Instant Pot Yogurt
After the recipe for “Instant Pot Yogurt BSJ,” read more tips on how to use the Instant Pot for cooking other foods too.
The Instant Pot is flawless at making homemade yogurt.
RECIPE: Instant Pot Yogurt BSJ
After you make yogurt in the Instant Pot way, says Bill St. John, you may take the further step to “Greek” it, if you wish. You may also make “labni” (sometimes spelled “labneh”), a sort of yogurt cheese popular in the Levant made by draining yogurt of its whey for more than merely a few hours. This main recipe makes 1 gallon yogurt, or 2 quarts of Greek-style, or less of labni. BSJ does not use the Instant Pot for the initial heating of milk (and, in this recipe, cream), but rather Ye Olde Stovetop. It’s quicker, less messy, and, in this instance, safer and more reliable.
Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk
1 quart half-and-half
3-4 tablespoons plain yogurt with active live cultures (store-bought or from previous homemade batch), in a cup or bowl, at room temperature
Directions
On stovetop, in a large pot, heat milk and half and half over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until temperature reads 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer at a few places in the hot liquid. Heat the Instant Pot inner pot halfway with hot water from the tap and set aside to warm it.
Cool the milk, either off the heat or in a water and ice bath, until the heat lowers to 108 degrees measured on an instant-read thermometer at a few places in the hot liquid. Empty and dry the inner pot and place inside the Instant Pot. Quickly temper the 2 tablespoons of yogurt with some of the heated milk and stir back into the heated milk. Transfer the milk to the Instant Pot, close the lid, press the Yogurt button, and adjust the time to your taste, from 8 hours (slightly tart yogurt) to up to 12 hours (appreciably tart yogurt).
To make Greek-style yogurt: Place the finished yogurt in a sieve or colander, lined with rinsed and squeezed muslin or several layers of open-weave cheesecloth, and set over a bowl sufficiently large to catch 1/2 the volume of the yogurt of its whey. Place in very cold or refrigerated spot for between 4 hours (moderately firm Greek style) to up to 8 hours (very firm Greek or labni/labneh style).
With the Instant Pot, parts is parts. These are the main ones: upper left, the heating part; upper right, the “pot” part; lower left, the all-important lid, sealer, and venter; lower right, the smallish rack for the “pot” part for cooking or steaming foods above the water line.
About the Instant Pot, I speak from experience.
It appears that my aptitude with a kitchen appliance is in direct proportion to my faith in its name.
For instance, my Crock-Pot truly is a paleo appliance, no pretense, just a piece of crockery atop a hotplate. Easy peasy. Same with my Smart Stick immersion blender. I’m still surprised how it just purées slop into silk when all I do is stick it into the pot.
But sometimes an appliance’s name or instructions seem extreme to me, in the too-good-to-be-true way. For instance, in 1980, on a babysitting job, when the mother told me that “17 minutes” in the Amana Touchmatic Radarange would cook the chicken thighs through. “Yeah,” I said to myself, “right.”
After she left, I set the High Power button for 70 minutes because, obviously, that’s the number she meant. The chicken’s bones blackened from the inside out and exploded.
For Christmas two years ago, our son, Colin, and his mom gave me an Instant Pot. “Instant, my frijoles,” I said. Not to myself.
Christmas morning, I looked at this little R2-D2 with a plug and put it away. I couldn’t believe that this thing could improve on Ye Olde Crock Pot.
I was wrong. So wrong.
Colin made a shoulder of pulled pork with his Instant Pot, in an hour and a half, which was in every way—especially tenderness—that of a six-hour slow cook. I’ve made jasmine and basmati and Louisiana Long with the Instant Pot’s rice cooker function and they are all three far better— and far less stressful—made that way than anything I’ve ever done with raw rice atop the stove or in the oven.
And yogurt, don’t get me rhapsodic about Instant Pot yogurt. I’ll cry. I adore yogurt and eat at least half a quart a day. The Instant Pot lets me batch up a gallon at a time. Its great asset, in this area of the lactic arts, is how it holds a perfect incubation temperature of exactly 110 degrees for as long as you desire it. (I pull a nice 12-hour all-nighter.)
Colin’s father no longer uses his Ye Olde Crock-Pot. Well, it is good to keep things warm for a buffet item at a large dinner.
Moreover, the Instant Pot has taught me several important things about itself.
Use at least 1/2 cup of liquid when cooking anything on Pressure Cook.
If using a standard recipe (say, from a non-Instant Pot cookbook), add ten to 15 minutes to the overall cooking time stipulated in the recipe. Important: the Instant Pot needs those extra minutes to do its initial pressurizing warm up.
Set the venting lever before you set any cooking buttons.
Learn the difference between Natural Release (leaving the machine to drop the pressure slowly on its own after its cooking) and Quick Release (when you manually turn the venting knob to finish or stop the cooking).
Do not use your fingers to move the venting lever from Sealing to Venting; use a spoon handle or some other implement. And keep your face away from looking at the valve as you turn it. Doh.