Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Updated On: Oct 31, 2024

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Homemade ricotta cheese is so much easier to make than you’ve ever imagined. Just a handful of ingredients and a big pot is all you need to make a bowl of luscious, creamy, cheese. Cook’s tip: have a big spoon and some honey handy because when you test it out, you’ll want to drizzle a little honey on. You can thank me later.

how to make ricotta cheese from scratch

You could easily cut down some of the time by using store bought ricotta, but if you’ve ever spent the time to make it homemade, you’ll never buy that tub stuff again! The texture is soft, creamy and a bit sweet. It’s hard to not eat it straight out of the colander or on a giant spoon with a drizzle of honey. Below is my tried and true recipe and I will post the Gnocchi recipe shortly. I hope you give cheese making a shot. It’s not as scary as you think and the results will blow you away!

Ingredients You’ll Need

  • Sea salt  untreated like Sel Gris or Grey Salt
  • Water
  • Whole milk
  • Heavy cream
  • Lemon juice
separating the curds and whey for homemade ricotta cheese

Other Ricotta Recipes

Beetroot Ricotta Gnocchi

Butternut Squash Manicotti

Easy Cheesy Skillet Lasagna

how to make ricotta cheese from scratch

Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 8 Servings

Description

Homemade ricotta is so simple to make you'll wonder why you haven't tried it sooner. And the taste…so delicious!

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon sea salt untreated like Sel Gris or Grey Salt
  • 2 cup water
  • 1 gallon whole milk
  • 1 16 oz heavy cream
  • cup lemon juice from 2 lemons or 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions

  • Mix the sea salt and water, until mostly dissolved.
  • In a large stock pot, add the milk, heavy cream and sea salt water.
  • Heat over medium-low heat until the milk begins to boil softly. this can take some time, make sure to keep an eye on it or it can scorch.
  • Add the lemon juice and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. watch for the curds to come to the surface. once you have a thin layer of curds, remove from the heat and let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes.
  • Place a double thickness of cheese cloth (you can buy this at the local fabric store) in a colander set in the sink. with a slotted spoon, skim the curds off the top and place in the colander. what will remain will be a yellowish colored water. you can feed this to your chickens and cats like it as well, or you can toss it out.
  • Gather the cheese cloth corners and tie them around a long utensil set over the sink and let drain for 20-30 minutes or until the desired consistency the longer you hang it, the dryer the cheese. Store in the fridge up to 3 days.
Share your creations! I’d love to see what you made!
Mention @farmgirlgourmet or tag #farmgirlgourmet !

Recipe By:

heather scholten founder of farmgirl gourmet and spiceology headshot
Co-Founder at  | More About Heather...

Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.

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  1. Pingback: Beetroot Ricotta Gnocchi - Farmgirl Gourmet
  2. Pingback: Homemade Ricotta Cheese
  3. Pingback: Mexican Lasagna - Farmgirl Gourmet
  4. Just curious, as I’ve never made cheese before, but what do you do with the cheese cloth after? Do you wash it with the towels in the laundry, just rinse it off, or throw it away? Thank you for a great website that can take a novice like me and show me how to make delicious foods. And I love the dog!

    1. FarmgirlGourmet Author says:

      Hi Rick, I usually wash it out really well in the sink with mild kitchen soap (low or no perfume). If you wash it in the washing machine, it will take on the smell of your detergent (know this from experience). Not so great when you make that second batch of cheese. Also, a great place to buy it is at the fabric store. You can get it in bulk for far less than the grocery stores minuscule square – which makes chucking it after each batch less painful. Thanks for commenting! Let me know how you like it!! It’s my favorite recipe for ricotta and I’m drooling now just thinking about it. Enjoy! ~Heather 🙂

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