Freezing your yogurt is also an easy way to get a thicker consistency if your first few batches don’t turn out exactly as planned. The easiest thing to do is to simply make it as usual and then transfer it to the freezer instead of the refrigerator. You can let it stay in the freezer as long as you’d like – and many people will even freeze their plain yogurt as is to save it as a starter for their next batch they plan on making.

Most commercial flavors that you see for sale in stores or the ever growing in popularity frozen custard shops typically have a few more ingredients added to them to give it a creamier and smoother texture and of course to add additional flavorings such as chocolate, vanilla, or fruit flavors. Others love to add different things to their mixes and batches, such as chocolate chip cookie dough or walnuts and caramel. Really the possibilities are endless – you are only limited to your creativity and time to experiment!

For the creamiest recipe, we’ve found that we absolutely love using strained yogurt, also commonly called yogurt cheese or Greek Yogurt. It’s thicker and quite tasty. It’s also just as easy to make – the only additional step is to strain the yogurt through cheese cloth. (See our directions for Greek Yogurt). If you don’t have the time to make the thicker kind though, that’s perfectly okay – you can still make it with it plain and as you’re used to. You can also always add thickeners such as pudding or unflavored gelatin and others.

Here’s Our Basic Frozen Yogurt Recipe:

You Will Need:
4 cups strained yogurt
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (imitation vanilla will work – we just prefer the authentic “real thing”)

Directions: Mix together all of the ingredients and place in freezer for 3-6 hours or until frozen. You can also use an ice cream maker if you prefer. The time it takes for the mixture to freeze completely will greatly vary on the thickness of the yogurt itself. If you go with plain, non strained varieties, you may notice it will take a little longer. Of course, everyone also has different freezer temperatures – someone might have their at 31 degrees, another person might have theirs set at 29 degrees – that two degrees in difference isn’t going to make a HUGE amount of a difference, but it can affect it from anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. We’ve found sometimes its better to let it stay in the freezer overnight to resist that temptation of not being able to wait for it to completely freeze through!

Now that you have a good basic vanilla recipe, you can add anything you want to the mix! Don’t be afraid to be creative – you can copy similar ingredients from your favorite store bought brands or ice cream flavors or you can try something completely wacky, different and new.

Here’s some fun ideas:

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Strawberry Banana
Peaches
Blueberry
Turtle Carmel Fudge (Nuts, Chocolate Syrup & Caramel Syrup)
Coffee (add 1/2 -1 cup of your favorite coffee – may want to add more sugar if need be)
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Raspberries
Lemon

And these are just a few ideas we’ve tried before and can think of off the top of our heads! If you need any inspiration, check out sites like TCBY Flavors.

Do you have a favorite frozen yogurt recipe you’d like to share? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

It is made by several manufacturers and you’ll likely be able to find it in your refrigerator dairy case in the grocery store. However, it not surprisingly is more expensive, especially if the product was manufactured out of the country.

The main difference between greek yogurt and regular yogurt is the thickness in consistency. Fortunately, if you’re wondering how to make Greek yogurt you can do it with one extra simple step in addition to our regular guide on making yogurt, which you’ll want to read first for detailed instructions. For best results, we recommend using whole fat milk and a whole fat yogurt starter base.

To start off, you’ll need the same ingredients we use for our basic recipe: 1 quart of milk and 2-3 tablespoons of yogurt or yogurt starter.

The first thing to do is to cook the milk to 185 degrees in a saucepan. (we prefer a double boiler – you don’t want to scald or burn it!) This gets rid of any impurities in the milk that could cause it to spoil or affect the way the bacteria do their magic.

Next, you’ll want to cool it off to be around 110-115 degrees. This is the peak temperature for the bacteria to work at making lactic acid. A cooking thermometer is an indispensable tool for this!

After that, you need to add in the yogurt or yogurt starter and allow it to incubate in your machine for 4-8 hours. The time will greatly depend on what bacterias you are using – the more bacteria, the faster this whole process is.

After it has incubated and fermented, you’re ready for the extra step to follow for making this regular old yogurt go “Greek”.

Straining the Yogurt

When you are straining the yogurt, you will need a large bowl, a cheesecloth or clean towel, a colander that fits into the bowl, and some string.

1. Put the cheesecloth in the colander and the colander into the bowl and then pour the yogurt onto it. Lift the corners of the fabric and twist it so that it squeezes the yogurt. (Note: You may want to do this over a sink!)

2. When you have squeezed out as much liquid as you can, tie the cloth around the remaining yogurt as tightly as you can and allow it to drain in the colander over the bowl for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator.

3. Untie the String & Serve and Enjoy! You can now add any flavorings.

It’s a little tricky at first making Greek yogurt, but once you get the hang of it you can enjoy this same delicious treat for a fraction of the cost of what you would spend in stores!

There are all types of reasons as to why you may prefer soy over regular. Those who are lactose intolerant may prefer it simply because it does not cause them the side effects that they would get from eating milk based products. Those who have adopted a vegan diet would also be interested in making it from soy. For others, Soy is different in flavor and texture and that might be why you would prefer it.

Either way, if you want to make it, the only thing different you will have to do is use soy milk instead of regular milk.

Ingredients:

1 Quart Soy Milk

1 cup soy yogurt or soy starter with live active bacteria cultures

2 tbsp Agar Powder (optional) Learn What Agar Powder Is

Directions:

1. Heat Up the Soy Milk to 185 degrees: It is best to do this on a double boiler to make sure you don’t scald the milk. This will eliminate any potential impurities that may cause differences in how the bacteria reacts to the milk.

2. Cool it Off: You want to then cool it off to be around 110-115 degrees. This is the ideal temperature that causes the bacteria to react.

3. Add in Yogurt Cultures: This is the step where you want to put the yogurt or the dairy free cultures into the milk and mix it in. Pour it into the pre-heated yogurt maker machine.

4. Allow to Incubate 4-6 Hours: You’ll want to make sure you allow for enough time for it the bacteria to produce the yogurt. This will greatly depend on what types of bacteria you or using and how many, as typically the more bacteria you use the faster it will turn into yogurt.

5. Add Agar Powder: Agar powder is a vegetable based gelatin like substance that can be used to make it creamier, since soy yogurt tends to be quite runny. You’ll want to mix it in and give the mixture a good stir.

6. Refrigerate: You’ll want to refrigerate it for at least 4-6 more hours, overnight preferred. You can then enjoy it and serve with your favorite fruits or add in any additional flavorings you might like.

For more detailed instructions, you’ll want to check out our detailed guide on How to Make Yogurt.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on how to make soy yogurt, feel free to Contact Us.