Homemade crème fraîche made in an Instant Pot

Step 1

Gather the equipment and ingredients.

Step 2

Put the heavy whipping cream in a glass jar or container. Set up the rack in the Instant Pot's inner pot. I like to have the rack "handles" standing up against the sides of the inner pot. Put the cream in the inner pot on top of the rack.

Step 3

Add water into the inner pot. Be careful not to accidentally drip water into the cream. Fill the inner pot with enough water to reach the same level as the cream in the glass container to ensure good thermal contact.

Step 4

Lock the lid in place on the Instant Pot. It doesn't matter if you set the valve to seal or not. Set the Instant Pot to the Yogurt mode. Push Adjust to set it show Boil on the interface.

Step 5

Instant Pot will heat the cream until you see the interface show Yogt. Once you see Yogt, this means the cream is at a high enough temperature that we want to cool the inner pot and the cream to prepare for incubation.

Step 6

Carefully remove the inner pot with oven mitts because the pot is very hot.

Step 7

Rest the lid on top of the inner pot to prevent dust and other contaminants from falling into the cream. Allow the temperature of the cream to decrease until it reaches between 100°F to 116°F/43.5°C to 46.5°C. This takes about an hour. If you are impatient, you can put the inner pot in an ice bath to cool it faster. In an ice bath, it will take about 5 minutes for the temperature of the cream to plunge to the target temperature range.

Step 8

Measure the temperature of the water bath. Avoid measuring the cream directly so you don't introduce additional microbes into the cream. Once the temperature reaches the target 100°F to 116°F/43.5°C to 46.5°C, you are ready to introduce the starter cultures.

Step 9

Before adding the starter culture, you may want to remove the film on top of the cream which develops from heating it. You can discard the gooey film.

Step 10

Add your starter culture. In this recipe, add the spoonful of yogurt. You can use other cultured dairy products listed in the ingredients list.

Step 11

Stir in the starter culture (yogurt) with a whisk to make sure it is well combined.

Step 12

Add the inner pot back into the Instant Pot. Turn on the Yogurt mode again. Push the Adjust mode to set a timer. Use the + and - buttons to set the timer to 8:00 (8 hours).

Step 13

Once your crème fraîche is ready, carefully remove the Instant Pot lid. Try to avoid dripping the condensation that has collected on the lid into the crème fraîche.

Step 14

Carefully remove the glass container with the crème fraîche. It should be an off-white or very pale yellow color. You can use the crème fraîche immediately. If you want a firmer texture, refrigerate the crème fraîche for about 12 hours or overnight before using it.

Step 15

Enjoy your crème fraîche!