Sous Vide Yogurt

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This sous vide yogurt recipe makes an amazingly creamy, tangy yogurt that you just don't get with store bought yogurt.

Using a Greek yogurt as a starter makes this recipe super easy and you can use it to make yogurt over and over again in your own kitchen.

While this sous vide yogurt is great served for breakfast with some granola, fresh berries, honey, or whatever you like, it is also amazing used in sauces (like this garlic honey sauce in this baked parsnip fries recipe).

I love the ability to control the amount of sweet in my yogurt, and absolutely LOVE the tanginess of this homemade version.

Why This Recipe Works

• The sous vide makes this recipe pretty hands off once it is placed in the water bath.
• You have the ability to adjust the cook time depending on your tanginess preference.
• It is a lot cheaper to make at home than it is to buy from the store. 
• Using 1 container of Greek yogurt as a starter makes this recipe ultra easy.

What is Sous Vide?

Sous vide is basically a method of cooking using what is called an immersion circulator. This immersion circulator circulates water in a temperature controlled water bath at a certain temperature to perfectly cook your food every time.

Because the temperature doesn't change, and it keeps your meat (or dessert, veggies, etc.) at the same temperature, your risk of overcooking becomes very minimal.

To learn even more about sous vide cooking, head over and read "what is sous vide cooking."

If you don't have a lot of experience cooking sous vide yet, you may want to pop over and read what sous vide cooking is and some tips.

Ingredients

A good quality pasteurized milk should be used in this recipe. Do not use raw milk as it can possibly contain listeria and can make you ill.

Using a high protein milk will result in a thicker yogurt that may not even need to be strained. Use a brand such as Fairlife or Horizon.

Any Greek yogurt containing live cultures will work for this. You can also use regular yogurt as long as it is plain and contains cultures.

I prefer the Greek as it is thicker and tangier and results in a thicker, tangier yogurt.

Step By Step Instructions

Heat a sous vide water bath to 110F degrees.

Place the milk in a pot and heat to 180F degrees, whisking regularly to prevent it from scalding and sticking to the pot.

The milk gets heated because milk often has some level of bacteria in it and heating to 180F degrees will kill any bacteria, making it safer to use for making yogurt. Heating it first also makes for a creamier end product which is an added plus!

Once it's at 180F degrees, remove the pot from the heat and place in an ice bath to cool to 110F degrees.

Once at 110F degrees, whisk in the Greek yogurt. For a thicker yogurt, cook at 115F degrees.

Pour the mixture into either cleaned 4 ounce balls jars for individual servings, or larger balls jars, as long as they have lids.

Tighten the lids "finger tight," or tight just to where your finger tips feels the lid grab the threads. *Don't overtighten or your jars may crack under the pressure. Don't leave too loose or water can get into your jars. You'll feel it when it's right.

Place the jars in the sous vide water bath and cook for 12 hours. If you like less tangy yogurt, cook for only 8 hours, and more tangy you can cook up to 24 hours.

Remove the jars from the water bath and wipe the moisture off them.

Store in the fridge overnight to fully cool.

For extra thick yogurt, you can strain it through cheesecloth to remove any extra moisture.

Otherwise, serve it garnished with drizzled honey and fresh fruit.

How to Prevent Jars From Cracking in the Sous Vide

Jars can crack if they experience thermal shock or too much pressure.

To prevent thermal shock, we place the jars in the water bath before heating the water. This allows the jars to come slowly to temperature, which should keep them from cracking.

Jars can also crack if there is too much pressure. If they are tightened too tightly, they will crack.

To prevent cracking under pressure, we tighten the jars "fingertip tight." What this means is that we tighten the lids until we barely feel it grab the jar. It should be easy to twist the lid back off with your fingertips, hence the term.

It may feel like it's not closed all the way, but as long as you felt that slight grab, it'll be fine.

Expert Tips

1. Use a good quality pasteurized whole milk for the best flavor results.
2. Do not use raw milk as it can contain unwanted bacteria that can make you ill.
3. You can use regular yogurt instead of Greek yogurt, as long as it has cultures.
4. Heat the milk per the instructions as it will kill any bacteria and give you a thicker creamier result.
5. You can also heat the milk in the sous vide bath at 180F degrees if you don't want to worry about boiling it over. It will take longer and you will need to cool the bath down to 110F or 115F before putting the yogurt back in.
6. For a thicker yogurt, cook at 115F degrees.
7. For a thicker, tangier yogurt, cook up to 24 hours.
8. For a less tangy yogurt, cook for 8 hours.
9. The yogurt can be strained through a mesh strainer and/or cheesecloth if you want a thicker yogurt.

Serving Options

Yogurt has so many serving options that aren't always just in a bowl with some fruit (although, that is always delicious too). Here are some fun ideas:

• Harissa yogurt dip used in these corn fritters;
• Stirred into this instant pot chicken curry soup;
• Used in this mango lassi;
• Served with granola, fruit and/or honey;
• You can use it in place of cream in many dishes to make them healthier;
• Use it as a marinade like we do in this whole roasted indian chicken;
• Stir it into Indian curries like these:
  • Spicy potato curry
  • Tomato curry
  • Egg curry
  • Eggplant curry
  • Instant pot chana masala
  • Cauliflower tikka masala

Frequently Asked Questions

Storage

Sous vide yogurt can be store in the fridge in a covered container for up to 2 weeks.

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment below and let me know how it turned out!