Crock of thick homemade Greek yogurt with a strainer and whey

Homemade Greek Yogurt: What You Need to Know

ByCraig Brockie Last updated

What is homemade Greek yogurt?

Homemade Greek yogurt is plain yogurt you strain at home, in the refrigerator, until enough liquid whey drains away to leave it thick. It needs no thickeners or added protein, usually costs less per cup than store-bought when you start from milk, and lets you choose the milk, the culture and the thickness.

Greek yogurt is yogurt with part of its whey removed (Karastamatis et al., 2022). University of Illinois Extension suggests 2 to 4 hours of draining for Greek-style yogurt and 8 to 24 hours for yogurt cheese, which Washington State University Extension’s Yogurt Made Simple also calls labneh. Dairies may also use centrifuges, filters or added protein (see How Is Greek Yogurt Made? Explained); at home, straining is the whole method.

Homemade vs store-bought at a glance

FeatureHomemadeStore-bought
CulturesYour choice; alive when chilled, count unknownVaries; heat-treated yogurt must say it has no live and active cultures
Protein per 100 gAbout 6 g if whole-milk yogurt is strained to half (our estimate)9.0 g (whole milk) to 10.2 g (nonfat), USDA
YieldAbout 2 cups per quart of yogurt1 kg of Greek yogurt leaves 2 to 3 kg of whey
Cost per cupAbout 55 to 80 cents in whole milkAbout $1.38 (average advertised price)

Cultures and thickeners

Store-bought yogurt may be heat-treated after culturing, which inactivates the cultures, and must then say “does not contain live and active cultures” (21 CFR 131.200). Homemade yogurt never is, and straining comes after fermentation: in a 2022 lab study, Greek yogurt still held more than 100 million lactic acid bacteria per gram after its whey was removed. Your own batch’s count is unknown without testing.

The same standard allows stabilizers and milk-derived ingredients that raise solids, which FDA says help makers reach a desired protein content in Greek-style yogurt. Homemade relies on straining alone; if you strain store-bought yogurt, WSU Extension advises avoiding added gelatin, vegetable gum or food starch, which keep the whey from separating.

Protein, calcium and lactose

Protein mostly stays behind, since acid whey holds only about 0.4 to 0.7% (Karastamatis et al.). USDA lists 3.47 g of protein per 100 g in plain whole-milk yogurt and 9.0 g in plain whole-milk Greek yogurt. By our arithmetic, straining to half the weight gives roughly 6 g; reaching 9 g means straining down to about a third.

Calcium dissolves as yogurt acidifies and leaves with the whey (University of Wisconsin–Madison): USDA lists 121 mg per 100 g in plain whole-milk yogurt against 100 mg in whole-milk Greek. Lactose drains away too, since acid whey is about 3.5% lactose (Karastamatis et al.), and USDA lists 3.24 g of total sugars per 100 g of plain nonfat Greek yogurt against 7.68 g for regular plain nonfat.

Yield and cost per cup

Ultimate Health Solutions, the company that publishes this site, recommends expecting roughly half the starting volume, about 2 cups per quart. Industrial straining removes 2 to 3 kg of whey per kg of Greek yogurt (Karastamatis et al.), leaving a quarter to a third.

A quart of milk makes about a quart of yogurt (Illinois Extension). At the Bureau of Labor Statistics average of $4.23 a gallon for whole milk in August 2026, that quart costs about $1.06, or roughly 55 cents per cup of Greek yogurt strained to half (80 cents strained to a third). USDA’s survey of grocery dairy ads for October 9, 2026, averaged $5.51 for a 32-ounce tub (about 4 cups) of Greek yogurt, about $1.38 a cup, and $2.97 for regular yogurt. Strained to half, that regular tub costs about $1.49 a cup, so the savings come from making the yogurt, not straining a bought tub. Starter, equipment and electricity are extra.

Why make homemade Greek yogurt, and what it means for gut health

Most reasons come down to control: a short ingredient list; no sugar beyond the milk’s own, which the FDA does not count as added sugar; your choice of starter, from plain yogurt with live cultures to a culture with named strains; and a thickness anywhere from spoonable to a yogurt cheese that WSU suggests in place of cream cheese or sour cream. Made from milk, it also costs less, and the whey becomes a cooking ingredient.

What the evidence supports

Live cultures do not make a food a probiotic. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) reserves that word for defined strains with evidence of a health benefit and suggests “live and active cultures” for foods with undefined microbes, which fits a home batch. Yogurt has more human research than most fermented foods, including more than 20 randomized controlled trials, though much of the evidence is observational (ISAPP, 2021).

Strained yogurt is lower in lactose, not lactose-free. Some people with lactose intolerance find yogurt easier to tolerate (NIDDK), and live yogurt cultures carry a European Food Safety Authority-approved claim for improving lactose digestion (ISAPP). Little research looks at homemade Greek yogurt itself, and different microbes can have different effects. Yogurt is a food, not a treatment; for more, see Is Greek Yogurt Good for You? What the Evidence Says.

Making, storing and using homemade Greek yogurt

Spoon cold plain yogurt into a strainer lined with double cheesecloth or a coffee filter (or a dedicated yogurt strainer) set over a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at 40°F (4°C) or below (FoodSafety.gov); Ultimate Health Solutions recommends checking every hour. Never strain on the counter: USDA advises against leaving perishable food out for more than 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F (32°C). Full steps are in How to Make Greek Yogurt: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Containers of homemade Greek yogurt and a jar of whey in the fridge

Using the whey

The acid whey is thin and tart: mostly water, with about 3.5% lactose, under 1% each of lactic acid and protein, and a pH near 4.5 in one analysis (Karastamatis et al.). Ultimate Health Solutions recommends using it like buttermilk in baking, marinades, dressings or smoothies, and food-science research points the same way:

  • Baking and dressings: in Cornell University thesis research, acid whey replaced the water in pancakes and pizza crust with only minor flavor challenges, and concentrated acid whey replaced buttermilk in a ranch dressing that tasters rated on par.
  • Marinades: in a small preliminary study, a marinade of dried yogurt acid whey made pork, lamb and rabbit more tender after 20 hours at 39°F (4°C), but not chicken; a follow-up found 5 hours too short for pork. Marinate in the refrigerator, and boil used marinade before reusing it (USDA FSIS).

Storage

  • Straining doesn’t reset the clock. Keep it covered at 40°F (4°C) or below and count from the day the yogurt was made: Illinois Extension says to eat homemade yogurt within 14 days. For bought yogurt, use the tub’s date.
  • Freeze for longer. Kansas State University lists 1 to 2 months frozen for yogurt and notes it may separate. Refrigerate whey in a clean covered jar, or freeze it in small portions; food kept frozen at 0°F (−18°C) stays safe (FoodSafety.gov).
  • Discard anything moldy or off. Throw out yogurt with mold rather than scooping it off (USDA FSIS), or with any odor other than fresh yogurt’s acidic smell (University of Alaska Fairbanks).

More on homemade Greek yogurt

Sources

Craig Brockie is the founder of Ultimate Health Solutions, the company behind Ultimate Gut, and the author of Ultimate Health, The Ultimate Gut Health Guide and The Unlimited Probiotics Guide. After injuries and chronic health problems in his twenties that conventional care didn’t resolve, he began researching health on his own and has studied natural health for 30 years. He is not a medical professional, and his articles are general information, not medical advice.

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