Homemade Almond Milk Yogurt

 Homemade Almond Milk Yogurt Recipe [15 min prep!]

Are you looking to make delicious completely dairy-free yogurt at home? Are you wondering ,can you actually make yogurt from almond milk?

If so, you are in the right place. 🙂

This homemade almond milk yogurt is thick, creamy, rich, and slightly tart with just the right amount of sweetness… it’s everything you want from the perfect traditional yogurt, only 100% dairy free! And beyond being absolutely tasty, our homemade almond milk yogurt is protein-rich, packed with probiotics (the wonderful live bacteria that help boost the immune system and improve digestion), is naturally soy-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free and gluten-free. Talk about a recipe you can really feel good about making!

Scroll down for the full recipe or watch our recipe video here!

(And if you’re looking for another great dairy-free treat, our Coconut Dream Smoothie is a delicious must try!)

Yogurt FAQs:

Before we dive into our seriously easy recipe, let’s answer a few questions…

Is Almond Milk Yogurt Good for You?

Yes, we believe so! Depending on if you are using the right yogurt starter or not, almond milk yogurt will be packed with probiotics. Probiotics help grow healthy bacteria in your gut. Critically important to maintaining a robust immune system and healthy digestive system.

We love yogurt not only for the taste but the benefits from the probiotics.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are good for your health. They help keep your gut biome healthy and can improve digestion, boost immunity, and reduce inflammation. Yogurt is a great source of probiotics because it contains live cultures that help your body absorb nutrients from the milk. Dried probiotics don’t have the same benefits as their live culture counterparts.

Yogurt with live cultures has been shown to improve digestive health in many ways. It can reduce constipation, diarrhea, and bloating by increasing bowel movements and helping food pass through the intestines more easily. It also helps protect against infections by strengthening your immune system and reducing inflammation in the gut.

Buying almond milk from the store will be a different story however! That’s why we prefer our recipe. 🙂 If you do choose to buy your yogurt from the store, check the ingredients! Are they adding extra sugars? Are there any words or additives that you can’t pronounce? That’s a good rule of thumb for us. With anything store bought keep the ingredients to a minimum. Stay as close to whole, simple foods as possible.

Can you make almond milk yogurt in a crockpot?

Yes! We offer that as one of the alternatives in our recipe. 🙂 It may be the best way in fact! Making yogurt in a crockpot allows for one-pot cooking as you can heat and incubate in one container.

On top of being an absolute delight to the taste buds, this yogurt is also incredibly versatile!

We love it by itself, in smoothies, on top of pancakes or waffles, we even used it as a base in our crowd-pleasing nectarine popsicles! With all the options, incorporating this almond milk yogurt into your routine is a guaranteed no-brainer.

How to Make Almond Milk Yogurt Recipe

Our recipe is super simple to follow, but we do have some helpful notes before you start:

The almond milk. We absolutely prefer to use homemade almond milk, and we have a fabulous recipe right here, but if you’d like to use store-bought, go with a brand that is 100% almond milk with no added ingredients. We like Califa or New Barn unsweetened organic almond milk.

The yogurt starter. There are a few options when deciding which kind of starter to use, some better than others. For this recipe, we suggest using a homemade version (if you’re local, we found a nice selection of homemade almond milk yogurt at Kreation Juicery), but a store bought brand like Kite Hill makes a wonderful almond milk yogurt that you could use as well. You could also give a powdered dairy-free yogurt starter a try, but we find that using a homemade or store-bought yogurt yields a firmer, creamier end result.

Can you use probiotics as your starter for the yogurt? Yes, you can use probiotics as your starter, however, just like with the powdered yogurt starter, we found it doesn’t come out as thick or creamy.

What exactly is a “mother?” The “mother” is the starter culture for a yogurt. For example, when you use a bit of yogurt from a yogurt that’s already cultured, that bit is the “new starter” or the “mother” that starts your new yogurt. To properly start your yogurt, you need to use healthy bacteria for the culturing process.

Can you add the chia before you put it in the oven/yogurt maker? Yes, you can add the chia to the yogurt beforehand, but we found adding it at the end yields the best consistency.

Now, on to the yogurt!

Homemade Almond Milk Yogurt

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Print Recipe

This homemade almond milk yogurt is thick, creamy, rich, and slightly tart with just the right amount of sweetness… it’s everything you want from the perfect traditional yogurt, only 100% dairy free! And beyond being absolutely tasty, our homemade almond milk yogurt is protein-rich, packed with probiotics (the wonderful live bacteria that help boost the immune system and improve digestion), is naturally soy-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free and gluten-free. Talk about a recipe you can really feel good about making!

• Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups almond milk (homemade or store bought)
• 1/3 cup yogurt starter of your choice
• 1 tbsp raw honey
• 2–3 tbsp whole chia seeds

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Instructions

Before beginning, you will also need: one 4 cup glass baking dish with lid or small crock-pot, one 1 Qt pot, and glass jars for storing

*If using a yogurt maker, simply follow their instructions*

1. Heat fresh almond milk and bring to a gentle boil. (If you are using homemade almond milk, make ahead of time. Our almond milk recipe is super easy to make.) 
2. Let boil for 15 SECONDS. (*NOTE* Once you place the milk on the stove and bring it to a boil, small bubbles form, this is not a huge rolling boil, that is when you start timing the 15 seconds. )
3. Remove ½ C of warm milk into a small bowl, and set aside to cool to room temperature. Pour the remaining almond milk into a glass baking dish, and let cool for 10 minutes or until it’s warm to the touch.
4. Add your yogurt starter to the small bowl of room temperature almond milk. (If too hot it will kill off the good bacteria.) Whisk this mixture into the larger milk container.
5. Next, whisk in 1 Tbl honey.
6. Cover container and place into a warm oven that is set at it’s lowest temperature: 150-170 works great, or place yogurt in a crock-pot on medium/low. Let incubate for 12 hours. The longer the incubation time, the greater the culture. *Yogurt firms up after it’s been in the refrigerator.
7. Once the 12 hours are done, stir in the 2-3 tablespoons of whole chia seeds.
8. Pour into glass jars or your storage containers of choice and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before eating so that yogurt can thicken.

Notes

Chia seeds are great for thickening and add even more nutritional benefit (rich in omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, and fiber), but feel free to leave them out if you’re not a fan!

We use honey in this recipe to sweeten, but you can use any sweetener you prefer. (pure maple syrup as another great option).

Many recipes you’ll find use thickening agents like agar-agar, xantham gum, pectin, etc to get the yogurt to the desired consistency. We find our yogurt thickens up just fine without them, but feel free to experiment and see what works best for you! (we’ve heard of people having great luck with arrowroot powder as a thickener as well).

Once your yogurt is done, you can enjoy by itself, add a nice fruit puree or jam, try it with our homemade granola and fresh fruit for the perfect light snack or breakfast… you can even use yogurt to make homemade salad dressings and marinades!

• Author: Curry Girls
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Incubation Time: 12 hours
• Cook Time: 25 minutes

With all the delicious possibilities, we’d love to know how you decided to enjoy it! Let us know with a message in the comments!

And while you’re here, we’re sure you’d love to add a few more dairy free recipes to your rotation, right? Check out our ever-growing list of dairy free gluten free options for more fantastic ideas!  (some even incorporate this recipe)