I’ve been an avid yogurt maker for 20+ years. Most people don’t realize it’s one of the easiest things you can make at home. With homemade yogurt, you can control all the ingredients and incubation time. A 4oz serving of 24-Hour Yogurt contains up to 350 billion CFU’s (colony forming units) of good bacteria – the typical probiotic pills usually have around 50 billion CFU’s per serving. Not only does this 24-Hour Yogurt aid in your gut health – it’s delicious! I use sweetened condensed milk in my recipe, it’s helps balance out the tartness and thickens the yogurt, the texture is very creamy.
Use Ultra-Pasteurized milk so you don’t have to fuss with boiling the milk ahead of time, I always use whole milk because it produces thicker yogurt, but you can use lower fat milk if you prefer. I also incubate the yogurt in single serving glass jars – it’s convenient and the texture also stays thicker and creamier.
15 Comments
Nicole
February 21, 2020 at 3:41 pm
Can I omit the sweetened condensed milk?
Van
February 23, 2020 at 10:02 pm
Hi Nicole, yes you can omit the sweetened condensed milk.
Kathleen
March 3, 2020 at 5:42 am
Can I use regular whole milk and just do the boil before adding the starter and condensed milk? Also, if I wanted to make a full gallon of milk, would I use 2 full cans of the sweetened condensed milk, or would that make it too sweet?
Van
March 3, 2020 at 8:33 am
Hi Kathleen, yes you can use regular whole milk and boil it, just make sure it cools to 115F before adding the starter. If you make a full gallon, you can use 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk if you prefer – it won’t taste too sweet since 24 hour yogurt is quite tart.
jennifer mctague
March 29, 2020 at 11:58 am
Hi Van.
Help, I am so confused. I want to start making yogurt at home for all the health benefits and for what you said about the 350 billion CFU’s of good bacteria it contains. What confuses me is the pasteurization of milk and then the boiling of it which the recipe requires. I’ve been reading that the process of pasteurization, in itself, kills good bacteria. Can you shed any light on this subject matter for me. I feel like everything I read just makes a vicious circle of doubt. I just finished antibiotics and want to do the right thing for my body and would like very much to have healthier eating habits for my family and i.
I am definitely going to try your recipe, regardless because it certainly has to be better than the yogurts sold at the grocery store.
Thank you!!
Jennifer
Van
March 30, 2020 at 8:04 am
Hi Jennifer, I think you’re referring to bacteria that’s present in raw milk vs bacteria / probiotics that’s in yogurt – those are two different things. Pasteurization does destroy natural antibodies that are present in raw milk, but it also destroys harmful bacteria, which is needed considering how milk is produced now – but beneficial bacteria / probiotics will still be present when you turn the milk into yogurt. The process of yogurt making, requires you to heat the milk to at least 180F – this changes the protein structure in the milk, which allows it to become thick. If you don’t heat the milk, you can still make yogurt, it will just remain liquid. You can use ultra-pasturized milk to skip the heating step is UP milk has already been heated to 280F. Hope this helps.
Desiree
January 24, 2021 at 9:22 pm
Hi I don’t understand why condensed milk is add isn’t that sugar will that not kill the good probiotic in the yogurt
Van
January 25, 2021 at 7:23 am
Hello, you can omit the sweetened condensed milk if you’d like – sugar does not affect the probiotic count.
Sommer Childress
October 27, 2021 at 6:09 am
Hello!
What do I do if I do not have an instapot?
Thanks!
Van
October 27, 2021 at 12:27 pm
Hi, you can use a regular yogurt maker or sous vide at 115F.
Linda
January 29, 2022 at 2:10 pm
Hello, I’ve been making yogurt in the IP for a while now, but usually use 16-oz of a natural vanilla coffee creamer (no weird ingredients, just the cream, sugar, and some milk) instead of sweetened condensed milk and “cook” it for 8 hours instead of 24. Would the creamer work in this 24-hour method? Also, does the longer cook time make more of the good bacteria?
Van
January 30, 2022 at 8:55 am
Hi Linda, yes it will work with creamer and yes it does create more good bacteria 🙂
Linda
January 30, 2022 at 1:02 pm
Great, thank you so much!
cc
May 4, 2023 at 11:54 am
Hi, is there a fixed ratio of probiotics to use per cup of yougrt made? or can i use any amount of probiotics given it consists the relevant strains of bacteria?
Van
May 16, 2023 at 10:28 pm
I haven’t experimented with exact amounts, but in the past I’ve used 2 probiotic pills for 24 oz of milk with success