DESSERTS

Instant Pot Yogurt

Name: Instant Pot Yogurt
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 545 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 8 cups whole milk; 2 tbsp plain yogurt with live cultures, for the starter

Milk and a spoonful of plain yogurt with live cultures turn into a pot of plain yogurt while you sleep. Thick, mild, and ready for a strainer if you want it Greek style.

About 9 hr 5 min 8 servings Easy

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Two ingredients and a lot of sitting around

This is the one recipe where the pot does almost nothing, and that is the point. The Yogurt setting holds the milk warm for 8 hours while the cultures in the starter do the work. No pressure, no steam.

I like knowing exactly what is in it. Milk, cultures, nothing else. It comes out mild and soft set, closer to the yogurt in a plain tub than the sweetened cups. One pot in, one pot to wash, eventually.

The heat is what makes it thick

Heating the milk to 180°F before the long rest is the step that makes the yogurt set thick instead of drinkable. Skip it and you get something closer to a yogurt drink. Fine for smoothies, sad in a bowl.

Then the milk has to cool back down to 110°F before the starter goes in. Hot milk kills the cultures you just paid for. After that it is just waiting, and the fridge firms it up the rest of the way.

THE RECIPE