Routine bores us. We prefer spontaneity and surprise. Maybe, it’s because we’re creative folk. Maybe, it’s because we have short attention spans. Regardless, there are times that we wish we could follow more of a regime. Like waking up early. Like working out. Like waking up early to workout. That’d be good for us.

We’re trying. Not the working out thing. We’re not doing that. But we are introducing more routine in our lives. For example, we’ve made a point to eat a healthy, homemade breakfast every morning and a healthy, homemade lunch every afternoon.

We own an Instant Pot. If you follow this website, you know this all too well. The Instant Pot has a button that reads, “Yogurt”. The button has long intrigued us, and now, we’ve conquered it. Well, that’s a strange application of the verb, “to conquer”. We mastered making yogurt in the Instant Pot is what we did.

We made both regular yogurt and Greek yogurt. Both are tasty, but the Greek yogurt is extra special. Creamy. Tangy. Packed with protein. We’re hooked.

Pro tip: Greek yogurt is regular yogurt that is stained during the process to remove most of the whey. This is easiest to accomplish with a nut milk bag, pictured here.

Instant Pot Greek Yogurt

Ingredients

• One half gallon of whole milk
• One-half cup of yogurt starter (already-made or store-bought Greek yogurt with active bacterial cultures)

Directions

Sterilize the Instant Pot’s metal liner by using the Sterilize button on newer pots, or for older pots, by adding two cups of water, locking the lid, and bringing the Instant Pot to high pressure for one minute. After sterilization, remove the metal liner, place it on a clean kitchen towel, and let it return to room temperature.

Pour milk into the Instant Pot. Press the Yogurt button. If the word Boil doesn’t appear, press the Adjust button, and Boil should appear.

Place the lid on the Instant Pot. This cycle should last about 45 minutes, but whisk the milk every 10 minutes or so.

When the cycle ends, remove the metal liner with the milk in it, and place it in a sink full of cold water. Let the milk cool. To quicken the process, add ice to the sink.

After the milk cools, whisk in the yogurt starter.

Wipe off any water from the outside of the metal liner. Return the metal liner to the Instant Pot. Place on the lid. Hit the “Yogurt” button and increase the time from eight hours to ten hours.

When it’s finished, you can drain off any excess water sitting at the top but be mindful not to lose yogurt down the drain. Then, give the yogurt a hearty whisk. If you’re making regular yogurt, transfer it to a storage container and refrigerate.

To make Greek yogurt, it’s now time to strain. The best way is with a nut milk bag. Using a large jar, slide the nut milk bag into the jar so that it fills the upper 2/3 of the jar, leaving the lower 1/3 of the jar empty. Fold the top of the nut milk bag over the rim of the jar, and secure by tying it. Pour the yogurt into the jar/bag. Cover the top of the jar, and place it in the refrigerator for several hours, letting the yogurt strain.

Remove the nut milk bag. Dispose of the strained liquid. Store the yogurt in an airtight container.

Serve with fruit, honey, nuts, or whatever the heck you’d like.

These are fresh peaches because it’s peach season here, and we added honey.