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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!
I followed the directions, easy, and the yogurt is amazing. I strained it to make Greek yogurt. My surname is of Greek origin, Koine Greek actually. It’s allot of fun! It’s delicious, give it a try!
So happy you liked making it! Now you’ve got to take it even further back to your Greek roots and make some yogurt tzatziki 😉
When I make Greek Yogurt I add an equivalent amount of good quality dry milk powder before pasturizing the liquid. (before heating it to 185). That removes the need to strain it and I end up with twice the amount of yogurt. If I have two gallons of whole milk, I add enough powdered milk to make 2 gallons of skim milk but without the water.
Thanks for the tip, Karen!
Thanks for this easy-to-follow tutorial & recipe! I have never made yogurt before, but I’m excited to try it. One of my motivations for doing this is to reduce the amount of plastic I’m buying/using and we eat yogurt all the time so this will make a big difference if it works out.
I just have 1 concern that I’m hoping you can help me with. I see you calculated this at 281 calories per cup. How did you calculate this, is just the calories in the ingredients divided by the number of servings or does something change during the fermentation process? Also, what about if we do the straining step and take out the whey, if that is protein then it has calories, right?
I usually buy the Fage 2% Greek yogurt which is 160 calories per cup, so I’m hoping to be able to make something pretty close to this consistency and calorie content.
Thanks!
Hi Camille! SO AWESOME that you’re being intentional about reducing your plastic. The world needs more people like you!
After you pointed out the nutrition info, I started digging and it seems that Greek yogurt can range a LOT in nutritional value, primarily based on how much liquid is drained from it. I based my calculations loosely on the store bought Greek yogurts available to me here (because indeed, the nutritional profile changes as it ferments). But after digging into it more now, I’ve slightly revised what is probably more true for this whole milk yogurt. You can get the calories per cup a bit lower by using 2% milk 🙂
Enjoy!
Um… Excuse me for out speaking, but you said this is homemade yogurt when one of the ingredients is STORE BOUGHT YOGURT! That defeats the purpose of calling this homemade.
Hi there! You need a “starter” for any fermentation, yogurt included. After the first batch, you can just use the yogurt you made previously as starter 😀
Perfect super food
I put a big cast iron dutch oven in the oven and turn the light on an hour in advance. The iron will provide a stable thermal mass and keep the warmth better 🙂
This. Is. BRILLIANT! SO trying it next time, thanks for the tip! 😀
You have a knack for explaining food and processes.
Thank you girlie
Aw, thanks so much Farah! 😀
My life will truly never be the same! I go through 1 750g tub of Greek yogurt myself every 3 days max! It gets pretty expensive so when my husband suggested looking up how to make it myself I was hesitant at first because obviously I love yogurt a lot and if it wasn’t going to be as good as store bought I didn’t want to try. But so glad I did!! So easy and absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing!
YAY! This is so awesome to hear, Lisa! 😀 I didn’t really dive into it in this recipe, but you might also experiment with adding evaporated milk powder. It can boost the nutrition and make for a greater output (i.e. MORE YOGURT!)
This is fabulous yogurt and so easy! I’m enjoying it with fresh raspberries as I type. I left it to drain overnight. It’s rich and creamy, even using 1% milk. I find it is not as tangy as store bought yogurt and love it! Thank you for the recipe and tips. Never buying yogurt again. Think about all the plastic containers I will no longer be getting!
So happy to hear it, Julie! Sooo much plastic saved!!
This is FANTASTIC!! Thank you for sharing this no-fuss recipe. My whole family enjoys this greek yogurt. One question….how long can I store the whey in the fridge? I have put some in the freezer & use fresh as much as I can, but I hate to throw it away. Thanks (in advance) for your advice. 😊
So happy to hear it, Tiffany! 😀 This generally stores well for about a week. Thanks so much for dropping in to let us know how it went!