Do you know how to make ricotta cheese? It’s easy and fun.
How to Make Ricotta Cheese
Soft, fresh cheese is easy to make at home. As long as you have whole milk around, there’s no reason to rush out to the store.
Do you remember the Miss Muffet rhyme? Curds and whey? That’s what we’re going to do. Using heat and acid, we can separate liquid dairy products into curds and whey.
If the product is whole milk, you get ricotta (or queso fresco/farmer cheese/paneer; it has a different name in every country!) Heavy cream makes mascarpone. 2% or less fat milk makes cottage cheese curds.
The following tutorial will show you how to make ricotta cheese.
Homemade Ricotta (makes 2 cups)
1/2 Gallon Whole Milk (Goat or Cow, not ultra-pasteurized)
1/4 cup white vinegar or 1/4 cup Lemon juice
Salt to taste
Cheesecloth
Cooking Thermometer
Preparing the Curds
1. Put milk into stainless steel pot. It’s important to NOT use any reactive metal pots, like aluminum or cast iron. Those metals make the cheese taste off.
2. Heat over medium until it reaches between 190 and 200 degrees.
3. Slowly stir in vinegar or lemon juice.
4. Remove from heat and allow to curdle and cool until it’s not too hot to touch.
Removing the Whey
5. Pour cheese into cloth lined bowl. Pull together the 4 corners of cloth and twist around a spoon.
6. Hang dripping cheese for a few hours.
Season to Taste; Check the Consistency
7. Salt to taste and check consistency. I like a fairly hard cheese, so I hang it in the fridge overnight. That’s about the max.
8. Untie, (add any garlic or herbs or more salt, if you like) place in airtight container, and chill.
9. Depending on how long you hung it, it should be about 12-16 oz of cheese.
Now you know how to make ricotta cheese!
Really great I will try this in my new kitchen — it sounds very easy thanks
@sanna–It really is!
What kind of cheese would you compare this to? I like to remake recipes with homemade ingredients when I can now.
@Satsuki–chevre. It’s the consistency of that goat cheese, or if you blended cream cheese and feta together. Schmear type cheese.
Is there a cut and dry way to make cheddar cheese, too? (I work in a deli and am a cheeseaholic anyway, so just one type of cheese isn’t enough of a challenge!)
@Tacy–Check out Leener’s site for exact instructions and supplies…but sorry, no. Cheddar requires a couple of special ingredients. It’s not hard to make, but you do need rennet and some things not usually found at the Val-Marche.
i just made the cheese! it’s drying now – my bowl wasn’t tall enough for it not to touch the bottom, so i have my spoon resting on two cups, and dripping into the bowl. i love the smell of it! thanks so much for this recipie – i can’t wait to try it. how much salt do you usually put in, and would it work to put it in before you pour it into the bowl?
I love making cheese. Ricotta is very simple and delicious too:
http://culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/2009/02/27/a-cultured-post/
If you don’t have cheesecloth, try a coffee filter. We had one of those older Mr. Coffee “gold” ones. It hangs nicely in a 1 qt. container as the cheese drains
Until I made my first batch of cheese I didn’t know what Little Miss Muffet was eating while sitting on a tuffet!
And don’t forget to save the whey. I used mine in some ham and bean soup and homemade doggie treats in place of water or broth. I even drank some – it tasted kinda “yeasty”.
Carolyn – good idea with the filter.
Tacy – I’m with you on the challenge! That is how I found this site. Wanted to make homemade wing sauce but all called for bottled hot sauce. Then I stumbled on TL’s homemade hot sauce story. So funny I almost peed my pants! You must read it!
200 degrees F or C ????
Eleanor–F…we is in da USA
I use this cheese instead of ricotta in lasagna and it worked out very well…
So I just tried to make this and followed all directions but the milk did not curdle at all. What did I do wrong? Could it have been the milk (i used goats milk). I used a good thermometer and got the milk up to 190 then stirred in the vinegar and took off heat but nothing happened. The milk was whole goats milk. Any suggestions? Are there tips and tricks? Thanks, Nate
I use whole goats milk for mine. Hmm. I’ve never heard of this. the only trick I know about is that the ‘stirring’ in of the acid needs to be really gentle, but even then it should have curdled, just in a dusty tiny curd way. How concentrated is your bottle of vinegar?
I scrapped the goats milk and just got some cows milk and it worked great. Not sure what the deal was but I think that the goats milk must have had something in it so that it would not curdle under any circumstance! I flavored my cheese with garlic and salt and it is amazing. I’m excited to try other flavors! Thanks for the great blog.
Mmmmmm…is all I could say when I stumbled upon your blog! It was like falling into the cushions on a good friend’s couch! I may never leave…
Has anyone tried this with soymilk? Or any other dairy free variety?
I make a cheese very similar to this with either goat’s or cow’s milk! It’s delicious.
Thanks, poverty could fade ……. with this kind of tips
Is this raw milk or homogenized/pasturized milk?
Homogenized, store-bought.
Someone asked a while back if you could add the salt (or pehaps other flavorings) prior to the draining in the cheese cloth, but I didn’t see answer. Do you think it would it still firm up?
I made this cheese this morning, it is excellent!! After draining it , I added some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, some puree of garlic, and some Italian Spices, and kosher salt. Then I pressed the cheese in a oiled ramekin dish and covered it with plastic wrap, and put in the fridge, will enjoy with crackers tonight!!! It is so easy!!
If curdling is an issue, it could be that the milk has been ultra-pasteurized (extra-high heat to ensure better preservability (is that a word?)) -it alters the molecules of the milk enough that it won’t work for making your own cheeses. (Info from what I’ve read on newenglandcheesemaking.com -they have great information and supplies for making your own varieties)
I’m definitely going to be trying this tomorrow! I’m also interested in whether or not you can add salt, herbs, garlic, etc. before the cheese sets – as in, when it’s draining.
Absolutely. Add any of those things you want.
Could I use this recipe with soy or rice milk?
I wouldn’t think they would have enough fat.
I found an old recipe in my mother’s recipe index that is identical with the exception that it used skim milk. The recipe is over 40 years old and Mom passed away about 20 years ago otherwise I’d just ask her…Was skim milk different back then or do you think this would still work?
You can certainly use skim or lowfat milk in the recipe, but the end result will be a little less volume and less creamy. Your mom probably used skim milk because it was readily available to her, likely in powdered form.
I use an old cloth napkin to strain cheese (or almond milk or rice milk or whatever else needs straining.)
Great recipe!
I found if you bake it for about an hour at 300 °F then another 10-15 minutes at 375 °F (to make a crust) you get a good hard cheese that keeps well. It is great crumbled on almost anything! Like squeaky cheese crossed with cheesecake.
@MCR – I heard that skim milk is used in parmesian cheese. So your mom might have used it on pizza or spaghetti? Hmm… that sounds good…
@Aubree – Soy and rice “milk” are actually juices. So the vinegar trick doesn’t work (I tried.) But if you add a coagulant like nigari (magnesium chloride), you can make tofu with soy “milk” since it thickens it up. I haven’t tried with rice “milk” or coconut juice.
great recipe, thank you! nailed it on my first try. 🙂 added some fresh dried herbs and cracked pepper. i can’t wait to eat it!
bonus- i now also have a big ol’ jug of whey to use in other recipes!
I must did something wrong, I only have small amount of curd and alot of whey
milk. Can you tell me what I did wrong . Thank you
Please help! I’ve attempted this cheese twice now, using two different but very similar recipes – the difference was in the amount of lemon juice/vinegar called for. Both times, I have heated the milk, added the lemon juice, and then waited, but my milk won’t curdle. I’m not sure where I’ve gone wrong. I’m using whole, raw, Jersey cow’s milk. Is it possibly the rawness of the milk that’s throwing off the recipe?
This is a great cheese. I added a homemade garlic paste, sun dried tomatoes and EV Olive Oil and let it chilled. My Kids, Family and Friends Love it and are asking for more now!! Thank You Ivory Soap for the recipe.
If you have problem with no curds forming.. your milk may be ULTRA pasteurized.. and you can make cheese with it.. heat to almost boiling.. add acid (vinegar or lemon juice) see if curds form.. if not, try a little more acid… just a couple of tablespoons more might do it
If you overdo the acid … then you get a more sour type cheese.. but that can be remedied by adding of garlic and chives after the draining part
you can even make a sweet cheese by adding a little bit of honey… which turns out fantastic when spread on bagels or toast.. or even on a piece of apple or pear
How long will the cheese last?
This is wonderful. I’m from Wisconsin, but currently living in China, where the cheese is either A) some kind of sickly-sweet cream cheese marketed towards children’s health or B) really expensive imported stuff. I’ve currently got a batch hanging and dripping, but if the small taste i had is any indication, this is going to at least alleviate some of my cheese woes for a while.
I’m so glad! We have cheese woes here too….
This is the same recipe for whole milk ricotta. Just drain the whey from the pot and don’t hang the curds to keep draining and you have a delicious ricotta cheese. My recipes adds a teeny amount of baking soda, like 1/8-1/4 tsp. AMAZING.
So. I found out the hard way what happens when you try to substitute ingredients… namely, heavy cream: http://www.swamppixieherbal.com/2012/06/cheese-making-attempt-1-failure-into.html
Oh, well! There’s always next time! *grin*
My cheese was not soft and in fact is kind of rubbery. I used skim milk. Any ideas on how to make it creamery? Thx for the recipe. I will try with whole milk next time but would love to salvage this batch.
You CAN’T use skim milk. It’s the FAT in it that makes the cheese. If there’s no fat to speak of….
What kind of cheese is this receipe? Do you have a receipe for mozzeralla and other types of cheeses?
What kind of cheese does it make?
Panir, I think is the proper word. It’s like a soft feta.
I need someone’s help I am new to making goat milk cheese, I use pasturized, I have made the feta twice and both times they are rubbery, what did I do wrong?
I always use pasteurized, and the recipe itself pasteurizes it even if it was raw to begin with. Tell me more about what you’re doing.
I can not wait to try this recipe I have wanted to make cheese for a long time.I first read a pininterest on Mozzarella but needed rennet, citric acid and cheese salt. A girl at work had some homemade white chedder that was awesome. Thanks for taking the time to post this
BILL!
Your are a GENIUS.
nice suggestion, came out FANTASTIC!
Just tried your recipe……. great – no, fantastic…..and Barney, my dog, loved the whey :0) THANKS!
Does it matter how pasteurized the milk is? There is a local brand that is vat pasteurized (less pasteurized I think), but if I make cheese with it, I might as well be buying organic cheese because it wouldn’t be cost effective. I’d prefer to use a cheaper organic milk if it’s possible.
this is a great recipe. My son makes this in the microwave as well. Not only that but he does make it also with skim milk once in a while but it doesn’t make as much. It is always good though.
I have made mozzarella by myself at home. It’s easy, it does require a microwave though. lol Not many little houses on the prairie have them…but little houses in the suburbs usually do. 😉 Would you like the recipe?
I would love that recipe for making cheese in the microwave! it would make great gifts for my grown children. may I have that recipe?
I would love the recipe for making cheese in the microwave! My kids would love having it for gifts. may I have the recipe?
I JUST FOUND YOUR OFFER FOR YOUR CHEESE MADE IN THE microwave, May I STILL GET IT AT THIS LATE DATE? I WOULD TRULY LIKE TO ADD IT TO MY SURVIVAL KIT!! AND MAKE IT ADS EVERYDAY SAVINGS!!!
Three things:
1) Thank you for this. I can’t wait to try it.
2) For someone who has no clue at all -how much salt do you recommend?
3)I, too, would like to have the recipe for the microwave mozzarella, please
Would love the recipe for the microwave cheese, if I am not too late?
Can i also bother you for the microwave mozarella recipe please. Looking foward you it. Thanks.
I’ve made this several times and we love it. Today we have another gallon of milk that is going down hill so we’re making another batch. Trying different herbs this time. It takes more salt than you think. I enjoy and look forward to you stuff, thank you so much.
Russ
Please can I have the recipe for mozzarella cheese in microwave sounds great thanks
I made this cheese last night just as written. Very mild cheese but so very easy to make. Thank you for sharing. What herbs or spices would anyone suggest to add and when should it be added in? I plan on making more.
I would love the recipe for the microwave mozzarella cheese, please.
I cannot drink/eat cow or goat products. Can this cheese be made with rice, oat or almond millk? I would also love the microwave cheese if I can use alternative milks. Thanks
Brenda Brown–Never tried it but did find this: http://renegadehealth.com/blog/2011/04/20/how-to-make-no-dairy-cheese
Seems pretty easy!
Can I heat the milk for the cheese in the microwave?
This is an Indian cheese receipe. we called paneer…
May I please have the microwave cheese recipe? Thanks !
I am going to try this… looks fairly easy. Famous last words!
This is not ricotta cheese. This is cottage cheese. Indian households make paneer this way, all the time.
It’s not the 100% traditional way from whey, but it’s an accepted version. Paneer, cottage cheese curds, queso fresco, every culture has a version of this.