How To Make Soy Yogurt

To add the healthy bacteria that will turn your soymilk into yogurt, you can add a little commercial soy (or even dairy) yogurt, homemade yogurt, vegan yogurt starter packet, or the contents of a probiotic capsule. Using some of your reserved previous batch will result in the best yogurt over time.

Some people like to sweeten their soymilk before culturing, claiming that the sugar helps feed the bacteria, while others swear by using unsweetened plain soymilk. Feel free to give it a try either way!

A device is also needed to maintain the soymilk at the optimal fermentation temperature of about 108-112 °F for anywhere from 8-24 hours. Some popular options are dedicated yogurt makers or the Instant Pot yogurt setting. Some people also have successfully used ovens with low enough temperature settings, or warm, insulated water baths.

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups homemade soymilk, or 1 batch of soymilk from your SoyaJoy machine
• Optional sugar or sweetener to taste
• A probiotic source from the list below
  • 1-2 tbsp plain yogurt (commercial or from a previous batch, vegan or dairy)
  • Yogurt starter culture (use amount as instructed on packaging)
  • The contents of 1 probiotic (not prebiotic) capsule
• Optional flavorings such as 1 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment

• Soymilk machine
• Fine mesh sieve or nut milk bag
• Containers for yogurt
• Incubator (specialized yogurt maker, Instant Pot with Yogurt setting, or home-rigged setup)

Instructions

1. Make a batch of soymilk with your machine and strain the soymilk with your sieve or nut milk bag
2. If adding sugar or flavorings, mix in well. For beginners, we suggest leaving out any additives the first few times.
3. Allow the soymillk to cool to 108-112 °F so that it won’t kill your probiotics. If you will use an incubator that applies heat, it’s fine to let the soymilk cool below that temperature since it will be heated later. To quickly cool fresh soymilk, use a cold water bath.
4. Add your probiotic source and mix thoroughly but gently to avoid the formation of foam.
5. Pour the soymilk into your clean container/s of choice. Do not put the lids on!
6. Place the containers into your incubator of choice at 108-112 °F. Let the soymilk culture for 8-24 hours, depending on your preferred level of tartness. For beginners we suggest 12 hours.
7. After the fermentation is complete, remove your yogurt containers, put the lids on, and transfer to a refrigerator (cooling on the counter or in an ice bath first if you’re worried about heating up your fridge too much) and refrigerate overnight to develop the best flavor and texture.
8. Enjoy your yogurt however you like, plain or with toppings like fresh fruit, preserves, nuts, or granola!
9. Lastly, make sure to save a few tablespoons of your homemade yogurt as starter (keep refrigerated!) for the next batch. This is the most effective and convenient way to get the best results each time! This technique is inelegantly called “backslopping” and is what most home fermenters do, as well as people before the days of commercial yogurt factories did.

Troubleshooting

• It’s important to note that if you are making soy yogurt for the first time, it will take about 3 rounds for your culture to fully adapt to the soymilk. Have patience and start with smaller batches!
• It is generally very safe and easy to make yogurt at home, but make sure to discard any batches that have visibly developed any suspicious looking colors or smells!

Want thicker yogurt?

A common complaint is that homemade soy yogurt isn’t thick enough. Like typical dairy yogurt, plain soy yogurt normally has a lightly spoonable but still pourable consistency. While it’s not possible to attain Greek-yogurt thickness without straining, there are many ways to thicken your yogurt.

• Make sure your yogurt culture is fully developed. That means you have cultured at least 3 sequential batches via backslopping. Depending on your culture source, your third batch may be dramatically thicker than the first.
• Ferment longer – if you’re doing 8 hours, try 12-16.
• Using more soybeans in your soymilk! We like to use 1 cup (US Customary) of soybeans (measured dry) in the SoyaJoy machine.
• Check the temperature of your incubator with a thermometer. A malfunctioning incubator machine or insufficiently insulating home-made setup may not be maintaining that crucial 108-112 °F temperature.
• Try adding thicker ingredients such as coconut cream or cashew cream to your soymilk.
• Use agar-agar to set your yogurt to a thicker texture. This vegan ingredient is derived from seaweed and is used to add a stable, jelly-like texture to foods. Look up “soy yogurt agar-agar recipe” to find instructions online.