Chocolate Yogurt in the Instant Pot
I’ve given up buying non-fat Greek yogurt, in favor of making my own using the Instant Pot. If Dannon was still selling their Light and Fit Non-fat Greek yogurt in the chocolate raspberry flavor, I might never have considered making my own yogurt. The first time I tasted that stuff it brought back memories of banana splits with chocolate ice cream. I could have eaten that every day for the rest of my life. Not long after I fell in love with it, I couldn’t find that flavor on grocery store shelves any longer, no matter what stores I visited. I even asked at the service desks for them to please order more, but no local store ever had any chocolate raspberry flavor again. Instead of just buying a different flavor, I started to experiment myself. I had to find a brand of fat-free Greek yogurt that would have the same number of Weight Watchers Smart Points as the Dannon container. When I found that, I started mixing my own flavors with Splenda. I think my own chocolate non-fat Greek yogurt is a pretty close imitation of the Dannon brand.
I learned to make yogurt in the Instant Pot from Jill at a website called This Old Gal. She doesn’t look very old to me. She has a detailed explanation of the steps. I followed each step exactly as told and my result was perfect. She has instruction to make yogurt without boiling, this is the cold method, which I have not yet tried. When I’ve followed the regular method I have used both Fairlife Fat Free milk and regular fat free milk. I prefer the Fairlife because it tastes less sweet to me because it is processed to reduce sugars and increase protein. However, Fairlife is much more expensive than regular milk, like $4 versus $1.50. Still, using a 52 ounce bottle of Fairlife that I purchase for $4 nets me the equivalent of 8 six ounce servings of Greek yogurt that might cost me up to $1. Even a sale price of 80 cents would still be twice as much as the large bottle of Fairlife. When I make a batch of yogurt I usually net about two quarts, which I might separate to make one container of sweet and another of a savory or spicy dip.
For the chocolate yogurt I mix one quart of the plain Greek yogurt with ¾ cup of the fluffy, bulk Splenda, and 2-3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. I add a tablespoon of extract for additional flavor, either vanilla or coconut. I just mix it together with a spoon and put ¾ cup into individual containers. Each morning I grab one, sprinkle in the fruit of my choice, usually frozen raspberries or banana slices. This is my mid-morning snack that gives me about 12-13 grams of protein. Non-fat Greek yogurt is a healthy option, especially if you are trying to follow a Weight Watchers Program, be sure to check your app for the exact points. It’s low in cost whether talking about dollars or Weight Watchers points!
Ingredients
- 1 quart fat-free Greek, plain yogurt
- ¾ cup bulk Splenda (loose, not packets)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder