Wondering how to make Ricotta Cheese at home? This homemade Ricotta Cheese is easy to make with only 3 ingredients and takes just 30 minutes to be ready.
It is an asset to have around the house. Spread it on toast with some pesto, stuff bell peppers and eggplants with it, or top it over your Friday night pizza. Ricotta cheese makes everything better, even scrambled eggs!
Also, check How To Make Cornmeal, Homemade Cream Cheese and How To Make Pumpkin Puree From Scratch.
That’s why we bring you a super-easy way to make the cheese right at home. Sure, the cheese you get from the grocery store isn’t bad. However, once you start preparing your own Ricotta Cheese at home, you’ll never go back to buying it over the counter.
Fresh homemade Ricotta cheese doesn’t just taste better, it also saves you some hard-earned bucks. It’s a win-win, really.
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Why Make Your Own Ricotta Cheese?
We know what you’re wondering. Sure, whipping up some homemade cheese may be tastier and help us save on some extra bucks we can utilize elsewhere, but what about the time?
It’ll still take time to make this cheese at home, right? Wrong! Because most of the time that goes into making this dish requires no effort on your part at all. The entire process takes about 30 minutes, while your hands-on involvement is required for barely 10.
What’s more? When you make Ricotta Cheese at home, you can control the consistency of the cheese; something you can’t do when you buy a tub from the grocery store!
What Kind of Milk to Use To Make The Ricotta Cheese?
Right off the bat, we know this is what you’re wondering. Though we used full-fat cow milk, when we were making our Ricotta Cheese, you can use any full-fat milk you’d like. Whether you choose goat, cow, sheep or buffalo milk is up to you.
All we recommend is for it to be full fat, also often referred to as whole milk. This is because there should be enough fat in the milk to separate into curds from the whey, as curd is essentially what makes the cheese rich and creamy.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Use it to make savory recipes or sweet recipes such as Mini Kunafa With Ricotta Cheese.
- Making your own fresh cheese allows you to have complete control over the ingredients.
- A delicious homemade cheese. Perfect for breakfast with Gyro Bread or use in making other recipes.
- If you like sweet dishes, top your creamy ricotta with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup and spread it on toast.
- It has a creamy texture and is better than the store-bought ricotta.
Ingredients
This dish requires only 3 ingredients, out of which one is optional!
- Whole milk: Preferably cow’s milk, but any fresh milk will work fine.
- Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed.
- Salt (optional): Regular table salt to taste.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.”
Other than the ingredients, you’ll require
- A large saucepan: Large enough to add all the ingredients.
- Cheesecloth: You’ll easily find it at a grocery store.
- Large Bowl/Pot: To collect the whey when it separates from the cheese curds.
- Sieve: To help drain the whey.
Variations
- If you want to make goat cheese, use goat milk and follow the exact same process.
- Use semi skimmed milk to make a light homemade Ricotta cheese.
- Replace the lemon juice with an equal amount of white distilled vinegar.
How To Make Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Here are step by step instructions on how to make Ricotta cheese.
Step One: Warm The Milk
First, you’ll want to take out a large saucepan. It should be big enough to hold the entirety of the milk and still have room left at the top for when the milk gets hot and starts to form foam. In this saucepan, warm the milk over medium-high heat until it reaches 200°F.
Step Two: Add In Lemon Juice and salt
If you don't have a thermometer, remove the milk from the heat once it gets foamy and starts to steam. Now, add the lemon juice and salt, and stir gently so that it integrates well into the milk.
Step Three: Let The Milk Curds
Now, set this mixture aside for 10 minutes. You will notice that the milk will start to separate into clumps and cloudy yellow-coloured water. The clumps are called white curds, while the cloudy water is referred to as whey.
Step Four: Separate The Curds From The Whey
Place a sieve over a bowl or pot. Line this sieve with a cheesecloth. Now pour the mixture you just created into the saucepan through the sieve and cheesecloth. The white ricotta curds will stick to the cheesecloth, while the whey will drain right through and into the pot.
Squeeze the cheesecloth if necessary to completely drain the whey from the curds. Then, leave the curds draining over the pot for 10-30 minutes to ensure that all the whey is completely drenched in the pot.
After it has been drained, transfer the cheesecloth holding the Ricotta to a container and store it in the fridge.
Freshly made Ricotta Cheese is ready and ready to be added to all your favourite foods!
Helpful Tips
- You can control the consistency of your cheese by controlling how much whey you drain. For toppings like that on pizza, you’d require the cheese to be more moist and easy to spread. So, for a more moist cheese, you’ll want to leave the curds damp with plenty of whey and hold back from straining.
- If you plan on making desserts with this Ricotta Cheese, you might want to skip the salt.
- If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can use any regular muslin cloth to drain the cheese. Just ensure that it is clean.
- Use a slotted spoon to scoop the delicate curds out of the whey.
How To Serve
Ricotta cheese is best savoured over Italian dishes such as Italian Shrimp Pasta Salad or topped over some good-old pizza such as Fresh Spinach Mushroom Pizza Or Roasted Vegetable Pizza.
You can also garnish some roasted chicken with Ricotta or spread it over some savoury tarts.
Other creative ways to use their freshly made Ricotta Cheese are in:
- Cheesecakes: Such as Philadelphia Pumpkin Cheesecake and Oreo Cheesecake Bites.
- Pancakes: Such as Mango Pancakes, Orange Pancakes and Sweet Cream Pancakes.
- Hummus: Healthy Hummus Dip and Sriracha Carrot Hummus.
What Is Whey?
Whey is the leftover cloudy water when you extract white curds from milk in the process of making any kind of cheese. However, the largest amounts of whey are generally extracted while making Ricotta and Cottage cheese.
This whey, though separated from the curds, contains lots of vitamins and nutrients (without the added calories of the curds), which helps improve muscle strength and athletic performance.
This is why you’ll see most gym enthusiasts and athletes consuming substantial amounts of whey protein. Except, most of the time, their whey is commercially produced, while you just extract some in the process of making some homemade cheese! Didn’t we mention it’s a win-win recipe?
What To Do With The Leftover Whey?
So, we’ve established that whey is just cloudy water – only rich in many vitamins and minerals. Now, it only makes sense to substitute water with whey in your day-to-day cooking and make your food extra nutritious. If you’re still confused about how to use the leftover whey, here are some suggestions:
- Soaking legumes, grains, pulses or even ground flours in whey. You can do this by pouring a substantial quantity into regular water. This reduces the seeds’ phytic acid and makes these grains more digestible.
- Use whey to cook oatmeal, rice, pasta or in whatever recipes you’d regularly use water. I usually use it to cook Cajun Rice Dressing and Sweet Rice Porridge.
- Add to homemade breakfast smoothies and shakes to make them more nutritious. It’ll also help make these drinks more probiotic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, it is healthy. And you’ll agree that anything homemade is even healthier! It is a wonderful source of protein, as is whey – which is why it’s an asset for vegetarians that want to build muscle but avoid meat. Moderate amounts of Ricotta in your diet are quite nutritious and healthy.
Rubbery cheese might be a result of over-stirring the lemon and salt after it was added to the milk. You want to add the lemon juice and salt and only stir a few times so that it distributes evenly. Then, stop stirring. Another reason why your cheese might be rubbery is because you used skim milk, or milk that is low in fat.
Yes, you can use raw milk, cow's milk or any other milk you like. However, using Ultra-pasteurized milk is not recommended in making cheese recipes.
To store it, put it in a covered container in the fridge.
Yes, you can freeze it for up to 1 month as long as you keep it in a sealed container.
Easy Recipes
Here are a few easy recipes that will go well with Ricotta Cheese:
- Spinach Mushroom Pizza
- Pizza Rolls With Puff Pastry
- Roasted Vegetable Pizza
- Pizza Dough With Plain Flour
- BBQ Chicken Pizza
- Kimchi Pizza
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Recipe
How To Make Homemade Ricotta Cheese
Equipment
- Cheesecloth
- Sieve
Ingredients
- 2 litre whole milk
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt , optional
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, warm the milk over medium high heat until it reachs 200°F. If you don't have a thermometer, take the milk out of the heat once it gets foamy and starts to steam.2 litre whole milk
- Now, add the lemon juice and salt, stir gently to combine, and set aside for 10 minutes. You will notice that the milk is separated into clumps (white curds) and watery, yellow-colored (whey).⅓ cup lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt
- Set a sieve over a bowl or pot and line the sieve with cheesecloth. Pour the curds and whey through the cheesecloth. Squeeze and let the curds drain for 10-20 minutes.
Notes
- You can control the consistency of your cheese by controlling how much whey you drain. For toppings like that on pizza, you’d require the cheese to be more moist and easy to spread. So, for a more moist cheese, you’ll want to leave the curds damp with plenty of whey and hold back from straining.
- If you plan on making desserts with your cheese, you might want to skip the salt.
- If you don’t have cheesecloth, you can use any regular muslin cloth to drain the cheese. Just ensure that it is clean.
- Use a slotted spoon to scoop the delicate curds out of the whey.
- For soaking legumes, grains or pulses.
- To cook oatmeal, rice or pasta.
- To add to your smoothies.
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