Learn how to make homemade Bulgarian yogurt in the Instant Pot. A delicious and healthy snack to always have on hand. Easy to make, and cheaper than store-bought, homemade yogurt is great to add beneficial probiotics to your diet.

Instant Pot Bulgarian Yogurt in a glass container, yogurt in a bowl with berries and honey, nuts, on a beige and blue background

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Plain, with fruit added, or drizzled with honey, yogurt is a staple in our family. We love having it for breakfast and snacks. I also add yogurt to many recipes, such as my cherry yogurt popsicles, cakes and muffins, sauces, and even meat recipes.

Bowl of Instant Pot Bulgarian yogurt with honey and berries, nuts and more yogurt on beige and light blue background

What is Bulgarian yogurt

As the name implies, Bulgarian yogurt originated in Bulgaria. Its origin goes back many centuries, making Bulgarian yogurt a traditional food. Since then, it’s become one of the most popular varieties of yogurt in the world.

Bulgarian yogurt has a characteristic flavor, is mildly sour-tasting, thick and creamy. What characterizes Bulgarian yogurt and distinguishes it from other yogurts, it’s the combination of bacteria used: Lactobacillus Bulgaricus and Streptococcus Thermophilus. These two probiotic bacteria work in synergy to make a delicious and beneficial yogurt.

Bulgarian yogurt is beneficial for gut-health, and it’s believed to improve general health and prolong life.

For my homemade Bulgarian yogurt I use the Bacillus bulgaricus original yogurt starter. Find more information about this starter here.

Benefits of homemade yogurt

You might wonder why going through the trouble of making homemade yogurt when I can easily buy it from the store? Well, the benefits of homemade yogurt versus store-bought are many. They include:

Natural, clean ingredients without additives: many store-bought yogurts have become indeed very much processed foods. They are often made from poor quality industrial milk, and they have a bunch of additives added, from gut-harmful carrageenan, chemical defoamers, milk proteins, colors, preservatives, artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup. By making your own yogurt, you can be sure that none of these ingredients will end up in your bowl. Chose the best quality milk you have available to make yogurt. The best option would be raw local milk from cows raised on pasture. But I understand this is not an option for everyone (including myself, unfortunately). If you buy milk from the store, chose the best quality: grass-fed, organic, possibly non-homogenized and with no additives (such as vitamins).

Customizable: the other great benefit of making your own yogurt is that it can be very much customizable. For example, if you are lactose intolerant or following a Specific Carbohydrate diet, you can long-ferment (24 hours) your yogurt to make it lactose-free. Playing around with the fermentation time (which can vary from 8 to 24 hours) will also affect the texture and flavor of your yogurt, so you can experiment until you find the best results. You can also decide to add some gelatin to your yogurt to make it thicker, or to strain your yogurt to turn it into very thick and creamy Greek yogurt.
Live probiotics: commercial yogurts, despite their labels, don’t always contain live probiotics. Some additives, or processing methods kill the probiotic bacteria found in the yogurt, destroying its beneficial properties. In addition, many yogurt contain “bacterial cultures”, which doesn’t give any information on the strain(s) of bacteria used to make the yogurt. For some people it’s important to chose certain strains over others for health reasons.
Cost: if you want to buy a good quality, organic and grass-fed yogurt from the store, you’re going to pay it. By making your own you can cut the cost up to 1/2!

Now that I convinced you to start your journey into making your own yogurt, let’s see how we do it!

Instant Pot Bulgarian yogurt ingredients

2 liters organic (grass-fed) whole milk (cow’s, goat’s, sheep’s)
1.5 grams (1/3 teaspoon) Bulgarian yogurt starter

1 tablespoon grass-fed gelatin (optional)

How to make Bulgarian yogurt in the Instant Pot

Pour 2 liters of milk into the Instant Pot, turn it on on “sauté” or “boil” (turn on “boil” by pressing the “yogurt” button twice) mode. Allow the milk to warm to 180 degrees F, whisking often. Use a food thermometer to test the temperature. Turn off the Instant Pot by pressing “cancel”.

Milk warming in Instant Pot, checked temperature with meat thermometer to make bulgarian yogurt

If you want to add the gelatin powder to your batch of yogurt, this is moment to do so. Pour about 1 cup of hot milk into a separate container and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of gelatin on top. Whisk well until the gelatin powder is completely dissolved. Add the milk back into the Instant Pot and stir together.

Let the milk cool off to about 105-115 degrees F. To speed up the process, you can place the stainless steel pot in your sink filled with cold water. Whisk periodically and check the temperature with the food thermometer.
Once the milk is cooled, it’s time to add the starter culture (or yogurt from previous batch). Take about 1 cup of milk out, add 1/3 teaspoon of your starter culture or 1/2 cup of yogurt, stir well until dissolved and then add back to the pot and stir together with the rest of the milk.
Put the pot back into the Instant Pot, place the lid on, and press the “yogurt” button. Set the timer to your desired incubation time (from 8 up to 24 hours). I usually incubate my yogurt for 15 hours and I find I like it the best.

Once the incubation time is up, remove the pot and place it in the refrigerator. Let the yogurt set for at least 2 hours (or more if you added the gelatin). After this time, you can enjoy your yogurt, or strain it over a colander lined with a butter cloth to make it thicker (Greek yogurt-like).

Notes

To reduce sticking of the milk to the stainless steel pot, cool off the pot with cold water or ice before pouring the milk in.

Before making yogurt in the Instant Pot, remove the silicone ring on the cover, as it can harbor smells.

Since the original Bulgarian yogurt starter is heirloom, you can use your ready-made yogurt to make new yogurt — for as long as you’d like! When making yogurt from your previous batch, use about 1/2 cup (100ml) of yogurt for every 2 liters of new milk. Use yogurt that is as fresh as possible. Bacteria gradually uses activity with time so the fresher your yogurt the better the results. You should get excellent results with yogurts that are less than 7 days old, and ideally try to use your yogurt as a starter by day 4.

Instant Pot Bulgarian yogurt on glass jar and in bowl with berries

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Bacillus bulgaricus original yogurt starter from Amazon.ca

Original Bulgarian yogurt starter from Amazon.com

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Bulgarian yogurt in glass jar. Nuts and flowers in background

Print Recipe

Bulgarian yogurt in the Instant Pot

Prep Time1

Cook Time15

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Keyword: gut-healthy, healthy snacks, Instant Pot, probiotics, yogurt

Servings: 12

Equipment

1 Instant Pot with yogurt function

1 food thermometer

Ingredients

2 liters organic (grass-fed) whole milk
1.5 grams (1/3 teaspoon) Bulgarian yogurt starter

1 tablespoon grass-fed gelatin powder optional

Instructions

Pour 2 liters of milk into the Instant Pot, turn it on on "sauté" or "boil" (turn on "boil" by pressing the "yogurt" button twice) mode. Allow the milk to warm to 180 degrees F, whisking often. Use a food thermometer to test the temperature. Turn off the Instant Pot by pressing "cancel".
If you want to add the gelatin powder to your batch of yogurt, this is moment to do so. Pour about 1 cup of hot milk into a separate container and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of gelatin on top. Whisk well until the gelatin powder is completely dissolved. Add the milk back into the Instant Pot and stir together.

Let the milk cool off to about 105-115 degrees F. To speed up the process, you can place the stainless steel pot in your sink filled with cold water. Whisk periodically and check the temperature with the food thermometer.
Once the milk is cooled, it's time to add the starter culture (or yogurt from previous batch). Take about 1 cup of milk out, add 1/3 teaspoon of your starter culture or 1/2 cup of yogurt, stir well until dissolved and then add back to the pot and stir together with the rest of the milk.
Put the pot back into the Instant Pot, place the lid on, and press the "yogurt" button. Set the timer to your desired incubation time (from 8 up to 24 hours). I usually incubate my yogurt for 15 hours and I find I like it the best.

Once the incubation time is up, remove the pot and place it in the refrigerator. Let the yogurt set for at least 2 hours (or more if you added the gelatin). After this time, you can enjoy your yogurt, or strain it over a colander lined with a butter cloth to make it thicker (Greek yogurt-like).

Notes