Homemade Vegan Yogurt—A Plant-Based delight
Homemade Vegan Yogurt is delicious, rich in probiotics that help your gut and immune system, and satisfying. Although you can buy ready-made vegan yogurt? it tends to be expensive and loaded with sugar, which sort of negates all those good benefits!
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The good news about Homemade Vegan yogurt–you can make it yourself!
It’s not hard at all!
Making vegan yogurt is one of those satisfying homesteady tasks that just makes you feel like you’ve made something great!
These are the high-nutrition ingredients that I use:
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All you need is:
- 4 cups Plant based milk, a high protein milk, like soy will give you the best results.
And, ONE of the following:
- 2 Probiotic capsules. OR
- 1/2 cup yogurt–from your last batch (or commercially prepared, plain yogurt) OR
- Organic, Vegan Yogurt Starter (a mixture of probiotics). I’ve never used this—I just use the probiotics or leftover yogurt.
Simply:
- Place soy milk in sauce pan and heat on medium until steaming (180 degrees).
- One yogurt maker that I read recommends an extra step that I’ve not tried yet, but plan to. Read about it here on the Farmcurious Blog.
- Basically, you hold the 180 degree temperature for 30 minutes, resulting in a more creamy yogurt. I have no idea if this will work with soy yogurt, but the next time I make mine (hopefully today) I plan to experiment with this.
2. Turn off heat and cool until warm (110-115 degrees, or until you can hold your clean finger in for 10 seconds without burning it)
3. When cooled, mix in the probiotic capsules or yogurt.
4. Cover
5. Place in a warm location that will remain consistently warm. I use the gas oven with the pilot light on. Can also wrap snugly in thick towels and place in a warm place, such as near a wood stove, or on top of a very low heating pad. 108-112 degrees is optimal.
6. Leave in the warm place for around 6-8 hours, then test your yogurt. It should have a clear, yellowish liquid with mostly thickened, white yogurt. It will not look like Yoplait, consistently smooth and creamy. Those yogurt contain additives, binders, thickeners, and such.
- Your homemade vegan yogurt should have a slightly tangy flavor. If it tastes like milk, it needs more time. The longer you leave it incubating, the more sour it will become.
- If you want, you may strain the water off of your yogurt. Don’t throw it away! It contains probiotics! You may deserve it for adding to your next batch, or drink it for health benefits.
I usually just dip out the thick vegan yogurt with a ladle and save some at the bottom for my next batch.
You may sweeten it as desired. I use stevia.
My basic Method
I double this recipe, using a whole carton of Silk Organic Unsweetened Soy Milk, 64 Oz., or two of the smaller 32 Oz packs.
I heat in my pan as above, then cool
Skim off the skin
Pour into a Half Gallon Ball Mason Jar
Stir in the Probiotics
Place your plastic lid on the jar
Place in oven with pilot light on, and leave for 8 or so hours.
Done.
You now have Homemade Vegan Yogurt!
Congratulations!
Mine comes out like this:
Homemade Vegan yogurt is very easy to make!
Serving suggestions:
- Add fresh or frozen fruit
- Chia seeds–add at least an hour before eating, and your yogurt will thicken very nicely!
- Add dried fruit
- Add chopped nuts
- Stir in fruit jam or spread
- Use homemade vegan yogurt in your favorite herbed dip recipes in place of sour cream
- Add to smoothies
- Plop on top of your favorite soup
Last thoughts:
What happens if you accidentally incubate your homemade vegan yogurt for too long?
Your yogurt will taste too tangy. But don’t despair.
You can still:
- Save it to make your next batches! It will still contain millions and billions of live cultures, which will make great yogurt starter.
- Use your tangy yogurt in smoothies for added health benefits
- Substitute for part of sour cream in recipes
- If all else fails, and you just can’t stand it, still don’t toss it! Flush it down your toilet! The wonderful bacteria will make your septic system happy!
Here’s my batch from this morning. This is how it looked when I pulled it from the warm oven. ?
Note that this batch was made from using approximately 1/3 c leftover yogurt and 2 probiotic capsules. This is not an exact science. You can add a bit more or less probiotics and incubate shorter or longer, so play around with it until you achieve the consistency, flavor, and concentration of probiotics that works best for you!
Happy vegan yogurt making!
Let me know how your experience works out!
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Related Homestead Recipes:
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Homemade Vegan Yogurt. More Tips and Tricks
A friend of mine makes her yogurt like this and I was intrigued. I did not heat the almond milk before hand and it didn’t come out well. I will have to try again and heat the milk this time. Thanks for the info!
Lisa, I have tried with almond milk and it did not come out well. Almond milk has barely any almonds, and barely any protein. The protein is what is needed to make good yogurt. We drink almond milk, but it, coconut milk, and the thinner milks just don’t work well. Soy, a home-made almond or cashew, or dairy milk do well for yogurt.
I will have to try a plant milk yogurt!! That is so cool! I have also heard of someone making yogurt for their bang out of breast milk… the possibilities are endless it seems ? thank you for sharing!
I have never heard of breast milk yogurt! It’s hard to improve on a perfect food! But why not—regular milk is just breast milk for that species!
Thanks for stopping by!
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