How to make frozen yogurt

What is the difference between frozen yogurt and ice cream?

The difference between frozen yogurt and ice cream is that ice cream uses cream while yogurt uses milk. Ice cream has a fat content requirement, which usually comes from the amount of cream used, or egg yolks. Frozen yogurt does not have a fat content requirement and uses the cultured milk from yogurt instead of cream.

Both these classic frozen desserts are similar in flavor and consistency. Whichever you choose, you really can’t go wrong. But when you learn how to make frozen yogurt at home, you can bypass the preservatives of store-bought freezer aisle brands and get that irresistibile homemade flavor. Enjoy this timeless frozen concoction on its own or think outside the box with whimsical swirls of flavor and your choice of creative toppings.

Homemade frozen yogurt ingredients

Most homemade frozen yogurt recipes will include a set of core ingredients like yogurt, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. You can also easily bend the recipe to your unique vision with the addition of seasonal swirls of flavor like raspberry coulis or salted caramel, and toppings like dark chocolate shavings or crushed peppermint.

Fro-yo is perfect for a satisfying weeknight treat or a delightful finishing touch to your family gathering. Learning how to make frozen yogurt is an impressive skill to have in your back pocket. You can use a stand mixer, a blender, a food processor or the KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment to bring your recipe to life.

Choose flavors that will complement your dinner theme or set up a topping bar to give your guests a scratch-made dessert that’s completely customizable. Blackberry Frozen Yogurt and Strawberry Frozen Yogurt can create a beautiful pop of color, while Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt and Chocolate Frozen Yogurt are suitable for dessert-lovers of all ages. This easy Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt recipe is a great outline for understanding the main components in frozen yogurt. You can feel free to adapt it even further to meet your personal preferences.

Peanut butter frozen yogurt

• 2 parts plain full fat yogurt, or 1 part greek yogurt and 1 part full fat yogurt

• ½ part milk, whole milk is suggested for a creamier consistency

• ½ part peanut butter, or other nut butter like cashew or almond butter

• Sweetener of your choice like honey, sugar or stevia

• Vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• Optional: Toppings like chopped nuts, peanut butter chips, hot fudge, banana slices, chocolate chips or crushed candy bits

Homemade frozen yogurt recipe

Making a frozen yogurt recipe is just like making stand mixer ice cream. Start by blending your ingredients together and then proceed to either freeze your mixture overnight or churn it in the KitchenAid^® Ice Cream Maker attachment for an instant, soft-serve result. Finish it off with any toppings or mix-ins you choose.KitchenAid brand offers a collection of exceptional countertop appliances that can easily enhance your everyday routine and even replace the need for a dedicated ice cream maker. A hand mixer, food processor, blender or stand mixer can get the job done, but a foolproof way to get the rich and creamy result you’re looking for is to use the KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment for stand mixers. Read the instructions outlined below on how to make frozen yogurt without an ice cream maker.

Step 1: Mix ingredients

Mix all ingredients together, except for toppings, using either your hand mixer, stand mixer, food processor or blender until the contents are smooth and creamy.

Step 2: Freeze or churn

Freeze your KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment 24 hours beforehand. Then once you've mixed your ingredients together, start the stand mixer, fitted with the bowl, on the Slow setting. Pour your base into the bowl as the dasher turns. When it's done churning, you can eat it right away as soft-serve or place in the freezer to firm up to your desired consistency. If you’re using a hand mixer, blender, food processor or stand mixer, you’ll want to transfer the base into a freezer-safe, airtight container and freeze for 8 hours or overnight. If you’re wondering how to make frozen yogurt creamy without an ice cream maker, try stirring the freezer mixture every 2-3 hours.

Step 3: Optional - add toppings

Once the frozen yogurt is nice and scoop-able, prepare any toppings you might want to add. You can get as creative as you wish here, adding in swirls of raspberry preserves for a peanut butter and jelly flavor, or classic chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or hot fudge. You can even add slices of banana, crushed candy pieces or peanut butter cookie crumbles.

How to make frozen yogurt at home with a stand mixer

You can use your KitchenAid^® stand mixer, even without the Ice Cream Maker attachment, to quickly whip up a frozen yogurt recipe. Just mix together the yogurt, milk, peanut butter, vanilla, salt and sweetener until smooth then freeze for 8 hours or overnight.

KitchenAid brand has an array of stand mixer options to choose from, whether you’re looking for a bowl-lift or a tilt-head stand mixer. There are also a variety of accessories and attachments available to help with expanding your culinary horizons from savory to sweet. To learn more, read the stand mixer attachment buying guide.

How to make frozen yogurt with a stand mixer ice cream attachment

With the KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment, you can quickly make up to four pints of homemade frozen yogurt or ice cream. Allow the bowl to freeze 24 hours prior to use. When it’s ready, simply attach it to your KitchenAid^® stand mixer and watch while the rotating dasher churns your concoction into a silky smooth, frozen dessert.

Having the right equipment for your culinary adventures will not only help you streamline the cooking, baking, or in this case, freezing process, but it will also help you get the end result you’re looking to achieve.

Tips and tricks for making homemade frozen yogurt

When learning how to make frozen yogurt at home, you’ll be surprised how easy the process actually is. Below are a few helpful tips and tricks to help you get the basics down and give you ample time to let your creative instincts take over when it comes to flavor.

Can you make frozen yogurt by freezing regular yogurt?

No. Regular yogurt, while creamy and custardy straight from the refrigerator, can quickly turn icy and hard when placed in the freezer. It has a higher water content than you might think, making it easy to form ice crystals in the freezer.

You can try draining the water from the yogurt by hanging it in a cheese cloth overnight then adding some cream to level out the consistency. You can also add whole milk, cream or sugar to the yogurt to help get the right kind of creamy texture when you take it out of the freezer, but it still won’t be the exact texture of typical frozen yogurt.

What is the best container for freezing your homemade frozen yogurt?

To store your homemade frozen yogurt, any airtight, freezer-safe container will do the trick. Choose anything from a silicone pint container to an ice-cube tray, a zip bag, or a glass or metal loaf dish covered with plastic wrap. You can even freeze it in popsicle molds for a fun, hand-held treat.

How to make frozen yogurt creamy

A simple solution for how to make frozen yogurt creamy, is to add sugar. Just like in ice cream, sugar molecules help to combat the threat of growing ice crystals. Because frozen yogurt has less fat content and stabilizers, like the egg yolks and cream in ice cream, to make up that texture, it will likely be higher in sugar content to get a creamy consistency.

Using full fat yogurt instead of skim or low fat will help with creaminess as well. If you’re planning on using greek yogurt, which has a higher fat and protein content and less water, you may want to cut it with some full-fat yogurt to avoid having it freeze into a hard, sour-cream-like texture or having your fro-yo come out too tart.

Make your best frozen yogurt with a KitchenAid® ice cream maker attachment

Now that you know the basics on how to make frozen yogurt, all that’s left to do is prepare your kitchen for creating. Do a quick grocery run or raid your pantry, freezer and refrigerator for a few simple ingredients. Then, break out your trusted stand mixer and pop your KitchenAid® Ice Cream Maker attachment into the freezer.If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can find the perfect one for you from the KitchenAid brand stand mixer collection. You’ll be sharing a delicious batch of homemade frozen yogurt in no time! To find out which stand mixer best suits your needs, read the stand mixer buying guide.