Making your own homemade yogurt is surprisingly easy, and quite delicious! Not only can you customize it with a ton of different flavors, but it can save you some serious mula as well. (This post contains affiliate links.)
Even though it can save you some money, I first got interested in homemade yogurt when I realized how much sugar is in store bought yogurt. My mom is the queen of all things awesome and homemade (she showed me how to make homemade fruit snacks, among many other things). And when I brought up the high sugar content of yogurt, she told me all about how she makes her own.
The method I’m going to talk about today uses a yogurt maker. The investment is minimal, and makes homemade yogurt practically set it and forget it.
How to Make Homemade Yogurt
This recipe is for Fruit on the Top Strawberry Yogurt. By no means does that mean you have to use strawberry preserves, or preserves at all!
Ingredients:
- 5 Cups Milk – We use whole milk but any other kind would work. Anything below 2% probably just won’t produce as thick of a consistency.
- 1/4 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt- This is to use as a starter culture. After you make your first homemade yogurt batch, then you can use that is your starter culture
- 1/4 Cup Honey or Agave Nectar
- Optional Fruit Preserves to Taste
Directions:
1. Before you get started with making the yogurt, fill half your kitchen sink, or a large container, full of ice and water. This is so you can quickly cool the milk off once it’s heated up.
2. This specific yogurt maker comes with seven 6 ounce glass cups to make the yogurt in. Use one of the cups to measure the milk into a large sauce pan seven times.
3. Slowly bring the milk up to a soft bubbly boil. You don’t want a crazy rolling boil, but the kind that makes little teeny bubbles on the surface of the milk like below. DON’T WALK AWAY! The second you do the milk will boil over, I promise!
4. Once you spot the teeny bubbles, put your pot into that sink full of ice water you made a few minutes ago.
5. Let it cool down to about 115ºF, or until you can comfortably stick your finger in it for at least 5 seconds.
6. In a small bowl, wisk the plain yogurt “starter” with about 1/4 cup of the warm milk. This gently eases the yogurt into the rest of the process
7. Place that mixture back in the pot of milk and stir it all together
8. Stir the 1/4 of honey in.
9. Now you’re ready to pour the combined milk, honey, and plain yogurt into the glass jars.
10. Put the lids on the jars and let them incubate happily in their little yogurt maker for 7 hours. If you ended up getting the milk cooled off a little too much, it may take a little longer. For this batch I got sidetracked and my milk was practically cold again when I put it in the jars… I let it incubate for 9 hours instead of 7.
11. Seven short hours later, you have homemade yogurt! Stick them in your fridge and let them cool off a bit.
12. Now’s the time to add a layer of fruit, or fruit jam on top of the yogurt.
13. Enjoy!

Ingredients
- 5 Cups Milk - We use whole milk but any other kind would work. Anything below 2% probably just won't produce as thick of a consistency.
- 1/4 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt- This is to use as a starter culture. After you make your first homemade yogurt batch, then you can use that is your starter culture
- 1/4 Cup Honey or Agave Nectar
- Optional Fruit Preserves to Taste
Instructions
- Before you get started with making the yogurt, fill half your kitchen sink, or a large container, full of ice and water. This is so you can quickly cool the milk off once it's heated up.
- This specific yogurt maker comes with seven 6 ounce glass cups to make the yogurt in. Use one of the cups to measure the milk into a large sauce pan seven times.
- Slowly bring the milk up to a soft bubbly boil. You don't want a crazy rolling boil, but the kind that makes little teeny bubbles on the surface of the milk like below. DON'T WALK AWAY! The second you do the milk will boil over, I promise!
- Once you spot the teeny bubbles, put your pot into that sink full of ice water you made a few minutes ago.
- Let it cool down to about 115ºF, or until you can comfortably stick your finger in it for at least 5 seconds.
- In a small bowl, wisk the plain yogurt "starter" with about 1/4 cup of the warm milk. This gently eases the yogurt into the rest of the process
- Place that mixture back in the pot of milk and stir it all together
- Stir the 1/4 of honey in.
- Now you're ready to pour the combined milk, honey, and plain yogurt into the glass jars.
- Put the lids on the jars and let them incubate happily in their little yogurt maker for 7 hours. If you ended up getting the milk cooled off a little too much, it may take a little longer. For this batch I got sidetracked and my milk was practically cold again when I put it in the jars... I let it incubate for 9 hours instead of 7.
- Seven short hours later, you have homemade yogurt! Stick them in your fridge and let them cool off a bit.
- 12. Now's the time to add a layer of fruit, or fruit jam on top of the yogurt.
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