Instant Pot Yogurt #3

Well, I've done it.  #3 it is!  After having pretty much everyone taste it, it's been decided this 3rd attempt at making the perfect yogurt was the best batch so far!  I've had some accidents and some failures along the way, but it turned out so good that I have people who don't like yogurt saying they would eat it, and my 5-year old (picky eater) even likes it.  My 3-year old (eats everything) can't leave it alone, and my dad is taking it on the road with him while he's driving a semi!   Yay for healthy snacks!

So, in case you'd like to try your hand at it... here's what I did!

Instant Pot Yogurt #3

Ingredients & Items needed: 

• 2 quarts of whole milk
• 2 tablespoons of Noosa Yogurt
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 vanilla bean pod, split & scraped
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (8qt) Instant Pot with yogurt function
• 1 IP liner
• 1 pressure cooker trivet
• 1 food thermometer
• 5 pint jars, washed & sterilized
• 5 pint jar lids

Pour your milk and sweetened condensed milk into the Instant Pot liner.  Stir until well incorporated then place liner into the Instant Pot base and push the "Yogurt" button until it reads "BOIL".  I leave the vent open. It isn't necessary to close it for the milk to heat up to the correct temperature, but you can if you would feel better about it.

** This step is important for thick yogurt, because it is denaturing the protein strands and allowing them to change shape to become longer and more "friendly" with their neighbors.  

While the milk is scalding, clear off a space large enough for your instant pot liner inside your refrigerator

Once the "BOIL" cycle is completed, allow the milk to rest for 5 minutes, in the base.  After 5 minutes open the lid (unless you've sealed it, in which case you need to vent the pressure).

Remove the Instant Pot liner from the base and rest it on the counter, on a hot pad and stir around to make sure everything is well blended etc until it reaches approximately 150*F.  Place the liner into the refrigerator and stir it every 10 minutes until it reaches an approximate temperature between 98-110*F.  

** Should be in the correct range within about 30 minutes.  If it gets too cold, it's alright, it will still make yogurt and you don't need to start over or anything. 
Once the temperature drops into the "happy zone" of 98-110*F, stir the vanilla bean paste, vanilla extract and the 2tbsp of Noosa Yogurt into the sweetened milk in the liner.

Now here, is where you have two options:  

1)  You can do as I do, and place the liner into the base with 1 cup of water and the trivet, bringing the water to a boil, turn the heat off, but don't remove the water or trivet.  While the water is heating up, pour the sweet milk mixture into the pint jars, keeping them in reserve on the counter until the water is finished boiling. Add 1-quart cold water, then place the jars (carefully so as to not burn yourself) into the liner, on top of the trivet so the jars do not come into direct heat with the heating element in the bottom of the pot. I then take the sprayer on the sink and fill the liner with water until the water is at the "shoulder" of the jars.  This produces a more even incubation throughout the entire batch rather than just the bottoms becoming thick and the top portion being thinner. The jars are now your incubation containers, and you need do nothing more except put a lid on them when they've completed the yogurt process. 

2)  You can leave all of the milk mixture inside the liner, place the liner into the base and use the liner as your yogurt incubation container. However if you do, you'll need to transfer the finished product into other containers once the process is complete, and moving the yogurt will disturb the proteins and produce a thinner yogurt, unless you choose to strain the whey off using a yogurt strainer from Amazon, in which case it will be thicker than thick.

Whichever option you choose, you are now going to cancel any prior instructions given to the pot so that it reads "OFF".  You are now going to press the "Yogurt" button one time, so that the heat setting is on "normal", then select "8 hours" (08:00) and put the lid on, walking away to allow the milk to incubate and change into yogurt for the next 8 hours! It's that easy!

Once the incubation process is completed, do not stir, or disturb in any way.  Simply pop your container(s) into the refrigerator and allow to chill for at least 4 hours or until the yogurt is an equal temperature throughout.

This recipe shouldn't require any straining, it turns out very thick for me when left undisturbed in the jars, but if it should turn out thinner for you and you wish to try to strain it, I will post instructions on how to do that as well, in a later post. 



Edit To Add:
For my fourth attempt at making yogurt, I chose to get creative by putting the flavoring in BEFORE it incubated.  The attached photo is from that batch, with two Luxurious Lemon, two Double Vanilla Bean & one Rockin' Raspberry.

Edit to add x2:
Recipes have now been tweaked for both coconut and strawberry as well as the raspberry and lemon.