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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 electric pressure cooker method 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
Enjoy this easy homemade yogurt. And be sure to let us know what you thought of it by leaving a comment. You may also want to use it for making yogurt parfaits by layering it with my keto muesli cereal or my low carb granola.
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Making Low Carb Yogurt in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- ½ 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
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
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.
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Lola St Marie
How much is a serving size?
Lisa MarcAurele
It’s about a cup.
Phyllis
What do you think about adding vanilla beans to the yogurt? Where in the cycles would you add it?
Lisa MarcAurele
I’d stir it in at the end. The flavor from the beans will get absorbed any time really.
Karlene
I finally quit procrastinating & made my first batch of InstaPot yogurt using your recipe – I’m so glad I did! I used heavy cream with Greek Gods yogurt for my starter. After boiling, I fermented it directly in the InstaPot for 12 hours. Wow…creamy, smooth, slightly tangy & delicious!!
Tina
I just put gallon of whole milk in the instapot. On a side I worm up a little 2 cups of milk, than I add 2 cups of greak yogurt in it and whisk, than add all that in big pot and mix well. After 3.5 hours, smooth and not too thick yogurt is ready. Take out pot, let it cool for an hour and pur back in gallon milk container and back to fridge. My family of 4 can finish it in 3 days.
Clarise Boudreaux
Yummy. I have made this twice. I have made coffee mocha, key lime, and blueberry, all are yummy. Question: could I use a whole gallon of milk at once? i don’t want to ruin it. Also, I had better get a good carb count as we are eating it so much.
Lisa MarcAurele
You should be able to do a whole gallon, especially if you have the larger 8 quart pot. But a gallon does fit in a 6 quart too. I’m just not sure how even the heating will be with the larger volume of liquid. If the yogurt is tart when it’s done, the culture has consumed most of the milk sugar.
Janice Mines
I don’t know why you said you shouldn’t do it on the lower temp that is actually backwards! if you want to the good bactria to eat the lactos you incubated longer on a lower temp the 24 hour setting but I wanted to know how to tell your insta pot yogurt beneficial bactria truly eat all of the lactose and not 90% so I don’t go over on carbs if I eat yogurt thinking it is zero carbs and it really has 5g
Sandra Fann
I have tried two recipes for instant pot yogurt. The first was runny, still good, but more like a sauce in consistency. I read to add a cup of cream for thicker yogurt and ended up with lumpy yogurt with a yellowish liquid floating on top. Still tasted ok though.
I am not willing to give up, so I will try yours next.
JD
What if you don’t have a yogurt button on your IP?
Also, can you not strain the liquid if you prefer non greek style yogurt?
Lisa MarcAurele
You need the yogurt button to get the temperature correct.
Roberta C Nahas
It would be much more helpful if the actual carb count be measured, based on incubation times and then accutately provided Stating that it “should be” half or less of 8 carbs to a group of readers who are primarily concerned with carb count is like telling a basketball coach choosing among like-talented centers that a player is about twice the height of 3′ 5″.
Lisa MarcAurele
Agree! But there’s no way to know for sure without testing.
brenda
so is the nutritional information above correct? 8carbs? i strain my yogurt until it is a speadable texture…so with even less whey the carbs should be less, correct? it is the consistency of labneh or kefir cheese
Lisa MarcAurele
Carb count should be less. I believe it’s generally 4g per cup.
Terri
Yay! I’ve been making my own yogurt for several years now, and I love it! I use a yogurt starter and fairlife whole milk. I add glycerite stevia to sweeten it -and strain out the whey. How do I figure out what the carb count is when I make it like that? Everywhere I’ve looked never takes out for the whey and totally count the milk. So So yummy! Thank You! This is really helping me a lot!
Lisa MarcAurele
It’s tough to get an accurate count, but using stevia glycerite should keep the yogurt about 4 grams per cup.
Juli
Terri, I am trying to figure this out as well. Considering that Fairlife has almost half the sugar than regular whole milk, and straining out the whey, I’m making the lowest carb Greek yogurt I possibly can…it’s going to be higher protein as well.
I don’t know the exact numbers, but this process works for me…
Heather
Love homemade yogurt in the IP!
Ginger Weigel
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
I do think the homemade yogurt would make a nice frozen yogurt treat. But I haven’t tried it myself.
cacarr
” … 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
Yes. Tart or sour is a better word. Thanks for pointing that out.
Preston
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
I always strain the yogurt. I’m not sure about the funky smell. Something may have gone bad in the process.
Fern Everett
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
Great tip! A lot of people use different gaskets for different foods.
Christina
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
My daughter likes to add hopped strawberries. Berries are a good low sugar fruit.
Andrea
what is a “hopped” strawberry?
MELANIE
Christina,
I use various “flavors” of extract. Frontier Co-op has organic, non-alcoholic, non-GMO flavorings. They sell it at Whole Foods. No added carbs. Strawberry, banana, cinnamon, coffee, etc.
Brandi Mills
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
200g is just under a US cup.
Tisa
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
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
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
Hope the yogurt works out for you in the pressure cooker!
Valerie
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
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
Awesome! Great way to use up that milk.