Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt

Perfectly easy to make, this homemade Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt is done in no time using your one and only Instant Pot. Soft, rich, creamy extremely tasty, and a big part of our Low-Carb living, this gluten-free, diabetic-friendly, and healthy Greek yogurt could be used for cooking, baking, breakfast, dinners, whatever you desire to.

With Instant Pot, you do not ever have to be worried about not boiling it, not cooking it, trying to look for a yogurt starter, or spending endless amounts on the healthiest Greek yogurts on the market. 

What is Instant Pot?

For some who might still wonder what it actually is, here is some explanation.

I myself, being a blogger for a while already, have always seen lots of recipes made in an Instant Pot. But then I also saw millions of recipes made in Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker. You might have thought of buying one or another or adding to it a Yogurt maker. 

That is exactly what I have always thought of. What to buy? Which kitchen gadget would be worth investing in, but most importantly, how big they all are. For me, the space in the kitchen is already filled up to the maximum and every time I have thought of investing in one or another from the new gadgets, it ended up left because I knew I have no space for it. 

The same went with Instant Pot. I did a bit of research (but not enough to get convinced). In my researches, I was actually debating between Crock Pot, Slow Cooker, Pressure Cooker, and Instant Pot. Not really knowing 100% what each does, and the size of each one of them, I ended up not buying.

Instant pot is all the above gadgets in one. It is AWESOME. It is double AWESOME.

Instant Pot is a smart Multi-use Programmable Cooker Pot designed by Canadians, which works as:

1. Slow Cooker
2. Pressure Cooker
3. Steam cooker
4. Rice cooker
5. Yogurt maker
6. Sauté Cooker
7. Warmer 
8. Porridge Cooker
9. Soup Cooker
10. Meat cooker
11. Chili Cooker

Just to mention a few examples.

All of this is in one pot, and you would not need any other gadgets ever again. 

Well, one thing, we might need an Air Fryer. That function is not there, and I am debating if it would be useful in our household. Maybe I should start discussing it with my husband. What do you say? My birthday is coming up soon 🙂

But I am not going to write anymore about it. I have just decided, that this gadget needs a separate post with all the details about Instant Pot, and I am going to work on it in the near future. 

And it would be better to really use it for a while for me to be able to see all the tips and tricks, which I can then share with you all.

Let’s get back to my Christmas Story: 

Further on, came Christmas, and I got the best ever gift from my husband. INSTANT POT. 

That is the difference between us ladies and guys.

Ladies prospective: 

We have to research, then research and research again. Think about it, rethink about it. Talk to others about it. Discuss if we need it, or if it fits into our lives, or if it would be used enough and not just staying in the kitchen and catching all the dust. 

And of course, I have discussed this a thousand times with my husband as well. But all, I always got was:

You should know. You are going to use it. Buy it, if you like it. 

Guys perspective on this:

Go on the net and order it. 

How easy their life is sometimes. 

Well, not all the time I have to agree with those fast decisions. Like when we went shopping for a white leather sofa. The first shop we entered, the first sofa we saw (in red), he just picked the samples, picked the white color, and went ahead to order it. There I was rallied behind him and at the last minute was able to stop this rash decision, just so they can go on with their life.

Took us a while till we found something I was happy with as well. 🙂

Getting back to Christmas unpacking. 

My first reaction was

“Wait, I am not sure if I want it”.

Second was

“I have not ever properly researched what this actually is”. 

But those 2 went quickly away as I started to unpack the box. Oh my, you have no idea how excited I became from one minute to the next. 

And even more, after I went onto the Pinterest to see what dishes you can actually make in it. 

Yogurt

Yogurt is a big part of our Low-Carb lifestyle. In our household, it is used almost daily. I, either use it for cooking like our Taco Soup, Low Carb Sauerkraut Chicken Recipe, use it to bake our popular Low-Carb Yogurt Buns, for Breakfast mix it with our Low-Carb Granola or Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam for my daughter, or just plain with some berries. Yogurt is always in the fridge. 

And if you can not wait, make the easiest and the fastest Keto Yogurt Cheesecake, where all you need is 2 ingredients.

Or a perfectly structured No Bake Chocolate Ripple Keto Cheesecake as well as Valentines Popsicles.

How to make Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt?

By making Keto Greek Yogurt in the Instant Pot, the process is the easiest you can imagine.

All you have to do is place milk with 2 Tablespoons of Live Cultured Greek yogurt into the Instant Pot. Switch on the feature Yogurt and on you go. In 8 hours all is done.

Because of the way Instant Pot is programmed, both of the ingredients are not going to be boiled and therefore this really is a no-boil or Cold start-making process. 

The Instant Pot Yogurt feature is set to keep the temperature between 106F – 113F, which helps the good bacteria to thrive perfectly. 

Additionally, to that, you do not need any special starter cultures bought for the yogurt to make. All you need is a good quality Greek yogurt with live cultures and a good quality Milk or whipping cream as I have mentioned further below. 

Benefits of yogurt.

Yogurt is one of the most beneficial milk product for our overall health.

We all use it for cooking, baking, have it for breakfast with different types of Granola, berries, cook with it, add it into baking bread, cheesecakes. There are also lots of varieties making face masks, hair masks and mixing them into natural remedies.

Just to name a few:

• Helps us with the nourishment of our hair
• adds into a great complexion
• helps with our digestion
• helps us keep our Immune system intact
• Help fights various yeast infections
• is filled with nutrients needed for our overall health
• helps us promote health management
• contains Protein, much needed for our lifestyle 
• all the live cultures containing it works as probiotics

Yogurt is usually produced in the factories but from now on also at home with your own Instant Pot.

If you would like to learn a bit more about Yogurt in our lifestyle and which one is the best, have a look at All Natural Ideas article, which is so informative

How is actual Yogurt made?

During the fermentation process, bacterial cultures interact with milk transforming it into a curd, which then at the same time gives the milk a different taste. One of the fermentation byproducts is lactic acid, which then determines if the process of yogurt is finished, which is normally done in 3-4 hours. 

More about the process of fermentation and making an actual yogurt can be found in the article from MadeHow. 

Yogurt on Low Carb and Keto lifestyle?

As all of us who are trying to stay on a Keto or Low-Carb Lifestyle know. Labels are very important. And we need to read each one of the labels of the product we see the first time.

Marketing agencies, do know very well, how to put together all the wordings of the products, to make you feel how best, healthiest, and whatsoever that particular product is.

You still need to read the labels.

For us, the first thing I do is look at the total amount of carbs and then ingredients containing that particular product.

That makes me decide if I read further, or just leave the product in the shop and forget about it forever. 

This takes me to answer the question if you can have yogurt in a Low-Carb lifestyle. 

Definitely YES, but you have to make sure it is plain yogurt and without any flavorings. It is the easiest to make the flavors yourselves at home.

All you have to do is add berries, a bit of sweetener, sometimes a bit of cocoa if you need something Chocolatey and you have it. Low-Carb yogurt made at home. 

The base is always a plain yogurt, from now on Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt.

The Caspian Sea Yogurt.

The first time I have started making yogurt at home was when we moved to Doha, Qatar. There was not really a big choice and especially to me they all were either filled up with additional carbs or very sour to my taste.

At that time existed a group of ladies, which were exchanging different varieties of healthy ingredients, which were not freely available in town. Either someone always brought a full suitcase from overseas, or they just made homemade goodies at home and then shared them with each other. 

That was the first time I have got to use kombucha, Kefir Grains, tried raw cocoa nibs, and as well the fresh yogurt culture directly from Caucas. 

The Caspian Sea Yogurt as it is called in Japan but also called Matzoon was brought and taken care of by one of the ladies, and it is known as yogurt containing the best cultures from the whole world, because of the healthy nature of the whole Caucasus and its climate. 

Caspian Sea Yogurt is as famous and popular as from all the types of Honey is Manuka Honey from New Zealand. 

How to make yogurt at home?

The process with yogurt culture was very easy. All you had to do, was buy the best milk available, into it place 2 spoons of yogurt already made, and keep it on a kitchen table till the next day.

In the morning, the yogurt was done and straight went into the fridge, where it was kept for up to 3-4 days. From then on, I have stopped buying yogurt completely and just kept rotating and making my own yogurt. You did not need any fresh starter cultures, you did not need any makers for it. Was so easy. 

And I have already made quite a few Recipes from this Yogurt. One is Lemon Cheesecake made in an Instant Pot. Some others are below at the end of the post. Add it into a perfect Keto “Potato” Salad for your evening Keto Diner.

Can you store fresh cultures?

At that time as we were coming back home for one of the holidays, I wanted to bring some for my mum but was not sure if transporting it in a glass bottle would work, and because of our 5 extra days’ stopover, I was also not sure if the yogurt will not go old.

So I have gone onto the internet to search how can you dry the culture and found out, that ladies have used soaked pads, which they dehydrated in a dehydrator and then kept in the freezer. I made a few of those, and it actually worked. Back in Europe, I just had to redo the yogurt a few times until I was sure it is properly made and gave the culture to my mum. 

She uses it until now, gave it to all of her friends, and just in case one of them runs out, they just exchange the cultures again and again. 

I have since stopped making it daily because none of my family wanted them anymore, and I could not keep eating it just to keep the culture alive. So again, did a few dehydrated pads, which are kept in the freezer for when I need them. Or the easiest, just go and visit my mum and take some from her.

And why am I writing this now?

This process reminds me of something similar to what Instant pot makes. 

When I have got the Instant Pot for Christmas, yogurt was the first thing I have tried to make. Normally you should get the best bio yogurt with live cultures you can find for the best outcome and that’s exactly what I would suggest doing.

But my first trial was just a plain Greek yogurt we always had in the fridge, and I just bought the first fresh Bio milk I found in the shop. Tried it and woohoo.

The yogurt was just awesome. It was not as sour as some are (which I do not like anyway) and because of the Greek starter, it was rich, creamy, and irresistible not to eat the whole pot. 

Can you make Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt from Whipping Cream?

Because most of my recipes are made especially to the taste of my daughter, who is T1 Diabetic and that actually started our journey to the Low-Carb lifestyle, I always think of adding more calories for her, on the contrary to people, who are following Keto or Low-Carb diets because of losing weight. 

And yes, I have experienced it by replacing milk with whipping cream and will definitely do it again and again. Whipping cream gave the extra creaminess and even more texture, which we really loved. The procedure is exactly the same. All you have to do is instead of 1l milk you add 1l of whipping cream. 

I fully suggest for you to try that version as well because the creaminess and taste are just unbelievable. 

Or you can also try to make yogurt from your own homemade Coconut Milk.

How long should you make Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt in an Instant Pot?

As per direct instructions from Instant pot itself and settings for yogurt making, it is 8 hours.

But frankly, on one occasion, I could not wait anymore and opened the Instant pot after 5 hours. 

I have not really seen the difference in texture or taste compared to 8 hours. So if you do not have time, just set it up to 5 or 6 hours, and you get the perfect results.

Why make your own yogurt?

1. You know exactly what you put in. You pick the best, healthiest milk you know there exists. Likewise, you pick the best yogurt to start the process, and you do not add anything else. In that way you are sure, there is nothing else added to either keep it fresh longer or keep the taste better or make the yogurt cheaper or at some occasions added unhealthy ingredients for no reason. All you have inside is your milk and your yogurt.
2. You have a perfectly fresh yogurt all the time. You know exactly when you made it and there is no shop, where you can get the freshest yogurt from your own Instant Pot the minute it is done.:)
3. Money-Saving. To get really the best quality organic and Bio yogurt without any artificial ingredients is not easy to find and if you do, it does cost a lot. In this way, you know exactly what you pay for, and it is never more than in the shop.
4. For a big family, who loves yogurt, the turnaround is massive. Making your own Yogurt at home just saves you so much time.
5. Wastage. To buy fresh yogurts all the time, we normally pick smaller packaging to be able to have the freshest yogurt for use. But this adds to all the plastic containers you have to always throw into the garbage.  By making it at home and use a glass container saves lots of trash. 

Why pick Greek yogurt?

Greek or Normal Yogurt?

Greek yogurt has got a completely different texture and taste compare to the normal one. It is much, much creamier, thicker, and much less sour than the normal ones. But be careful, it also contains much more calories, so when you are into calculations, take that into consideration. 

But as I have mentioned because of my daughter needing much more daily calories, than an adult, and us all actually tasting Greek yogurt much more, than the normal one, we buy Greek yogurt exclusively and used them in all of our cooking and baking.

But in the end, it is all up to you and your preferences, which type of yogurt you prefer.

How Can I make the Yogurt thicker?

If you are one of the people, who just love the Greek Yogurt to be as thick as possible, you can add one additional step to the process. 

Straining:

Once the Yogurt is cooled down, you can strain even more whey from yogurt, by letting it set through a Muslin cloth or a special Yogurt strainer if you have one. 

Let it strain overnight, and you will be surprised how much extra whey or liquid you can still get it from. 

What can you make with Yogurt?

Savory or sweet, there are so many dishes and treats you can add yogurt into.

• Yogurt Protein Popsicles
• Keto “Potato” Salad
• Keto Bagels
• Ripple Cheesecake
• Yogurt Cheesecake
• Creamy Salsa Dressing
• Broccoli Salad
• Yogurt Buns
• Peanut Butter Cheesecake
• Fiber Bread Rolls
• Valentines Popsicles
• Asparagus Quiche
• Lemon Cheesecake
• Taco Soup

Here is the recipe for Instant Pot Keto Cold Start Greek Yogurt:

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