Homemade Yogurt

My husband and boys love yogurt. I use to eat Greek yogurt all the time too until I started eliminating dairy from my diet.

Getting a bit jealous when I see them eat it, I started looking for a non-dairy alternative, and then heard you can make your own with almond milk and even coconut milk.

I figured why not try to make our own for all of us and take out some of the ingredients in the dairy version by using organic options instead and to cut back on the sugar.

Here’s a walk through of how I did it:

In a large saucepan, combine 42 ounces of milk and heat on high to boil. Once bubbling, heat one to two minutes more until it starts to grow up the sides (180 degrees F).

Put the pot into an ice bath to quickly reduce the milk temp to 110 degrees F.

Pour milk into pitcher and either sprinkle a packet of yogurt starter or add in 6 oz of plain yogurt. With whisk, stir gently until dissolved.

Pour evenly into jars. I purchased the Euro Cuisine yogurt maker from William Sonoma. For me, I find myself doing homemade things only if it is easy to do so. This fits the bill.

Once filled, you put the jars on the heating tray without the lids on.

Put the lids on second tier with the lid over them to keep them clean and sanitary.

Set the timer based on milk/non-milk you are using. This one is 2%, so it will need 9 hours bake time.

During this time I figured I would premake some fruit topping to keep in the fridge. This one is blueberries and blackberries with water plus you can add sugar, honey or agave nectar to make it sweeter. Boil it down until it thickens up.

After heating, top jars with the lids and put them in the fridge for at least three more hours. Unlike store bought, homemade yogurt lasts ten days so I just set the date on top for ten days later. These jars are adorable!


For Greek yogurt, you can just put the yogurt into a really thin mesh strainer or cheesecloth with bowl underneath in the fridge until desired thickness. This eliminates some of the whey. I was quite pleased with the thickness for this batch so just left as is.

Enjoy!