Yogurt in the Crockpot

I’m so excited about this recipe. Anyone that knows me knows that I’m in love with my crockpot. I use it about once a week or more and I’m always looking for new crockpot friendly recipes. I was so intrigued when I heard that you could make yogurt in the crockpot. I actually considered buying a yogurt making machine at one point, but then I ran across this recipe.

This recipe has a really huge money saving potential if you eat yogurt like I do, and especially if you buy the expensive Greek Yogurt or Organic Yogurt. All it takes to make is a few ingredients: milk, yogurt (as a starter, next time you can use some of what you made), and a crockpot.

I used 2% milk, most sources I’ve seen suggest using whole milk to acheive the thickness. I used a few tricks to thicken mine up though which I’ll tell you about later.

First you pour 1/2 gallon of milk into your crockpot and heat it on low for 2.5 hours. When the time is up turn the crockpot off and let it sit undisturbed with the lid on for 3 hours.

After 3 hours take some of the warm milk out and mix it in a small bowl with 1/2 a cup of plain yogurt and return it to the crockpot. This is where I used one of my thickening tricks. I also added a packet of gelatin to the mix before I returned it to the crockpot.

Once everything is back in the crockpot, replace the lid and wrap a heavy bath towel around the entire crockpot. Let it sit for 8 hours.

After 8 hours my yogurt looked like this:

You can’t tell much from the picture, but it definitely has a yogurt consistancy. Its still quite thin, like fat free yogurt .. but it could be refrigerated and eaten like this.

I like my yogurt Greek style though so I tried this trick:

I lined a strainer with coffee filters and poured the yogurt on top to drain off the liquid. I then put the strainer back on top of the empty crockpot to catch the drippings.

And then the whole thing went into the refrigerator to chill overnight.

I’m planning on flavoring mine with vanilla extract and honey, but you can blend it with fresh or frozen fruit as well.

So tomorrow morning I’ll either have some yummy yogurt to eat for breakfast, or I’ll have a hot mess! I’ll keep you posted.

I’m going to estimate that this recipe yields about 3 times the amount of yogurt that I normally buy in a container (16 oz), so about 48 oz.

16 oz Greek Yogurt (at Walmart): $4.00 x 3 = $12.00 for 48 oz
Milk ($2.35) + Starter Yogurt ($.44) + Gelatin ($1.30) = $4.09 for 48 oz

Saves $7.91 per 48 oz the first time, and $8.35 each additional time if you use to yogurt you made as your starter next time.

I’ll let you know my final verdict in the morning when I taste it.