Slow Cooker Greek Yogurt

After reading over every Greek Yogurt recipe I could find, I finally stumbled upon a formula to make a large batch of Greek Yogurt. In a Slow Cooker. That needs little draining. And is super easy! I am so excited!

I didn’t want to have to babysit a pot of milk on the stove, waiting for the temperature to drop to the magic number. Mainly because I am easily distracted.

Or have to drain the yogurt to get Greek Yogurt. Since I am pretty sure that I’m not ready to start using the whey anytime soon, that seemed a waste to me.

The cooler method for incubating the yogurt didn’t work for me. The temperature didn’t stay warm enough, so the quality was horrible. In all fairness, our place is pretty drafty and it was the dead of winter.

Yogurt Maker

I even have one of these handy dandy yogurt makers, found new at a yard sale a few years ago. It works great. But it doesn’t make a large enough quantity of yogurt at one time, and I don’t want to set it up every other night. I was able to produce a pretty thick yogurt, though, as you can see from the spoon standing up in the cup, using the ingredient list below the picture.

To make Greek Yogurt in the yogurt maker, follow the directions below for warming the milk and adding the yogurt culture. The ingredients for this yogurt maker are 1 quart of milk, 1/2 cup powdered milk and 2 tablespoons plain yogurt with live cultures.

Slow Cooker Greek Yogurt

This thick and creamy Greek Yogurt is so easy to make. It’s not only delicious, it’s  protein-rich and packed full of essential vitamins.

Ingredients:

I used whole milk in this batch, but any lower fat milk will work too.

• 1 gal milk
• 2-3 cups instant powdered milk
• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt with live culture

Preparing the Milk:

1. Pour the milk into a 6 quart slow cooker. Stir in 2 -3 cups powdered milk.
2. Turn slow cooker on low until the milk reaches about 185°. It takes about 2 1/2 hours. I set the oven timer.
3. When the milk reaches 185°, turn the slow cooker off and let the milk cool to between 110° and 115°. Again it will take about 2 1/2 hours.

Adding the Culture & Incubating:

1. Let the milk cool to the proper temperature range of 110° and 115°. Sometimes the milk will develop a “skin” floating on the top, so carefully skim that off and discard. Mix a 1/2 cup of plain yogurt into a cup of the warm milk. Carefully pour the diluted yogurt into the slow cooker and stir to blend into the rest of the milk. The thermometer is no longer used at this point and the slow cooker is unplugged.
2. Move the lowest oven rack to the bottom position. Carefully move the whole slow cooker to sit on a baking sheet on the lower rack. Fold a large bath towel in half and drape over the top of the cooker. I left a little of the back side uncovered.
3. Turn the oven light on and LEAVE it on for 10-12 hours. It keeps the inside of the oven pretty close to the right incubating temperature without having the oven heat turned on. Maintaining a constant temperature is the secret to making good yogurt. NOTE: I forgot to take a picture of the milk heating up, so the picture above has a white towel in the crock. I have 2 of these cookers, and one of the lids has a vent hole. I wanted to point out how the thermometer fit in the hole and down into the milk perfectly for fuss-free temperature monitoring

The next morning, I transferred the yogurt to quart jars, and then set them in the fridge to cool for a few hours. I also had a partial jar not shown.

Once thoroughly chilled, the Greek yogurt was nice and thick!

No draining required!

Happy Yogurt Making!

Robin

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