Crock Pot or Slow Cooker Yogurt
Updated May 02, 2025
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It’s so easy to make silky smooth Slow Cooker Yogurt at home with just two ingredients and prep time of only 5 minutes! This simple recipe saves money, reduces waste, and delivers fresh yogurt without any additives or preservatives.
🥛Just 5 minutes of prep, and then slow cooker does the rest while you sleep. Such an easy way to get another option for homemade breakfast or snacks into your meal rotation!
My 2 Best Tips For Making Slow Cooker Yogurt
- Temperature Matters: The first time you make this recipe, use a thermometer to verify your slow cooker’s heating pattern. The ideal temperature for yogurt cultures is 110-115°F (43-46°C). Too hot and you’ll kill the cultures; too cool and they won’t activate properly.
- Quality Starters Make Quality Yogurt: Choose a high-quality plain yogurt with live active cultures for your beginning starter. Brands like Mountain High, Fage, or Chobani work well. Then you can start saving your own starter from each of your homemade batches. After a few batches, you may notice your yogurt becoming less thick—this is the time to introduce a fresh commercial starter.
🩷 Melissa
I like to start this in the afternoon so that it’s ready to sit for its long 8-12 hour warm resting period overnight. We then wake up to fresh yogurt, and I’ll serve it with fresh fruit and some homemade granola.
This is a great way to to get organic yogurt on the cheap. You can buy a carton of organic milk and turn it into yogurt for about half the price of organic yogurt.
It is plain yogurt, but you can add honey, jams, fresh fruit, and just about anything else you like. I also use it in place of sour cream in most recipes.
Slow Cooker Yogurt
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon (8 cups) whole milk (you'll get a thinner product with a lower fat content milk)
- 1/2 cup commercial plain yogurt that says “Live and Active Cultures” on the tub, I have great success with Mountain High yogurt for my culture.
Instructions
- In a large crock pot, add the milk. Add the lid. Turn it on low for around 2 ½ hours.
- After that time has passed, unplug the crock pot and let it sit for 3 hours. I always set a timer for these or I don’t remember.
- After the 3 hours has passed, stir in the ½ cup of yogurt. Replace the lid of the crock pot and cover with two big towels or a blanket. Let rest for 8 to 12 hours (overnight works well). In the morning you'll have yogurt!
- Place it in a half-gallon mason jar and refrigerate for a few hours before serving. It will thicken up in the fridge. Keep a ½ cup of this yogurt for your next batch and say goodbye to buying yogurt!
- You can also let the yogurt strain in cheese cloth in the fridge for a few hours and you'll get a thicker Greek yogurt.
Video
Notes
- I highly recommend getting a little instant-read thermometer to make homemade yogurt since it’s all about the temperature.
- The goal is to scald the milk which takes place around 180°F. Check it with a thermometer the first time to see if the “warm” setting is warm enough or if maybe an hour and 45 minutes would work on low. Once you figure it out, I don’t think you would have to use the thermometer every time.
- After the milk is scalded, the waiting time is meant to bring the milk down to around 110-115°F so it’s still warm but won’t kill your yogurt culture.
- Serve with fresh fruit and granola
- Make yogurt bowls: 5 Easy Healthy Yogurt Bowl Ideas
- Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Cups
- 4 Ingredient Healthy Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (5 minute recipe!)
- It also goes great in smoothies like my Key Lime Pie Smoothie, Strawberry Kiwi Smoothie, or Avocado Smoothie.
- Or try it in these amazing Soft and Puffy Greek Yogurt Sugar Cookies!
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
Homemade yogurt typically stays fresh in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks when stored in an airtight container. The flavor may become more tart over time as the cultures continue to slowly develop.
Several factors can affect thickness: using ultra-pasteurized milk, milk with lower fat content, culture that wasn’t active enough, or temperature issues during incubation. For thicker yogurt, try using whole milk, ensuring proper temperatures are maintained, or strain the finished yogurt through cheesecloth.
After your yogurt is made, simply line a fine-mesh strainer with cheesecloth, place it over a bowl, and pour in your finished yogurt. Allow it to drain in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours for a thicker Greek-style yogurt. The longer it strains, the thicker it becomes.
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Did you make this recipe? Leave a ⭐️ review and share it on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest!
I do this frequently, then strain it with cheesecloth for a thicker, richer yogurt. I also strain a smaller amount longer for an even richer cream cheese like spread.
Yes! Me too, my kids and husband like it nice and thick too.
I made this. I set my crockpot on high to scald the milk, because my crockpot has a thermometer that inserts through the lid, so I can keep an eye on the temp. It took about 11/2 hrs to reach 180 degrees. I did not have cheesecloth but I had a new pack of flour sack towels, so I used one of those. Cheesecloth would be better, though. When it was sitting wrapped in towels, I placed a heating pad on the lid, then covered with towels. Air conditioning was keeping the kitchen pretty cool, so this may have helped. I left it for 12 hours. The only part of the process I did not like was clearing a big space in my refrigerator for the yogurt to drain. Lol! I made a gallon, so it took up space! Now to the best part! This is the best yogurt I have ever eaten. The texture is like homemade pudding, as opposed to jello pudding, like most commercial yogurts. It wasn’t really cheap, because I used grassfed organic whole milk. It was the only kind I found that was not ultrapasteurized. Even though this will be a lot of yogurt for one person, I can sub it for sour cream in recipes. This is one staple in my diet that is worth making from scratch!
Thank you for the lovely review! Love hearing other people’s tips, tricks, and successes!
Amazing recipe!! Thank you so much! I recently moved back to the US after having spent quite a few years in the UK. Turns out I got very used to the UK’s VERY cheap plain yogurt and was shocked by the price in the US when I moved back (3 times the price!). Making it from scratch is so much cheaper! Thank you 🙂
Horray for a successful batch of yogurt! Isn’t it crazy how much less it costs to make it at home. Is yogurt in the UK thick? Did you strain your homemade yogurt at all?
How do you know when the yogurt expires?
This turned out so good!! Followed the temp (180&110F) rather than times. Really thick and creamy when strained. Thank u!
Yes! I think I’ll update the actual recipe with the temps, I’ve found it the best way too. Thank you for letting me know it worked out well. ENJOY!
This is a fool proof recipe and so very delicious!
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe! I was nervous to try homemade yogurt but your recipe gave me an awesome batch on the first try. Appreciate making you making it simple for the rest of us. 🙂
I’m so glad it was helpful friend and that it worked out well for you on your very first try.
Can I just heat the milk in the crock pot, cool it to 110, add the yogurt starter and put in oven with the light on for 12 hours. I don’t have good luck with letting my yogurt mature on the counter.
I think that’s a great idea! Let me know if it works!
It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I happy that you just shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.
I really like this Crock-Pot yogurt recipe. I use my Crock-Pot a lot and it’s fun to make yogurt this way and tuck a blanket around it for the night.