How I Make GAPS Yogurt in the Instant Pot

Making your own yogurt is easy using an instant pot! Follow these steps for delicious, creamy yogurt with many health benefits. GAPS yogurt is great for the GAPS diet or anyone who wants the benefits of home cultured yogurt without fuss.

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As familiar as yogurt is, most of us didn’t really grow up with yogurt.

If, like me, you had the fruit-flavored yogurt from the store for decades, you may not know what I mean! After all, the yogurt part of the dairy case is pretty large in most grocery stores. You can even buy a cup of yogurt at coffee shops and gas stations these days.

True, but it is only sort-of-yogurt, usually. Between the sugar, weird additives, and the effects of processing for mass marketing, those cups of yogurt aren’t much like the real thing. They taste good, and they offer some health benefits (along with downsides for our health), and they are certainly convenient.

They don’t, however, offer the richness of home-cultured yogurt. Which is pretty easy to make, actually!

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Why make GAPS yogurt at home?

Whether you are on the GAPS diet or have never heard of it, there are good reasons to make your own yogurt. The process takes time, but the amount of active time you need to spend on it is small. The process is easy, and yogurt tastes good. You can just as well make a lot as a little, so making a big batch means plenty of yogurt for little effort!

For those on the GAPS diet, you want to follow the GAPS instructions (which are good for anyone!) because of the sugar in milk. While on the GAPS diet (to heal the gut and related health problems), one of the goals is to minimize sugars that feed “bad bacteria”. We want the good bacteria to prevail and build a healthy microbiome to support our health while we also heal the gut lining.

Milk has lots of sugar in it, which is good for feeding babies, but also good for harmful bacteria. We minimize the sugar content in milk by fermenting it for at least 24 hours on the GAPS diet. The cultures consume the sugar, so when you eat the yogurt, you aren’t getting much, if any, sugar from the milk.

This long fermenting time also gives you lots of beneficial bacteria. It’s a double whammy of sorts– starve the bad bacteria and add more good bacteria! Most store-bought yogurt is cultured for just a few hours– maybe 4-8– so the 24-hour yogurt is a quite different food.

How to Make GAPS Yogurt

There is more than one way, of course. I like to use an instant pot for ease and convenience.

You can use other methods– a yogurt maker is an obvious choice, but people find ways to use a slow cooker, a sous vide, a dehydrator, a cooler, or the pilot light in the oven. I have also just mixed yogurt into milk and left the jars on the counter! I have used the slow cooker and pilot light methods for making coconut milk yogurt, and they work. Just be sure you do 24 hours if you try these methods!

Instant pots vary, so you may need to tinker with yours a bit. If you have one with a yogurt function, it is pretty simple! (I have this one.) While I am not a huge fan of pressure cooking, this is an appliance with many uses. I like to avoid single-use appliances, so I appreciate that part. That said, I use it for yogurt often, and occasionally run into trouble when I also need it for another purpose while the yogurt is still doing its thing.

Heat the milk

I use raw milk most of the time, and it really needs to be heated to make yogurt. The reason is that the (also beneficial) microbes in raw milk may compete with the ones you are adding to make yogurt, with a thin, milky result that doesn’t seem like yogurt. Heat to 180° F to avoid this result if you use raw milk.

I do this using the sauté function. I usually just heat it until it is just about to simmer (if you forget and it boils, don’t worry!), then let it cool until lukewarm. It turns out fine!

Better yet, check with a thermometer. Heat to 180° F and then let it cool to 110° F. I use my meat thermometer (when I bother checking the temperature!). Did I mention I like multi-purpose tools? You can use other types of thermometers– use the one you have.

Cool the milk before adding cultures

It is crucial that you cool the milk (to around 110° F) before adding cultures to your milk. If you add them too soon, the heat will kill them off and you won’t end up culturing yogurt at all!

Once the milk is cooled (110° F will feel slightly warm), whisk in your culture. I use yogurt, either store bought or from the last batch of yogurt, or you can use purchased yogurt cultures. A third to half a cup of yogurt is fine for a gallon of milk.

You can use powdered cultures, which is good to do if you don’t have plain yogurt. You might also prefer that if you are targeting specific cultures for some reason. I know the yogurt from the store lists the cultures it is supposed to contain, but that is not always reliable. Also, you may want particular strains, like L. reuteri for SIBO, for example.

Culture the yogurt

Once your starter culture is whisked in, put the lid on the instant pot. Select the yogurt setting, and the amount of time you want. 24 hours for GAPS or SCD! Otherwise, the time is up to you. Longer means more sour and higher benefits with less lactose. It may be thicker, as well, though I haven’t made shorter-cultured yogurt enough to be sure about that.

Cool the yogurt

You will see, when you open the lid, that the milk has thickened into yogurt! However, it will thicken more as it cools.

If you plan to use the yogurt as-is, you can put it into whatever container you want in the refrigerator. Either large containers with lids to scoop servings out of later on or individual-size jars with lids are fine.

If, like me, you like very thick yogurt, you may consider straining some of the whey out. To do this, first chill the yogurt. If you don’t, it will go straight through your cloth! Get it fully chilled first!

Then, line a colander with a clean cloth. Most people recommend cheese cloth. I prefer a flour sack towel. They are easier to wash and re-use and, yes, they have other uses in the kitchen. I have something like these and they are sturdy and last for a long, long time.

Set the lined colander over a large bowl. Scoop all the yogurt into it and let it drip through the cloth until it is the thickness you like. Some people gather up the towel and hang it from a hook or a shelf or something. You can do that, but it works even if you don’t. I like to gather the towel up so that the yogurt is not exposed to any flies or anything that may drop in.

Now, when your yogurt has dripped enough that you like the thickness, scoop it out of the towel and store it in jars in the refrigerator. I like to put it into half-pint jars with plastic lids, leaving enough room at the top to add toppings for individual servings. (More on that later.)

Chill and eat!

This part is obvious enough– set your yogurt jars back in the refrigerator! We usually eat it within a week, but I have had it as long as 2 weeks.

You will have a good amount of whey at the end. Don’t throw it away! It is liquid gold… I use it to ferment almond flour sometimes, and often use it to make bubbly lemonade or root beer. There are many uses of whey– check them out here! Also, whey is packed with more nutrition that just probiotics, so you can do really simple things like adding it to smoothies and even soups.

Ways to serve GAPS Yogurt

This GAPS yogurt is fine to eat plain! You can also use it as you would any plain yogurt, like in dips, sauces, and in place of sour cream. You can also drip even more whey out so it becomes as thick as cream cheese. Spread as you would cream cheese or make cream cheese frosting!

These are some of my favorite toppings for GAPS yogurt:

• berries– fresh or frozen, plain or with honey
• walnuts and honey, maybe with a sprinkle of cinnamon
• berry sauce
• especially in the fall, cranberry sauce
• any jam you like
• pumpkin or apple butter

Questions about GAPS Yogurt

Do I have to use raw milk?

No, you can use pasteurized or low temp pasteurized milk.

Can I use goat or sheep milk?

I haven’t tried it, but I think so. It will probably be thinner.

Can I use coconut milk?

You can make yogurt with coconut and other milks, but I don’t recommend making them this way. I used to make coconut milk yogurt when my son was allergic to milk. It doesn’t thicken well on its own, and it lacks the sugar needed to feed the cultures. Instead, do something like this.

What if I accidentally added the starter culture while the milk was still hot?

It won’t culture, most likely, but you can rescue it.

Just let it cool and add a starter culture all over. I have done this a couple of times. It still works as long as you add fresh culture before proceeding.

What if my yogurt turns out too thin?

This has happened to me. It is usually because of using too much starter, too little starter, not getting the milk hot enough, or adding the culture while the milk was too hot.

If the yogurt is thin when you open the lid, chill it well and see how it is then. Yogurt thickens a lot as it cools.

If it is thin after chilling, but smells sour like yogurt, you could try straining it as suggested. If it all falls through the towel, maybe consider it sort of like kefir. Use it for smoothies and try again.

What if my yogurt goes bad?

If it goes bad, throw it out! I have never had that happen, though. Be sure you start with clean tools and follow the directions, and it isn’t likely to go bad. It will smell “off” and foul rather than sour if it is spoiled.

What if the yogurt separates?

If you end up with white yogurt separated from yellowish, partly clear whey, the yogurt has separated. This isn’t a bad thing, necessarily. I have not had that happen making yogurt this way, but I have had it happen using the countertop method. I have also had it happen with kefir and sour cream. It usually seems to be a result of over-fermenting.

You could just stir it back together and eat it.

You could also pour off the whey and eat the thicker yogurt. Save the whey for other uses! It is useful and beneficial.

Check out my other article about how to flavor your yogurt.