Edited on 10/5/09 to add: Since posting this I have also discovered that you can make raw yogurt on your counter top, without the use of a crock pot or yogurt maker. All you need is a starter and the super clear directions that come with it. Not only is it easier since you simply leave it on your counter top, but you also retain the benefits of the raw enzymes! You can find culture starters here.
I have tried other methods for making yogurt, but this is by far the easiest. I originally got this idea from Stephanie and use her basic recipe. Making your own yogurt is a frugal way to get some good probiotics into your family.
Here is the cost savings breakdown for us:
- Before: we would buy organic plain yogurt from Trader Joe’s: $3/quart
- Now: I make it out of our grass-fed raw milk from the farmer: $1.75/quart
- Savings = $1.25/quart x 2/week = savings of $2.50/week = savings of $130/year
Trader Joe’s is the cheapest organic yogurt you can find. The health food store sells it for $4.50/quart. For me, it is definitely worth the savings to do the five minutes of total work involved in making yogurt in the crock pot.
Crock Pot Yogurt
Recipe notes: This recipe uses a 2 quart crock. In using a 4 or 4 1/2 quart crock I found the yogurt to have a bit of a "springy" texture. I was able to alleviate this by heating the milk an additional 15 minutes for a total of 2 hours and 45 minutes.
- Turn your crock pot to low and pour in 1/2 gallon of milk.
- Heat on low for 2 hours and 30 minutes.
- Once 2 hours and 30 minutes have elapsed turn your crock pot off and unplug it. Let the milk cool in the crock with the lid on for 3 hours.
- After 3 hours remove 1-2 cups of the warmed milk and place in a bowl. To that add 1/2 cup of yogurt with live active cultures and mix very well.
- Pour the yogurt-milk mixture back into the milk and whisk thoroughly.
- Place the cover back on the crock and wrap the entire crock pot in a thick bath towel or two.
- Let it culture overnight, 8-12 hours.
- In the morning stir yogurt (if desired) and store in glass quart jars or a container of your choice.
- For optimum texture, refrigerate for at least 8 hours before using.
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This looks like something I want to try. Does anyone know if I can cut the recipe in half and it will still come out correctly?
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Vicki – I had this problem, too.
Today, I’m going to try again, but this time, get a heat measurement of where the milk is before I add the culture into it.
I think external temperature — of the kitchen — may factor into this. I’m doing this in winter, in New England, and no matter how warm the house gets — the kitchen is often a bit cooler (unless we’re cooking in the oven, too.)
Still, we’ll see how this next batch goes.
If it doesn’t work the second time, I’ll just go buy a yogurt maker. The problem of the crock pot method is that if it doesn’t work, you’ve spent — essentially — a full day waiting to find out it hasn’t worked.
But I’m hopeful that by monitoring the temperature before the culture goes into the milk, it’ll work this time.
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LIZZY Reply:
April 2nd, 2010 at 12:13 am
Wrap the crockpot up in severalTowels, this insulates it,, THEN put it in your stove *not turned on* with the Light on and keep it on ALL night until you check up on it in the morning …….It stays a LOT warmer in there. and YES the temp of your house/kitchen makes a HUGE difference and is more regulated this way
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Doug – Thanks for sharing your experience. The tricky thing with this recipe, though it is a simple one if it can work, is that all crocks are different and like you said the air temperature can effect the whole process.
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Teresa – I think this would be a gamble as the heating and cooling times are based on a certain volume. If you’re going to do this I would heat it up for half the time, check the temperature (you’re looking for 180 degrees) and continue to heat as needed until you reach the desired temp. Then do the same thing with the cooling (you’re looking for 110 degrees). Let us know how it goes!
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Tracy – If you do double it I would check the temperature after the allotted cooking time. You’re looking for 180 degrees. Continue to heat until you reach that point and then do the same for cooling (you want 110 degrees).
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I used this recipe and it was perfect! The next time I heated the milk on the stove with a candy thermometer. When the milk reached 180 degrees F, I poured into the crockpot, already warmed on low. Then I pulled the plug and followed the rest of the recipe. So delicious.
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[...] items from scratch whenever it makes sense considering time, cost and added [...]
[...] afraid the yogurt wouldn’t set up if it wasn’t properly incubated. So, I chose the Crock Pot Yogurt recipe from Nourishing Days because I do have a Crock Pot (from Costco here, hooray!) and bath [...]
I tried this and ended up with milk with a faint smell of yogurt. Is there anything I can do to thicken it up at this point? Can I put it back in the crock pot? What temp? How long? Or am I stuck with a 1/2 gallon of really runny kefir?
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Shannon Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Liz – I am sorry it did not turn out well. You could try heating it up and culturing it again. Is your kitchen warm enough?
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Bonnie Reply:
April 20th, 2010 at 9:54 am
I’ve had this happen to be several times (and I’m still trying to figure out why). I just turn the crockpot back on low again for 2 hours and then it will begin to set up. Wrap it for 6-8 hours and you have yogurt and have not wasted a whole bunch of milk.
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Hello, I just found your blog and love it! I make yogurt using the method that Alton Brown (“Good Eats” host) recommends, heating the milk to 180 degrees, cooling it to 120 degrees, then putting in the starter and setting the bowl/pot on a heating pad covered in a towel overnight. Always turns out great and you don’t have to worry about the kitchen temperature! I always drain some of the whey out of mine because my family likes it nice and thick, and I find the whey handy to have around anyway.
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I have always made yogurt in a much simpler manner. Boil milk on stove top, stir and keep at boiling point for few minutes. Leave container on stove top till the temperature comes to luke warm, or reduce temperature to luke warm as convenient. Pour the luke warm milk in a plastic or a glass container. Add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of yogurt( I use unflavored yogurt from the store initially for culture/starter. Thereafter my home made yogurt becomes by far much better starter). Mix well with a hand wisk. Cover the container with an airtight lid, place in a lunch bag (insulated to hold temperature). Remove after 6-8 hours for a perfectly set yogurt. Quantity of starter yogurt culture is adjusted depending on the amount of milk, mostly 1/4-1/2 of a teaspoon is enough for 1/2 gallon or 3/4 gallon of milk. Its important to bring the milk to boiling point and boil for few minutes. Also critical that the milk is luke warm when being placed in the insulated lunch bag.I do this last thing at night and find perfect yogurt in the morning. If the yogurt comes out stringy try another brand for starter, and ensure the milk is luke warm when placing in lunch bag.
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I was wondering if there is anyway to make the vanilla flavoring my kids love?
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Shannon Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Amy – Absolutely! Once it is cultured add a little vanilla extract and sweetener to taste (honey, stevia, maple syrup, etc.)
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Well, I tried this last night…but I think I let it cool down too much because this morning I have room temperature milk smelling a bit like yogurt. I’m wary of reheating it and trying to culture it again, but I hate to waste all that milk! Any ideas? I’m reading through the comments to see if this has been answered, but all I’ve seen is someone saying you can probably reheat and culture again, but nothing definitive. Thanks!
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Shannon Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Clara – Yeah, I think a lot of people have been having fails on this during winter because of the cooler temps in the kitchen (myself included). If it’s runny and smells like yogurt it may be yogurt. It probably won’t be that great on it’s own, but you could use it in smoothies. I wish I could give you a definitive answer, but I can’t.
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I have not tried the crock pot method but do use my oven.
I heat up 4 litres of milk with 1 cup dry powder on the stove until it reaches 82c then put the pan in the sink with cold water and allow the temp to drop to 48c then I had 1/4 cup of yogurt and place the pan with lid in the oven with the oven light on.I leave it over night or even up to 24 hrs.It usually works very well. I add the milk powder to help firm up the yogurt as we like it thicker.
If I have spare whey we make milk shake with it by adding frozen fruit , milk etc.
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[...] also made homemade yogurt in my crock pot! Crazy huh? It sounds crazy, but let me tell you, my children LOVE yogurt and could eat it by [...]
[...] dairy-free yogurt making (still in [...]
I have made this upwards of 20 times and it worked each time. I think by accident I discovered when the house is cool to put a heating pad on top of the crock and then the towel. I set it to low when it was only sort of cool, and then on med. when I thought it was especially cold in the house.
I always do 2 crock pots at once, as we have a large family. I start it at 4:30, shut off at 7:00, put in starter at 10:00, cover it up, tuck it in and wake up to yummy yogurt.
If I start it in the morning, start at 8:00, turn off at 10:30, starter in at 1:00, tuck it in, and I have yogurt done at 9:00.
all winter I have just put the crocks in the garage when done to deal with later because it has been cool enough, I was very spoiled. Now I have to decant right away so it can fit in fridge
Thanks for making my yogurt making soooo easy!
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Boil milk in a saucepan, let it cool until its lukewarm. Preheat your oven at 350 for just 5 mins. Add the milk to a airtight container, add 3 spoons of yogurt and mix slightly. Cover the container in a small blanket or towels and place it in the oven at night. Yogurt will be ready in the morning. Make sure your oven is not turned on after you’ve placed the mixture.
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[...] -1/2 cup homemade crockpot yogurt (I like to use 1/2 gallon raw milk + 1 quart raw cream + yogurt starter and then I strain about [...]
[...] my experimentation, I started with the how-to on Nourishing Days. (Read the detailed steps here.) However the instructions there are for making only two quarts… which may be exactly the [...]
[...] can cook soup, chili, ribs, pulled pork/chicken/beef, and yogurt (Yes that’s right yogurt. Click here if you don’t believe me.) amongst many [...]
How do I add the different fruit flavors like strawberry, blueberry, cherry, etc?
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Shannon Reply:
May 4th, 2010 at 9:11 am
Quentin – You would add them after the overnight culturing process. So once it has sat overnight and then chilled 6-8 hours you can stir in some pureed or whole fruit and berries and honey to sweeten if you’d like.
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If you are lucky enough to have a vintage gas range, prepare your warm milk and add your yogurt or starter, then wrap up and put in the oven. The pilot light will keep the mixture at the optimal culturing warmth.
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[...] Make yogurt in your crock pot [...]
[...] I saw on Marshall Brain’s blog about his making some Greek yogurt and it sounded easy enough so I decided to try. So that page led me to his how to which led me to how to make it in a crock pot. [...]
The first time I made this it worked perfectly but the last two attempt have not worked, it’s still liquid. What am I doing wrong? I don’t think I did anything different than the first time but it’s not working. Suggestions?
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Shannon Reply:
June 17th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Melissa – Unfortunately I have had mixed results as well. Before I posted this recipe it worked consistently. Now it is hit or miss. One thing I noticed was that when the kitchen temps were cooler it didn’t work as well.
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ken james Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
see my comments this date. have made yogurt successfully now for 6 months or more.
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[...] [...]
[...] followed this recipe but I cheated the time a little bit, so it turned out pretty runny. (But still yummy!) I love [...]
Does anyone know if you can just leave it in the crockpot on the “warm” setting for the 8 hours? Or is that too hot? Thanks!
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ken james Reply:
July 18th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
I just left mine on at 110-120 for twelve hours.
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This is great! The only concern I have is that I recently heard that many CrockPots have lead in the enamel. There are certain ones that are safe, but the jury seems to be out. Someone did find a glass insert CrockPot at Target I think… this info was on Debra Lynn Dadd’s website. http://www.debralynndadd.com
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[...] My first attempt was edible, but not great. I made it in the oven heated to warm. My second attempt was divine. Absolutely delicious!!! Here’s the second recipe found at this website. [...]
I just successfully used a 1 gal crock pot with temp knob to successfully make regular yogurt, Greek style yogurt, yogurt spread (like on toast) and yogurt cheese. Crock pot was $6.40 at Value Village, the starter was GNC probotic tablets (100/$8) crushed in a $6 pill grinder at the drug store, added 5 cups p milk – to drain used a 12 qt pot (with large lip), a white cotton tee shirt and velco buckle strap – pot lid fit tightly down because of large lip. I think the key is temperature control, which I got with my latte thermometer. Up to 180, down to 110 -120, cool in refrig, , transfer, for Greek or cheese drain in refrig. Even for regular yogurt though I would still drain a little. E-mail me for specifics and any questions. Would be glad to help though, remember, I am no expert.
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For Shannon – just realized I had not said “Thanks!” You really encouraged me to try using a crock pot and has it worked out for me! Thanks again.
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Wondering how to do raw yogurt. Any advice?
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Do you not drain the yogurt? I’ve made it before and during the 8-12 hours it would be in coffee filters to drain the whey…
Also, how do you ensure that it gets to 180 degrees in the crock pot?
Natasha from Today’s Gift: days-of-natasha.blogspot.com
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Shannon Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 6:22 am
Natasha – I do not drain the yogurt until it is done incubating. I have had troubles with my crock not heating up to 180 recently, so I do have to watch it. I suggest others do the same as every crock is different.
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I make my yogurt by heating raw milk to 180-185 degrees (if using store bought milk, only heat to 110-115 degrees) in a double boiler. I’ve tried not heating the raw milk to this temp. but the enzymes in the milk overcome the yogurt cultures and it won’t turn into yogurt. Then I cool it to 110-115 degrees (which is the temperature needed for the culture to make yogurt) and add 1 tablespoon store bought yogurt to each 2 cups of milk. I make sure it is blended in well with the milk, then pour the milk into pint jars (I don’t sterilize, just handwash the jars) and put the lids on. Then wrap the pints with kitchen towells and put into my oven with just the light turned on. I cluster the jars around the light and leave them there for 8-10 hours. Refrigerate the jars until cool and enjoy the yogurt. This is much simpler than the crockpot method and takes much less time. You can make as much or as little as you want, just make sure to use only 1 tablelspoon of starter yogurt per 2 cups of milk.
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I tried this recipe and added some vanilla and let it set in the fridge. After trying it it smells overly fermented. I was wondering if that is normal or if I possibly had some bad vanilla?
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Shannon Reply:
July 26th, 2010 at 6:20 am
Katrina – Did it smell like alcohol? That could be due to the vanilla extract. If it tasted good then it should be fine.
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