Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt [Dairy-Free + Vegan]

Thick, tangy, creamy yogurt made with three simple ingredients: coconut milk, cashews, and probiotic capsules!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by the non-dairy yogurt options on the market. Most of them are too thin, too sweet, too chalky (?), too full of weird ingredients, or way, way too expensive for my tastes.

So, I did what any good recipe developer would do when presented with such a conundrum: I got to work creating my own.

Turns out, it’s not that hard. I’ve made homemade yogurt before, and this dairy-free version was just as easy. But, instead of relying on store-bought yogurt as the starter for our yogurt, we’re going straight to the source and emptying out the contents of a few probiotic capsules into our yogurt base to fill this homemade dairy-free yogurt with gut-friendly bacteria.

Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

Coconut Milk. Full fat. This is the thick and creamy stuff that comes in a can! I like to use Whole Foods’ 365 Organic store brand, or Aroy-D’s Organic Canned Coconut milk, as they’re the two brands I’ve found that are consistently creamy and not separated/chunky.

Raw Cashews. These are what makes this yogurt so thick and rich tasting. When soaked (either in boiling water for 15 minutes or cold water overnight at room temp), cashews soften to a neutral tasting texture that blends up easily into a thick, creamy consistency.

Probiotics. These are what add the live bacteria to the yogurt to make it, well, yogurt. I like this brand or this brand, and despite the price, you’re only using 2 capsules, so it really doesn’t work out to be that costly per batch of yogurt!

All three ingredients get blended together until smooth and creamy, then you can decide if you’d like to ferment it or not. The good news is, the probiotics are already completely effective the moment you make the yogurt, so you don’t need to let it ferment, but if you love the tangy flavor of traditional yogurt, you can let it sit for anywhere from 8-24 hours at room temperature before refrigerating.

Then, all that’s left to do is scoop it into a bowl, top with your favorite yogurt add-ons, and sit back and enjoy your homemade dairy-free yogurt.

If you make this recipe, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture of your Homemade Yogurt and share it with me on Instagram so I can see!

Homemade Coconut Milk Yogurt [Dairy-Free + Vegan]

Prep Time:  15 minutes

Total Time: 8-24 hours

Yields: 1-32oz jar of yogurt

Ingredients:

• 2 14-oz cans full fat coconut milk
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 2 probiotic capsules
• Optional: 1-2 Tablespoons sweetener of choice (such as maple syrup, honey, etc) and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, for a sweetened yogurt

Instructions:

1. First, soak your cashews to help them blend more easily. You can do this quickly by bringing 1 cup of water to a boil, turning off the heat, then adding the cashews and letting them sit for 10 minutes. Alternately, cashews can be covered in cold water and soaked for 4-6 hours or overnight at room temperature. 
2. Empty the coconut milk into a food processor or high-powered blender, scraping out any thick coconut cream that may be stuck to the sides of the cans. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender. Open the probiotic capsules and dump their contents in as well. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 1-2 minutes. If deisred, add sweetener and vanilla, then blend once more to combine. 
3. Transfer the yogurt mixture to a 32oz mason jar and cover with a paper towel or clean kitchen cloth (secured with a rubber band). Let sit at room temperature for 8-24 hours, to allow yogurt to ferment. An 8 hour ferment will barely have any tang, while a full 24 hours should yield a noticeably tangy yogurt. Refrigerate fully before serving

NOTES: if you don’t want to wait, or aren’t looking for any tangy flavor in your yogurt whatsoever, feel free to chill and serve immediately, skipping the fermentation entirely. 

Be sure to check out my Pantry Staples page for some of my favorite baking ingredients!

#cashew yogurt recipe, #easy homemade yogurt, #homemade coconut milk yogurt, #how to make vegan yogurt, #vegan yogurt