6-Quart Instant Pot 9-in-1 Pressure Cooker Bundle Expired

For a gallon of yogurt fill the pot with 2% or whole milk, press the yogurt button, then press the adjust button, and it will say "BOIL" because you need to heat the milk to 180-185F first. When it's done heating, it will beep and say "YOGT".

Take the pot out and place it into a sink filled with cold water (up to the level of the milk). Rapidly cool the milk to 110F (use an instant read thermometer) by stirring while the pot's in it's water bath. Don't scrape the bottom while stirring, or you'll end up with grainy yogurt. Then all you have to do is put the pot back in the Instant Pot and add your starter, which is just plain yogurt from the store.

A lot of people like Fage, but you can use any brand with active cultures (pretty much all plain yogurt today). For starter, you don't need a lot, a 1/4 cup per gallon will do (this is a case where more is not better). In a separate container and combine the yogurt with 1/4 cup of milk and stir till the yogurt and milk is fully blended. Then whisk or stir the yogurt/milk mixture into the cooled pot of milk just till it's fully incorporated (again, no scraping the bottom).

Press the yogurt button once more, and it will start incubating and begin a count up timer. You need to incubate the yogurt mixture at least 4 hours, but I think 8 is best (you can go much longer if you want it even tangier). I believe it defaults to 8 hours. It will beep when the time you pick is reached. It's yogurt now!

Don't stir it yet! Put it in the fridge another 6 - 8 hours to fully cool and set up. Once your yogurt is fully cooled, scoop out at least 1/4 cup and put it in a sealed container in the fridge as your starter for the next batch! You can use the rest of the yogurt now as is, which will be like normal yogurt, but it's so much better if you strain it until it's Greek yogurt. There is a gallon strainer on Amazon, but they are a pain to clean in my opinion. I use Bunn 6 Gallon coffee filters and a colander. They're around $35 for a box of 250, but it's worth it. They're around 14¢ each bought that way, but they make straining and cleaning a breeze.

It takes a lot of time overall, but the process is a bunch of easy steps, and pretty foolproof. After the first three (boil, cool, add starter/incubate), there's not much effort required, just time. The most labor-intensive part is cooling the mixture in the sink. I usually do the first three steps at night, then incubate the mixture overnight. All I have to do is put it in the fridge in the morning to chill. The last step is straining, which I usually allow another 8 hours or after 1 1/2 quarts of whey is strained off. It's all personal preference as far as how long to strain. Don't dump the whey, as there are many uses for it.

Lastly, there are a lot of tips for thickening yogurt. The one I like is adding powdered dry milk at the first step. Whisk a 1/4 cup into the cold milk at the beginning, and it will be much thicker when you're done (amazingly thicker).

If you don't have one, this is a good deal. Don't settle for knock-offs, either. Instant Pot nailed the design. Just a few comments about this cooker. I bought mine in 2014, and after a lot of use it's still going strong with the original gasket. At first, it was just my favorite dry bean pot, then my favorite rice cooker. Now I make a gallon of yogurt at a time, and it's the best! After straining, I end up with a little over a half gallon of the thickest, most delicious Greek yogurt. I'm hooked on it. I'm sure there are a lot of other great uses, but those three make it indispensable in my kitchen. A few great add-ons are the glass lid for slow cooking and yogurt, the steamer basket, and the ceramic 6 quart pot for rice.

It's almost as if they fit in as many as they could in a 3x3 array to give proper spacing and maximal use of the cooker.