Homemade Greek Yogurt

4.44 from 16 votes

The best homemade Greek yogurt is made from fresh milk. It’s way better than store-bought, and easy to make. Packed with protein and calcium, and customized with your favorite fruit and a touch of honey for a delicious healthy breakfast or a satisfying snack.

Prep Time5

Cook Time22

Total Time22 5

Course: Breakfast, condiment

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Homemade Greek Yogurt, How to Make Greek Yogurt

Servings:

Calories: 147kcal

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

1 gallon milk any kind
1/4 cup plain yogurt Greek Gods plain yogurt brand is my favorite
honey optional
fresh fruit optional

Instructions

Pour gallon of milk into a large pot (Reserve 1/4 cup of milk for later).
Bring the pot just to a boil, and then turn off the heat immediately.
Let milk cool until the temperature reaches 100 degrees. Remove the film on the top.
While milk cools off, mix 1/4 cup of plain yogurt and the reserved 1/4 cup milk in a separate bowl.
When the cooked milk finally cools to 100 degrees, add in the yogurt/milk mixture. Mix it up gently but thoroughly, then cover the pot with a lid.
Wrap pot in a towel, and leave in your oven with the oven light on only for overnight or 16 hours. When the time is up, presto: you magically have yogurt!!!
You can stop right here and you have regular yogurt, or you can strain it further if you want Greek yogurt. Using a colander-lined with cheesecloth or flour sack towel, start draining your yogurt. The goal is to separate the solid yogurt from the liquid. If it looks like a wet, white blob, you’re doing great.
Every few hours either gently squeeze the cheesecloth or use a spoon to stir the yogurt blob to help it to drain faster.
After about 6 hours you have nice, thick Greek yogurt. Opa!
Pour into Tupperware and chill and transfer to the fridge to chill.
Enjoy plain, or with chopped fruit and honey.
Your homemade Greek yogurt lasts in the fridge for about 2 weeks. If you’re using some of the yogurt as a starter for the next batch, make it within 1 week.

Notes

When adding fruit to your yogurt, fresh or frozen each work well. Frozen fruit gives you more consistency with the flavor/ripeness.

The size of the fruit pieces is up to you, but the fruit typically found in yogurt is chopped to about the size of raisins.

I like to leave the yogurt plain, then add fruit and honey just before eating.

Save 1/4 cup yogurt in Tupperware to use as the starter for the next batch of homemade Greek yogurt. You’ll never have to buy store-bought yogurt again!

If the yogurt doesn’t end up with the right consistency you were hoping for, don’t throw it out! You can use it in dozens of easy recipes, like smoothies, sauces, or as a substitute for sour cream.

Nutrition