Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt

Fruit on the bottom yogurt is one of our favorite breakfasts: tangy yogurt swirled with fresh fruit is a great way to start your day. So why not make it at home? This Homemade Fruit on the Bottom yogurt is easier than you think, and tastier and cheaper than store-bought.

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Whether it's back-to-school or meal prepping for work, it's nice to have breakfast already made. That's why we love easy meal prep breakfasts like overnight oats to stash in the fridge and enjoy all week. This homemade fruit on the bottom yogurt also fits into that category, since a gallon of milk will make about 2 weeks worth of yogurt!

The average fruit on the bottom yogurt at the grocery store is about $2-3, while half a gallon of whole milk costs about the same (for the whole gallon!), so even after the cost of fruit, this yogurt is significantly cheaper to make at home!

You'll need good quality store-bought yogurt with live cultures to get this batch started, but after you make the first batch, you can keep it going by using this batch as your next starter.

This is the latest installment of our Better than Store Bought series. You can check out some of our other homemade versions of your favorite store bought goodies, like these Homemade Goldfish or Homemade Cheez-its.

Jump to:

• Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Ingredients
• How to Make this Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Recipe
• Substitutions and Variations
• What to Serve with Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt
• Equipment
• Storage
• Tips and FAQ
• Top tip
• More homemade versions of your favorite foods
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Ingredients

For the Yogurt

• Milk: We used whole milk to make a full fat yogurt. You can also use a lower fat milk. Make sure you use homogenized milk (not "cream top" milk), or you will struggle to get the right consistency. You can also use a non-dairy milk, but your yogurt will not be vegan since we're using a dairy-based starter yogurt. For a fully vegan yogurt, you'll need to purchase vegan starter cultures!
• Yogurt with live cultures: To get your yogurt started, you will need to buy a small amount of store bought yogurt that has live cultures. If you buy organic yogurt, you should be good. Look for cultures like L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus. Be sure to use a plain, unflavored yogurt. If your yogurt does not have live cultures, this recipe will not work.
• Maple syrup: Your unsweetened yogurt will be very tangy, so we added maple syrup to balance out the flavor. Make sure to use pure maple syrup, NOT pancake syrup! You can also use honey or agave instead. Or, if you prefer it sugar free, you don't have to add anything!
• Vanilla bean paste: We opted to make our yogurt slightly vanilla flavored. You can omit this or use a bit of vanilla extract instead.

For the Fruit on the Bottom

• Fruit: Use your favorite! We used peach, raspberry, strawberry, and blackberry, but mango or other berries would be great.
• Lemon juice: This really helps bring out the fruit's flavor.
• Maple syrup: adds a touch of sweetness to the fruit. Feel free to leave this out if preferred.

How to Make this Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt Recipe

STEP 1: Heat your milk. You'll need to heat your milk to 180-185˚F (~83˚C) to kill off any bacteria that might compete with your starter cultures. Let your milk cool down before proceeding to step 2.

STEP 2: Combine your milk and active starter culture. For every 1 cup of milk you're using, add 1 tablespoon of starter yogurt to a large container. Then whisk in a little bit of the cooled milk, then pour in the rest.

STEP 3: Heat your yogurt at ~110˚F for 6 hours. You have some options here on how to accomplish this. We have a countertop oven that has a "warm" feature. We covered the yogurt and let it sit in the warmed oven. Alternatively, you can put your mixture in a sealed, airtight container and place it in a crockpot filled with water and set it to "warm". You can also place it in the oven with the oven light on, which can heat your oven to around the correct temperature. This is the least reliable method and you might get mixed results with it.

After six hours, your milk will have turned into yogurt! Place it into the fridge to cool off and thicken up even more.

STEP 4: Optional: Strain your yogurt, then mix in sweetener/vanilla bean paste. Your yogurt will be pretty thick out of the fridge, but keep in mind it will thin out once you add in the maple syrup. If you prefer a thicker or even a greek-style yogurt. You can place the yogurt in a cheese cloth, tie a rubber band around the cloth, and let it sit in a colander to drain. You can squeeze it every once in a while to speed up the process. We did not strain our yogurt and we liked the texture.

Mix in the maple syrup and vanilla bean paste.

STEP 5: Make your fruit on the bottom mixtures. Combine 1 cup of fresh fruit, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the fruit starts to bubble and soften, mash gently with a masher or a wooden spoon. Continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the mixture is jammy (about 10 minutes total). Remove from heat and let cool completely.

STEP 6: Assemble your yogurts. Spoon about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the fruit mixture in to the bottom of a jar, then pour yogurt over the top. Seal, store in the refrigerator and enjoy within two weeks!

Substitutions and Variations

• Vegan: to make this recipe vegan, you'll need to buy vegan starter cultures and use a non-dairy milk. The same exact process should yield delicious vegan yogurt!
• Choice of fruit: feel free to use whatever fruit you want, or even to just premix the fruit into the yogurt when filling your jars. You can also use store-bought jam in place of homemade fruit compotes. We love this brand (no cane sugar!).
  • Here are a few other compotes/jams you could try with this homemade yogurt:
    • Pear Compote
    • Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
    • Mango Jam
    • Pumpkin Spice Jam
• Unsweetened: leave out the maple syrup to make your yogurt unsweetened and super low in sugar. Just note, it will be very tangy! If you want to use some of your homemade yogurt in savory recipes like tzatziki, definitely leave out the maple and vanilla.
• Greek yogurt: To turn your yogurt into Greek yogurt, place your yogurt in a cheese cloth, tie off the top, then place in a colander and put a relatively heavy object on top. This will squeeze out the excess water, leaving you with a super thick Greek-style yogurt.
• Low fat: Use a 2% milk if you want your yogurt to have less fat.

What to Serve with Homemade Fruit on the Bottom Yogurt

This homemade yogurt is perfect with a sprinkle of granola, even more sliced fresh fruit, or a drizzle of honey. Here are a few of our favorite homemade granola recipes to pair with your homemade yogurt!

• Brown Sugar Almond Granola
• Pumpkin Spice Granola
• Banana Bread Granola
• Berry Granola

Equipment

• You'll need a large jar or airtight, heat safe tupperware to make this recipe. These are the containers we use.
• You'll need small jars to store your yogurt. We used these glass jars from Amazon and they are the perfect size. You can also use mason jars or small tupperware containers. Look for a jar that fits around 8 oz (or smaller) for a serving that's similar to what you would get with store-bought.
• A thermometer will allow you to bring your milk to the correct temperature.
• Vanilla bean paste is totally optional, but adds the best vanilla flavor to your homemade yogurt!
• If you're interested, this is the countertop oven we use, which we can heat specifically to 110˚F, which makes this homemade yogurt an absolute breeze.

Storage

Stored in clean, airtight containers, these homemade yogurts will keep for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Tips and FAQ

More tips

• Be sure to not skip the step where you pasteurize your milk. The point is to kill off any non-beneficial bacteria that may compete with your starter cultures.
• Cool off the milk to at least 110˚F before mixing it with your starter yogurt.
• Heating your yogurt: To heat your yogurt for a long period of time, the easiest option is to fill a crockpot with water, heat to the "warm" or "keep warm" setting, place your yogurt (in a sealed airtight container) into the water for 6 hours.
• Don't touch your yogurt while it's culturing, it will result in a watery consistency if you're sloshing it around repeatedly. It will begin to start thickening significantly around the 4 hour mark.
• To make greek-style yogurt, you'll need to strain the yogurt with a cheesecloth to remove excess moisture.
• For every 1 cup of milk you use, use 1 tablespoon of your starter yogurt.
• Use a plain, unflavored yogurt with active/live cultures as your starter yogurt.
• Make another batch: Once you get this first batch going, you'll never need to buy store-bought yogurt again! Just reserve ¼-1/2 cup of this batch of yogurt to use as your new starter for the next batch of homemade yogurt.

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