to 110 degrees? Thanks in advance!
Lisa says
I’d say 15-20 minutes to reach 180 and only a few minutes to drop down to 110 in an ice bath.
Carla McDonald says
About 40 minutes to boil, i then take the pot out and put it in a tub of ice water and stir every couple minutes. It takes about 5 minutes to cool that way.
Lori Sherman-Appel says
My IP is a mini version at 3quart,700 watts. Can I make this recipe? How should I cut the recipe ingredients? Thanks … I can’t wait to make it!
Lisa says
You can! Just use the slider that pops up to adjust the number of servings.
Krisa says
So did you use a powder yogurt starter or can you use yogurt that is already made as the starter? Sorry maybe that’s a dumb question, I have never made yogurt before but I want to try. I use my Instant pot all the time!
Lisa says
I used a little bit of store bought organic yogurt. However, you can break open a few probiotic capsules and add that as a starter.
Heidi says
Where do you get the liners? I’ve used liners in the slow cooker, are they the same?
Lisa says
You don’t need a liner for making yogurt. It’s the steel liner that comes with the pot that you make the yogurt in.
Sarah Strebe says
Can I use non-fat milk and starter to make non-fat Greek yogurt?
Lisa says
You can! I typically use heavy cream because I like more fat.
Robin says
You said you typically use heavy cream… How? Do you use it instead of the whole milk?
This would lower the carbs too, correct?
Thank you!
Lisa says
Heavy cream has less sugar than whole milk so technically, it should be lower carb. But, in yogurt, carb count depends on how much of the sugar remains after cultured.
Robin Davis says
Made this earlier in the week. Absolutely delicious…my husband gave it a thumbs up as well !!
Lisa says
Excellent! Love when the husbands approve.
Kayla says
I made this over the weekend and it was delicious! Next time I want to use a full gallon of milk. Would I still use 2 tbsp of yogurt as the starter or would I need more? Thanks!
Lisa says
2 tablespoons should work for a full gallon too. You really only need a tablespoon for the half gallon.
txgrandma says
One question-Would freezing this harm the probiotics in this yogurt? Thanks!
Lisa says
I believe the cultures go dormant when frozen.
txgrandma says
I made this and it was a smashing success! I used organic milk and yogurt as you suggested and it was the smoothest and creamiest yogurt I’ve ever had. No tart taste to it at all. I added a rhubarb sauce and it didn’t need much sweetener at all. I am currently straining it for Greek yogurt and expect that is will get better by tomorrow. Thanks for such a great tutorial. It was very helpful! I also checked out “This Old Gal” and between the two of you, it was very easy to follow. I did use your time suggestions. Starting to wonder if there is anything the Instant Pot can’t do, lol! Thanks so much.
Lisa says
The credit for this goes mainly to This Old Gal who is an Instant Pot expert.
Cheryl says
Does the carb count change drastically if you don’t drain off as much whey? I prefer my yogurt a little less thick.
Lisa says
The whey only adds a couple (like 2-3) grams of carbs per serving.
txgrandma says
Great instructions. I think I can do this! How much does this make and what size are the average servings? Thanks!
Lisa says
It makes about 8 cups. You can use a whole gallon of milk if you want to make a larger batch.
Diane Silvestri says
Is there any other appliance that can do this other than Instant Pot? I have a slow cooker- pressure cooker combo but it doesnt have a yogurt setting.
Lisa says
You can make yogurt similarly in a slow cooker on low for the incubation. Just heat the milk up first to 180 degrees F, then cool it down and incubate in the slow cooker on low heat.
Christine says
I have been making yogurt in a large pot over the stove for years now. I find it is MUCH more dependable and faster than using the crock pot method. My recipe uses the same process as stated here, except I bring the milk to 180 degrees over the stove top. Be sure to stir with a spatula or flat wooden spoon often during cooking to make milk doesn’t cook or burn on the bottom. It only takes a half hour or so. Then I let it cool to 110-115 degrees. (This takes about 2 hours) I skim it with a mesh spoon before I temper in the starter yogurt to get the “skin” that forms and any small chunks of cooked milk that might have formed. This step creates a very smooth final product. (I just use one carton of plain Greek yogurt, even though you don’t need that much…we have a family of 8, so I use a gallon and a half of milk in an 8 quart pot). Then I insulate the pot with several towels and let sit on my counter for 12 hours. Straining is crucial, in my opinion, just as stated in the recipe here.
Lisa says
Thanks for the tips on making it on the stove. I’ve never tried it that way.
Cindy says
With 8 grams of sugar and using whole milk.. I don’t see how this is low carb?
Lisa says
There’s not really 8 grams. That’s what’s calculated based on ingredients. The longer you incubate, the less sugar you get because the cultures consume the sugar.
patricia says
I have to be dairy free. Can this be made using coconut milk?
Lisa says
I have seen recipes for coconut yogurt, but you want to use the thicker coconut cream to make it. And, you’ll need probiotic powder or capsules as the culture. It is a similar process, but I have never tried it to be sure.
Mary Page says
I use this recipe. I had never really liked yogurt until I made it in the instant pot. It’s really good.
Lisa says
My daughter was never crazy about yogurt either until she tried this homemade version.