Day 9 - Homemade Yogurt

Do to some craziness with work and kids schedules, unfortunately, our dinner on Day 9 consisted of a combination of fast food and cereal. It was less than ideal but life happens. We will get back on track for tomorrow. I did, however, make homemade yogurt in my Instant Pot for the first time and wanted to share that yumminess as the Day 9 post.

In this Oui Yogurt Copycat recipe, linked here, the ingredients are simple and the results AMAZING!

Let me start by saying, I don't typically like yogurt, but I have been struggling with having a healthy and filling breakfast so I wanted to try to incorporate yogurt into my meal plan. After trying several different kinds of yogurt (greek, protein, mix-ins, etc.), I tried Oui yogurt by Yoplait. You've probably seen it in the grocery aisle. It's sold in those cute (and so guenously packaged) glass bottles. Made with just a few ingredients, I really fell in love with the simplicity of the flavor and the creaminess of the yogurt. But at more than $2 per jar, the price tag is a bit to swallow if you are trying to have one each morning. The container is only 5 oz and isn't enough to fill you up on it's own.

Since I loved the yogurt so much but hated the price, I did what I normally do in these types of situations - tried to see if I could make it myself. And thanks to the wonder of the Internet and the handiness of my Instant Pot, I recreated the yogurt perfectly.

The yogurt making process isn't quick. Even with an Instant Pot. It's not hard, but just plan to enjoy your homemade yogurt the day after you make it because it takes that long.

The first step in the recipe was bringing whole milk to 190 degrees. The recipe says to do this on low to avoid boiling over and getting skim on the top of the milk. So I was patient...kind of and warmed my milk on medium-low.

Once the milk came to 190 degrees, you have to keep it there for 10 minutes. This was probably the most intensive part of the process because for the 10 minutes, I was constantly checking the candy thermometer and adjust the flame on my gas stove. If you have an electric stove, this process would involve picking up the pan off and on to keep the milk around 190 for the timeframe.

Once the 10 minutes passed, I turned off the stove and let it cool to 110 degrees. The recipe said you can put the pan in an ice bath to cool it down faster, but that seemed like a lot of work. I just let it hang out for about 15 minutes and it dropped on it's own. This time could take longer if you have thicker pans that retain heat better but mine dropped fairly quickly.

When the milk reached the right temperature, I combined two teaspoons of my Oui yogurt with two tablespoons of the warmed milk. This is called your "yogurt starter" and you want to make sure you mix it well so you get the nice and creamy texture of Oui. Once everything was whisked to my satisfaction, I poured it into the pan along with some vanilla. Everything was then stirred together.

One thing I was careful to do was avoid scrapping the bottom of the pan. The recipe warns against scrapping because you'll get the milk proteins that have settled to the bottom into your mixture which can make it not creamy. I really wanted creamy so I was very careful on this part. In the picture to the right, you can see all of the milk protein that settled to the bottom after I ladled out the yogurt. I definitely didn't want messing with my smoothness.

After everything was combined, I ladled into these cute little four-ounce mason jars I had on hand. You could really use any container that has a lid or even make your own foil lids as the recipe suggests. Once ladled, I had 8 filled jars and in they went into the Instant Pot. I had never used my Instant Pot for yogurt making before and wasn't sure if I needed to put water in the bottom before setting it. The recipe was vague and didn't mention it but I've seen the gross pictures of burnt Instant Pot bottoms so I added two cups of water just to be safe. I then sealed the lid and set the machine for yogurt making for nine hours.

A mistake I made was starting this recipe after lunch. I really didn't think my timeline backwards and my yogurt ended up needed to go into the fridge at 11:30pm. Which meant staying up until it was ready to be moved. So learn from me - either make this in the morning or make it in the evening and set it to cook overnight.

So, at 11:30pm when my 9 hours was up, I took my containers, put them in the fridge and hoped for the best the next morning. If you couldn't tell from my major spoilers above - it worked and the yogurt was DELICIOUS! Creamy in texture with a simple vanilla taste. It was exactly what I wanted, a perfect Oui replication.

In terms of cost, the recipe only used four ingredients, all of which I had at home. For 8 yogurts, the total cost was under $4 and that included the one Oui yogurt I purchased for my starter. So while the process takes a hot minute the results and savings are totally worth it!

The Scores:

Allison - 5