Homemade almond milk yogurt is a delicious way to get a dose of probiotics. It’s a perfect dairy-free probiotic alternative for smoothies, breakfasts and desserts.
Dairy-Free Yogurts
It’s easy to make dairy-free yogurt. The trick is to buy a good dairy-free culture
Homemade Almond Milk Yogurt
Homemade almond milk yogurt is a delicious and dairy-free probiotic drink. See section below for six different ways to thicken for a wholesome snack.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Total Time: 4 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: Yogurt
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Vegan
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp of yogurt with live culture in it (or a pack of starter culture)
- 4 cups of nut milk
Instructions
- Slowly heat the almond milk to 110 F (40 C), whisking occasionally to keep the milk from scalding on the bottom of the pot. At this point you may want to mix in a thickener. See the section below for more details on how to thicken your yogurt.
- Pour the milk into the culturing containers and stir culture into the milk.
- Maintain at around 105F (40 C) for at least 4 hours. If you like a sour yogurt then you can leave it for up to 24 hours.
Notes
- You cannot make yogurt with nut milks that have preservatives. The goal of preservatives is to prevent bacterial growth. So either use homemade almond milk or a milk labelled as Preservative Free. Even if it’s organic, if it doesn’t say Preservative Free, then it probably has a small amount of preservatives, as there are natural preservatives that aren’t required to be on the ingredients label because they are used in small quantities. (Something you learn when your kid has a sulfite allergy.)
- It is important to use an active culture. You can buy single use cultures
online, or use a good vegan yogurt (affiliate links.)
- You can use a yogurt maker to make several small jars of yogurt. I use a folding fermentation box so that I can make a large volume of yogurt at once. However, here are some ways of making yogurt without a yogurt maker.
- To make chocolate almond milk yogurt, add 2 tbsp of cocoa powder to the hot almond milk before adding the culture. Stir in your favourite sweetener after culturing, or eat it with sliced bananas for a naturally sweet treat.
Keywords: keto, vegan, paleo, whole 30, dairy free, gluten free, nut milk, hazel nut, almond, hemp, oat
Thickeners
Cultured almond milk is as thin as milk unless you add a thickener. While a thin yogurt is fine for smoothies and popsicles, it is easy to add a thickener.
- Chia seeds
: Chia seeds are my favourite thickener. They are easy to use and add fiber, protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Hard to beat all of that! Simply stir 4 tbsp of chia seeds directly into the yogurt.
- Tapioca starch: Dissolve 4 tbsp of tapioca starch in a small amount of water before adding to the warm milk. I haven’t found tapioca starch to work very well, as it tends to separate.
- Agar agar powder
: Whisk 1 tsp agar agar powder directly into the warm milk.
- Xantham gum: Xantham gum also has a tendency to separate. Whisk 1 tsp xantham gum into the milk.
- Guar gum: Dissolve 2 tsp of guar gum in a small amount of water before adding to the milk.
- Pectin: Pectin will set a very firm yogurt. Use Pomonas Universal Pectin and follow directions on the package.
: Chia seeds are my favourite thickener. They are easy to use and add fiber, protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Hard to beat all of that! Simply stir 4 tbsp of chia seeds directly into the yogurt.
: Whisk 1 tsp agar agar powder directly into the warm milk.
With the chia seeds, do you need to grind them or do you leave them whole? Thanks for the recipe! I’m looking forward to trying.
It depends on what you want… Ground chia will be smoother, but I actually like the little chia seed balls. Just mix it several times over the first day because the chia will sink and solidify on the bottom of your container.
Never made almond milk yogurt. I’ll give it a try
Thank you for these tips! I love homemade yogurt but have just been diagnosed with a dairy allergy, so I am new to this realm of cooking. I was wondering if adding in thickeners like the ones you had suggested will prevent the thickened vegan yogurt from being used as a starter culture for future batches? If so, is it possible to add the thickeners in AFTER the fermentation has occurred? I would like to maintain my own culture, if possible. Thank you!
I think you can still culture it with the added thickeners. I use various store-bought yogurts and they always worked (despite various thickeners.) Chia seeds can be added after fermentation, but all the other thickeners work best when added to warm almond milk, so you will need to add them before fermenting.