The Simple Way to Make Your Own Greek Yogurt

I love Greek Yogurt. 

I love the thickness of it, and the rich texture of it.

It could be used for one of my favorite things – a parfait for breakfast.

Or used in a fantastic salad dressing like on my Nicoise Salad…

Good thick Greek yogurt is ..well…a  delicious thing.

However, Greek yogurt at my grocery store costs about the price of a good sirloin steak.  I have a problem paying for the stuff without cringing.

But there is good news, my friends, you can make it at home using your favorite inexpensive yogurt.  For you see, the difference in regular yogurt and Greek yogurt is that when Greek yogurt is processed, it is left to sit in cheesecloth until more of the whey or liquid drains out. 

Apparently that sitting process costs me $3 more per tub, so you know what?

I’ll just do that myself…watch how.

Get a strainer or colander.  I use my baking sieve with the handle.  Remember this has to fit inside your refrigerator somewhere!  I place it on a deep bowl. 

The bowl needs to be deep enough for a couple of inches of water to collect without it touching the bottom of your sieve.

Now line the sieve with a thin towel or cheesecloth.

Take your favorite yogurt.  I like to use plain yogurt because most of the flavored and fruited yogurts contain way too much sugar for my liking.  You can get plain full fat or plain non-fat and I think even some choices in between.

And dump it right into the towel-lined sieve.

Smooth it out a little.

Take the top of your towel and just fold it over the top of the yogurt to cover.

Place this whole concoction into your refrigerator and leave it for a couple of hours.

Take it out and remove your sieve.  Just look at all the liquid that’s drained off of your yogurt!

You could dump this out, but it’s actually some pretty healthy stuff.  You could save it and add it into a smoothie for a protein boost if you like.

Now, I like my yogurt really thick.  So I put mine back into the refrigerator overnight.

And this morning it looked like this.

At this point, it will just roll right off of your cloth without sticking into a bowl.

It’s so thick and wonderful.  Look at the difference side by side.

Just give it a good stir with a whisk or spoon to get it back to a creamy state and you’ll have some dense, fabulous Greek yogurt at a fraction of the price.