I’ve said it before, I love my slow cooker. Besides being useful for making hot dinners in advance, I use mine to cook so many things that I’d be stuck at the stove monitoring otherwise. Being able to set it and forget it is a lifesaver with a little one. Once a meal is in the slow cooker cooking, I don’t have to worry about stepping away to take Baby G to the nursery for a nap or bedtime. It’s also helpful in preparing thrifty recipes. My favorite money saving items to cook in a slow cooker are beans (so much cheaper than canned!) and chicken stock.
When I came across a recipe for Slow Cooker Yogurt on Pinterest, I was fascinated. You may come from a family that makes homemade dairy products all the time, but not I. Sure, I’ve tried homemade ice cream made with an ice cream maker, and I once made homemade butter at school, but yogurt? I didn’t know people made their own yogurt, much less in a slow cooker. I clicked on the link and eagerly read the instructions. When I started reading about the special digital thermometer you had to carefully run into the slow cooker, I realized that recipe wasn’t for me. Maybe one day I’ll shell out the money for a fancy themometer, but it’s just not in my budget right now.
That’s why I was so excited when I came across www.joyfullythriving.com‘s post about how to make homemade vanilla yogurt in a slow cooker. No thermometers involved! I pinned it right away.
Pass or Fail?
I promise, not every pin test automatically passes. In fact, I just made a dish the other day that I couldn’t say passed the test, but this yogurt? It passed! Not only is this a great money saving recipe, it’s delicious and so easy to make!
I chose to use whole milk when I made my yogurt, but the original post says you can use 2%. I also chose organic milk, since it has a longer shelf life.
The hardest part about the recipe is the waiting. It’s seriously so simple, but there is a lot of hands off cooking time. I was so eager to try it, but by the time it was done cooking, I was already in bed. Luckily Gary very kindly offered to put it in the fridge for me, where I found it for breakfast the next morning.
My favorite thing about this recipe is that it’s only four ingredients: milk, vanilla extract, a small amount of yogurt with live active cultures to get things started, and sugar. I actually chose to leave the sugar out since I knew I could always mix some in later. It turned out just like the plain yogurt I’ve purchased at the store, but so much cheaper.
I also tried straining some to make a thicker yogurt. I used doubled up coffee filters, which worked well. I strained mine for about three hours. It wasn’t as thick as Greek yogurt, but I think with a longer straining time it would be pretty close. Now that I know that I’ll repeat this recipe however, I plan to invest in some cheesecloth to use next time.
To view the full recipe and instructions, head over to joyfullythriving.com or click here.
Hi, Rachael! I’m so glad you liked the yogurt. I had the same disbelief when I first made it. It can’t really be this easy, can it? But it is! I make a batch every other week or so because my 17th month old loves yogurt…and milk is so much cheaper than yogurt. Thanks for sharing my recipe and your success! I love seeing what other pins you are trying. I need to start working through all my pins on Pinterest.
I do love how cheap this recipe is! I still have so many pins to try, and of course keep adding new ones all the time, lol. 🙂