Soft and creamy, this easy homemade ricotta cheese can be made in under an hour and is so incredibly delicious. Compared to store-bought ricotta, homemade ricotta tastes so much better and is well worth the few minutes of hands-on time it takes.
Jump to Recipe
Hello, my friends!
I have been waiting for a while to share with you this easy homemade ricotta cheese recipe. Some of you may look at the title and think: cheese making?
Are you kidding me?
But let me just start out by saying that anyone can make this recipe. You don’t need to be an expert cheese maker, thank goodness. It is super easy, can be made in less than an hour from start to finish, and really only involves a few minutes of hands-on time.
Homemade ricotta is seriously so delicious. There is NO comparison, my friends with store-bought ricotta. This stuff is creamy and fresh tasting, and absolutely divine.
I’ve already posted a few recipes that you can use this homemade ricotta cheese in. Let me jog your memory:
And I’ll be posting another recipe this week. Oh my goodness, it is a yummy one, my friends.
How to make this homemade ricotta cheese
This ricotta cheese is really all about warming up some milk, adding vinegar which helps coax the curds to separate from the whey. Then doing a little straining action to separate the curds from the whey.
Wait a second, curds and whey?
Are you wondering if you accidentally popped into a nursery rhyme? As in… little miss muffet sat on a tuffet?
Yeah.
You can see, little miss muffet totally knew how to enjoy the good stuff. And if I had a tuffet, I’d definitely be eating these curds on them too. While keeping my eyes peeled out for spiders of course.
The curds are the cheesy white part when the milk separates; the part that will eventually become the ricotta. And the whey is the liquid, watery part. No need to discard the whey afterwards. It contains a lot of nutrients and is good for you. If you don’t want to just drink it, feel free to do a google search to find out all the ways you can use it. It’s pretty awesome stuff.
Oh by the way, I should add a little disclaimer that this isn’t actually REAL ricotta cheese according to wikipedia (you know, the source of knowledge…). Real ricotta cheese is actually made from the whey that strains out from making cheese. Apparently the whey that strains during cheesemaking still contains enough curds to make ricotta. Confused?
Don’t worry we’ll leave all those details up to real cheese making experts and focus on the basics here. Basically, we are kind of cheating a little with this recipe by starting with whole milk. But since most of you probably aren’t cheesemakers with leftover whey lying around, this is just a smart shortcut.
I’ve only made ricotta with whole cow’s milk. I’m not talking about milk directly from the cow; I just use the kind from the store. Although if you do have a cow, I’m slightly jealous and I bet it would also make excellent ricotta. I highly recommend using whole milk. It’s super creamy and delicious that way. Feel free to try it with other types of milk as you wish.
For a quicker version of this recipe (which results in a little tangier ricotta), you can use a bit more vinegar (see the recipe notes). The curds will separate from the whey about twice as fast (5 to 10 minutes). It is still very good and a good option if you are trying to speed up the process, but I slightly prefer the milder ricotta with less vinegar they way I’ve written the recipe.
Straining Time
When you strain the curds from the whey you will either use cheese cloth or a nut milk bag (what I use). This is the nut milk bag (aff. link) I have and LOVE. It has a wide opening so it’s easy to pour in the milk mixture and it’s easy to wash and reuse.
If you have a pencil on hand, you can copy my official way to hang a nut bag from a upper cabinet. Seriously ingenious I know.
I love my nut milk bags
I actually have two of these nut bags and they are constantly being used in my kitchen. Here are a few uses:
- The most obvious use is for making your own almond milk or another kind of nut milk.
- You can use it for wringing out zucchini or other wet veggies in recipes like these amazing zucchini muffins.
- I also pack my nutbag with the bones, etc from a whole chicken (like the remains from a rotisserie chicken) and use it to make homemade chicken noodle soup. It makes it really easy to discard the bones when you keep them all together in a bag that you can stick right in the crockpot or electric pressure cooker.
I love my little nutbags so much. It’s seriously been life changing. After using it, you can wash it by hand, throw it in the dishwasher or even put it in the laundry. So easy. So great. Totally the way to go in my book. Especially since you will want to be making ricotta like crazy after trying this recipe.
Okay, my friends. I’m off to find a tuffet to perch on, so I can enjoy my creamy curds of deliciousness. Hope you are too. Before I go, here’s a quick little visual of the process so you can see how easy making homemade ricotta cheese really indeed is.
Easy Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Soft and creamy, this easy homemade ricotta cheese can be made in under an hour and is so incredibly delicious. Compared to store-bought ricotta, homemade ricotta tastes so much better and is well worth the few minutes of hands-on time it takes.
Ingredients
- 8 cups milk see note
- 1 cup cream
- 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
Instructions
-
In a large saucepan combine the milk, cream, and salt. Heat over medium heat until bubbles form around edges of pan and an instant read thermometer reads between 175 and 185 degrees F. Milk should not boil.
-
Turn down temperature to low and stir in distilled white vinegar. Let milk continue to maintain temperature between 175 and 185 degrees (adjusting heat as needed) for 20 minutes. Watch milk carefully so it doesn’t boil.
-
After 20 minutes, the milk curds (cheese) should be well separated from the whey (milky white substance). Scoop out large curds with a fine mesh strainer into a nut milk bag (see note) set in a bowl. Or alternately you can use several layers of cheesecloth laid over a colander in a bowl.
-
Pour in remaining milk mixture and, if using a nut milk bag, carefully lift it up out of the strainer and hang so the whey can continue to drip from the bag into the bowl. Let the whey drip for 20-60 minutes, depending the texture of the ricotta you are going for. Less time straining will yield a creamier ricotta while more time straining will produce a drier, fluffier ricotta.
-
This ricotta is best used fresh, but will keep refrigerated for about a week.
Recipe Notes
1. I’ve only made this recipe with whole cow’s milk, and I highly recommend it. It’s super creamy and delicious that way. Feel free to try it with other types of milk as you wish.
2. For a quicker version of this recipe (which results in a little tangier ricotta), you can use ⅓ cup of vinegar. The curds will separate from the whey quicker (in about 5 to 10 minutes) and you can turn off the heat while you are letting it rest in step 2. It is still very good and a good option if you are trying to speed up the process, but I slightly prefer the milder ricotta with less vinegar they way I’ve written the recipe.
3. This is the nut milk bag I have and LOVE. It has a wide opening so it’s easy to pour in the milk mixture and it’s easy to wash and reuse. I highly recommend it!
4. No need to discard the whey. It contains a lot of good nutrients. Do a google search to find out all the ways you can use it.
Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat, method adapted from several recipes found on the web including Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, The Kitchn. and Serious Eats
All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat
Disclaimer: post contains affiliate links for items on Amazon.
