You only need two ingredients to turn soy milk into Instant Pot yogurt. It could not be easier. Join me, as I spill all of my yogurt-making tricks!
When I got my Instant Pot last year, one thing I was sure I'd never use was the yogurt function. We have so many good vegan yogurts on store shelves, why bother making my own? Oh how wrong I was!
Y'all, I make soy yogurt on a weekly basis now. It is SO much cheaper than store-bought, and my homemade soy yogurt is free of additives. But my favorite thing about it is that it's unsweetened.
Why make Instant Pot soy yogurt?
Store-bought soy yogurts - even most marked "plain" - are all so sweet. I can't handle it. And I like sweet food!
But when you're cooking with yogurt, maybe you're trying to make something savory or maybe you just want to mix in some strawberry jam without turning your breakfast bowl from a little bit sweet to tooth-meltingly sugary.
When you make your own soy yogurt from scratch, it can be truly unsweetened, so you have a lot more control over the sweetness when you're cooking with it.
About this recipe
My recipe is based on my adventures with the soy yogurt recipe in Vegan Under Pressure by Jill Nussinow. At first, I was hesitant to post my recipe, since in some ways it's so much like the one in the book.
But after answering tons of questions from friends, family, and readers about how to make yogurt in the Instant Pot, I felt like it might be worthwhile to share what I'd learned.
There are dozens of amazing pressure cooker recipes in Vegan Under Pressure, and I encourage you to grab a copy. I refer to it several times a week for full recipes and for her bean, grain, and veggie cooking times, which are way more accurate than the booklet that came with my Instant Pot.
The recipe below is what I landed on after a lot of tinkering with cooking times and some technique changes that make it less messy.
I've also included two variations:
- a variation from my friend Erin at Kitchen Gadget Vegan. She does a soy-coconut mix that her family loves.
- instructions for how to make this with probiotic capsules instead of store-bought yogurt
Choose the right soy milk
The key to making soy yogurt in the Instant Pot is exactly what Nussinow says in her book: you have got to use soy milk that's only soybeans and water (sweetener and salt are okay). No gums. No gels. No thickeners. Trust me.
I didn't believe this at first, and I tried using the gum-thickener-gel-ful soy milk from our fridge, and the yogurt it produced was sticky a nightmare floating in a jar of water.
I don't throw food away lightly, and I threw this out after just a couple of bites. There was no way to stir the floaty part and watery part together. It was a total lost cause.
There are two common brands that fit the bill: Eden Foods and Westsoy. I have some ethical issues with Eden Foods, so I go for Westsoy Organic, and it works like a charm. If you can't find it in the store, you can order online.
The great thing about Westsoy is that it doesn't need to be refrigerated, because of how it's packaged.
Trader Joe's also stocks thickener-free soy milk. It comes in shelf-stable boxes and is very affordable.
The starter
A yogurt starter is just what you use to get probiotics into your soy milk. For this recipe, you have two options:
- a small amount of vegan yogurt
- probiotic capsules.
If you're using vegan yogurt, I recommend choosing plain or vanilla. Sometimes, fruity flavors can come through in your finished batch, even though you're only using a couple of tablespoons as your starter.
Prefer probiotic capsules? Easy peasy. Just make sure that you use vegetarian or vegan gelcaps.
You want the kind of probiotic capsules that you can open up and pour powder out of. Solid pills that would need to be crushed up won't work well in this recipe.
I've had great success using Jarro-Dophilus EPS capsules in this recipe. I made the yogurt in the new photos using these capsules, and my seven-year-old loves it!
When you stir the probiotic powder in, it's not going to fully dissolve, and that's okay! See the photo below -- lots of powder floating on top of my jars before they went into the pot. The yogurt turns out just fine.
The cost
One 32 ounce box of soy milk makes two pints of soy yogurt in the Instant Pot. The Westsoy that I linked to shakes out to about $4 per box. That's $2 per pint of homemade, additive free, organic, unsweetened soy yogurt. See? Worth it!
Cooking time
I've seen cooking times for Instant Pot yogurt that vary anywhere from 8 hours to 24. That's a big range, and it took me a lot of batches to hone in on the ideal time.
Fourteen hours seems to be the magic time for making Instant Pot yogurt. You can go as low as 10 hours, but for that perfectly-tangy soy yogurt that's thick enough to eat with a spoon, 14 is ideal.
If you're using probiotic capsules, I'd say 14 to 16 hours is a good range, depending on how tangy you like it.
Timing is everything!
There's nothing instant about making Instant Pot yogurt.
Making that 14 hour cooking time work for you is all about planning. Don't make the mistake I did a few times, starting your batch of yogurt in the morning.
If you do that, your Instant Pot will be tied up all day. It won't be there for you when you want to make rice and steam broccoli for your supper.
Instead, start your yogurt in the evening, so it will be ready for the morning. If you normally get up and have breakfast at 7am, start that yogurt at 5pm. Fourteen hours later, it's ready for breakfast, like magic!
There's nothing like starting the day with a bowl of fresh yogurt that you made yourself. And since most of the cooking happens while you're asleep, it makes the 14 hours seem a little bit more instant.
Thickening homemade soy yogurt
Homemade soy yogurt with no added thickeners is not going to be as thick as the soy yogurts that you're used to eating. That's just science. You have three options:
- Add a thickener. I do not like working with thickeners, so if that's what you want to do, I'd suggest looking at the Vegan Under Pressure recipe. Jill has directions there, if you want to go that route.
- Strain it. You can strain the yogurt through a few layers of cheesecloth to get rid of some excess whey and make a thicker yogurt. This takes longer, and you end up with a little more than half of what you started with, so I don't do it. But you can!
- Embrace it. This yogurt isn't Greek yogurt, but it is freaking delicious. You can eat it with a spoon or treat it like a thick yogurt drink.
My favorite way to eat it is with strawberry jam mixed in. Darrol Henry prefers his with maple syrup. It's also great in any recipe that calls for yogurt or as a replacement for sour cream.
How to Make Soy Yogurt in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 1 32 ounce box soy milk - Choose a brand that’s ONLY soybeans and water – see above.
- 2 tablespoons plain vegan yogurt of your choice - Don’t worry – the small amount of gums in this won’t mess with the final yogurt’s texture! (see note for probiotic capsules option)
Instructions
- Divide the soy milk between two wide mouth pint jars. Add a tablespoon of yogurt into each jar, stirring well.
- Carefully place the jars into the bottom of your Instant Pot (not on the rack – for some reason, it won’t make yogurt if you do that). Lock the lid, make sure the vent is sealed, and press the Yogurt button. Set it for 14 hours.
- In the morning, you’ll have yogurt! Stir before serving, since it does tend to separate. Your soy yogurt will keep for about 5 days in the fridge.
Linda Levitan
Hi,
This yogurt is too good to be true. Thank you! I’m also wondering if this yogurt has probiotics? I used westsoy milk and for the starter 2 tablespoons of Foragers unsweetened cashew yogurt. Once I ve made yogurt can I start it my homemade yogurt? Do the probiotics come from the fermentation process or the starter?
Thanks so much
Linda
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Linda! It does contain probiotics, and you may be able to use it as a starter, but it doesn't always work for some reason. I've heard mixed reports from others using it as a starter, so if you're emotionally prepared for a hit and miss situation, you can try it!
Diane
Can you use some of your finished yogurt as the starter yogurt for your next batch that you make? Also, can you use soy milk powder with water (where the only ingredients in the powder is soy)?
Becky Striepe
People have had mixed results using this as the starter for the next batch. If you do, I'd use double the amount. I don't see why reconstituted soy milk wouldn't work, but I haven't tested it, so I can't be totally certain.
Jessica
Hi Becky,
I made this recipe several times using probiotic capsules and it turned out great. But the last 4 times I have tried to make it my yogurt curdled and separated into curds and whey. I had to throw it all out. I'm not sure I have it in me to try again - but I really miss my homemade yogurt. I used the same probiotics, same brand of soy milk and programmed my instant pot for the same amount of time as previous batches. Any idea what the issue could be?
Becky Striepe
That is so weird, and I'm sorry you're having issues! I have had this happen when my milk contained thickeners and/or gums. The curds were awful and sticky, too. What kind of soy milk are you using?
Jessica
I have used the Trader Joe’s organic soy beverage that has only soybeans and water and the Westsoy organic that is the same. I’m not sure what else to try or what to change to be able to make it again. I miss my homemade soy yogurt!
Barb
Question- have you tried making this in the larger Insta pot pot for a bolt recipe? Also, have you tried doubling it to make a larger batch?
Barb
I’m curious if you have tried that what your success has been like. Thank you in advance!!
Becky Striepe
You can definitely double! I only have the one Instant Pot, so I haven't tested in a different size, but it should work fine. The yogurt function works by keeping the inside of the pot at the perfect temp for fermenting yogurt, so size shouldn't matter too much in this case.
Anonymous
Used activia plant based vanilla yogurt and unsweetened soy milk (natura brand in Canada) and it worked!! It’s the most authentic tasting vegan yogurt I tasted. I didn’t realize how I missed the tangy flavour. All the vegan yogurts I’ve tried are so overly sweetened and thickened with gums. This recipe is a keeper!
Marge
I'll make this using soy milk from powder and the capsules you mention.
http://www.vitacost.com/now-foods-organic-soy-milk-powder
Ingredient: Organic (Non-Dairy) Soy Milk Powder (Non-GMO)
It must be made in glass, right? I think I'd find it easier to use a large glass container in IP and separate later into smaller glass jars. I'll report back after I do this and your latkes!
Becky Striepe
That should work, but let me know how it shakes out! You don't have to make it in the glass, but I prefer using the jars so I don't have to clean the pot after. You can make it directly in the pot, though, if you prefer!
Valet
I made this using WestSoy and Silk vanilla soy for the starter. It was amazing!! I need the most nutritionally dense food choices so I strained it overnight in a nut bag in the fridge (messy to scoop into a container later but worth it. I’m getting better at it, though). WestSoy is $5.18/64oz at Walmart, which yielded 16oz of super thick Greek yogurt for the 24 hr strain (I assume it would yield a little more is the straining time was reduced). I really liked the taste and consistency of the unstrained as well as the strained, but I needed the super thick. Considering the price of Fage or Forager non dairy yogurt, it’s definitely worth it to me to make this every week. I eat it plain or with fruit added, but my daughter likes it sweetened with maple syrup and cinnamon. My grandson needs it added to his bottle to thicken the breast milk because he has swallowing issues. I love that I can make this for him! Thank you so much!!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much for sharing your experience, Valerie. I'm delighted that this yogurt is working well and useful in so many ways!
Valerie
Correction on yesterday’s post — the 24 hr strain produced 31.5 0z, not 16. I previously listed only the first 32oz of soy milk, not the entire 64oz pkg.
Tamara Hanel
I made this last night with the least expensive probiotic capsules from Costco and the Trader Joes Organic Soy Beverage. It came out perfect. It smells great and is at least as thick is the So-Delicious brand that I normally buy. Thank you.
Cindy Osborn
So you add the culture at the beginning? Does the Boil function not kill the bacteria?
Becky Striepe
You don't boil it.
Cindy Osborn
Sorry, I bought my Instant Pot specifically to make non-dairy yogurt, so I don't know much about it. So the readout says boil using the yogurt button, but it doesn't really boil?
Becky Striepe
Oh interesting! My pot doesn't boil with the yogurt function. I wonder if the newer ones do? I've had this one for a few years. Both it and the one before did not boil using the yogurt function. If you're just putting it in there and pressing Yogurt, it seems like it shouldn't boil, because, like you say, it would kill the bacteria. Some people boil the soymilk in the pot before making yogurt using the saute function, but I don't worry about doing that.
j
Mine said boil too and I lost a batch- killed the starter ?
I reset the instant pot to factory settings (plug in and it will show “off” - then hold “adjust” button for three seconds until it beeps. Then when you hit yogurt it no longer shows high pressure and boil! Now when I hit yogurt button it’s shows med pressure and factory set for 8 hours. I’m reading soy takes 14 hours so I’ll up the time if needed. Fingers crossed ?!
Becky Striepe
Oh yeah, definitely don't boil the starter. It will definitely die. If you want to boil, just boil the soy milk, then let it cool before adding the starter. Let me know how round two goes!
Edith
Hi :)
Wondering if your noew batch without the boil worked. I was going cray trying to figure out why it said boiled and stopped. Seems like I have the same IP as yours. Looking forward to see if this is going to work.
Laura
Do you have to use jars or can you make the yogurt straight in the Instant Pot?
Becky Striepe
You can make it straight in the pot, but it's much messier that way.
Leslie
To thicken, I run my yogurt through a reusable coffee filter (with a paper filter as a liner). Yes, it yields a lot less yogurt. But, dang, it's good. And I drink the yogurt water, which is also yum!
Becky Striepe
Ooh what a great idea to save the liquid! I bet it would add a nice tang to a smoothie, too.
Gerry
Hoorayyyy!!!! 2nd time's the charm. My first time I used vegan starter from Cultures for Health, I think I got a bad batch because it didnt work.
This time I halved the recipe so I didn't lose and entire quart of soy milk and used a probiotic capsule. It worked great! I will decrease the time next time as I'd like it to be more mild. Thanks for this easy recipe!
Becky Striepe
Oh, I am delighted to hear that it worked out on the second go! It's such a bummer when a bad starter ruins the whole batch. If you like it more mild, you might try backing off on the time. How long did you go this time around?
Gerry
I did 14 hours. It was a little yeast smelling coming out. I wonder if the probiotics I have were too strong? I think they're about 15 mill (or more), do you think one capsupe might work for a whole quart (instead of one capsule for a pint)?
I'm thinking to try 12 hours tonight.
Becky Striepe
Yeah, try backing off to 10-12 hours and see how it goes! I'm not sure about reducing the number of capsules. You can try it, but it might not work out.
Gerry
Hi Again!
I did 11 hours and it worked well. Thank you again for this great recipe.
I recently found a recipe for homemade nut milk. Apparently homemade nut milk tends to separate, do you know if that would still work with this recipe?
Thanks
COLLEEN BURRIS
Can you use oat milk? and can you make without putting it in jars?
Becky Striepe
I haven't tested this with oat milk, so I'm not sure if it will work or not. You can do it in the pot instead of jars. I just like doing it in jars because there's less cleanup that way.
Thomas
During the pandemic I had trouble getting the Westsoy unsweetened and bought a carton of unsweetened oatmilk (no gums). While I did everything as I usually do, can't say I was very pleased. It was just slightly thicker than when I poured the milk in the jar and wasn't particularly flavorful. Will admit, maybe my starter wasn't right, but again, it wasn't any different from the many successful soymilk yogurts I've made. So now that I can find Westsoy again, I'll stick with it.
Thanks for the great, helpful recipe! One other note, I've found soymilk yogurt a bit flat tasting (especially compared to what I used to be able to eat). I did try a squirt of lemon juice and that really helps it taste more like what I expect. Not a lot, maybe 1/4t juice in a bit less than 1/2c yogurt.
Becky Striepe
Thank you for all of the helpful info, Thomas! Different milks definitely yield different textures/thicknesses/etc, so it's always helpful to hear when ppl branch out and try new things with this recipe.
Scott
So...Ive ruined many a batch of vegan yogurt and had minimal success with others, always on the thin side. I’ve been setting the Instapot at 8 hrs and opening the release valve, based on prior readings and trial and error but based on your info this may be the problem. I was always under the impression that sealing it would lock in the moisture that you didn’t want. Can you elaborate here? Many thanks!
Becky Striepe
It shouldn't matter whether you seal or not -- I never even check. Eight hours might not be enough time. Maybe bump it up to 10 or 12 and see if you get the results you want? Your starter could also be the problem. Have you used different ones? Recently, a reader had a full yogurt fail, and it turned out that her probiotic capsules were bad. Fresh capsules did the trick in the next batch with no other changes.
Leigh
Hi, really looking forward to trying this but undecided about the starter to use. I found a powder on Amazon. Do you know what the equivalent measurement would be to two capsules? The capsules seem rather expensive. And does a store-bought vegan yogurt really have the "oomph" to culture a batch of homemade yogurt? Thanks for your advice!
Becky Striepe
These are great questions! For powdered starter, I'd follow the package directions for the amount of powder to liquid. Most store-bought vegan yogurts do have enough probiotics to ferment. That's the primary method that I use!
Marissa Sinai
Hi! What type of yogurt do you combine with the milk so that it’s cultured?
Thanks!!
Becky Striepe
I've used lots of different ones! It can really be any type of plant based yogurt, as long as it includes live, active cultures.
Anne
I made soy yogurt yesterday in the Instant Pot. It was confusing since your method differs from my regular method (heating the milk), but after 15 hours it still wasn’t even slightly thick so I added 3 hours to the time. Finally success! Perfect soy yogurt!
One question - can I use a different yogurt starter (say cashew) to add to the soy milk? Will it work?
Becky Striepe
I'm glad it set up! Getting the timing right is definitely a bit of a guessing game, depending on so many factors. You can use any yogurt starter you like! I have had flavors come through in final batches before, though, so just bear that in mind. I once used peach yogurt as the starter, and the final result tasted of peaches.
Shelby
Can the soy yogurt this recipe makes be used as a starter for future batches?
Becky Striepe
I have heard some readers say yes and other say no. I'd recommend using a fresh starter, so you'll have consistent results.
Gabriela
Can I use 3 TBSP of my first batch as starter for next batches (I used Westsoy and Silk Soy Yogurt. Thank you!
Becky Striepe
You can try it, and it will work if there are enough probiotics in it. It can be hit and miss, though.
Amy
Success! I just got an Instant Pot and thought I’d try to make soy yogurt after years of failures with various recipes, starters, milks, and gadgets. I was skeptical that this would work, but it did and the yogurt is delicious! I used Trader Joe’s unsweetened plain soy milk and Forager cashew yogurt for starter. Thank you SO much!!! I’m glad I found your site. I am a little intimidated by the Instant Pot and haven’t used it for anything else yet, but this was a great start.
Becky Striepe
I'm so glad to hear you had yogurt success! And I feel you on the IP being intimidating at first. The more you use it, though, the more comfortable you'll get. Happy cooking!
Gerry
I made the soy yogurt last night with 64oz Westsoy organic soy milk and 4 T silk vanilla soy yogurt. Used the Instant Pot set for 14 hours. It turned out great! I have used the IP for dairy yogurt for years but the soy method is soooo much easier. I am a convert now and will continue on with changing to plant based eating! I love your air fryer recipes too.
Becky Striepe
Gerry, this comment makes my day! I'm so glad this recipe can support your journey to plant based eating!
Gerry Stairet
Becky, I have now made your soy yogurt recipe 5 times with the 64 oz Westsoy and it is perfect each time. Due to weather issues, Walmart was out of Westsoy so I found Pacific Ultra Soy milk, in aseptic package, at Safeway. I bought 2 32 ounce containers and used 4 T Silk Vanilla soy yogurt and this turned out amazing. Very close to firmness found in commercial dairy yogurt. There are some additives, a bit of cane sugar but I was desperate! 2 days later it still isn’t watery nor lumpy. I think it is important to whisk the store bought yogurt starter in about a cup of soy milk, add it back to the pot with the rest of the soy milk and whisk again to get it mixed well. Cover and let it go for the 14 hours.
Becky Striepe
That is great to hear, Gerry! I'm so glad there are other milks that work, because Westsoy is hard to find sometimes. That's a good tip about whisking the starter separately, too. Thank you!
Spazvan
Hi Becky,
do you need to put water in the instapot? and if yes, how much?
I am worried my jars may burst if they go in directly.
Hoping to try this very soon.
Thank you,
Spazvan
Becky Striepe
Hi Spazvan! No water needed. I totally get it -- I was nervous, too, the first time I tried this. The pot doesn't come to pressure to make the yogurt. It just keeps the internal temperature at the ideal temp for fermentation, which isn't very hot.
Barbara L
Thanks for a great recipe easy recipe along with related details, and, not least, thanks for the heads-up about Eden.
Becky Striepe
You are very welcome! I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. :(
Christy
Can you make this from homemade soy milk? It's much cheaper to get than store bought. Thanks.
Becky Striepe
I haven't tried this with homemade, so I'm not sure. If you give it a try, definitely report back!
Jesenia
I just tried using this exact method with homemade cashew milk and plain cashew yogurt starter, and it was not a success. Super runny. Please let me know if you have better luck
Becky Striepe
Darn, I was worried that it might not work with homemade nut milks. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Karen
Will putting the starter in with the milk at the beginning of the instant pot cycle kill the bacteria?
Becky Striepe
It won't. The yogurt setting brings the pot to the ideal temperature to foster that good bacteria.
Bob
Thanks so much for the helpful advise and what products to use. We'll try westsoy soon and we've always used edensoy and it also worked great.
Sombra
Thanks you so much for this recipe! Instant Pot soy yogurt is my new favorite thing. I can fit eight 8oz jars in my large instant pot so I have individual jars of yogurt all week. It tastes great!!
Becky Striepe
Wow! 8 jars is awesome. What size pot do you have, Sombra?
Sombra
I have a large pot...maybe the largest? It has a yogurt button on it. Question: how many Probiotic capsules should I be using? I've been using one per jar/cup, but as I read more it seems like that might be overkill/wasteful
Becky Striepe
I've had the most success using 2 capsules per jar. My jars are .5 liter, so they each hold half of the 32-ounce box of soy milk. The size of your pot shouldn't matter, as long as the jars fit inside.
Archana
Hi, can you do this without an instapot?
Becky Striepe
You can't. With fermentation, I wouldn't mess around and would definitely look for a non-IP version, if you're not planning to use one. You can use a yogurt maker or another multipot that has yogurt setting, but you need something made to make yogurt.
Alice
I just finished making. I did 15.3 hrs. Taste is amazing but not as thick as what I've made in the past in my IP. I make my own soy milk using Soyabella which I LOVE. I use 8 and 16 oz jars. I've always used two different probiotic capsules to be sure to have all the various critters needed but ......
1) I may not have used enough probiotic capsules and/or
2) My probiotics may be weakening as I've had them over two years but they have been stored in freezer.
3) I have, in past, put a little bit of raw sugar in to feed the probiotics. I didn't do this, this time. (It does not make it sweet; it's just enough to feed the microbes.)
Thanks so very much for recipe and instructions.
Becky Striepe
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and great idea to feed that good bacteria with a touch of sugar!
Gaetan
Is it possible to make it directly in the pot?
Becky Striepe
Yes, you can do that. I prefer to do it in the jars, because then there's less to clean up.
Gaetan Daigneault
HI, is it possible to use regular yogurt (from milk) as a sarter?
Becky Striepe
I have not tested this, so I can't say for certain.
Erica
If I'm using two pint jars and using the probiotic capsules, should I still use 2 capsules per jar?
Becky Striepe
I recommend 4 capsules total, divided evenly between whatever container you're using.
Julie Ann
I make this yogurt from Glue & Glitter all the time and love this fool-proof recipe! I have to share an interesting discovery in case others are interested.
In our household we eat almost exclusively plant based. However, our fridge is not completely vegan and at times there is dairy yogurt for the kids. The other day I was really craving the instant pot soy yogurt, but I only had store bought dairy yogurt to use as a starter, rather than vegan yogurt. I decided to make it anyway. I used Eden Soy with 1 tbl per mason jar of Olympic Krema ("all natural ingredients", plain, 11%; if I could share a photo I would!). Let me tell you, the combination was incredible. The next morning I woke up to thick, greek-like yogurt, again, wish I coud share a pic! I think the probiotics in the Olympic yogurt really liked the Eden soy. No straining required, just amazing thick soy yogurt, I kid you not. I've redone it several times now it's so good and luscious. Now I've kept 2 spoonfuls of my soy yogurt to use as starter next time so it is vegan.
Jesenia
Thanks for this. I am going to try it! Would love a thicker consistency with my cashew yogurt
Becky Striepe
Enjoy it, Jesenia!
Kim
Amazing flavor!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Kim!
Clarissa
Is it possible to make yogurt with almond or cashew milk? I have a soy allergy.
Becky Striepe
I haven't tested with those types of milks but have been meaning to! I'll definitely post a recipe, if I'm able to nail it.
Jesse Bollinger
I’ve been making this yogurt for around a year with great success. We love this yogurt! However, over the last month each attempt has ended in failure with milk-like consistency in the jars in the morning. I hadn’t changed anything about what I was doing. I’ve since been experimenting to try and troubleshoot: different store bought yogurt for starter, sterilize mason jars before, etc but with no success. I’m starting to think it may be something with my instant pot? Just wondering if you have any other ideas about what might be going on. Thanks for your help!
Becky Striepe
Oh no! I am sorry to hear that you're running into issues. Has your Instant Pot been working okay with other dishes? It does sound like that's the issue. :(
Yvonne
Hi Becky,
I just made soy yogurt in my instant pot for the first time, and it did not thicken at all. Do you set the yogurt setting on fermentation? That's what I did. Maybe I should have left it set at customize and just adjust the number of hours. Any thoughts?
Thanks so much.
Becky Striepe
Hey Yvonne! Oh no! I am sorry to hear that it didn't thicken. It sounds like you have different settings on your pot than I do. Mine just has a yogurt button to press, then you set the time. For troubleshooting purposes, there are two other things that could have gone wrong:
- Your starter could have been bad. If the yogurt or capsules you used no longer contained live cultures, the yogurt won't thicken.
- Did you set your jars on the little steamer tray that comes with the IP? That will cause the process to fail. The jars have to be touching the bottom of the pot.
I hope that this is helpful! Feel free to reply back, if you have more questions. I want you to make the yogurt of your DREAMS!
Stephanie
I was just rereading the directions when I noticed that yogurt should not be stirred with a metal spoon. What will happen? I have made the same recipe within the regular metal cook pot of the IP without incident.
Thanks.
Becky Striepe
That's a good question! It may be OK, but some metal cookware can cause your yogurt to have a metallic taste. Maybe stainless steel isn't a culprit? That's what the IP's inner pot is made from.
Carson
Hey Becky! I'm wondering if you've experimented with making a thicker "greek" soy yogurt?
Becky Striepe
I have not, but you can strain this yogurt through a double layer of cheese cloth to thicken it!
rachel
I am new to instant pots and I was told that I couldn't use it without always adding at least a little bit of water. So are you not lining the pot with any water here? Also could I make this straight in the instant pot and not use the jars?
Becky Striepe
When you are pressure cooking, you do need water, but the yogurt setting works differently. No water needed! You can also skip the jars, if you prefer. I just like them because then I'm making my yogurt in its storage container, which means less cleanup. :)
Darcy
I’m so happy I found this recipe! I’ve made yogurt twice now following your directions using only Soy Milk and Kite Hill Plain Yogurt as a starter and both times were successful! No more boiling milk and letting it cool to 105 degrees, etc. I incubate my yogurt for 16 hours and it’s thick and delicious! So easy!
Becky Striepe
Awesome! I'm so glad it's helping you out. Enjoy the yogurt, and thank you for coming back to leave a review and rating!
Donna Beghin
Should I also increase the cook time if using 64 oz box of west soy?
Becky Striepe
No, you should be fine with the same cooking time.
Terri
I don’t but boxed milk. I make my own with cashews and almonds. Have you tried with different milks? Do you think the fat content is a factor? I can make my milk fattier or less fatty depending upon how many nuts. I use.
Becky Striepe
I haven't tested this with other milks, but I think the protein content can be a factor? I'd recommend looking for a recipe that calls for the milks you use.
Kim
I have tried twice to make this. One batch using a store bought plain starter which wasn’t very thick and tasted ok. And one with probiotic tablets where the yogurt looked like milk when done. Both times I used 64 ounces of west soy and my instapot. Any ideas?
Becky Striepe
Oh I hate that it didn't work out! I have two theories that we can start troubleshooting with:
1. Did you double the amount of starter? 64 ounces of soy milk is twice as much as the recipe uses, so you'd need double the probiotics.
2. Did you use the metal trivet that goes on the bottom of the pot? You should not use that, because your soy milk won't reach the proper temperature unless the jars are in contact with the bottom of the pot. You didn't say, but this is a common issue, so I thought I'd throw it out there.
If it's neither of these, we can keep troubleshooting from there!
Kimberly
Can I use probiotic capsule to make a first batch then leave some to use as the culture for the next batch? Thanks!
Becky Striepe
I've heard people having mixed results with this. I never remember to save any in between, so I haven't been able to test it.
Christina P
Hi! Excited to try my hand at this. Can I use any probiotics on capsules? Currently taking some daily but the have some ayurvedic herbs in it too wondering if that would effect it ?
Becky Striepe
Ooh that's a good question. I have only tested them with the brand that I show in the post. I do worry that the extra ingredients could impact the flavor or texture. It could be fine, I just can't say for certain.
Reenie
I couldn’t get jars so I made this directly in the pot with capsules. The flavor is pretty sour. It’s also pretty grainy. Is this normal? I used WestSoy, 4 Jarro-dophilos capsules, for 14 hours. The only difference is that I didn’t have jars. Thanks! I’m determined to get this right.
Becky Striepe
No, a grainy texture is not typical -- I'm not sure what happened there! Did you stir well after adding the capsules? It shouldn't matter if some powder floats back up, but you do need to stir. The jars shouldn't impact the texture; lots of folks have made this recipe right in the pot without noting any graininess. For the tartness, that's about time. More time means more tartness. Try backing off to 10 or 12 hours to see how you like the flavor.
Nila
I tried this recipe yesterday and got very impressive results. As my jars were a bit too tall, I put the milk and starter (2 tbsp cashew milk yogurt) directly in the insert.
I checked after 14 hours and felt that a couple of additional hours would help.
Amazing results! Very good consistency! I am so thrilled!
Thank you so much for this recipe Becky.
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much, Nila! I appreciate you coming back to rate and share your experience.
Brooke
Could you use a different non dairy milk, provided there are no additives (as listed for the soy)?
Becky Striepe
That's a good question! Fermenting can be a bit finicky, so I'm hesitant to recommend any milks I haven't tested.
Reenie
Very clear instructions! Can you please clarify, do you put lids on the jars in the instant pot or leave them open? Thanks!!
Becky Striepe
Thank you! You leave them open while they're in the pot.
Jennifer
Hi! Thanks for sharing this recipe and the book recommendation. I'm curious about skipping the boil step (dairy yogurt recipes for the ip start there). How come this version skips that? Thanks again!
Becky Striepe
That's a good question! I have just never done it that way and always had great results. I'm sure you can boil first, if you want to, though.
Deanna
Hello
I have been making milk based yogurt in my instapot for some time now. I am going to convert to veganism and want to continue to make my own yogurt. I do not use jars I just the instapot itself. Would your recipe work using this method? Thanks!
Becky Striepe
Yes, it would! I just use the jars because there's less cleanup that way.
Leanne
Hi I would love to make this recipe and am wondering can the recipe be Multipled or can it be frozen?
Becky Striepe
Hi Leanne! You can definitely multiply it, as long as it fits in the pot. I have not tried freezing it, so I can't say whether that would work.
Mary Schings
I made my first batch of soy yogurt. I first made my own soy milk using only water. I cooked the beans in instant pot then I mixed them with water in Blentec. I then used your recipe and used Udo's kid probiotic tablets. The yogurt came out after 14 hours as liquid. I am almost certain the probiotics used did not work for that application, I also wanted to know if you have ever used homemade soy milk to make the yogurt. I am getting some vegan soy culture kits so I will try with that next.
I did make some yogurt drinks using the yogurt with blueberries and maple syrup. It was good. Thank you for your help!
Becky Striepe
Oh I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out. I haven't tried using homemade soy milk, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Let me know how round two goes!
Ashley
Hi Mary, I think to make homemade soymilk you need to blend the soybeans raw with water. You cook the milk produce it makes.
Mary Schings
Do you put in any water into the instant pot or just the jars with yogurt in them? I know for most things you need to add at least a cup of water. Thanks
Becky Striepe
No water needed. I know how you feel -- it felt wrong to me the first time I tried it, too!
Kavita
I make this all the time; it is easy and delicious. I use about 2 T yogurt as the starter, and Trader Joe’s soymilk witch is $1.79. After the yogurt is done, I stir in chia seeds to thicken. Even my non-vegan friends love this.
Becky Striepe
Oh, what a great idea for thickening! Do you grind the chia seeds first?
Sara
Would it work to make the yogurt in one 32 oz glass jar instead of 2 pint jars? I only have 32 oz jars. Thank you.
Becky Striepe
I don't see why not, as long as it fits in you Instant Pot with the lid sealed!
Britt Hallenberg
Looks so yummy! I'm excited to try it. Would you happen to know how to do this without a yogurt button?
Becky Striepe
Hey Britt! I'm unfortunately not sure that you can. The yogurt button holds the inside of the pot at the ideal, safe temperature for yogurt to ferment without fostering bad bacteria growth. I'd hate to guess and have your yogurt get ruined or, worse, make you sick!
Britt Hallenberg
Good to know! Thanks!
Jean Legge
I made Greek yogurt for years in my dehydrator set at 115 degrees. Now I have an Instant Pot and making yogurt is very simple with it. I think you can read about gentle heating alternatives to make yogurt - look at other recipes without the IP. This soy yogurt is great, creamy and very delicious. I tried it to make for my daughter who can't eat cow's milk products due to allergies.
Kayla
I have been making this for weeks, and it’s so good. Today, though, I forgot about it, and have 13 hrs my instant pot turned off and it was left in the instant pot for another 7 hours, in the instant pot at room temp. Think it’s still good? Has anyone done this before?
Mija288
I actually subscribe to you on both YT and Instagram but never saw anything re: your instant pot vegan yogurt until today after a general search and your recipe popped up. I used Westsoy and “Cultures For Health” vegan culture. Today was my 2nd batch and first successful one. I did 9 hours because thats the time the Jaroudi Family’s recipe used. I really wanted a thicker “Greek-ish” consistency and so I put some cheese cloth over a fine mesh strainer and THAT was a hot mess BUT! I took the liquid-y part, added apple cider vinegar and now that “buttermilk” is hopefully going to make some awesome cornbread today. Anyway, trial and error right? I’m loving the intense almost umami savory tang and if I can just get it thicker without the leftover “juice” I’ll be so happy. I DO want to try different starters but trying to find plain soy yogurt has been a challenge but I’m sure it’s out there. Thanks for this awesome informative thread!
Becky Striepe
Oh it's so nice to "meet" you! Yeah, finding plain vegan yogurt can be challenging. You might try it with the probiotic capsules instead. I just added this method recently, because I was having the same problem finding plain soy yogurt with grocery stores the way they are rn. You only need 4 capsules to make a batch, so a box lasts for ages.
For Greek style, I've seen some people recommend pouring the excess water off of the top when the yogurt comes out of the IP, rather than stirring and then straining. That looks less messy. If too much yogurt was oozing through the cheesecloth, you probably need to layer it up more. I'd do 3-4 layers to strain yogurt.
Elisa
Just made this yogurt today with success. I tried two coconut yogurt recipes before this with poor results, so I'm excited to get a batch that fermented correctly! I'm looking forward to trying it tomorrow after it cools and I strain it. I'm thrilled that this will save me so much money on premade yogurts. Love the idea shared by a commenter to stir in blueberries and maple syrup too. Thank you so much for sharing!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much, Elisa! I can't wait for you to eat it tomorrow! I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment and a rating, too.
Collette Turner
Hi Becky,
I made soy yogurt for the first in my instant pot yesterday. I used Belle and Bella starter. I started early in the morning and shut it off after 10 hours. It was no where near tangy enough. Can I turn it back on for another 4-6 hours or so, or will I ruin it? It also wasn't very thick.
Thanks for your help!
Collette Turner
Becky Striepe
You should definitely be able to turn it back on to ferment further. 10 hours doesn't seem long enough to me. I usually go for 12-14. This yogurt isn't super thick, unless you strain it or pour the liquid off of the top instead of stirring it in. That's because it doesn't use thickeners, like store-bought soy yogurts do.
Alex
I tried making soymilk yogurt with Yogurmet starter, 14 hours in the InstantPot on yogurt setting. Went to check it this morning, and I have three jars of yellow-ish liquid (whey) with stuff floating on top. Poured into a strainer to see how much ‘yogurt’ I got and basically all of it went through the strainer with maybe a tablespoon of yogurt on top.
Becky Striepe
Oh no! That is not ideal! What kind of soymilk did you use? Also wondering about the strainer you used. Was it fine mesh? It's hard to troubleshoot remotely, so forgie my random starter question. :) I'd love to help you figure out what went wrong here!
Alex
I used Silk shelf stable unsweetened soy and a nut milk strainer I use for homemade milk (it’s very fine). Not sure, but I’ve tried homemade yogurt before and had better results, but I don’t remember the milk/started I used.
Is there anyway to ‘fix’ it? Thanks.
Angela
I tried this recipe yesterday!!! Was super excited and used my homemade soymilk and a yogurt starter...14 hours later it was very thick almost like a curdled milk? What did I do wrong? Any suggestions? It tasted very strong and when I mixed it it became a chunky liquid not smoothe...thats the best way to explain it.
Becky Striepe
Oh dear. This sounds like what happens when your soymilk includes gums, but homemade soymilk wouldn't have that issue. Curdling can also happen if you go too long or the temperature is too high. 14 hours has always worked great for me with store-bought soymilk, but maybe it's too long for homemade for some reason? Or maybe your Instant Pot is running hot? I'm just guessing here, since there are several variables at play.
This post has some tips on what to do with curdled yogurt. It's about dairy yogurt, but I don't see why the same tips wouldn't work with soy. I hope that it helps! https://nourishedkitchen.com/troubleshooting-homemade-yogurt-questions/
Elyse
I gave five stars buti haven’t tried this yet you are fun and I love the time saving recipes. So this soy yogurt only lasts 5 days? Have you tried with other nondairy milks?
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much, Elyse! Yeah, I wouldn't push it far past 5 days. I'm kind of a stickler about food safety, since I got food poisoning 3 times in the same year a few years ago. I haven't tried other nondairy milks, but that's a good idea!
Melissa
I'm pleased as punch with this recipe! Beautiful thick texture, easy, and cheap!
I have tried to make vegan yogurt for years now, and each time wound up with warm soy milk, so I didn't have high hopes that this time would be any different. Imagine my surprise when I opened my Instant Pot this morning to find that my yogurt had "yoged"!
I used a carton of WestSoy milk and plain SoDelicious coconut yogurt. I used two heaping tablespoons of yogurt total, and regular mouth pint jars. The texture is beautiful, mine thickened quite a bit like a dairy yogurt - it's kind of like a flan texture, as someone else mentioned.
I could only keep it in the IP for 12 hours, but I'm hoping to try my next batch for 14-15 hours because I like my yogurt super tangy. I'd also like to try it with homemade dairy free milks, using the previous batch of yogurt as starter.
THANK YOU! I have been vegan for 10 years and have only really missed yogurt - now I'm delighted to have a recipe I can make at home that doesn't result in tons of plastic waste.
Becky Striepe
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for taking the time to review and for this thoughtful comment! I am so glad you're loving this yogurt and hope you'll report back the results of your experiments!
coukie
I made this and it came out perfect!!! it was kind of flan like texture (so very close to greek yoghourt). I used a big one liter thingy (not tall but wide) to make it. Great recipe, thanks
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much for leaving a review and comment -- I'm glad to hear that you loved the recipe! Did you use any thickeners during or after to get that Greek yogurt texture?
Kaitlin
Hello! I have a couple of questions--
1. Can you use a homemade soy milk?
2. Can you just dump it all in the body of the Instant Pot rather than dividing up into smaller containers? I have three boys--I want to make huge batches, if I can.
3. Just to clarify--you DO NOT need to bring to a boil before adding culture? I have seen some recipes (plant based) that do and other that do not. I am getting desperate and this recipe looks soooo good!
Thank you!
Becky Striepe
These are all great questions.
1. I haven't tried using homemade, but it should work. The boxed type I recommend is as close to homemade as it gets at the store.
2. Yes! I only use the jars because then I don't have to wash out the inner pot afterwards.
3. I have never boiled it before adding the yogurt, and it always works great.
I hope you'll come back and share your results, Kaitlin. Happy yogurt-making!
Tamy
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! My 3 year old has been df his entire life. Everything I buy him df yogurt, I cringe at all the junk in it. Now that I’ve tried your recipe, I’m kicking myself for not making this sooner! No more junk in his yogurt!
This morning we sat down and enjoyed a delicious bowl of fresh from the IP, wholesome yogurt! He had a little raspberry jam and fresh raspberries in his and I had a dash of maple syrup.
I did try straining some to get a thicker consistency but found i was wasting so much goodness in the pursuit of familiarity, that it wasn’t worth it. I ended up eating it just the way it is and it was fine! I’ll
Learn to accept thin yogurt as the new normal!
Thank you for this wonderfully easy recipe.
Oh, and I used 64oz Westsoy organic with 1/4 c silk vanilla soy yogurt (I looked all over for plain but due to allergies we are limited to soy and oatmilk yogurt and nobody had plain - and i simply didn’t want to to wait to order a vegan starter). Which cost $5.50 in total. I may try the next round with our Garden of Life Raw Kids Probiotic just for kicks, but I also reserved 1 c of yogurt to freeze for the future.
Becky Striepe
Oh my gosh, Tamy, thank you for this comment! I'm so glad that you and your 3yo are enjoying it. I agree - straining makes you lose so much of the goods. I've also accepted a thinner yogurt in exchange for more yogurt. :) Raspberry jam and fresh berries sound like lovely mix-ins!
michelle
I use the big box of WestSoy (right in my inner pot), heat to 180, cool to 110, add 1/4 c of a Vanilla Silk Soy yogurt (or some saved from last batch), Stir really well to combine.
Put the IP lid on and leave to do it's thing on yogurt setting for 8-12 hours.
Comes out thick and creamy!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience, Michelle. I appreciate it!
Adrienne
Becky, where have you been the past 2 days of my life? I have been on Pinterest looking for non dairy recipes until my head was spinning! Then I found yours....and I'm hooked! I used 1/2 size pint jars, TJ soy milk, and Kitehill vanilla yogurt. AMAAZING! I had some yogurt left over, so I froze it to try with my next batch. I was only able to let it cook for 10 hours because I leaving out early the next day, but I added Chia seeds and that thickened it up. Next time I'm going to let it cook for at least 14 and experiment with adding strawberry jam on bottom. The REAL test will be when my hubby tries it. He's so use to the "might as well be a dessert" yogurts we have been buying. But I think the jam will do the trick. Thanks again, and also to other commenters who have given excellent tips. This is making our dairy free journey easier (and cheaper!)
Becky Striepe
Oh, I am so glad that it was helpful! Great tip about using chia to thicken. Did you do whole seeds or puree them?
Adrienne
I used the whole seed, added frozen fruit and a little agave. Hubby loved it!
Debbie
At what point in the process did you add the chia seeds? Asking for a friend ??
Julie
I’m excited to try making this in the jars (have never done that before!) but am wondering if, for subsequent batches, I can use leftovers from my previous homemade batch as the starter? Thanks!
Becky Striepe
I've heard people having mixed results doing that. If you do, I'd suggest doubling the amount of starter yogurt, but I can't guarantee that it will work.
Julianne
This recipe works like a charm! I used eden soy (that’s what I found available in canada), and the starter yogurt was Yoso premium creamy cultured coconut.
This morning my son and I gobbled up a whole jar with a spoonful of hemp hearts, fresh raspberries, and a bit of honey. Amazing, I’ll be making this on the weekly!
Becky Striepe
I'm so glad you and your son enjoyed it! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a rating and such a thoughtful comment!
Heather
This recipe totally works! I mixed the soy milk and yogurt starter in a mixing bowl and then divided among the glassware I have. Come to find out the smaller containers rendered thicker yogurt! So cool. I'm not sure if this is the right tangy for me but I'm using it to help make vegan cheese so it may not matter. I have a store bought cashew yogurt, Forager, and there is a difference in taste. It might be that I tried my yogurt warm versus the store bought being cold, so I'm trying that out. I was amazed this worked so well. Nice job!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Heather! And I appreciate you leaving a rating and thoughtful comment! I'd love to hear more about this cheese that uses yogurt as a starter, too. That sounds like fun!
Jan Rader
Delicious! And so simple!
Tish
Recipes that call for heating the milk are using cow's or goat's or sheep's milk. Milk from animals have competing microorganisms that will overpower the yogurt makers.
Tish
An additional comment: To the people who have not had success: are you using open containers of milk or yogurt. That can cause unwanted bacteria to contaminate them. I use only new sealed ingredients and have never had a problem.
Jeri
I think the purpose of heating the milk before culturing the yogurt is to kill off harmful bacteria so they don't contaminate your final product. Culturing yogurt at 118 F encourages bacteria to grow, and you only want the beneficial bacteria (probiotics) to grow. If you use a newly opened container of soy milk, and newly opened yogurt (2 T.), you should be okay without boiling the milk first.
This recipe worked great for me! I used a pyrex bowl instead of jars in the Instant Pot, and made it into Greek-style yogurt by letting it drain in a fine mesh bag and strainer in my fridge after it cultured. Delicious and very thick and creamy! Thank you for sharing your technique!
Becky Striepe
That Greek-style sounds lovely, Jeri! Thank you for sharing your insights!
Kristen
I have followed your recipe twice now with the exception of trying more time with my second batch. If I wanted the yogurt to be thicker what would I need to do? I am making this for my twin 2 year olds because of food allergies and it is less mess if it is thicker. They loved it when I made the first batch and because I know that the ingredients are allergy safe, I would prefer to continue to make this yogurt for them.
Becky Striepe
Yeah, it's a bit on the thin side, since it doesn't contain additives. I hear ya on making it less messy, though. My kid makes a huge mess eating this! I'd suggest straining it through a few layers of cheesecloth to thicken it. There are also suggestions in the comments for this post on how to use thickeners. I don't use any, so I can't speak to it, but the folks commenting seem to know their stuff! Might be worth a shot!
Tamra
You can make this thicker by blending 2/3 cup of raw cashews with the soy milk until smooth.
Becky Striepe
What a great idea!!
Ski
can it be other nuts, like almonds or walnuts?
i am going to use homemade soy milk since Vitamix can easily do this. The soy milk from vitamix is thick since i dont strain them, maybe the yogurt will also come out thicker. I will have to experiment on this.
Becky Striepe
I have not tried it with other milks, so I can't say. I will say that unstrained, homemade soymilk may curdle. You might want to dial back on the time. Another commenter just today said her homemade soymilk curdled when she used it for yogurt. I'd recommend starting with 8 hours. You can always put it back in for more time, if it's not fermented enough for your liking. If it does curdle, this post from Nourished Kitchen has some tips that might help: https://nourishedkitchen.com/troubleshooting-homemade-yogurt-questions/
Lori Rasmussen
Thanks for this awesomely thorough post, Becky! Just ordered my first instant pot (I know; I resisted because of my lack of space) and am looking forward to making yogurt. My former boss actually gave me a copy of Vegan Under Pressure a couple of years ago, but I've been unable to put it to good use yet. Excited! :)
Becky Striepe
Oh I'm so happy for you! Enjoy the IP. I totally get space concerns. Our kitchen doesn't have a ton of storage, either.
Marilyn
I was unable to find any soy yogurt without a bunch of additives, so can I just use some dairy-based yogurt as my starter?
Becky Striepe
It's fine if the yogurt has additives. Just the soymilk has to be free of gums.
Marilyn
Ok, thanks! Will look at them again to see if I find one that is usable.
Rylee
What is the reason for the soymilk needing to be free of gums? Will the yogurt not turn out?
Becky Striepe
Something happens with the gums during the fermenting process that makes the yogurt turn out like a nightmare. It ends up with a thick, gummy blob floating on top of thin, watery liquid, and no amount of stirring will combine them into anything like yogurt.
Anonymous
Trader Joe’s sells unsweetened soy beverage. It’s just soybeans and water and costs less than $2!
Becky Striepe
Ooh this is a great tip! Thank you!
Dorothy Milosevic
I’m going to try this tonight. My husband has made some homemade soya milk. I’ve tried making soya yoghurt previously without much success. After reading your recipe, I can see some differences:
1. Time, I was just leaving it for 8 hours
2. I was putting the jar on the metal rack (trivet) with a small amount of water at the bottom.
3. I’ve been putting the lid loosely over the jar, in order to stop water dripping back into the yoghurt from the lid. However, if there’s no water in the pot, then that problem won’t arise.
There was a lot of whey on the surface of my best , but unsatisfactory effort. I strained it through muslin and it became quite curdy, rather like cottage cheese.
So today, I won’t put water in the pot, no rack (trivet). My questions are:
Should I put a lid on the jar?
Should I stir mid-way to mix the whey back in?
Any other comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you
Becky Striepe
Skipping the rack is going to make a huge difference for you! I can't wait to hear how your yogurt turns out! Leave the lids off of the jars, and no need to stir halfway. Just stir when the fermenting time is done. If you want, you can pour off some of the excess whey for thicker yogurt, but I just stir it all in, so I get more finished product. That part is totally your call!
Sima Basargin
Great recipe... will definitely use this in the future! Though I was wondering if this receipe would allow me to replace the soy milk with other non-dairy milks.
I really wanted to try this with oat milk, but other recipes would have you boil the oat milk and other milks before starting the fermenting process.
Becky Striepe
Fermenting is tricky, so I'm not sure how it would work with other milks. If you do experiment with oat milk, just make sure the one you choose is free of gums, and let us know how things shake out!
Maxine
Your recipe looks amazing and super easy. Since I can no longer buy soy yogurt, I'm definitely going to try making my own. I have not bought an Instant Pot yet and, before I do, I'd like to know if this recipe will work in a 3-quart Instant Pot and will two pint jars fit in it. Thank you in advance for your response (and/or anyone else who might respond with the answer) and thank you for your amazing vegan recipes!!!
Becky Striepe
Ooh I'm not sure that 2 pint jars will fit into a 3-quart. Mine is 6, and they fit with a bit of room to spare, but not a ton. You could always do it in batches over two nights, if need be, though I know that's not an ideal situation. You can also skip the jars and mix the soymilk and yogurt right in the pot itself. I just like to use the jars, because that means less cleanup.
Natalie
Hi Becky, I don't own an Instant pot only a slow cooker and oven. Any chance I can still make my own yoghurt? I used to make a lot of the Easiyo packaged flavours before I became vegan...still have the plastic Easiyo container if I could use it for this soy yoghurt? Any ideas would be appreciated. ?Natalie
Becky Striepe
Hey Natalie! You can definitely make soy yogurt without an Instant Pot, but it's not something I've done personally. Is the Easiyo a yogurt maker? You could try using this recipe in the Easiyo, but I can't make any promises, since I haven't tried it. I don't see why it wouldn't work. What the Instant Pot yogurt function does is keep the contents at a yogurt-friendly temp, which I'm guessing is how other yogurt makers also function. If you do try it and it works, I hope you'll come back and let us know!
Penelope
I own the Duo 6 Quart Instant Pot.
I used EDENSOY unsweetened and Daiya Plain yogurt.
1. Edensoy and 1T Daiya in two pint glasses placed on the bottom of the stainless pot (no trivet) and in a sealed position. Pressed yogurt and 14 hours. The float valve never came up and after 10 hours there was nothing but warm edensoy in there. What happened?
2. Same ingredients as above. Pressed Yogurt on the Instant pot and according to the directions with the Instant Pot, leave setting on venting. 14 hours later, just lukewarm Edensoy in there. Did not thicken at all. Why did nothing happen.
3. Same ingredients as above. Put sealed setting. Pressure cooking setting. Float came up after a few minutes. Would not allow more than 3 hours, 59 minutes on this setting. At the end of this time still just liquid. What gives?
4. Same ingredients as above. Put Edensoy and 1T yogurt directly into the pot (no pint jars). Pressed yogurt. Sealed (Float never came up). 10 hours later just the liquid in the pot.
What am I doing wrong?
Edensoy (32oz)in Canada is $4.50. Daiya plain yogurt on sale is $1.50. And I have wasted four boxes of Edensoy and one Daiya plain yogurt and I have nothing to show for it.
Suggestions???? Comments????
Becky Striepe
Oh dear -- it sounds like you did everything correctly. You definitely don't want to use Pressure Cook, and it's fine that the float valve didn't come up. Yogurt doesn't cook at pressure, so that valve doesn't float up. Did you put 1 tbsp yogurt in each pint glass, or divide 1 tbsp between them? It should be 1 in each. But even if you didn't, it should have thickened some.
I am stumped here! This is the exact method we use every week. I'm sorry that you're having issues!
Alex
I wonder if the Daiya yogurt didn't have any live cultures. I used KiteHill plain almond yogurt and a box of soy milk and my yogurt came out perfect. Maybe try a different brand of yogurt?
Jennifer
I'm so grateful that this recipe was posted. I wanted to add a few of my own data points:
First, I've tried the probiotic capsule route a couple of times, on the basis of another highly rated online recipe. It never worked: the yogurt always came out with pink mold on it.
By contrast, this recipe came out perfectly the very first time I used it! I used Trader Joe's unsweetened soy milk and Kite Hill plain yogurt. I had a lot of the Kite Hill leftover, so out of curiosity, I decided to freeze it in a couple of small containers, portioned out for future use, to see if the remainder could work as a starter for future soy yogurt batches.
Yesterday, I decided to do a little experiment. In a couple of jars, I put the frozen and thawed Kite Hill, together with soy milk. I'm pleased to report that those came out great! The Kite Hill was frozen for a little over a week. I'll be curious to see how long the remaining Kite Hill in the freezer will work as a starter.
The second part of the experiment: in a third jar, I used the previous batch of homemade soy yogurt as starter. I'd read in the comments that some people hadn't had luck. But in the probiotic-capsule-based recipe that I hadn't had luck with, the recipe author suggested keeping a half cup of the yogurt to use as a starter on the next quart batch -- quite a bit more than is used here. So I decided that in that (pint) jar, I'd add a quarter cup of my homemade soy yogurt. Good news: not only did it function well as a starter, but the flavor was a little tangier, and the consistency a little thicker, than the first batch! So it looks like you *can* use some of the homemade yogurt as a starter, rather than always buying more store-bought yogurt for a starter! But you might need to use more of it than you would from the store-bought yogurt.
I have an Instant Pot Ultra and used the medium yogurt setting, for 15 hours, to bring out a bit of tang.
Thank you so much for the recipe, and thanks to all the commenters for sharing more info about their experience with the recipe.
Becky Striepe
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for this thoughtful comment! This is all amazing information, and I appreciate you taking the time to experiment with this recipe and share your results!
John Gabriel Otvos
I too am looking for a decent recipe that doesn't toss all the fibre out that store-bought and most recipes for soymilk do. I realize that the soymilk I've been making for 5 years has solids, which, settle to the bottom of the jar, needing a good shaking to become suspended again. A whole foods plant based lifestyle means no processing, as in removing the essential fibre simply for texture. I'm unsure of this recipe accommodates that process of keeping the fibre.
mk
Let us know what happens when you try it.
Barb
Jennifer - Thank you for your experimentation and sharing of results! I just added 1/2 cup of my time intensive homemade soy yogurt to 32 oz of Trader Joe’s Soy Beverage. Blended the mixture with my hand blender and poured into three 14 oz jars. Put into Instant Pot and selected Yogurt setting for 15 hours. Time: Under 10 min. (My approach has been: soy milk made using soy powder + Cultures for Health Vegan Yogurt Starter + agar powder slurry for thickening - bring to 190 deg and hold for 5-10 min, cool to 110 deg. Time: 50-60 min) I’ll weigh back in after I get the results tomorrow. :-)
Barb
The yogurt was a great success! It’s not as firm as the soy yogurt I make using the heated method with agar powder, but the flavor has more tang, which I love. This approach is so easy and the soy yogurt comes out so great! I will be sharing this post with all my family and friends who have an Instant Pot. Thank you, Becky, for sharing your method!
Kavita
This recipe is spot on, and a total game changer. I can’t believe how easy and delicious it is. My favorite is fresh fruit and chia - the fruit adds sweetness, and the chia thickens the yogurt. I use Trader Joe’s soy milk, which is soybeans and water and 2 bucks. Becky, you are my hero.
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Kavita! And that is a great tip about TJs soymilk. That is even cheaper than the one I normally buy. I need to head to TJs and stock up!
Amanda
I used a mason jar, and in it I put 16oz of unopened soy milk (contains only soy and filtered water) bought from 99 Ranch Market and 1 tablespoon of store bought Silk unsweetened soy yogurt as my starter. I set the instant pot to yogurt for 14.5 hours, the result is super sour and tofu pudding in texture, not yogurt. I did eat out of the Silk yogurt for two days so maybe bad bacteria got in? Is the half hour extra too much? Should I just immediately make a new batch using my batch 1 as starter and hope it'll turn out better in texture and taste? I would appreciate it if you could give me some pointers. Thank you!
Becky Striepe
If it's too sour for your taste, I'd back off on the time. You might go down to 12 or even 10 hours and see if you like it better that way. The longer you go, the more sour it will be.
Cyndi
Oh my goodness! I just got my instant pot (actually a 6-quart Yedi), and the second thing I made in it was your soy yogurt recipe. I used Westsoy Unsweetened (which I've been drinking for decades) and So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt, Vanilla (could not find unsweetened but this one is not very sweet) as my starter.
Followed your recipe exactly, and it came out so perfect I could cry. Okay, that's a little dramatic but you don't know how happy I am to be able to have yummy healthy organic nonGMO soy yogurt since giving up dairy. Although, of course you do! :)
It's delish on granola, in my daily smoothies, on oatmeal, etc. I keep letting my dairy-loving friends sample it and they are all surprised at how much wonderful it is. I'm making converts over here, thanks to your recipe! Thank you!
Becky Striepe
Oh I love to hear this, Cyndi! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave such a thoughtful comment. Enjoy the yogurt!
Katie
Thank you so much for this simple and delicious recipe! I like this yogurt so much more than store bought - being able to control the sweetness and tang is key! I can see this becoming a regular staple in my meal prep routine.
I used five 8 oz jars instead of pint jars and set the time to 13 hours; this yielded good results.
Becky Striepe
Ooh making single-serve jars is such a great idea! I need to pick up a pack of smaller jars and do that next time.
Janet
I too have 8oz jars...how much starter yogurt did you add to each jar?
Katie
I used 2 tsp of soy yogurt per 8 oz. jar.
wendy hoy
Your yogurt recipe is perfect and thank you! Do you have any suggestions on what to do with the yogurt besides having it for breakfast?
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Wendy! I also use it in place of sour cream on things like chili or baked potatoes. What I love about making my own is that it's truly unsweet, so you can use it in sweet or savory applications! :)
Alice West
This unsweetened, unflavored soy yogurt makes a perfect dairy sour cream substitute. I use is on my potatoes.
Becky Striepe
Ooh I love that!
Anonymous
For once, a recipe on Pinterest that really is as good and easy as the introduction says! Thank you! :)
Becky Striepe
Thank you!
kimi
Can you use 2 spoonfuls of your homemade yogurt to start your next batch? Or keep the original storebought yogurt to start your next batch a few days later?
Becky Striepe
I haven't tried using homemade yogurt to start a new batch, but other commenters have said that may not work as well. You can definitely use the storebought to start the next batch a few days later! I wouldn't keep an open yogurt for longer than 3 days, but in that window, you should be a-OK.
Estela
You can!! I use 1/2 cup to a box of soy milk each time. Just make sure everything is clean.
Becky Striepe
Oh this is great to know!! Thank you so much for chiming in, Estela!
Jamie
Thanks so much for this recipe! My soy yogurt was perfect after 14 hours (I did add a tiny bit of maple syrup to feed the bacteria) and it has been hard not to scarf it all up at once. I've never liked plain yogurt until now. I love it so much.
I was wondering if you think the time should change if I make the yogurt in half-pint jars instead of pint ones. I thought the yogurt might keep better if I don't keep opening and closing the lid on the pint jars. Also half a pint is a pretty good serving size.
Becky Striepe
Ooh that's a good idea to use smaller jars! The time should be fine as-is, but you can always start at 12, taste, and add an hour or two if it isn't as tart as you like.
Thank you so much for taking the time to rate and comment - it means a lot to me when people do that!
marcy
Just got my instant, and tried your recipe. I love the simplicity and 2 ingredients.
now that I have made yogurt can I use my own yogurt instead of buying packaged yogurt.
thanks
Marcy
Rhoda Mae
Why do you put the yogurt in the mason jars and not directly in the pot? I just got an instant pot and am not very familiar with it. I also noticed that you did not warm the milk to 115 degrees before putting it in the jars/pot. Is that step not necessary?
I've made a lot of soy yogurt in the past in the oven (using oven light only as warmth) with a mason jar. I never used yogurt as a starter, but used probiotic capsules (emptying the capsule contents in the milk) and a small amount of honey. The downside to the oven is that the oven is unusable for 24 hours.
Becky Striepe
I put it in the jars so I don't have to wash anything when the yogurt is done, because I store it in the same jars I use to make it. :) Warming the milk is not necessary when you use this method in the Instant Pot. You can use a yogurt starter instead, if you prefer - there are some comments from other folks who have done that successfully.
I hope this helps clarify!
Crystal
Hi,
So you are putting the Mason jars directly in the instant pot without any water on the bottom? The directions that came with the IP say to add water, but they are boiling the milk beforehand. Just thought I’d check before messing it all up! Thanks
Becky Striepe
No water needed in this recipe! I was worried about that, too, the first time, but it works perfectly!
Sean Macleish
How does it "cook" after you the press the yogurt button and set the time? Does it get warm at all because when I have touched the outside of my 3 QT IP, I feel nothing. Just want to make sure I am not missing a step.
Becky Striepe
You're not missing a step! It holds it at a temperature that's ideal for yogurt, which isn't very hot.
Jane
Can I use almond milk instead of soy?
Becky Striepe
I haven't tried it with almond, so I'm not sure. If you do give it a try, I'd love if you left a comment about how it went! I'm sure other folks would want that information, too.
Zona
Yes, many people do that.
Tim
Hi. Thanks a lot for this recipe! For a while I was buying quarts of soy yogurt at Whole Foods, but for some reason those got discontinued. There were 2 companies that made this, one whose name I've forgotten, and the other was called Pam's. But then they stopped selling the stuff. Someone told me that this practice was shut down by the FDA because there were some health code violations involved. I looked around online for some info on that, but never found any.
So I have been trying for a while to make vegan yogurt at home, and there were always problems. Too thin, not enough fermentation, off flavors, et cetera. I was adding thickeners, like Instant Clear Jel, and that helped, but it still was not what I wanted. Then I tried your recipe once, and it works great! So thank you.
Becky Striepe
I'm so glad it was helpful. YES! I remember that good soy yogurt, too and am blanking on the company name. The one I'm thinking of expanded too quickly and ran out of money. Such a sad time. At least now we can make our own.
Melody
They lost their lease on the factory, bought a new one, ramped up and had a problem - I think it was something with the shipper - where the yogurt was going bad before sale. It was very sad because they were earnest and worked hard at creating a quality product, and of course the guy was ruined financially for things that were out of his control.
Becky Striepe
That is such a huge bummer. They made the best soy yogurt!
Bett
That was Whole Soy brand yogurt! I miss it so much!
I was so sad when they shut down. First, they were having problems in the shared factory where they did their thing. So they built a new factory, but only opened (at long last) for a couple of weeks before going completely out of business. It was too bad, because they had a great product.
But I'm not sad any more! This page helped me finally make good yogurt, and I'm going great guns! (And with Westsoy Organic Unsweetened Plain Soymilk costing $2.19 per quart at Trader Joe's, I can afford to once again introduce lots and lots of yogurt back into my life. Next: making my own soymilk! It'll cost even less!)
Here's how it went: I started with a quart and some older probiotics the other day. Nothing happened, so I went out and bought new probiotics, added them to the same jar of soymilk and started it again, and it went like 60! However I let it go too long and it ended up with not a perfect texture, too sour, and with an odd sort of fruity flavor that I found distasteful.
But I started it draining to see how that would go, and meanwhile began another quart and inoculated it with the first batch, and #2 is AWESOME!
I have now started two new quarts using the second batch as the starter, am draining the rest of #2 for Greek yogurt, and have already used about half a cup of it to make an amazing ranch dressing, YUM!
Thanks so much!!!!!!
Becky Striepe
YES - thank you! I miss Whole Soy - they did a great job. I'm glad to hear you could use batch 1 to make a second one - I never remember to start a second batch in time to try!
Trena
I received my instant pot yesterday and could hardly wait for 5 p.m. to start this yogurt recipe. Years ago I had a yogurt maker and tried many many times with pretty bad results, no matter what I did. This morning I was completely delighted when I open the instant pot and found the most perfectly formed yogurt. And it is DELICIOUS! I used the Westsoy milk as you suggested. And my starter was Almond Dream plain low fat yogurt. I set it for 14 hours. I am sure I will enjoy using my new instant pot for many WFPB recipes...but if I only used it for this yogurt, it would be worth it! Thank you so much for this recipe, and I look forward to exploring the rest of your website.
Becky Striepe
Oh I love hearing this! Enjoy your new IP. We use ours a lot, especially for cooking grains and quick soups.
Roger Day
I've made your soy yogurt week after week, month after month, for well over a year. After some initial experimentation with cook time and amount of probiotic to include, I get great results and consistent results. Your original recipe post used probiotic capsules, now you've shifted to existing non-dairy yogurt as starter.
I need help. The last two or three batches - - unlike countless previous batches - - I'm getting huge separation in all the jars (I use 64 oz Edensoy and three probiotic capsules, about 13 hours in IP), again, unlike many many previous batches using same process and ingredients.
Why is this separation occurring now? Thanks!
Bonnie
I’m newly a plant based eater for health reasons. I got an instant pot with yogurt function just to make this recipe ??? Turned out great and has made plant ? based eating so wonderful. I buy the 64oz Westsoy box at my Walmart in Arizona. The cost is about 3.50 a carton ? Thank you for your video?
Becky Striepe
You are so welcome! Thank you for coming back to leave such a thoughtful comment!
kathy
I don't have yogurt button on my instant pot, can I still make yogurt in it and if so how???? So bummed to see no button on mine.
Becky Striepe
Oh no! I am not sure how to do it without one. Basically, what that function does is maintain a specific temperature for the set amount of time. I'm not sure how you'd do that manually. I'm sorry! :(
Sakshi
Hey Kathy!
India has a long tradition of making yogurt without any Instant Pots. We call it Dahi! The key is to keep the temperature constant like Becky says. I usually make yogurt with dairy for which we just heat the milk and let it too cool to a specific temperature and then add starter yogurt. To keep it warm, I wrap the covered jar/ bowl in tea towels or a throw for 5-6 hours and check after that.
You can also use a heating pad on the lowest setting and keep the jars covered with a thick cloth. Making any kind of yogurt comes with practice and the quality does improve with subsequent starter yogurts with each batch.
I am keen to make vegan yogurt at home soon as a lot of readers on our blog have asked for a recipes. Will try Beckie's recipe soon without an Instant Pot and share results with you guys soon! ??
Cheryl
It worked!! I'm so happy! I love my Instant Pot and use it all the time, but had been a little intimidated to make yogurt, since it seemed too complicated, and I'm a lazy cook. This worked on the first try, and the soy yogurt is exactly the way I like it. Thank you thank you! :)
Becky Striepe
Hooray! You sound like me the first time I made IP yogurt. I felt like a wizard!
Lisa
I have a 3 qt instant pot. Can I make yogurt directly in the liner, or is there a reason why I need to use mason jars. Please advise. Thank you.
Becky Striepe
You can do that. I use the jars because they are also the jars I store them in. Less clean-up!
Becky Striepe
I have never done that.
Jim Beerstecher (Jim B)
Thanks so much for this recipe! It's so wonderful to get info that is devoid of plugs, underlying profit motives, and consumerism. I've been making soy yogurt for some time, since about the time I read your blog!
Before I found your recipe, I'd read countless articles and blogs about the bad soybean, special ingredients necessary to make soy yogurt, and health warnings.
It's wonderful! It's simple! It's real food! And it makes a whole bunch for a half cup of organic, non-gmo soybeans and less than half a teaspoon of probiotic powder.
I've made the Greek yogurt style several times, too, but gave up on it in favor of the delicious liquidy yogurt!
Your post is one of the many that have helped me break free of the consumer mentality toward food and health and get my life back on the road and running well. Thanks!
Angela McKee
Hey Becky. I can't believe how easy this sounds. I do like a thicker yogurt texture. What would you think adding a bit of chia would do to the processing?
Thanks for doing all the groundwork for us all ?
Becky Striepe
Ooh interesting! Like ground chia? It’s worth a shot! It does gel up. I think the trick would be getting it smooth enough to not make the yogurt gritty maybe.
Angela McKee
I started my first batch today with your basic ingredients but I'll try the chia and let you know. Wasn't thinking of ground though.
Becky Striepe
I can’t wait to hear what happens!!
Pam
Hi
Thanks for the clear recipe!
It came out really thin?
Did I do something wrong?
Pam
Becky Striepe
No, it is on the thin side unless you use thickeners.
Zahava
Looks great! Does the yogurt need to have live cultures or will any vegan work?
Becky Striepe
It definitely needs to have live cultures.
Heather
Thank you so much for this great recipe! I have been searching for a dairy free recipe that was easy to make. It turned out absolutely perfect just as you said. I love the taste and the texture. Thank you so much for sharing.
Becky Striepe
You are so welcome! I’m delighted to hear it.
Rakefet
I stock up on the Westsoy boxes at our local Austin Trader Joe's. It's $2.50 a box, the cheapest I've found it anywhere. Thanks for the recipe! Can't wait to try it!
Becky Striepe
Ooh I need to heck tjs here!
Jess
So I made this today and it looks like it turned out perfect. However it was done around 9:30 *14 hrs after I set it* but I didn't get home until 1pm. I thought for some reason my IP would stay on but it didn't. Is it bad now? Or will it be safe to eat? I have a toddler and I'm about 11 weeks pregnant so I want to be safe!
Becky Striepe
Oh man. I am not 100% sure. I hate to waste food but I wouldn’t risk it. I’m so sorry!
Jay
Just to be super clear, is the lid off on the pint jars you place in the instant pot? Yogurt making newb here lol
Becky Striepe
Yes, leave the lids off. Happy yogurt-making!!
Linda weinberger
Hi Becky. I alway thought I just have to use the West Soy Organic unsweetened soy milk to make the yogurt in my yogurt maker but yesterday I used the organic unsweetened vanilla soymilk and both my husband and I said it was the best ever. It just has natural vanilla flavor and others natural flavors (not sure what they are)
Linda
Becky Striepe
Ooh this is great to hear! Was it the West Soy brand still or another brand?
Linda weinberger
It was the West Soy brand that I bought by mistake from Wegmans. Didn’t even realize I used it until we tasted it. I thought it tasted a little vanilla but when my husband commented it tasted a little maple, I checked the recycle bin and sure enough it was the West Soy unsweetened vanilla soy milk
Becky Striepe
Ooh a little vanilla and a little maple? Don’t mind if I do!
Linda
Hi Becky
By mistake today I used the Westsoy Organic Original plain soy milk but it wasn’t unsweetened. It has brown rice syrup and sea salt. My yougurt is usually done it 10 hours but I don’t believe it is working because it just take sweet and is not getting tart at all and has not thickened. I’m disappointed. Last week it also did not work too well. Maybe I had the wrong soymilk last week as well. I’ll have a to be more careful. Frustrating since it usually comes out great
West
Becky Striepe
Oh dear! You used the same starter as you usually do?
Linda
Yes same culture but I’m sure this time it was because I bought the sweetened soy milk. It also has sea salt. I’ll try again tomorrow.
Becky Striepe
That is so interesting! Keep me posted for sure!
Linda weinberger
You are not going to believe it but after about 18 hours, I got
Yogurt. Because I bought the sweet soy milk by mistake it much sweeter then we are used too but we’ll eat it anyway.
Becky Striepe
I’m glad it worked out, at least somewhat!
Dee
This is wonderful and I’m so excited to make some vegan yogurt for my daughter who has a severe casein/dairy allergy! I’m just confused because I’ve seen so many people who say that the probiotics need sugar to feed on in order for the process to work (this would be the lactose in dairy) and unsweetened soy milk would need to have sugar (honey, maple syrup or whatever) added in order to work. I guess I can try it first without it, but I’m just baffled because that information seems reasonable, but then this recipe seems to work for lots of folks, so....? Strange! Anyway- will try both ways and see! Thank you!
Roger
Nice connection you’re making, Dee. Remember that sugars occur in various forms. I use Westsoy organic plain (nothing but water and soybeans). A 1-cup serving contains 4 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams of which are sugars. It’s there. No need to add.
Natalia
I am not yogurt lover. I made this first batch from your recipe since my three kids and husband love yogurt on their fruit in the morning. I wanted to report that it is fantastic. Thank you so much for putting this recipe together. I am now using it on my fruit as well!!
Becky Striepe
Oh my gosh, I love to hear that! Thank you, Natalia!
Christine L
Can you use the homemade yogurt as the starter for the next batch? Do you know how many times you can do this?
Becky Striepe
I haven't done this., because I've never been able to time it right with finishing one batch and making the next. There are some comments below suggesting that it won't work, though.
Jill, The Veggie Queen
I have used my yogurt as the starter just once as I often don't want the next batch until the first is done. You use 2 tablespoons per quart. Some people freeze the yogurt to use as starter.
They say that you cannot use the previous batch of yogurt but it seems to work but sometimes it loses strength.
Best idea is to freeze 2 tablespoons in ice cube trays and defrost and use.
Becky Striepe
I knew you'd have the answer, Jill!
Jacqueline
My first try at this and I just checked it (at 9 hours) almost completely liquid still. I hope these last few hours are going to do the trick. I used Westsoy and two tablespoons of So Delicious plain coconut milk yogurt. Going to look for some starter. Maybe I could use Culturelle? Thoughts on how much in each pint jar?
Roger Day
Jacqueline,, my best results have been with Westsoy Plain organic (nothing but soy) and a capsule/powdered probiotic. I've tried from 12 to 18 hours in the IP. The longer the time, the more tangy the yogurt. Please continue to share your results!
Becky Striepe
That's interesting! I usually do 12-14, but it should have thickened up some at 9. The final yogurt is still on the runny side, but it's definitely noticeably thicker than the soymilk. Did you by any chance use the little metal tray that comes with the IP? It will not work if you elevate the jars from the bottom of the canister.
Jacqueline
Update:
Some 15+ hours later I had pretty thin, but set yogurt. I strained and it's creamy and delicious. (Froze the "whey" for smoothie, assuming there's some nutrition in it?) BUT....all that time albeit hands off mostly for essentially one pint of yogurt.
Trying second experiment with one pint of Westsoy + 1 Culturelle capsule. - it is setting but thin, too. I think I'll have to strain as well.
Becky Striepe
Yeah, it's definitely thinner than storebought. Your other option is to add a thickener. I don't use thickenrs, but if you go through the comments on this post, some folks who do talk about how to use them to make thicker yogurt.
Lisa Bartlett
Hello: What thickener would you use? I'm still waiting on my IP (back ordered) and we found out 2 weeks ago my daughter is allergic to milk, so I'm hoping to make this when I get my IP (DUO 8Q). I hope it's not too big).
Becky Striepe
I know a lot of folks use afar agar. I’d definitely do some research on how and when to add it, though. You can also strain through a few layers of cheesecloth for thicker results.
Lisa Bartlett
thank you!
Becky Striepe
You are welcome!
Pamela
Yeah, mine is always thin too. Some people like it like that but I always strain mine and end up with 3 cups yogurt when all is said and done. I actually have a YouTube video that will be released this coming week showing the entire process.
Jacqueline
Keep us posted! I have a Pinterest Board "My InstaPot Adventure" I'm pinning this there and other finds and recipes.
I strained them and wound up losing about 50% to liquid BUT the Westsoy cultured with So Delicious was fab after straining. The Westsoy cultured with Culturelle - flavor was not as nice. Used it up in a curry.
I'm making another batch tonight with Westsoy (my new favorite soy milk, btw) and a lovely new to me nondairy yogurt: "CoYo" free from carageenan, non gmo, vegan, soy, dairy, and gluten free, no added sugar..it's tasty and thick. High hopes for batch #2.
Thanks for all the advice and responses. Even though it's a good chunk of time, it's mostly hands off and the results are so much better than the commercial ones. Though this CoYo is pretty bangin'.
Cheers!
Jacqueline
Keep us posted! I have a Pinterest Board "My InstaPot Adventure" I'm pinning this there and other finds and recipes.
I strained them and wound up losing about 50% to liquid BUT the Westsoy cultured with So Delicious was fab after straining. The Westsoy cultured with Culturelle - flavor was not as nice. Used it up in a curry.
I'm making another batch tonight with Westsoy (my new favorite soy milk, btw) and a lovely new to me nondairy yogurt: "CoYo" free from carageenan, non gmo, vegan, soy, dairy, and gluten free, no added sugar..it's tasty and thick. High hopes for batch #2.
Thanks for all the advice and responses. Even though it's a good chunk of time, it's mostly hands off and the results are so much better than the commercial ones. Though this CoYo is pretty bangin'.
Cheers!
Becky Striepe
Oh wow! I've never seen CoYo. Let us know how it goes!
Jim Beerstecher
Thanks for the tips! I make my own soy milk with organic non-gmo beans. Half cup of soy beans makes over a liter of soy milk in about 15 minutes. I've been making my soy yogurt with it in a small yogurt maker. I can make it thin like your recipe and often I make a thick batch using some agar agar. When it's done, I filter out the whey with cloth. Then I get the thick yummy Greek yogurt style, great for desserts... a few berries on top and WOW!
Will the agar agar clog up the yogurt like those over-the-counter soy milks, with added thickeners do? I didn't see anyone commenting on home made soy milk, so I figure I'll try a batch and see... just got my instant pot today! Any feedback would be appreciated!
Becky Striepe
Ooh that's a good question. I'm not sure how it would work out adding the agar when it goes into the IP, since I don't use it. Your homemade soymilk should work just like the boxed one I buy, since they're the same - just water and soybeans. Definitely report back on what you try and how it goes - I love how the comments on this recipe are becoming a great resource!
Lisa
Hi :) do you add water to the bottom of the IP once the jars are in?
Becky Striepe
No water needed!
WikiPamela
I'm wondering if this would work in a slow cooker set on warm too. It came out amazing in my instant pot, but I really hate tying up my instant pot (even overnight) when it could be doing so much more!
Becky Striepe
I don't think it would. Vibrant Wellness Journal has oven directions, though! May be worth checking out!
Jill, The Veggie Queen
I like to make my yogurt at night when i am not usually cooking which works very well. Nothing like waking up and finding that you have yogurt. I put it on at 8 or 9 at night for 12 hours and it works great.
Becky Striepe
Same here. I do 14 so I start it around 6, so it's ready for breakfast!
Jesse
I'm used to making dairy yogurt in my smart pot, I'm curious about if the boil step is OK to skip with the soy yogurt?
I've noticed too,at least with dairy yogurt making, that sanitizing the smart pot's stainless pot with a cup of water, and 1 min on the manual mode (vent closed) seems to give a good clean slate for the cultures to develop.
Becky Striepe
I have never made dairy yogurt, so it's tricky for me to compare and contrast. The steps listed above are all I do to make our soy yogurt, though. I hope that's helpful!
Roger Day
No need to boil, Becky.
Becky Striepe
Thank you! Wasn't sure if that was something that happened in the pot while I'm sleeping. :)
jem
Hi...I'd like to try this but have some questions about the starter. I hesitate to spend so much on a box of probiotic capsules especially since I understand that they don't last indefinitely. But, aside from that, I can't seem to find plain vegan yogurt without. The closest I can find at Whole Foods, is Kite Hills soy yogurt with flavoring like strawberry and also vanilla almond or coconut yogurt. Is it okay to use any of these with the West Soy soymilk?
Becky Striepe
Hey! Yeah, you can use flavored, but your finished product may have some mild notes of the flavor. I used Kite Hill Peach once in a pinch. It worked, but my yogurt was vaguely peachy tasting. Fine for some uses, though! Plain vegan yogurt works best, but in a pinch you can use flavors.
Annette
I'd like make vanilla flavored...with a little bit of sweetness for my kids...something similar to the Silk brand version. Any suggestions on how to do that?
TIA!
Becky Striepe
Sure! I'd stir in a teaspoon or two of vanilla extract and your favorite liquid sweetener, to taste, when it's all done fermenting.
Roger Day
Thanks for your insights and ND yogurt recipe. We just got an IP and want to make ND yogurt in it. My question: Do you have any experience/knowledge regarding use of a probiotic (capsule or powder) as yogurt starter rather than a small amount of existing ND yogurt? Could I use such a probiotic with the recipe posted here? Thanks for your reply and for all your recipes!
Becky Striepe
Yes! That should work fine. I haven't done it this way, but I have heard other folks say that it works fine. Enjoy your IP!
Annette
The Probiotic works great, and its super easy. i use capsule kind. I use this
Solgar Advanced 40 Plus Acidophilus Vegetable Capsules, 120 Count you can find it on Amazon for about $14 and I use 7 capsules for 64 ounces of the West Soy Milk recommended above. Good luck!
Roger Day
Thanks Annette. I'm experimenting with HOW MUCH probiotic to use as well as HOW LONG to cook in the IP. I use 64 oz Westsoy Organic (nothin' but soy) and powder from capsules of Amazing Flora Probiotic 30 Billion (veggie capsules). I've used 2 or 3 capsules with 64 oz soy milk. I've tried 14 hours and 15 hours cook time. Question: Any suggestions for how to alter these amounts so I get a THICKER as well as TANGIER yogurt? I cook this size batch in 8 narrow glass jars, lids on, in an 8-qrt IP. Thanks for any ideas, suggestions, criticisms!
Becky Striepe
For tangier, go longer! For thicker, you may need to add a thickener, like tapioca starch. No need to put the lids on the jars. Good luck!!
Roger Day
Thanks. Will try that!
Becky Striepe
Let me know what you land on!
Roger Day
Hi Becky . . . experiments continue.
Latest batch: 16 hours in my 8-qt IP using the Yogurt function. Ingredients as here: 64 oz Westoy plain plus probiotics (4 capsules of Amazing Flora Probiotic 30 Billion). Left lids off. The longer time did make yogurt tangier; also, it's a bit stiffer (longer time or more probiotic? Used three capsules last time).
Weird Result: For 7 of the 8 containers, results were identical - - great! For the 8th one, tho, there was a separation in the jar. Bottom half was liquid (whey-like) and the top half resembled in appearance like an old-fashioned natural sponge, full of gaps and fissures and so on. There are two pics of this at http://math.illinoisstate.edu/day/yogurt/yogurt1.jpg and at
http://math.illinoisstate.edu/day/yogurt/yogurt2.jpg.
Wonder if you have any insights about this weird result?
Thanks for your help and all your contributions to my family's good health and good eating!
Becky Striepe
Oh weird! That last jar you describe is exactly how mine turned out when I tried using milks with gums. I am not sure, but I'd love to know what caused that in your batch. And you're so welcome - I'm loving your feedback!
Annette
I use 7 capsules of the probiotic turns out perfectly every time. I cook foe 12 hours.
Ruth
I use 1, 50 billion probiotic capsule in 32 oz of Westsoy soy milk. Shake well, pour into 5 glass jars and place in the instant pot. No lids on until after processing and jars have cooled on the counter. I process for anywhere between 10 and 12 hours, depending on my activities in the morning. I make a batch every 5 days and it always comes out thick enough, though I will sometimes strain it through a coffee filter rubber-banded onto a tall glass if I need it thicker. I don't notice a difference in tanginess with longer processing but it is tangy enough for me. It's the best tasting soy yogurt I have found.
Becky Striepe
Using a coffee filter to strain is genius!
Lucy T
Thanks for this recipe, it works so well ! I really appreciate the super-clear instructions.
Interesting: I tested it with a carton of soy milk that had no gums of any kind but was fortified, (so some vitamins and minerals, water and organic soybeans were the only ingredients) and it didn’t get nearly as thick as the previous batch I had made with just plain soy milk. It did seem to culture and get to the thickness of a really nice and thick buttermilk though, so I’ve been using it in muffins and pancakes etc in place of buttermilk. (I know you can use plant milk plus some apple cider vinegar or lemon juice but this tastes better in my opinion.)
I will make both versions in future! ????
Becky Striepe
That is very cool! And so interesting about the fortified version!
linda
how about using homemade soymilk(from dry beans) to make yogurt?
thanks
Becky Striepe
That should work perfectly!
Jill, The Veggie Queen
I was not successful with my homemade soymilk but others have been able to do it, or so they say. I think that the most success occurs with soy milk from a soymilk maker.
I would try it and see.
Linsey
Do I put the mason jars in the inner pot or do I put the mason jars in without the inner pot?? I just want to make sure I do it right!! Thanks!
Becky Striepe
With the inner pot but not on the little wire rack insert.
Linsey
Ok, that's what I thought but just wanted to make sure before I gave it a go! Thanks
Becky Striepe
No worries! Better to ask than wish you'd asked!
Renee
Should I put my IP lid on 'sealing' or 'venting'?
Becky Striepe
I do sealing for yogurt.
Ruth
I have set the pot on both sealing and venting and the yogurt came out the same.
Becky Striepe
Ooh thank you for sharing this - it's a question I get a lot!
Sarah
Hi! I have a couple of quick questions before embarking on my own :) Can I make more than just the two pints at a time? I still have a ton of space left over in the IP and was wondering if I could double or triple this recipe and do 4 or 6 jars in the IP at the same time. Also, my 6 year old probably won't eat it unsweetened. What would you suggest regarding what type of sweetener to use and when to add it? Thanks so much!
Becky Striepe
Oh sure! If you can fit more jars, you can make more. I can only fit 2 jars into mine. My kid doesn't like it unsweetened either. We stir in maple syrup or jam for him just before serving, but whatever you like would work: sugar, brown sugar, agave, etc are all good!
Sarah
I just put it in the IP! My jars were super full so I separated into 3 pint sized jars, added vanilla bean, and raw cane sugar. I also read through the comments and put it for 11 hours to make it less tart. I hope it turns out!! Just to clarify, I am not supposed to add water to the IP correct? Thanks so much for your help!
Becky Striepe
Sounds amazing! No water and no rack in the IP. I know - it feels wrong at first!
Linda Weinberger
I just made the yogurt and it came good. I did it for 11 hours and a good consistency. It is tart so even less time might be less tart. I have not tasted it cold yet. This is the first time I made a non-dairy yogurt that I did not have to throw out. Before, I was using a yogurt maker, but it always worked with regular skim milk. Now that I stopped using dairy I finally found a recipe that works. I used the Instant pot, but I am going to try the recipe with my yogurt maker. I think the difference for me was the brand soymilk. I used what you suggested.
Becky Striepe
I'm so glad it worked for you! A little sugar will cut the tart as well, if you're cool with adding sugar. I'm glad to know that 11 hours works out okay. Sometimes 14 hours doesn't time out well for my routine!
Linda Weinberger
Becky,
I made the yogurt again in 9 hours. Much less tart but next time I'm going to do about 9-1/2 hours. I always like yogurt because it has calcium. Now, I realized the soymilk West Soy has no calcium. I guess all the commercial non dairy yogurts have added calcium. By the way, I did buy the book Vegan Under Pressure and can't wait to try some of the recipes. Thanks for the recommendation.
Linda.
Becky Striepe
Oh interesting! I hadn't thought about the calcium angle. I guess I count on leafy greens and the fortified soy milk in my coffee for that. Enjoy the book! It's one of the few that I keep in the kitchen, rather than the bookshelf, because I turn to it so often.
Rachel
Just a word about calcium in dairy yogurt: dairy is a moderate source of calcium, and our cultural bias towards dairy’s bone building benefits is actually due to marketing and not science. The animal protein found in dairy undoes all the benefits of the calcium consumed. Here’s why: Animal protein is sulfur based and raises the acidity of our blood and tissues when consumed. The body looks for an acid neutralizer to correct the pH in our system and pulls calcium from our bones to restore the pH. This process is much like taking a tums to neutralize stomach acid. In actuality, we excrete more calcium in our urin than we consumed in our milk, resulting in osteoporosis over time. This is why the only cultures on the planet to suffer osteoporosis are those which consume both meat and dairy—the combination is just too acidic. You’re not losing any dietary calcium in the end when you switch to plant-based yogurt, but are actually preventing calcium loss (Campbell, Colin T., The China Study).
Amy
Can you use other non dairy milks? My son likes almond milk but I do think know if you can get pure almond mild without all the stuff you mentioned. I just got my instant pot today so I am very new to this.
Becky Striepe
I have tried with almond milk that includes gums and it didn't go well, but JL Fields says she did have success with store-bought almond milk. I haven't done a ton of experimenting, though, because my family loves this soy yogurt so much. If you don't mind experimenting (and possibly having to dump the results), it's worth a try! I'd love to hear any success/fail stories you have, if you give it a go!
Laura Ross
I make soy yogurt all the time in quart sized Mason jars using Costco's Kirkland Plain Organic Soymilk that comes 12 to a carton for $14. It works great and is nice and thick. And because the soymilk has calcium and vitamin D added, so does the yogurt.
I usually set it for 12 hours but sometimes pull it out at 8. The longer you leave it, the more tart it is. Younger yogurt has more active bacteria, so it makes a better starter.
Becky Striepe
Interesting! I used 365, and it was awful! Maybe it's got different additives. If I make it to a Costco, I'll pick up a carton to try for sure!
shawna bay
Such a good point with the added calcium and vitamin D with the Costco brand!!
john
Has anyone try to use Costco’s Kirkland Plain Organic Soymilk recently and does it still work?
Becky Striepe
What are the ingredients?
Christine
Yep! I used a whole quart and mixed it with two heaping spoonfuls of Forager Vanilla Yogurt. It had a faint vanilla smell, but no vanilla flavor. It came out perfect and thick! Thicker than this picture used in this recipe. I may try a different milk though, I'm not a huge fan of soy yogurt. I have heard other good results from people using Kirkland brand.
Linda @ Veganosity
I've never made yogurt, I need to change that. Thanks for the tip on the instant pot.
Becky Striepe
You'll love it, Linda!
Vegan Heaven
I don't have an instant pot yet, but this is such a great idea, Becky!! I think I really need to get one soon. I already got a couple of other recipes I wanna try and I'd absolutely love to make this soy yogurt! :-)
Becky Striepe
You would love it! We got rid of our slow cooker, since it also slow cooks, to save space.
Vanessa @ VeganFamilyRecipes.com
What a wonderful idea! Definitely a recipe I need to try. Thanks so much for sharing!
Cadry
This is so great to know, Becky! I don't have an instant pot yet, but I've been considering it for a while. David eats yogurt daily, and at around $2 per container, it adds up!
Becky Striepe
Cadry, you'll love it! The yogurt is a nice money-saver, and so are the beans! Though I still by my white beans in a can, because aquafaba.
Suz
Do you think a few scrapes of vanilla bean would go in while making, or stir in afterwards?
Becky Striepe
Maybe during, to give it time to infuse? I haven't tried, though. I'd love to hear how it goes!
Shoshanah
With regard to using old yoghurt to start a new batch (regardless of whether the old one is commercially-produced or your own), the reason results are inconsistent is that yoghurt goes through stages of different strains of bacteria predominating. So the bacteria in the final product are not the strains you want to be dominant at the start of the process.
Lactic acid bacteria are common in the air though, so I start mine by leaving it exposed for a while before incubating.
Becky Striepe
Ooh thank you! That is super helpful.
Mary
Shoshanah, exactly what do you mean by leaving it exposed (just the commercial yogurt or the milk and yogurt mixture) and exposed as in open to air at room temp...and for how long? TIA
Deanna
May be a silly question.... I Just made the yogurt but used a vegan yogurt starter (because I had one). From now on can I just use the two tablespoons of yogurt from the previous batch I just made or do I need to purchase plain yogurt at the store?
I made mine directly in the pot without jars and then placed in a strainer. Looks pretty good right now.
Becky Striepe
Awesome! I've never tried making in the pot - that's good to know! My quart jar is too tall the pot, so sometimes I put off making yogurt until my pints are clean. Now, I don't have to! And yes! You can use this batch as the starter for the next.
Jill, The Veggie Queen
Deanna,
Sometimes using the yogurt that you just made will work as a starer and sometimes it is less than effective. I have heard about people freezing a few tablespoons right away to use later but I have not tired that.
Yogurt takes on a life of it's own. You can try using some from the batch that you made and see what happens. It's always interesting.
Mel @ avirtualvegan.com
SO easy! I really need to get an Instant Pot. AT about $4.99 per pot vegan yogurt is pretty expensive here. It would save me loads of $$$
Becky Striepe
Mel, you'll love it! And the Instant Pot Duo is a slow cooker, too, so you can sell or donate your slow cooker to save some kitchen space. We got rid of our slow cooker and rice cooker when we got the IP!
Kristina
14 hours is forever! hee! this reminds me of the homemade yogurt my mom made when I was a kid - I am excited to try this!
Becky Striepe
Haha it really is! When I first started making it, the name suddenly "Instant" Pot felt pretty ironic.
Aimee / Wallflower Kitchen
This is so good to know! I am trying to eat more probiotic food and want to try making my own yoghurt (I used to make it ages ago but used probiotic powder and other expensive ingredients...) this looks much more straight forward :-)
Becky Striepe
Aw I'm glad it was helpful! It's seriously so easy.
Jill, The Veggie Queen
Thank you so much for mentioning me and my book Vegan Under Pressure. The more we can get people to take control of their food the better.
Great post.
I make my yogurt in jars only because I find it less messy that way. as you likely know, I am an efficient (i.e. "lazy") cook which is why I use the Instant Pot and other pressure cookers.
Becky Striepe
You are so welcome. I'm a huge fan of your books! We have a small stack of favorite cookbooks that live in the kitchen, and Vegan Under Pressure is on top! Some weeks, I use it every day. Your cooking times/amounts for grains and veggies are so much better than in the IP manual, and your recipes are fantastic!
Jill, The Veggie Queen
Thank you so much Becky. Like you, I love to help people eat better and better tasting food.
Vegan Under Pressure was a labor of love.
Jenn
LOVE this! I have yet to use the yogurt function too and I always thought it would be so intimidating. But, clearly, it's super easy. WestSoy is the ONLY soy milk I buy and I've got about 4 boxes at anyone time in my pantry. LOL! I don't like to run out of stuff. :) I am SO trying this! Question - what would happen if I used 2 tbsp of flavored yogurt? Does it have to be plain?
And I need to get Jill's book. It's been on my wish list forever and I'm not sure what I'm waiting for. I have to take off at least 5 minutes for grains, beans, etc, that the Instant Pot booklet calls for and it's annoying.
Becky Striepe
That's a good question! Sometimes the flavor gets diluted so you don't taste it. I did one batch with kite hill peach as my starter, and the resulting pints did taste vaguely peachy. It was still good, but definitely not plain yogurt! Definitely get Jill's book! It's so good. I use it all the time!
Jenn
Ok, thanks! I've got some flavored yogurts in the fridge right now, so thought I might try it. :) I'll let you know what happens.
Becky Striepe
Please do! I feel like it depends on how strong the flavor is. Happy fermenting!