I am a huge fan of yogurt, but I don’t like any of the store-bought kinds I have ever tried. Even expensive organic yogurt is too sweet for my taste. I thought that making yogurt myself would be really hard, and require a lot of patience and messing with specific temperatures and formulas. I thought I needed to go buy a yogurt maker. None of that turned out to be true. Here is the easy way!
Easy Yogurt in the Crock Pot
1 gallon milk (not ultra-pastuerized)
1 small container organic yogurt. Plain un-flavored
Pour milk into the crock pot and close the lid. I use raw milk from a local farm, but the healthiest milk you can get your hands on is fine. Ultra-pastuerized milk (it will say that right on the container) is heated to a very high temperature and doesn’t culture well.
- Turn crock pot on HIGH and leave it alone for 2 hours.
- Turn crock pot OFF and leave it alone for 2 hours
- Pour in the container of yogurt and stir. Replace lid.
- Place whole crock pot into your oven and wrap it up in 2 or 3 layers of bath towels or a thick blanket. Turn on the oven light.
- Leave crock pot alone for 6 to 8 hours.
That’s it! You now have a whole gallon of yogurt and you didn’t have to do hardly anthing!
Now take 1/2 cup of this yogurt and put it in a container in the fridge and label it (so nobody eats it). Now you can use this yogurt to make the next batch, and you will never have to buy store-bought yogurt again!
My cost, even using expensive raw milk at $7.00 a gallon is only .05 cents per ounce.
I eat some over blueberries for breakfast. I use a piece of cheesecloth or a fine colander and strain the whey out of half of it to make greek yogurt. I use half of the greek yogurt and strain it even further, with a weight on top and make yogurt cheese. I use all that whey to ferment various other recipes. Amazing all the uses out of a single gallon of milk!
- Homemade Yogurt Cheese
If you need a great resource for yogurt, kefir or sourdough starters, check out Cultures for Health. They have excellent tutorials on their site!
A Real Food Lover 
Alia said,
February 24, 2012 at 6:47 PM
I’m definitely going to try this!
Mike G said,
February 26, 2012 at 3:32 PM
I like anything I can do in a crock pot.
arealfoodlover said,
February 26, 2012 at 6:11 PM
Me too! I’m away from home 9 hours a day and I love to walk in and smell dinner already done.
Homemade Yogurt at room temperature « A Real Food Lover said,
March 3, 2012 at 9:47 AM
[…] have always loved yogurt. I already posted how to make yogurt in the crock pot. For those of you who found that method time consuming or who don’t have a crock pot you […]
healthyhappy50ish said,
March 4, 2012 at 11:11 AM
Loved it where can I get raw milk
arealfoodlover said,
March 4, 2012 at 11:29 AM
I don’t know what state you’re living in, so here is a great link for you to find a raw milk source. Good luck! It is so, so worth it.
http://www.realmilk.com/where.html
If you’re looking for a source of pasture-raised organic free-range meat, eggs, etc check out this link http://eatwild.com/
I have used both with great success. We now buy 75-80% of our food directly from the farmer.
healthyhappy50ish said,
March 4, 2012 at 12:42 PM
I live in south fl. but i willl ck it out thks
arealfoodlover said,
March 4, 2012 at 2:23 PM
It looks like in Florida you can only buy milk “for your pets” 🙂 But there are quite a few places, you’re in luck!
wink wink
In Michigan I don’t buy milk, because that would be illegal, I just make a donation to the local farm and they give it to me for free. How nice!
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[…] 1 cup sour cream or thick homemade yogurt […]
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Going Coverless said,
April 21, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Your blog is amazing–just what I’ve been looking for. I can’t wait to try a lot of it out!
arealfoodlover said,
April 21, 2012 at 1:39 PM
Why thank you my dear. I’m glad to see you. I was just stalking your blog earlier today. 🙂 The pictures of that adorable baby are just mezmerizing. She is so beautiful.
Going Coverless said,
April 21, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Aww, thanks. We’re really excited over here to make some fermented beverages, yogurt, and corn tortillas–once we get a spare moment from the little one 🙂
Patternmaking, Fermented Foods, and Castles « Going Coverless said,
May 1, 2012 at 9:12 PM
[…] a couple of days ago I made us a batch of Raw Milk Greek Yogurt with my crockpot, following an easy recipe I found on an inspiring and newly-discovered blog. Jared was a little apprehensive, maybe because […]
Going Coverless said,
May 2, 2012 at 11:01 AM
I just made this yogurt and mentioned it, along with a couple of your other recipes, in my blog. It turned out great! Check it out–http://goingcoverless.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/patternmaking-fermented-foods-and-castles/
arealfoodlover said,
May 2, 2012 at 1:44 PM
I’m so glad you liked it! Now remember to save 1 cup of yogurt in a container to start your next batch, then you’ll never have to buy yogurt again.
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May 7, 2012 at 1:04 AM
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amy hendrix said,
May 10, 2012 at 11:23 AM
Wanting to make this but I do like sweet yogurt, would I need to add fruit to it to sweeten it IP or is there sweetness to.it? Great blog!!
arealfoodlover said,
May 10, 2012 at 11:36 AM
Amy, after the yogurt is all finished you can mix in honey or fruit or whatever sweetener you wish. This recipe is plain, with nothing added, but I have added 2 Tbsp of pureed strawberries to a whole bunch of little jelly jars, and them filled them with yogurt for a homemade version of “fruit on the bottom’ yogurt 🙂
Wendy C said,
May 16, 2012 at 7:21 PM
I do not have a full size oven (small toaster/convection oven). What would you suggest for step: “Place whole crock pot into your oven and wrap it up”?
arealfoodlover said,
May 16, 2012 at 7:27 PM
hmmm, you’ll have to be creative 🙂 You could place it on a heating pad and wrap it up tight, you could cover it with an electric blanket, you could fill jars up with boiling water and surround the crockpot with them, and then wrap in blankets….Anything you can think of to keep it as toasty as possible. How do you feel about a crock pot sleeping in bed with you tonight?
Wendy C said,
May 20, 2012 at 10:43 PM
hehe… hubby might get jealous 🙂 I appreciate the suggestions and will play around with them. Thank you!
Patternmaking, Fermented Foods, and Castles | Naiad And The Moon Of said,
September 26, 2012 at 1:07 PM
[…] a couple of days ago I made us a batch of Raw Milk Greek Yogurt with my crockpot, following an easy recipe I found on an inspiring and newly-discovered blog. Jared was a little apprehensive, maybe because […]
Susan C. said,
January 6, 2013 at 6:15 PM
How long does the 1/2 cup “for later” last?
Gwynn said,
March 26, 2013 at 3:32 PM
I’m sure this is too late to add but thought I’d try anyway. When the brighter light is on in our microwave which is over the stove, the temp is just right to leave a quart of raw milk with a few tablespoons of starter yogurt overnight. I do heat the milk to about 95 degrees or so before adding the yogurt. Couldn’t be easier.
arealfoodlover said,
April 1, 2013 at 2:23 PM
great idea Gwynn! Find more great ideas HERE!
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quarteracrelifestyle said,
May 9, 2013 at 4:43 PM
Thanks for this and love your blog, fantastic 🙂 Will be trying this and reblogging, ta!
Katie Mack said,
May 14, 2013 at 4:01 PM
I’m a bit late to the yogurt making party, but I had a quick question. I made this last night – it came out fantastic! But, wow, WAY too much yogurt for little old me!
Next time I’m going to make it with a half gallon of milk rather than a gallon – do you think I’d have to adjust the crockpot times? One hour on, one hour off or something like that?
Just discovered your blog, btw, I am blown away! Great job!
arealfoodlover said,
May 25, 2013 at 5:00 PM
Katie, I have made it with 1/2 gallon a few times and didnt’ adjust anything. I did it exactly the same way, same temp etc. Use up that yogurt by making frozen yogurt or smoothies! You can also freeze the yogurt for future use (keeping in mind that its much runnier out of the freezer so will be more of a drinking consistency) Thank you for commenting! I hope to see you around often in the future!
Heather
ksp said,
October 8, 2013 at 3:27 PM
1/2 cup of yogurt for 1 Gallon? I’m not sure what size plain yogurt you are using.
arealfoodlover said,
November 7, 2013 at 10:45 AM
The 1/2 cup of yogurt is plenty for a gallon of milk. Those little bacteria really multiply like crazy in that nice warm crockpot. The 1/2 cup of yogurt is just a starter