Making a delicious and simple ricotta recipe is such an incredibly easy process. Learn how to make ricotta in less than 30 minutes and only 3 ingredients.
Next time, try this fire roasted tomato recipe.
Making ricotta cheese from scratch tastes like no other. Homemade ricotta cheese is packed with protein and lower in calories than most other cheeses, making it a healthy snack too! I can't wait for you to try this homemade cheese recipe, as it is a cheese lover's dream come true and so unbelievably good!
You may know ricotta cheese as the cheese in lasagna or stuffed shells, but it is actually quite delicious as a dip or spread, and there are so many uses for this wonderful crumby cheese.
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❤️ Why You'll Love It
- Fresh-tasting homemade cheese, one of the easiest ricotta recipes made with basic ingredients.
- Better than store-bought and very versatile cheese with many ways to use.
- Leftover whey can be used in many baked goods more on that below.
Like most things made at home, homemade ricotta cheese is well worth the time (less than 30 minutes!). The texture and taste are far better than the tub version you get at the grocery store. Make it once, and you won't ever buy it at a store again.
📝 Recipe Ingredients
🥄 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Pour the milk into a heavy-bottomed nonreactive saucepan or large pot and heat on medium heat until a thermometer reads 185°F or the milk starts bubbling at the edges of the pan.
- Turn the heat down to low and stir in vinegar. Keep it on low and gently stir for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat off.
- Let it rest for 15-20 minutes, you will notice the curdles start to form and the milk separates.
- Line a strainer with cheese cloth folded three to four times on itself, and put it over a bowl. Pour the curd mixture into the cheesecloth-lined colander and let it drain anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours or overnight in the fridge. You should have an almost clear yellowish whey in the bowl and be left with the cheese in the cheesecloth. Season cheese with salt if you are using it in a savory recipe or drizzle with honey for a delicious healthy treat.
💡 Tips
- Do not use ultra-pasteurized milk as it will not produce enough curdles. If ultra-pasteurized is your only option, you might want to add a drop of rennet to help.
- Keep stirring the milk while heating it so it will not burn.
- I do not recommend using apple cider vinegar as it will produce a pungent taste. You can use lemon juice though.
- If your milk did not curdle as much or if the whey still looked pretty much like milk, pour everything back into your saucepan. Reheat the milk again and stir in another tablespoon of white vinegar into the mixture it should curdle just fine.
- Some people use part heavy cream part milk in equal amounts for a richer creamier ricotta, but I haven't had luck with that.
- I leave my ricotta to drain for at least one hour as I like it crumbly and dry. If you end up with a too dry cheese for your liking, add some of the whey back into the cheese. This will give you a perfect creamy cheese. You can also leave it to drain for only 5 minutes to keep some of the whey in.
- You can use the cheese in its crumbled form without having to leave it in the fridge to firm up.
- Do not throw away the whey. Use it to make bread or for any smoothie recipe that calls for water or milk.
- This is a great recipe for using milk on sale or milk that is a tad past the date but still fresh.
- If you do not have cheesecloth, you can use a coffee filter or a clean cotton tea towel.
🧺 Storage
Use the homemade ricotta cheese right away, or wrap the cheese in an airtight container and store it in your refrigerator for up to a week. It is also freezer-friendly but texture might change when thawed.
🍽️ Serve With
This recipe makes about ⅔ cup of ricotta cheese. Here are some suggestions to flavor and use your homemade cheese:
- Use Za'aatar, olive oil and sprinkle some pine nuts on top.
- Use Italian seasoning and olive oil.
- Make Whipped Ricotta dip with lemon zest.
- Add black pepper; it works great for this.
- Flavor with herbs, garlic and fresh chives for herbed ricotta.
- Do not add salt and add a drizzle of honey and some fresh fruit for a sweet dessert.
- Top with fresh berries and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
- Use the homemade ricotta in your lasagna, stuffed shells or ricotta gnocchi.
💬 Recipe FAQs
Ricotta cheese is usually good for up to a week. Be sure to take it out of the cheesecloth and keep it in an airtight container. Store in your refrigerator.
The whey is actually very nutritious as it's filled with protein and probiotics. Make bread with it, use it in a smoothie recipe, and cook pasta in it. Pretty much any recipe that calls for water, you can use the leftover whey for.
There's so much than just using it in your lasagna and stuffed shells! It makes an excellent dip or spread just by adding salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve it on bread or crackers. Eat it for breakfast with fresh chives. Make ricotta pancakes, cheesecake or add fresh berries.
I have seen white vinegar or apple cider vinegar used to make cheese. However, it's been my experience that the best vinegar to make the best-tasting homemade ricotta cheese is white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar gives the cheese a very strong taste. You can experiment and see which you prefer.
📣 Related Recipes
- Homemade lightened-up Alfredo sauce without cream or cream cheese is an easy and simple sauce for pasta or pizza.
- Here is how to prepare Chantilly Cream for all sorts of desserts or just because.
- This Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting is easy, rich, not overly sweet and soft. Perfect for piping onto your favorite cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and more!
- Lemon Curd is very easy to make at home; let's make it even easier with this Microwave Lemon Curd recipe.
- These Fire Roasted Tomatoes taste amazing when served as appetizers or side dishes. They're also great for making sauces and dips.
- Bring the flavor of your favorite chips to your kitchen with this recipe for Homemade Doritos. Snack time just got better!
- These Stuffed Mini Peppers are colorful and the perfect two-bite-size appetizer for any party.
- These Dill Cucumber Sandwiches are a refreshing, crisp summertime staple. Crisp cucumber slices are layered on soft bread with a creamy spread and fresh dill.
I hope you'll like this recipe, and please, if you make this recipe, snap a pic and hashtag it #amiraspantry — I love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
If you love this recipe, please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating! Thank you.
What’s new? Check out Amira's Pantry Store on Amazon where you'll find all kinds of nostalgic goodness! Thanks so much for being a part of Amira's Pantry!
Ricotta Cheese Recipe
Equipment
- Bowl
- Cheesecloth or clean cotton tea towel or coffee filter.
- Heavy bottom pan
Ingredients
- 1 quart whole milk 4 cups
- 3 Tablespoons white vinegar
For seasoning:
- 2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Pour the milk in a heavy bottomed non-reactive sauce pan and heat on medium until a thermometer reads 185°F or the milk is almost boiling.
- Turn heat down to low and stir in vinegar. Keep it on low for a couple of minutes more then turn heat off.
- Let it rest for 15 minute, you will notice the curdles start to form and the milk separates.
- Line a strainer with cheesecloth and put it over a bowl.
- Pour the curd mixture and let it drain for a couple of hour or overnight in the fridge.
- You should have an almost clear yellowish whey in the bowl and be left with the cheese in the cheesecloth.
- Squeeze the cheesecloth and press the cheese to form a ball then place in a container in the fridge and let it set for 2-3 hours to firm up.
- Salt the cheese and flavor it with whatever flavors you like. See the suggestions below in the notes.
Notes
- Do not use ultra pasteurized milk as it will not produce enough curdles.
- If ultra pasteurized is your only option you might want to add a drop of rennet to help.
- Keep stirring the milk while heating it up so it will not burn.
- I do not recommend using apple cider vinegar as it will produce a strong taste.
- If your milk did not curdle as much or if the whey still looked pretty much like milk, pour everything back into your saucepan. Reheat the milk again and stir in another tablespoon of white vinegar into the mixture and it should curdle just fine.
- Some people add cream to the milk in equal amounts but I haven't had luck with that.
- I leave my ricotta to drain for at least one hour as I like it crumbly and dry. If this is not your desired texture and you want more creamy consistency then add some of the whey back into the cheese. This will give you a perfect creamy ricotta.
- You can use the cheese in its crumbled form without having to leave it in the fridge to firm up.
- Do not throw away the whey, use it to make bread.
- This is a great recipe to use up milk on sale or milk that is a tad past the date but still fresh.
- If you do not have cheesecloth you can use a coffee filter or a clean cotton tea towel.
- Homemade cheese can stay in the fridge for up to a week and it is also freezer friendly.
- Use Za'aatar and olive oil.
- Use Italian seasoning and olive oil.
- Add black pepper; it works great for this.
- Flavor with herbs, garlic and fresh chives.
- Do not add salt and add honey and some fresh fruit for a sweet dessert.
- Top with fresh berries and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
- Use the homemade ricotta in your lasagna or stuffed shells.
Nutrition
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Linda Petersen
Made the cheese from whole milk after making mozzarella cheese using the whey protein!!!
Koleta
This is what we always called cottage cheese. It is yummy and my fave is to sprinkle thyme or rosemary or herb de Provence in.
Joyce Holwerda
Worked great. This was the least fussy of recipes I looked at. I followed it without changing and the result was very good. I plan to use it for lasagna. Next time I will not let it drain as much as it is somewhat firm. Now I will waste less milk,
Gina
Wow, gebna beda has been on my mind lately. But with the coronavirus quarantines we have only been venturing out to the main grocery store, instead of making different trips to small specialty stores like the Arabic foods store. This indeed looks very easy and I'm highly encouraged to try it now. Do you think this comes out similar to gebna areesh if you are familiar with that?