The second that the new NINJA FOODI DELUXE came out, I immediately bought it! I’m not exaggerating! I signed up for email notifications for the minute that it was available on the Ninja website. I ordered it the day that it came out and was so incredibly excited to get it in the mail 2 days later! Why was I excited? Well, there’s the updated look of the unit, but there’s also the fact that it has a YOGURT button!!!! What? Yes!!!!!!
So, I don’t eat a lot of yogurt, but my family does so I figured this was a pretty good excuse to get a new NINJA FOODI!! 🙂
I was so excited to get to work on my very first homemade yogurt that I didn’t do a lot of research……..and I paid deeply for that mistake! But, lucky for you, I’m sharing all of my mistakes with you so that you don’t make the same ones!
Take 1: My first attempt at making yogurt!!
- I was so excited to make yogurt that I didn’t spend enough time looking through the user manual of my new NINJA FOODI DELUXE!! OOOOPS! So, I ended up slow cooking milk for roughly 12 hours. I don’t recommend this to anyone. The final result was a liquid brown smelly goo. I did not have any yogurt!!!
- I made the mistake of stopping on the function that says slow cook/yogurt. I didn’t realize that I needed to go one more notch to actually get to the yogurt function. Instead, I ended up waiting for the milk to boil for roughly 5 hours before going to bed for the night. The cookbook that comes with the Ninja Foodi said that it could take several hours for the milk to boil. Yes, 5 hours seemed like a long time. I spent some time online looking to see how long it should take and I came up with nothing. So, I let it keep going……for hours and hours.
- When I woke up in the morning, the screen still had not changed. So, I opened up the lid…and there it was……my boiled milk. Gross. I poured it down the drain and decided to start again.
Take 2: Do Over!!
- Thank goodness I bought an entire gallon of milk for try number one. I had only used half of the gallon so I didn’t need to go to the grocery store for more supplies. This round, I actually pushed the turned the dial until it said “yogurt!!” I know- it seems so easy! I don’t know how I missed this the first time.
- I used the same milk, yogurt starter, vanilla and honey. I followed the same exact steps. The only difference is that the screen actually changed to show “boil, “”add and stir,” and “incubate!” We are making progress!! The boiling portion did not take 5 hours this time. To my amazement, it boiled in less than an hour! Yippeee!!! We are going to have real yogurt this time!!! Finally, the beep went off and it was time to see my beautiful, thick, yogurt. And then it happened! I opened the lid and I had yogurt soup! What the heck!!!???
- Ok, so- lesson learned. DO NOT ADD HONEY while the yogurt is cooking! Why you ask? Apparently honey has something in it that reacts with the active yogurt cultures that prevents the yogurt from fully forming. Once again- I should have researched this before making it. Lucky for you, I made this mistake so that you don’t have to.
- To try and get the yogurt a little thicker, I put it in the refrigerator overnight. It did get a little thicker but was still more like drinkable yogurt and less like regular yogurt. Once we got past the consistency (similar to white glue lol), the flavor was actually pretty good. We were moving in the right direction!!
Take 3: Third time’s a charm!!
- Ok, so I ran out of milk and yogurt starter so I needed to go to the store to get more supplies. I bought different milk and yogurt. I figured at this point it couldn’t hurt. I bought the highest fat % yogurt that I could find. 5%! That’s got to do something right!?!
- At this point, I was determined to make actual yogurt! I used the actual yogurt function and skipped the honey and vanilla. Needless to say, my family had lost faith in my yogurt making abilities but I was determined to get it right! To my amazement, it worked!!! I ended up with thick, beautiful yogurt!!! Directions and recipe below to accomplish Take 3 yogurt….I’ll spare you all of the details on Take 1 and Take 2!
Tips for this recipe:
- Do not add honey to the yogurt until you have completed the incubation period and have refrigerated the yogurt for a couple of hours.
- Be sure that you are actually using the “yogurt” function and not the “slow cook” option.
- Be patient! If the yogurt does not set up quite as much as you would like, continue to incubate it longer. You can continue to incubate before you reach the refrigeration step.
How to make Vanilla Yogurt in the Ninja Foodi:
- Turn the Ninja Foodi Deluxe “on.”
- Choose the “yogurt” function. (Be sure that the screen says yogurt and not “hi.”)
- Pour in ½ gallon of milk. Do not add in yogurt, flavors or sweeteners. Only the milk should be added in this step.
- Close the “pressure cooker” lid and move valve to “vent.”
- Push the start button. The screen should say “yogurt” and be set to a time of 8:00.
- Milk will boil in the pot during the initial cooking time. Once the milk has reached a boil, the Ninja Foodi Deluxe will beep and the screen will say “boil” on it. This step should take about an hour.
- After the milk has boiled, it will need to cool. The Ninja Foodi Deluxe will automatically change to the “cool” mode. The milk will cool for about an hour or so. Don’t panic if it does take longer.
- Once the milk has cooled, the Ninja Foodi Deluxe will beep and the screen will say “add and stir.” When this happens, open the “pressure cooker” lid.
- Add in 2 tablespoons of yogurt (the yogurt must have active yogurt cultures).
- Whisk the milk and yogurt together with a plastic or silicone whisk. Do not use a metal whisk as this will scrape the pot.
- Replace the “pressure cooker” lid and make sure valve is set to “vent” position.
- Push start button again to get the Ninja Foodi Deluxe going again.
- The screen should now say “incubate” and be set to 8 hours.
- Let the yogurt incubate. When the timer beeps, remove the lid and check to make sure that the yogurt has set up. You can do so by stick a spoon in the middle of the yogurt. The spoon should stand up on it’s own.
- Refrigerate yogurt for at least 4 hours.
- Add in honey and vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Stir until well combined.
- Place into mason jars or whatever food storage containers you prefer.
Ingredients for Vanilla Yogurt in the Ninja Foodi:
- ½ Gallon of whole milk- Ultra-pasteurized worked best for me
- 2 Tablespoons of yogurt- it must have active yogurt cultures
- 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ½ Cup of honey
Vanilla Yogurt- Ninja Foodi Recipe
Rate this Recipe Print Recipe Pin RecipeServings: 8 Cups
Calories: 216kcal
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Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ gallon Milk (Ultra Pasteurized)
- 2 tbsp Yogurt (Plain with active yogurt cultures- Any brand will do but the Fage 5% plain Greek yogurt worked for me!)
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract (I used vanilla bean paste! :))
- ½ cup Honey
Instructions
- Turn the Ninja Foodi Deluxe "on."Choose the "yogurt" function. (Be sure that the screen says yogurt and not "hi.")
- Pour in ½ gallon of milk. Do not add in yogurt, flavors or sweeteners. Only the milk should be added in this step.
- Close the "pressure cooker" lid and move valve to "vent."
- Push the start button. The screen should say "yogurt" and be set to a time of 8:00.
- Milk will boil in the pot during the initial cooking time. Once the milk has reached a boil, the Ninja Foodi Deluxe will beep and the screen will say "boil" on it. This step should take about an hour.
- After the milk has boiled, it will need to cool. The Ninja Foodi Deluxe will automatically change to the "cool" mode. The milk will cool for about an hour or so. Don't panic if it does take longer.
- Once the milk has cooled, the Ninja Foodi Deluxe will beep and the screen will say "add and stir." When this happens, open the "pressure cooker" lid.Add in 2 tablespoons of yogurt (the yogurt must have active yogurt cultures).
- Whisk the milk and yogurt together with a plastic or silicone whisk. Do not use a metal whisk as this will scrape the pot.
- Replace the "pressure cooker" lid and make sure valve is set to "vent" position.
- Push start button again to get the Ninja Foodi Deluxe going again.
- The screen should now say "incubate" and be set to 8 hours.Let the yogurt incubate. When the timer beeps, remove the lid and check to make sure that the yogurt has set up. You can do so by stick a spoon in the middle of the yogurt. The spoon should stand up on it's own.
- Refrigerate yogurt for at least 4 hours.
- Add in honey and vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Stir until well combined.
- Place into mason jars or whatever food storage containers you prefer.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cup | Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 29g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 24mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 331mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 30g | Vitamin A: 383IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 275mg | Iron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it turned out in a comment below!
Do you have to use the pressure lid? I would prefer not it if I don’t have to.
I haven’t tried it without the pressure cooker lid. I’m pretty sure you need it otherwise the machine won’t cycle through the yogurt function properly.
Yes I need to use that lid to start it as I tested that. I guess my real question was right now I only have one seal that I can’t get the food smell out of. If I leave the seal out do you think it will still work the same ? I read online somewhere is made the yogurt taste oniony.
If you use the pressure cooking lid you need to use the seal. To get the smell out of your seal, put it in the freezer, or hang it outside for a day, or soak it, or put it in the dishwasher. You can also buy extra seals on Amazon so that you have one that you only use for making yogurt.
My first attempt at making yoghurt in my foodi has been a great success, thanks to you 😃
The only issue I had was with the cooling which took about three hours which meant the whole thing wasn’t finished until much later than planned, but, having read some more of the comments I’ll try taking the lid off to cool it quicker next time.
Thanks again 😃
The recipe that came with my foodi says 3 tablespoons of starter. Your recipe calls for 2 tablespoons. My yogurt was a little runny. Should I use 2 tablespoons instead of 3?
I can’t speak to the recipe in the book that came with yours. But, in general, if the yogurt is runny, you might want to try to strain it with a yogurt strainer, incubate longer or refrigerate longer. I would not think that adding less starter would make it any thicker.
I have searched and searched for a good recipe. Thank you for finally taking the mystery out of it!
So it came out good on the first try. My only issue is after i added the honey and vanilla it is looser than i was expecting. Is there anyway to fix it now?
You can try to drain some with the cheesecloth and put it back in the refrigerator or use a yogurt strainer if you have it. If the consistency is runnier than you would like, strain it next time to thicken it up. The amount of whey can vary each time you make it. Try to remove some of it as it separates from the yogurt.
Hi! Thanks for this recipe! My cool phase was taking far too long once it hit 2hrs, so I opened up the pressure top, gave it a stir and checked the team – about 124 degrees F. I decided to let it cool uncovered for about 30 minutes which brought it down to 110.4 on my thermometer and presto – Foodi beeped and changed to the Add and Stir message! Next time I’m just going to take the top off as soon as it changes to the Cool stage to try to make this not an all-day event. Otherwise this is great – thanks again for the instructions!
Have you tried using milk alternatives or lactose free milk? How do you think it will come out using lactose free whole milk? Do you think it will make a difference?
Hi Maribel- I haven’t tried making yogurt with any milk alternatives. Unfortunately, I’m not able to offer any advice on this substitution.
Hi, so I set mine to vent and the same thing happened as a time before when I tried. The milk sprayed out of the vent!!! Is it supposed to do that???
Hi Susie- No, the milk should not be spraying out of the vent. But, anytime you have a lot of liquid in the pot, this can happen. Whenever I vent and liquid starts to come out, I close the vent back up and wait about 5 minutes and try again. Hopefully that will help next time.
Ah this cooling takes soooo long, I thought something went wrong so I googled it and ended up here.
And I only used 1 liter milk.
I was hoping I can go to bed early today. ):
Can you half the recipe?
Yes you can. Just cut the ingredients in half and follow all of the same steps. The steps might go quicker in the machine since there is less liquid.
Thanks for this, I may attempt it again!
I followed the recipe on the ninja foodie site ..
I literally have done this and it’s come out like milk, it beeped at 08:00 and I opened it up and put into glass jars, I carried on and put it in the fridge but it’s still like milk after 6 hours. Not sure what I’ve done wrong! I started at 10am heating the milk up and then cooling down then put the yogurt button one and it finished around 6pm with milk
My milk is at 77 and the cool has been going for 4 hours this sucks. Not the recipes fault but this yogurt function doesn’t seem to work for me 🙁
Amazing recipe!!! Thank you for all of your tips! Worked first try! Mine took about 35min to boil and 3.5 hours to cool. It’s in the fridge now cooling. I can’t wait to add flavors tomorrow 🙂 Have you ever doubled your recipe? I’m wondering how much that would affect the times for everything. Thanks so much!
I did the same thing! Thank goodness I was reading your perfect instructions at the same time and checked, because ..yep, slow cook! You saved my yogurt!
Oh I’m so glad to hear that your yogurt was saved! 🙂
Hi
Thank you so much for all the work you put into writing the above. All I can say is that I have just done the exact same as you a few hours ago😂🙈
Searched all sorts got no where so turned it off after 7 hours as nothing was happening except counting down the minutes and hours ☹️ So I decided to set again in case I had done something wrong. So off it went again and continued to count down still nothing happening. So gave up again and emptied all the milk down the sink and thought will try another plus ran out of milk.
So sat down and searched again and hey presto came across your site and felt instantly better not the only one who has made this mistake. Thank and I will try again in a few days.
Excellent instructions! Wish I would have read before my first attempt, which sounds strikingly like your own. Thank you for this very thorough step by step!
Omg….so I followed your wonderful directions, but when it got to the add part, instead of pressing the yogurt button or the start/stop, I hit the power off button! Arrghhh, so now I have my yogurt in a bowl in the oven staying warm while I try to fool the Foodi back to the incubate stage. I put water in the pot and started the yogurt feature again. Wish me luck!
Mine came out with little solid flecks, some looking like scrapings from the bottom. These pieces did not dissolve and would stick to my tongue. Really gross. No idea what I did wrong.
Oh no! I’m sorry yours did not turn out like mine did. I have not had any solid flecks in mine when I’ve made it. What kind of milk and yogurt starter did you use?
I used whole milk and some plain yogurt. I’m thinking they are from the bottom so maybe I’ll try scooping it out without mixing it when it’s done.
I’m sorry but your cool time is way off. I’ve had my milk cooling for HOURS and it’s not beeped yet. I don’t know if I’ve done something wrong but it’s been at least three hours. Live and learn, I guess.
I’m sorry to hear that your yogurt is taking longer than expected. 🙁 Did the mode change to “cool” and show on the screen?
Did yours have little solid bits in it? I really want to figure out what went wrong with mine.
I came to the comments to see if anyone else had this happen too! Mine’s been in cool mode for 2 hours. I took the lid off and checked the temp, it’s still about 120 so it’s just taking its time, I guess.
This is my 3rd time trying to make the yogurt. Like you, I did not realize that the slow cook/yogurt had 2 settings. Thank you!!!
Excellent explanation. How long does it take to change from “cool mode” to “add and stir”. My one is on cool mode since 3+ hours it doesn’t change to add and stir. Any help would be appreciated.
I’m glad you found our recipe helpful. It only took about an hour for the machine to change to “cool.” 3 hours seems like a long time. Did it eventually change to cool? I’m interested to hear how it turned out.
My cool cycle took 3+ hours and I was starting to get worried but then it went to ferment. I did a keto version with half and half and light cream and used probiotic capsules for my starter. When it was done it looked nice and thick. I’ll taste it in the morning with some sweetener and walnuts. Thank you for your clear instructions
Mine took about 3 hours. It’s still incubating right now.
Mine also took that long to cool and it had solid bits in it that would not dissolve.
I had it set to pressurize so the milk got way too hot. You might be making the same mistake.
I’m on my second attempt. I did the same thing with my first attempt. I didn’t realize that there was a separate yogurt option. I slow cooked the milk for 8 hours. The boiling of the milk took maybe twenty minutes this time around. Waiting for it to cool.
I’m so glad that it’s working now. That yogurt button is a little tricky! I can’t wait to hear how it turns out! Good luck!
I too slow cooked milk! Thank you for your article. Googling this saved the yogurt.
I’m so glad that our post was helpful! Nobody wants slow cooked milk! 🙁
Great yogurt from first try! Thank you!
I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂
I found this just in time. I too slow cooked milk for about 12 hours last week. I never really understand the directions that came with my foodi. I decided to try again today. I had looked high and low for videos or a blog and never found anything helpful until now! Thank you so much! I was set up for failure today as well. I was slow cooking milk again until I saw your instructions that there is one more setting in there. That is a terrible design, by the way!! Now I am learning from your other mistakes and making sore I only add the yogurt starter!! Thank you so much for this!!!
I’m glad that my mistakes helped you! 😀. Once I finally got it to work it was delicious! Enjoy!
SAME!!! All the same! I make yogurt on the stove and let it sit in a cooler to ferment, I had never thought to look for another setting! Gah! I’m glad to see that it’s not just me!
Thanks for your tips. Too bad I didn’t find them until I made some mistakes!
YAY! I did it on the first try! I let it hang in the fridge in cheesecloth all night though, and almost made cheese!! But I added back in some whey liquid and it’s quite nice!
Did you let it drain in the cheese cloth before or after you added the honey and vanilla?
You don’t have to let it drain using cheesecloth. If you choose too, you would do so before adding in flavorings.
Thank you!! I just slow cooked milk for 8hrs. I knew it wasn’t right but didn’t figure it out until I read your post. The foodi recipe is not very helpful. Here’s to take #2!!
Oh no! Hopefully it only takes 2 tries for you instead of 3!! You can do it!! Good luck!!
My first attempt to make yogurt was identical to yours. Thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction!!!
I’m so glad I could help!! Sometimes sharing fails is as helpful as sharing the wins!
I have a couple of questions:
1-do the ingredients need to be at room temperature?
2-how long does this really take? Seems that the Ninja keeps going back to 8 hours.
3-to have yogurt in the day time, what time should I start it? I don’t want to be up and down all night checking to see if it’s time to stir in… If it goes beyond the ending time, will it go to warm and ruin the yogurt? Or will lit just stop, and the yogurt be fine in the morning, ready to chill/drain?
(Would you please edit your recipe to show more info and fix typos? 🙂
Hi Louise! I’m happy to answer your questions as best I can.
1- No, the ingredients do not need to be at room temperature. I use them straight out of the refrigerator.
2-I wish I had a solid answer for you on how long it takes all together. The time to boil for me was about 1 hour. The cooling time for me was about 1 hour. The incubate time is 8 hours. The cooling time in the refrigerator is at least 4 hours. That comes to a total of about 10 hours in the machine plus 4 hours for cooling. But, the reason I said that I don’t have a solid answer is because the time to get it to boil and the time it takes to get it to cool seems to vary for people. Several folks have mentioned that it has taken upwards of 3 hours to boil or to cool. So, at a minimum, you are looking at 10 hours in the machine and 4 hours to cool in the refrigerator.
3-I would recommend starting the yogurt in the afternoon and allowing the yogurt to incubate for 8 hours in the night while you are sleeping. I think that would eliminate the need to be up and down throughout the night checking on it or stirring it etc. In the event that it incubated longer than the 8 hours, the yogurt will not be ruined. The longer it incubates, the more tart the yogurt will get. Some people prefer their yogurt after it has incubated for a longer period of time….some up to 12 hours. I personally have not tried this approach. Yogurt takes some tweaking to get it just right for your tastes. I would recommend trying it out and making adjustments to when you start it etc. based on how long it takes you and your machine.
I hope that helps! 🙂 Good luck!