Homemade Ricotta Cheese Recipe
Make delicious homemade ricotta in your kitchen using just whole milk, salt and lemon juice. Perfect for making dips and pasta ... or spreading on fresh sourdough bread!
Equipment
- Heavy Based Pot
- Slotted Spoon
- Thermometer
- Straining Basket or Cheesecloth
Ingredients
- 2 liters whole milk (half gallon)
- 5 g salt (½ teaspoon)
- 45 g lemon juice (or good quality vinegar) (3 tablespoons)
Instructions
- Pour the milk into a heavy based pot and allow it to heat slowly on the stove top. You don't want the milk to boil. It needs to come to around 185 F (if you don't have a thermometer, see recipe notes for knowing when the milk is hot enough).
- Add salt to the milk during the heating process and stir through.
- Once the milk is at temperature, turn the heat down to low and pour in the lemon juice or vinegar. Gently agitate the milk to ensure the lemon juice is well distributed and then allow the mixture to remain on the heat for around one to two minutes. Do not let the milk boil, it should just be gently simmering.
- Remove it from the heat now and cover with a dish towel. Allow it to sit for around 20 minutes to allow the curds to fully separate from the whey.If you put a spoon into the mixture, you'll see the curds sticking to the spoon and the liquid will be a yellowy color - this is the whey.
- Once the mixture has sat for 20 to 30 minutes, it's time to separate the curds - which is the ricotta cheese - from the whey. You don't want to throw the whey away (check the notes for ways in which you can use this). Sit a ricotta basket or cheesecloth over a jug or bowl and carefully pour the ricotta over the basket so that the ricotta is caught in the basket and the whey drains through.See notes for options what to use as a strainer.
- Once the ricotta is separated from the whey, allow it drain for a further hour. If you like wet ricotta, an hour should be enough. If you prefer a firmer, drier ricotta, allow it to sit for two to three hours, or even overnight in the fridge. You'll find you get a lot more whey drain out this way.
- Store the ricotta in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to one week. The whey can be stored in an airtight, clean jar in the fridge and used in many different recipes (see notes).
Notes
Milk - for best results, use whole milk. You can use a portion of cream in the milk if you wish - so for example 1 part cream and 3 parts milk. This will give you a creamier ricotta. Do not use UHT or heat treated milk. This will not work for making ricotta cheese.
Warming the Milk - I used a thermometer that I use when frothing milk for coffee to check the temperature of the milk. If you don't have a thermometer, you will need to watch the milk closely. You want to turn the heat down right when it starts to form bubbles on the sides and there's steam coming off it. DO NOT let the milk boil or scald.
Lemon Juice or Vinegar - you can use lemon juice or good quality white vinegar to make ricotta. Or you can even use a mix of the two if you're short on lemon juice. You don't have to be exact with the measurements for this. I found that 45g of lemon juice is equivalent to the juice of 2 lemons. It doesn't matter if you add a little extra in this case.
Straining the Ricotta - I find it easiest to use a small ricotta basket that I've kept from buying store bought ricotta (these make a great sourdough banneton too). If you don't have a basket, you can use a fine metal seive, a few layers of muslin or cheesecloth or even a slotted spoon.
Nutrition
Serving: 100gCalories: 1247kcalCarbohydrates: 99gProtein: 68gFat: 66gSaturated Fat: 38gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 248mgSodium: 2722mgPotassium: 3141mgFiber: 0.1gSugar: 100gVitamin A: 3344IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 2541mgIron: 0.1mg
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