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How to Make Dairy-Free Yogurt (Vegan, Paleo, and Ketogenic Friendly)

An easy method for making your own yogurt that only requires non-dairy milk, culture, a thickener, and a sweetener of choice (optional). This totally customizable recipe is easy to follow and uses tools you already have in your kitchen.

Keyword breakfast, Dairy-free, ketogenic, kid-friendly, paleo, snack, vegan, yogurt
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 15 minutes
Author Raina Cordell

Ingredients

  • 4 cups Dairy-Free Milk (almond, coconut, etc. OR homemade milk)
  • 1 tbsp Sweetener (If you are using an unsweetened milk, you will need to add 1 tbsp of a sugar based sweetener such as maple syrup or coconut sugar to feed the fermentation)
  • 1-2 tsp Culture (probiotic powder) or 1-2 capsules of probiotics, one package of vegan yogurt starter, or 1/3 cup of a previous batch of vegan yogurt
  • 2-4 tpsb Thickener (cornstarch, flaxseed, kuzu root powder, arrowroot, tapioca, guar gum, or any other thickener of choice)

Instructions

  1. In a pot over medium heat, bring 3.5 cups of your milk of choice to a gentle simmer. Stir often, watching carefully to make sure that the milk doesn’t burn or scald.

  2. Remove milk from heat and cool to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. If you are using agar-agar, xantham gum, or gelatin as your thickener, you would now whisk this into the heated milk while it is cooling.
  4. Take the remaining unheated 1/2 cup of milk and gently stir in your culture.
  5. If you are using any of the other thickening options, you would also add this to the unheated milk and whisk to ensure there are no clumps.
  6. Whisk the unheated, cultured milk into the rest of the milk.
  7. Pour yogurt into your yogurt containers, and prepare to incubate using the method of your choice. I prefer to use 8 oz mason jars and culture with the lids on to prevent a thicker layer from forming on the top of each yogurt.
  8. Allow to incubate for anywhere from 12-24 hours (I always go for the full 24 to achieve optimum cultures).
  9. After incubating, your yogurt will appear runny. Do not panic. The yogurt will continue to thicken in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours as it cools.
  10. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.

  11. After 24 hours, your yogurt is ready to eat.

  12. You can add fruit, vanilla, sweeteners, granola, or anything else that you’d like to your yogurt but you may find that you like it plain!