Keto Yogurt - Instant Pot Recipe

Ready to make the best keto yogurt? This recipe will quickly become your go-to for a homemade, low carb, delicious breakfast. All you need is a few simple ingredients and an instant pot with a yogurt button!

Yogurt is one of my favorite foods to enjoy for breakfast. It’s perfect to enjoy with everything from fresh cut strawberries, to keto smoothies, and of course keto granola. 

Can’t get enough of that stuff!

I’ve made a low carb yogurt recipe in the past that more closely followed some of the stricter keto guidelines. 

If that’s where you are in your keto lifestyle, be sure to check it out. It really is delicious and although it seems a little unorthodox that recipe just works. 

As the low carb lifestyle gets more popular and the “rules” become a bit more relaxed, I thought it was time for a refresh that’s still incredibly delicious, but a little bit more traditional. 

Yogurt is a great breakfast option for your low carb lifestyle, and now there are more ways than ever to enjoy it.

Some of our other favorite keto breakfast recipes we have on our site include: Almond Flour Keto Waffles, Air Fryer Sausage and Cheese Balls, and Keto Quiche Lorraine.

Why this recipe works

• Very low carb, delicious, and filling. Not to mention, easier on your wallet. Making your own homemade yogurt yields an impressive amount for a fraction of the cost.
  
• Easily customizable. You can flavor your yogurt any way you like and add anything from sliced fresh fruit to sugar free chocolate chips.
  
• Set it and forget it. Once you pour the ingredients into the Instant Pot, you just press a button and let it do the work for you.

Ingredients

The ingredients for this cold start instant pot yogurt are really simple. All you need is:

Ultra-filtered milk and ultra-pasteurized - I use Fairlife whole milk (comes in the red bottles). It has 6 grams of carbs per serving and is lactose free. You can use any brand, but you have to make sure it's ultra-filtered and ultra-pasteurized.

The cold start yogurt method will not work with regular milk.

Yogurt starter - You’re looking for a high quality plain yogurt that has live active cultures. Check the back ingredient label to be sure. We’ll only be using a small amount of it, but it’s what makes the yogurt work. I like to use a full fat plain greek yogurt like Fage 5% or a Oui French-style yogurt.

Lately I've found that the Oui yogurt comes out creamier and less tangy than Fage. I prefer that, but feel free to experiment!

Sweetener of choice - I like to use liquid splenda —- it’s also the only sweetener I use for my coffee. To me, it’s perfect and doesn't negatively affect my stomach as some others have in the past. That's personal preference.

There are lots of other great options for sweetening such as liquid monk fruit. Liquid sweeteners make it easier to stir into each bowl. Of course, no sweetener is required, it is completely optional.

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Yield: 6 Servings

Keto Yogurt - Instant Pot Recipe

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Ready to make the best keto yogurt? This Instant Pot recipe will quickly become your go-to for a homemade, low carb, delicious breakfast.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 9 hours

Additional Time 8 hours

Total Time 17 hours 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 6 cups ultra-filtered, ultra pasteurized milk
• 2 tablespoons fresh yogurt

Instructions

1. Pour milk into the inner pot of your Instant Pot. Whisk in the starter until it's fully combined. It will get bubbly from all the whisking, but will settle while it cooks. This is normal.
2. Place a clear tempered glass lid on the Instant pot. Press the yogurt button and adjust the timer to 9 hours.
3. When the Instant Pot beeps and the display reads 9:00, remove the inner pot and place it on a heat safe counter spot. Remove the lid. The yogurt should look smooth on top and cleanly pull from the sides if you tip the pot.
4. Place plastic wrap or press and seal on top of the pot and place into the fridge for at least 8 hours until it's fully chilled.
5. Scoop your serving into a bowl and mix in your favorite liquid sweetener, to taste. Top with any additional garnish of your choosing.

Notes

• I like to use Fairlife Whole Milk. You can use any ultra-filtered and ultra-pasturized whole milk, but I prefer Fairlife. Simply ultra-filtered is not the same as ultra-pasteurized. Use a milk that is both.
• Make sure the yogurt you're using is freshly opened and contains live, active cultures in the ingredients.
• You can also incubate your yogurt for 8, 10, or 12 hours, but my personal favorite is 9 hours because it's the right amount of tartness for me. Feel free to play around with it on different batches to find your personal favorite.
• When your yogurt is ready, a teaspoon should be able to stand up in the center of the pot without tilting. This will let you know it's thick enough.
• Store the remaining yogurt in the fridge covered tightly, for up to 5 days.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1 cup
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 125Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 118mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 0gSugar: 13gProtein: 8g

Please note that I am not a certified nutritionist. Any nutritional information that is discussed or disclosed in this post should only be seen as my best amateur estimates based on NET carbs. If nutrition is important to you, I highly encourage you to verify any data you see here with your favorite nutrition calculator.

How to make keto yogurt, step-by-step

Thanks to the Instant Pot, making this cold start yogurt is a really simple process. It’s pretty much as straightforward as mixing the ingredients together and setting the timer. 

Step 1: Pour milk into the inner pot of your Instant Pot. Whisk in the starter until it's fully combined. It will get bubbly from all the whisking, but will settle while it cooks. This is normal.

Step 2: Place a clear tempered glass lid on the Instant pot. Press the yogurt button and adjust the timer to 9 hours.

You can also do 8, 10, or 12 hours, but my personal favorite is 9 hours because it's the right amount of tartness for me. Feel free to play around with it on different batches to find your personal favorite.

Step 3: This is a cold start yogurt so you will not need to use the boil function of the yogurt button. The display will now begin counting up from zero. It will beep when the display reads 9:00.

Step 4: Remove the inner pot and place it on a heat safe counter spot. Remove the lid. The yogurt should look smooth on top and cleanly pull from the sides if you tip the pot.

Step 5: At this time, you may simply place plastic or press and seal on top of the pot and place into the fridge for at least 8 hours until it's fully chilled.

When ready, a teaspoon should be able to stand up in the center of the pot without tilting. This will let you know it's thick enough.

Step 6: Scoop your serving into a bowl and mix in your favorite liquid sweetener, to taste. Top with any additional garnish of your choosing.

Store the remaining yogurt in the fridge covered tightly, for up to 5 days.

Is yogurt keto friendly?

Different people define their keto lifestyle in different ways. 

Some keto dieters stay strictly under 20 grams of net carbs per day and nothing is off limits, even a portion of a full sugar chocolate bar. 

Others avoid fruits and vegetables because they feel these foods contain too many carbs. 

Others even enjoy the occasional wheat based bread or tortilla and figure that as long as their body is in ketosis, they’re good to go. 

I’m not going to tell anybody their keto diet is wrong. 

I’ve come to accept all ways of low carb eating as acceptable. 

Some people see huge success and significant weight loss doing things that I would not choose to do. 

To me it makes no difference, as it's not my journey, it is theirs.

I won’t stand in the way of anyone reaching their individual goals in the way that makes the best sense for their lifestyle. 

All of that to say…you might agree with this recipe, or maybe you don’t. Either way is totally fine. 

If you're simply looking at the nutritional guidelines, this yogurt is keto friendly because it has no added grams of sugar besides naturally occurring sugar in milk and is low in carbohydrates.

To make this dish high in fat, simply sprinkle with roasted nuts or, my personal favorite, a little whipped cream.

Store-bought keto yogurt options

There are a number of low carb keto yogurt options that have entered the market since keto has risen in popularity. When I first started following a keto diet, this was unheard of, but these days, finding keto yogurt options is as easy as walking into your local Walmart.

Some of the most popular keto yogurt brands are:

Ratio Keto Friendly Yogurt

This yogurt is sweetened with Sucralose, which may or may not fix how you personally practice a keto diet. That being said, the macro nutrients of this yogurt is more balanced for low carb diets than other yogurts.

There are 15g of fat, 15g of protein, and only 2g net carbs, making this a good option for those more particular about macros.

Two Good Greek Yogurt

Two Good is a low carb, low fat yogurt option. It comes in a variety of flavors and is more of a traditional yogurt consistency than a thick, greek yogurt consistency, in my opinion.

This yogurt has a good flavor and is usually easy to find in most grocery stores' main yogurt section. It has a lot of ingredients on the label compared to other yogurts on this list which some may find as a deterrent, but if you're after good flavor and a quick snack, Two Good is still a good option.

Chobani Zero Sugar Yogurt

Chobani Zero Sugar is another low carb yogurt option that's high in protein. It's not my personal favorite, but if you're generally a fan of Chobani, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this one too.

It's not as thick and creamy as a brand like Fage, but there are a variety of flavors to choose from.

Oikos Triple Zero Yogurt

If you like flavored Greek yogurt, this is a tasty option. While you don't want to use flavored yogurts for starters, this is a great treat to keep in the fridge if you aren't able to make your own.

Oikos Triple Zero is a low fat Greek yogurt, but don't let that deter you. You don't have to avoid low fat products on a keto diet if the ingredients are quality.

Simply use low fat foods to help fill your protein macros and if you need additional fat, add a scoop of whipped cream.

Fage Total 5% Greek Yogurt

This is my go-to Greek yogurt when I don't make it myself. It's super thick, creamy and has the perfect amount of tang. It's also moderate in protein which makes it more filling than simply being low in carbs alone.

I prefer the 5% due to texture, taste and slightly higher fat content. Feel free to try out 0% and 2% if those seem to fit your preferences better. If you can't find Fage in the regular yogurt section of your grocery store, try the natural dairy section.

How long does it take to make keto yogurt in the Instant Pot?

I’ve had the best success letting the yogurt cook for 9 hours. I don’t like leaving the instant pot on overnight, so I like to put my batch of yogurt on first thing in the morning and let it run all day. 

The yogurt will still need to chill for a significant amount of time, so it’s good to know that if you start this recipe on Monday morning, the earliest you’ll probably get to enjoy it will be for breakfast on Tuesday. 

The wait is well worth it for this delicious, low carb and cost effective yogurt!

Is cold start yogurt safe?

The Instant Pot's yogurt function works by heating up the yogurt to a safe temperature (approximately 110° F) that allows the live active cultures to grow and expand, and keeping it at roughly the same temperature for several hours through a process called "incubation."

Often, yogurt makers boil their milk before incubating. This brings the temperature to about 180°F to kill off bacteria.

By using ultra-filtered milk (milk that's been heated to 280°F and cooled), 99.9% of bacteria are eliminated, making it the ideal base for Cold Start Yogurt.

That said, for the sake of food safety, be sure to do your own research and take appropriate measures in all forms of cooking, including this Instant Pot yogurt recipe.

Read more about cold start yogurt on Frieda Loves Bread, the inspiration for this recipe.

Can I make other flavors?

Absolutely! If you are not a fan of plain yogurt there are other variations that you can choose for an endless amount of flavored yogurts!

The ways to achieve different flavored yogurts are to either:

1) Whisk in a low carb coffee creamer before incubating your yogurt. You just need ¾-1 cup, depending how much flavor you'd like.

2) Mix in flavorful toppings, such as fresh fruits, or sweeteners immediately before serving.

Some ideas include:

• Strawberry
• Salted Caramel
• Blueberry
• Chocolate Chip
• Flavor extracts. Vanilla is always a staple. A favorite of mine is Cake Batter extract to make it more dessert-like.
• Roasted nuts such as pecans or walnuts.

There are so many different flavorings and toppings that you can use, just do what you like best!

How to Store

Your homemade keto yogurt should remain fresh in the refrigerator for about 5 days. To be completely honest, mine hasn't ever lasted much longer than that! Just be sure to cover it in an airtight container.

Nutrition Info

The ingredients for this keto yogurt are super simple, so the nutrition information was also very simple to calculate. This recipe makes about 6 cups of yogurt. With each serving set to 1 cup, you're looking at approximately:

Calories: 154.45 Calories
Total Carbs: 6.14 grams
Fiber: 0 grams
Net Carbs: 6.14 grams
Protein: 13.42 grams
Fat: 8.21 grams

And here's a breakdown based on the labels for the ingredients I used:

Tips and Tricks

• Pay attention to fat content - Whole milk with the highest milk fat content will produce the thickest and creamiest homemade yogurt.
  
• Be sure your milk is ultra-filtered and pasteurized and that you're using a fresh yogurt with live active cultures.
  
• Fully whisk the starter into the yogurt, otherwise it may come out lumpy.
  
• Do not take the lid off during cooking time.

If you like this recipe, you might also enjoy

Coconut Flour Pancakes

Keto Coffee Cake

If you’ve tried this keto yogurt recipe or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out. We love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes!