Making homemade coconut yogurt is easy. It does not require fancy equipment; you control the ingredients and save money. We will show you step-by-step how to make coconut yogurt.
How do you make coconut yogurt at home?
A summary of our simple 4 step method:
- Heat the base with the coconut milk to 185°F (85°C), whisking well.
- Cool this mixture to 113°F (45°C) before adding the starter culture.
- Pour the milk and culture mixture into the prepared glass jar and put in the Yogurt Maker for 8 hours to culture.
- Remove from the maker and refrigerate the coconut yogurt until it is thoroughly chilled and set.
Jump to the end for the full recipe.
Our Vegan Yogurt Story
We love making homemade yogurt and cheese. So much so that we started our sister brand, Culture Cupboard, to create a range of cheese and yogurt starters.
We trialed hundreds of dairy-free yogurt batches to get a formulation that made great vegan yogurt from scratch with all the different types of vegan milk.
After a lot of trial and even more error, we refined our recipe and method to something that worked every time.
Using the Culture Cupboard Plant Based Yogurt Starter you can make delicious coconut, almond, cashew, soy, seed, and oat milk yogurts at home, from store bought or homemade plant milks.
Which coconut milk should I use for yogurt?
- Any brand with over 5% fat will make good coconut yogurt.
- The higher the fat, the thicker the yogurt.
- Choose coconut milk or coconut cream you like the taste of as the flavor comes through in the finished yogurt.
- For a lighter, lower-fat coconut yogurt, make a 'half and half' batch by blending a can each of high fat and low-fat coconut milk.
How to make creamy textured coconut yogurt?
Most coconut milks or creams need a thickener to ensure a creamy yogurt with an even texture.
In our testing, we found the commonly suggested thickeners for coconut yogurt; like potato starch, arrowroot, corn flour, tapioca starch, guar gum, pectin, and gelatin made either very gluey or jelly-like yogurts
We created our Plant-Based Yogurt Starter with agar and organic rice starch for an even consistent texture every time.
The Best Yogurt Maker and Equipment
Many blogs advise culturing coconut yogurt at room temperature for up to 24 hours. However, we recommend using a yogurt maker to provide the proper heat level over a shorter time frame, so the yogurt bacteria work safely and effectively.
Using your instant pot as a yogurt maker machine is not advisable as the heat settings are too high and variable. Many beneficial bacteria and live probiotics start to die when the milk heats to over 113°F (45°C).
The euro cuisine yogurt maker is an electric option with multiple small glass jars to create individual portions of yogurt. However, we find it fiddly to clean and not as flexible for serving as making a single large batch of yogurt.
We recommend our Stainless Steel Yogurt Maker with a 32 oz (945ml) glass jar. It does not need electricity and holds the heat for the ideal 8 hours culturing time needed for homemade yogurt. It comes with a glass jar, and extra yogurt jars are available.
In addition to a yoghurt maker, you will also need the following equipment:
- Saucepan
- Thermometer
- Whisk
Can I use probiotic capsules to make coconut yogurt?
The probiotics in standard supplement capsules are not the specific bacterial strains for yogurt making, nor are they at the correct dose rate. This makes coconut yogurt made from probiotic capsules very expensive, and inferior in quality and live bacteria.
When selecting culture for making vegan yogurt, look for starter cultures specifically for yogurt making and grown on a plant-based media rather than a dairy media.
What yogurt culture should I use for coconut yogurt?
The starter uses sugars naturally found in coconut milk, such as sucrose and glucose, to create acids that sour, preserve and thicken the milk into yogurt.
- Streptococcus thermophilus
- Lactobacillus acidophilus
- Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus
- Bifidobacterium
All of our strains are grown on a vegan (non-dairy) medium. Once activated in vegan milk, these yogurt bacteria multiply as yeast does in bread, fermenting the milk into vegan yogurt.
Questions about making coconut yogurt at home
Is coconut yogurt good for gut health?
Live probiotic bacteria are found in large quantities in homemade coconut yogurt, making it an excellent choice for gut health.
Is coconut yogurt healthy?
People choose different things in their diet for many reasons. Making your own yogurt lets you tailor your nutrition to suit your dietary needs.
For example, for high protein dairy-free yogurt, choose soy milk or full-fat coconut milk. Straining finished yogurt also raises protein levels.
For low-fat dairy-free yogurt, avoid coconut cream or strained yogurts.
Is homemade coconut yogurt expensive?
Making your coconut yogurt will save you money. Store-bought coconut yogurt is expensive. You also control the ingredients when you make it from scratch.
Why is my coconut yogurt separating or runny?
- Check that your coconut milk has over 5% fat content.
- Use a natural base like our Plant-Based Starter Culture to create an even texture.
- Check your temperature for culturing the yogurt is 113°F (45°C) for 8 hours
- Fully chill the yogurt before eating it.
- Visit the Culture Cupboard Yogurt University for more tips and troubleshooting.
How long does homemade coconut yogurt last for?
Kept in the refrigerator, in a sealed glass jar, homemade coconut yogurt will last for 1-2 weeks.
