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This is your foolproof guide to making healthy homemade Greek yogurt. With just two simple ingredients and basic kitchen tools, you can enjoy homemade Greek yogurt that is healthier and more flavorful than store-bought versions.
save this recipe!Milk is made up of casein and whey. While whey is the watery substance left when the milk curdles, casein is what curdles and is used to make cheese and yogurt! And the best part? This process is incredibly easy to do at home!
Hundreds of people have used this recipe to successfully make yogurt in their kitchens—yours next?
- Control the ingredients: No thickeners or added sugars—just milk and live cultures (aka yogurt).
- Budget-friendly: A quart of homemade yogurt costs a fraction of the store-bought stuff.
- Double-duty: You also get whey (the leftover liquid), which you can use in smoothies, bread, or cooking grains.
Reader rating
“I just gave it my first go and it turned out perfect! Never dreamed making yogurt was so easy!” —Nicole
Just 2 Ingredients
Yogurt is a fermentation (just like kefir, kombucha, and kimchi), meaning it’s created by adding some bacteria (yogurt) to a sugar-containing substance (milk) and letting the bacteria eat up the sugar. So to make yogurt at home, you’ll just need 2 ingredients:
- Yogurt: Use a good-quality yogurt with live or active cultures listed on the label. (After this first batch, all future batches can use what you made as the yogurt starter. You’ll never need to buy it again!)
- Milk: Whole-fat milk produces the best texture for homemade yogurt.
This is just an overview; jump to the recipe card for measurements!
The process is simple
This is just an overview; jump to the recipe card for full printable instructions and step-by-step photos!
- Heat the milk: Warm milk to 185–200°F. This changes its proteins so the yogurt thickens properly.
- Cool it down: Quickly cool to 100–110°F. This is the ideal temp for activating the yogurt cultures.
- Add the starter: Whisk in live culture yogurt to introduce the bacteria that make yogurt.
- Ferment: Cover and let sit in a warm spot (like the oven with the light on) for 4–8 hours to thicken and develop tang.
- Strain (optional): For Greek yogurt, strain in the fridge until it reaches your preferred consistency.
- Store and enjoy: Chill and use as you would store-bought yogurt—sweet or savory!
Tips For Success
Keep it warm: The oven light should be enough, but if your kitchen’s cold, turn the oven on for one minute every few hours to gently rewarm.
Tanginess depends on time: A 4-hour ferment makes mild yogurt. Closer to 8 hours = tangier.
Save some as a starter: You can use a few tablespoons of your homemade batch as a starter for the next one.
More than just for breakfast
Use your freshly made Greek yogurt to whip up Spinach Artichoke Dip or Healthy French Onion Dip. And my favorite way to use Greek yogurt? In this quick and easy tzatziki sauce!
How to Make Greek Yogurt (No Special Equipment)
Equipment
- Medium pot with lid, aim for the heaviest/thickest pot you have
- Kitchen thermometer
- Quart-sized jar or bowl
- Mesh sieve
- Cheesecloth or thin dishcloth, coffee filters, paper towels etc. placed inside a mesh strainer
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole milk, 960 mL
- ¼ cup plain store-bought yogurt, ensure the container says “live” or “active” cultures, 60 g
Instructions
- Heat Milk: Place 4 cups whole milk in a medium pot and heat to 185-200°F (85-93°C), stirring frequently to preventing a skin from forming.
- Cool Bath: Transfer the pot with milk to an ice bath (I filled my sink with ice and water), to cool milk to 100-110°F (37-43°C).
- Mix: Add ¼ cup plain store-bought yogurt to the cooled milk and whisk well to combine.
- Ferment: Cover jar or bowl with a lid, wrap in a moist, warm towel to keep in heat, and place in oven. Turn on oven light to keep warm, and let the bacteria do its yogurt making magic for 4 to 8 hours (or overnight).*
- Strain: You can eat the yogurt like this, or strain it to make Greek yogurt. To strain, line a mesh sieve with cheesecloth (or paper towels, coffee filters etc), and pour yogurt in. Place over a large bowl and let strain in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight), until it’s reach a consistency you like.
- Serve chilled with your favorite yogurt toppings, or use it in a recipe as you would store-bought yogurt!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information calculated by Sarah Bond, degreed nutritionist.
did you make this?Leave a comment below and tag @liveeatlearn on social media! I love seeing what you’ve made!
Can’t wait to try it! How can I make vanilla and other fruit yogurts?
You would just add those after your yogurt is finished! Start with a small amount of vanilla extract and work up. For fruits, you can puree fresh fruit and stir them in 😀
I’m so confused on why there’s a recipe to make yogurt out of yogurt.. I mean it’s already yogurt but I can understand if it were merely how to turn yogurt into Greek. I want to know how to add berries for flavor. Also if you’re turning the oven on there’s really no savings but great idea to make Greek yogurt.
You need a tiny bit of yogurt as the starter to make a lot of yogurt (it has all the bacteria in it to get things going!)
Running my 40W oven light for the max 8 hours of this recipe costs me $0.0472 USD. My cost to make it is roughly $1.25 per 32 oz ($1.00 milk + $0.14 stove electricity + $0.05 oven light). You might be able to find it at that price, I can not. I would be spending at least $6.00 per 32 oz of Greek yogurt from the store unless it’s on sale. Making more things from the same milk helps in it’s own ways as well though. Making yogurt, ricotta, skyr or something else can also be a great way to use up extra milk before it goes bad. After making yogurt, I put away a quarter to half a cup of it to inoculate the next batch.
Most people I know, make their own yogurt for the health benefits. Store bought yogurt does not have ALL the good bacteria your gut needs to function properly. Most of your health is a direct cause of your gut health. Even Most skin issues like eccsama etc are caused from bad gut health. Store bought yougurt (no matter what the label states) does not have enough good bacteria to be bennificial for your health. The grocery store will decieve you at every turn.
Hi, in the photo it looks like you are using a normal size Mason jar which I think holds two cups? Do I need to do an eighth cup yogurt per two cups of milk for two jars? Or do you have a four cup jar suggestion? Thanks in advance.
Disregard this question–I have a Mason jar that does hold four cups.
I believe this is the 4 cup (quart-sized) mason jar pictured! The size honestly doesn’t matter much though, just keep ratios the same 😀
Just made yoghurt for the first time ever – it’s delicious! My oven has a bread proving setting (couldn’t find how to just have light on!) which meant I didn’t have to wrap in towel – easy peasy 😊
How can you make this Non fat Greek yogurt? Thats what we usually buy…
That’s a bit tougher actually, and you may have to supplement with milk powder!
I followed the instructions and in the end the consistency is still super thin just like the milk? What went wrong?
It sounds like it may just not have fermented for long enough! Does it taste tangy like yogurt?
Same!! I’ve looked around and found it needs to simmer at that 185-200 temp for 10-30 minutes!! This was not mentioned anywhere and at 11pm I’m starting over and so disappointed
This hasn’t been necessary in my experience, but I’ll retest using this method 😀
Greek yogurt Is the bacteria already in the milk, or is it added?
Is it suitable for the lactose intolerant ?
It’s added when you add the yogurt in the beginning! It’ll divide and multiply 🙂
Lactose isn’t removed during the process. To make lactose free yogurt with real milk, I suggest trying Lactaid or another lactose free milk with a lactose free yogurt starter (if it exists).
Can you use Greek yogurt to make the yogurt or do you need plain yogurt
You can use either! It just needs to have live bacteria in it 🙂
Hi Sarah,
As a person of Greek origin living in Australia that also lived in Greece for 17 years and ate a lot of Greek yogurt while living there, can I just share one important fact about Greek Yogurt. In Greece, yogurt is never made with cows milk. It is either made with just sheep milk, goat milk or most commonly and also commercially, a combination of sheep and goat milk. This is what gives Greek yogurt the distinct flavour, texture and consistency that has made it so famous, that is, never using cows milk. Interestingly, this exact rule applies to Greek Feta in Greece.
Your Blog Is great!
Great information. I love learning about other cultures and this is shocking, interesting, and appreciated by me. Thanks!
Thank you, I keep telling people that! I lived in Greece for a while and never saw yogurt made with cows milk! In fact, I only ever saw one cow there. Sheep’s milk makes such good yogurt.
Can you use Greek yoghurt instead of thick cream in a recipe?
Yep it’s usually pretty interchangeable! It may just give the dish a more tart flavor.