Sous Vide Yogurt
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Don’t have the Yogurt button on your Instant Pot? Don’t worry – This cold start sous vide yogurt recipe has got your back! It’s only 3 ingredients and 3 minutes of prep time to incredible homemade yogurt.
There’s yogurt.
Then…
There’s homemade yogurt.
It’s one of those things that once you start making yourself, you have a reeeeally hard time going back.
And this awesome method is literally less work than getting out of your car to go into the grocery store.
Adapted from Frieda Loves Bread’s amazing Cold-Start Instant Pot Yogurt because my Instant Pot does NOT have a yogurt setting!
This recipe is dedicated to brilliant recipes.
Sous Vide Yogurt Tips & Tricks
GET yourself a sous vide circulator! I have this Instant Pot version. Your Instant Pot with the Sous Vide function will also work perfectly!
WASH your stuff. No seriously, we’re growing bacterial cultures, you want to make sure only the ones we want will grow. Wash all jars, bowls, whisks, and lids with hot soapy water, rinse then dry with a clean towel.
DON’T try this method with anything other than ultra-pasteurized milk.
I like this yogurt specifically with Fairlife milk. Because it has a higher protein content, you get a nice thick yogurt without additional straining.
GET these awesome 24 oz mason jars, they are fantastically perfect for this recipe. 1 batch fits into three jars flawlessly!
Homemade Yogurt Ingredients:
- ultrapasturized milk – I use 3% Fairlife milk
- sweetened condensed milk
- fresh yogurt
How To Make Cold-Start Yogurt In Sous Vide:
- Wash all your utensils, bowls, and jars.
- Whisk together milk, sweetened condensed milk, and starter.
- Divide the milk mixture into jars.
- Place in preheated sous vide for 8 hrs.
- Refrigerate.
How Long Does Homemade Yogurt Last?
This homemade sous vide yogurt will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. I’m sure it would last longer BUT… I don’t like to fool around with expiry dates.
Why Don’t I Need To Boil This Yogurt?
I’m glad you asked! Because you are using ultra-pasteurized milk that has rapidly been heated to 280f and then cooled, we are able to skip the boiling process. Heating the milk to 280f effectively kills off any bacteria that would bloom during the yogurt incubation time. This method ONLY works with ultrapasteurized milk!
So… Using ultrapasteurized milk makes this process much easier. Good news? YUP!
What Starter Do I Use?
I personally love Skyr yogurt. It’s thicker and smoother than Greek yogurt. It’s also slightly less tangy. The taste is closer to creme fraiche than a truly tangy yogurt. Skyr is where it’s at. Trust me!
No Strain?
WOO for one less step!
This recipe, if made with Fairlife needs NO straining. Check the picture below for the consistency of this yogurt fresh out of the jar!
Love Your Sous Vide? Try these!
Dig The Parfaits?
I simply layered raspberries, sliced almonds, fresh sous vide yogurt and topped with a drizzle of maple syrup. Where’s the drooling emoji when you need it?
My kids walked by while I was taking photos of these and each laid claim to one; Kevin and I be damned! lol
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๐ Printable Recipe
Sous Vide Yogurt
Ingredients
- 1 bottle Fairlife or other UltraPasturized milk
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
- 3 tablespoons fresh greek or skyr yogurt
Instructions
- Prepare your sous vide water bath – and heat the water to 108f.
- In a large, freshly cleaned bowl, whisk 1 bottle Fairlife or other UltraPasturized milk, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, and 3 tablespoons fresh greek or skyr yogurt together.
- Divide the milk mixture between a few freshly washed jars – it fits into 3 750ml (24oz) jars perfectly!
- Close the lids finger-tight and place in the preheated sous vide water bath.
- Heat the milk mixture in the sous vide bath for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, remove the jars from the sous vide and place in the fridge to chill until set.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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What size bottle of milk do you use? Thanks so much, looking forward to trying.
Hey Leigh-Anne, I use the 1.5L version of Fairlife! Any ultra pasteurized milk will work, and if you use slightly more or slightly less, it won’t matter too much!
I would love to try your recipe, but would like to add vanilla bean. At what point would I add the vanilla bean and then at what point would I take it out? Thanks for the info, new to all of this!
I would scrape the seeds from the pod, and then add them to the milk, while whisking all the ingredients together.
It would be hard to use a vanilla pod because this is a cold start method, so you’d be unable to actually steep the pod, it would just end up in the bottom of the yogurt!
Is the sweetened condensed milk for thickening or sweetening? Can it be replaced with something else? We love drinking fairLife milk because we’re lactose sensitive. What have you tried as an alternative? Thanks!
Good morning! You don’t need to add the sweetened condensed milk – it just thickens the yogurt and adds a little sweetness to it. You can always add sugar to taste after it’s whipped up! I’d use maple syrup or slightly warmed honey. <3
how much water do you put in the pot for the water bath? thank you!
Hi! You want the water to cover the jars!
Thank you!! I got the Fairlife 2% ultra-filtered milk. Is that ok? It doesn say ultra-PASTEURIZED on the bOttle, so just want to confirm before i give this a try!
Yup! That will work great! Keep me posted on the results! ๐
I make my own yogurt quite regularly. I make batches using 4 litre bag of homo 3.25% and add about 250 ml of 18% table cream to shift the butter fat to about 3.8%. Butterfat is essential to the yogurt process. Notice that the 2% and 1% yogurts have added gelatin or carrageenan for thickening.
Yes, I do have to heat the milk to about 190F (interesting how we mix metric and imperial eh?) to break down the milk sugars which will otherwise make the yogurt slimy . After cooling the milk to about 115F, add about half a tub of good yogurt and place covered in the oven (just a quiet place) for about 12 hours. place into clean yogurt containers and keep in fridge for up to two weeks or longer
I have made yogurt in that method too! I struggle, though, because as a busy mom, I swear someone always needs me when my milk hits 185f!! LOL This way, I can just toss it all in and carry on with whatever my kids need at any given moment!! ha
Will 32 oz jars work? I can only find the 24 oz jars for $64 on Amazon. Thank you!
Yes you bet! as long as they are able to be covered by your water bath they’ll be perfect!
I made this with 4% A2/A2 ultra pasterized milk and after 8 hours at 108 degrees and over night in the refergerator it was just the consistancy of the milk. The flavor is good but not thick like yogurt. How do I get it to thicken?
Interesting! If it didn’t set the same way, I’d just strain the whey out. Line a fine mesh sieve with cheese cloth and pour the yogurt in. The liquid will drain off and the thicker yogurt should stay.