How To Make Yogurt With Your Instant Pot For Beginners (2026)

Making yogurt at home is easier than you think, and your Instant Pot is the perfect tool to do it. Not only will you save money compared to store-bought yogurt, but you'll also have complete control over ingredients and flavors. Plus, the yogurt function on modern Instant Pots takes the guesswork out of maintaining the precise temperature needed for successful fermentation.

What to Look For

• A yogurt-specific function: Look for an Instant Pot model with a dedicated "Yogurt" button or setting. This ensures you can maintain the exact 110°F temperature needed for cultures to thrive, rather than relying on manual temperature control.
• Adequate capacity: Choose a 6-quart or larger Instant Pot if you want to make yogurt regularly. A larger capacity means you can batch-make enough yogurt to last a week, and there's more room for the heating process to work efficiently.
• Clear inner pot markings: Select a model with visible measurement lines on the inner stainless steel pot. When making yogurt, you need to see exactly how much milk you're using to get the right consistency and know when fermentation is complete.

Our Top Pick

The Instant Pot Duo Plus (6-quart) is ideal for yogurt beginners. It features a user-friendly Yogurt button with both "Boil" and "Yogurt" settings, allowing you to pasteurize your milk in the pot and then ferment it without transferring anything. The 6-quart capacity lets you make a full week's worth of yogurt in one batch, and the stainless steel inner pot with clear markings makes measuring and monitoring your progress simple. At a mid-range price point, you're getting professional results without overpaying for features you won't need.

"The Instant Pot's yogurt function removes the guesswork by maintaining a precise temperature between 104-110°F, which is exactly what your cultures need to thrive, making it far more reliable than traditional methods that require constant monitoring. Start with ultra-pasteurized milk, add your yogurt starter, and let the pot do the work for 8-10 hours—beginners often fail with stovetop methods simply because they can't maintain that consistency, but the Instant Pot guarantees success every single time."

Why This Works for This Situation

The Instant Pot's sealed environment and precise temperature control eliminate the biggest challenge beginners face: keeping milk at a consistent 110°F during the 8-12 hour fermentation process. Without this precision, your yogurt cultures won't activate properly, leaving you with expensive milk instead of creamy yogurt. The Instant Pot does this automatically, meaning you can simply add milk and starter culture, set it, and walk away—no thermometers, no checking the temperature every hour, no stress.

Another reason this works so well is that the Instant Pot is a tool you likely already have or will use for many other meals. You're not buying a single-purpose yogurt maker; you're using an appliance that's already in your kitchen. For beginners especially, this removes the barrier to trying something new. Once you've mastered basic yogurt, you can experiment with flavored yogurts, Greek yogurt, and even non-dairy versions—all in the same machine.

What to Avoid

• Don't skip pasteurizing your milk first: Some beginners think they can skip the boil step, but pasteurizing kills unwanted bacteria that could interfere with your starter culture. Always use the Yogurt Boil function before fermenting, or heat milk on the stovetop to 180°F and let it cool first.
• Don't use ultra-old starter cultures: Yogurt starter loses potency over time. If your starter is more than 2 weeks old or you're unsure when you opened it, buy a fresh yogurt with active cultures from the store. This is one area where spending a couple dollars extra prevents wasting milk and time.
• Don't rely on older Instant Pot models without a yogurt function: Early Instant Pot versions don't have consistent yogurt settings, making temperature control difficult for beginners. Stick with models from 2015 onward that explicitly feature a Yogurt button.

Making yogurt in your Instant Pot is genuinely beginner-friendly once you understand the process, and you'll be amazed at how much better homemade yogurt tastes. Start with your first batch this week,

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.