It's so easy to make homemade ricotta cheese with just 2 ingredients, milk and lemon juice. You can use the stove or the Instant Pot and get creamy, tender ricotta cheese with just a few simple steps.
Homemade ricotta cheese is the easiest cheese to make in your own kitchen. Ricotta cheese is a soft cheese that is made by curdling milk with something acidic. I like using lemon juice, but vinegar works just as well. Then, simply drain out the whey and you have soft, delicate and creamy ricotta cheese. It beats store-bought by a mile and is so much more economical too.
Not only is it a fantastic snack - my boys love it with fresh berries or jam, but there are so many ways other ways to enjoy it - cheese blintzes, as fillings in chocolate shortbread bars, yeast breads, pastries, vareniki (Russian ravioli, both sweet and savory), lasagna. I also use it interchangeably with farmer's cheese, which is really popular in the Slavic cuisine.
For years, I made ricotta on the stovetop, but since getting my Instant Pot, I have started making it there. The "Yogurt" setting makes it even easier, because you don't have to worry about the milk scorching or boiling over. I will include both methods in this recipe.
Video of How to Make Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients:
- 1 gallon of whole milk
- I highly recommend using whole milk for ricotta. Even though ricotta will still work with reduced fat milk, you will get a smaller yield and the ricotta will not be as creamy.
- I have not tried using dairy free milk to make yogurt, so I don't know if you can use almond milk, coconut milk, etc.
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- Instead of lemon juice, you can use distilled white vinegar.
Homemade Ricotta Cheese in the Instant Pot
- Bring the milk to a boil. Pour the milk into the Instant Pot and set it to the "Yogurt" setting, adjusting it to "boil".
- Meanwhile, squeeze the juice out of the lemons.
- The Instant Pot will beep and turn off when the milk has reaches 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the lemon juice to the boiled milk, stir gently to combine, then let it stand for 5-10 minutes.
- While the milk + lemon juice is standing, DON'T mix it anymore.
- Place a fine mesh sieve or a colander over a large bowl. Put a cheesecloth over the sieve.
- Gently start scooping out the curds, transferring the cheese to the cheesecloth lined sieve. Continue gently scooping out the cheese curds until they are all in the cheesecloth. Pour out the strained out whey, either discarding it or saving it for another use.
- Let sit, undisturbed, until whey has drained from edges of cheese but center is still somewhat moist, about 5-10 minutes.
- Transfer the cheese to a storage container, retaining some of the whey that was left in the center.
- Store the ricotta cheese in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 7-10 days.
- If you want the cheese to have a dryer texture, more like farmer's cheese, let it drain for a longer period of time, up to a few hours in the refrigerator.
Helpful Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
Use a good quality large pot with a thick bottom, otherwise the milk is scorch and burn. Pour the milk into a large pot and heat the milk over medium-low heat until it reaches 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10-15 minutes. The milk will look frothy. Stir it frequently and keep it under strict supervision; you don’t want the milk to scorch or boil over.
Turn off the heat and pour in the lemon juice. Proceed with the rest of the instructions.
Yes, you can use 2 % milk, however, you will have a lot more whey and a smaller yield of ricotta. The ricotta will also be less creamy.
I store the whey in glass mason jars in my refrigerator and then add it to smoothies, crepe batter, bread dough and more. It's really easy; just substitute the whey for the amount of liquid in your recipe.
1. Add more lemon juice. Let it stand for 5 more minutes.
2. If the milk still hasn't curdled, place it back on low heat for just 1-3 minutes and that should do the trick.
The whey and the ricotta curds should should separate and the whey should become translucent, not milky white.
I have this 6 quart Instant Pot model. *(affiliate link). The boil setting on the "Yogurt" function makes boiling milk so easy. I can turn it on, walk away and not worry about the milk running over or scorching. It turns off when it reaches 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit. You don't need to cover the Instant Pot with the sealing ring, since we're not bringing anything to pressure. I have this lid* that I bought separately that I use.
Recipes Using Ricotta Cheese
- Ricotta Pancakes
- Ricotta Crumb Bars
- Ricotta Cheesecake Bars With Peaches
- Chocolate Shortbread Bars With Ricotta Filling
- Cheese Blintzes
- Chocolate Ricotta Cheesecake
Homemade Ricotta Cheese in the Instant Pot
Homemade Ricotta cheese is so creamy, rich and delicious and is made with just 2 ingredients. I love using the Instant Pot to make it because it makes it so convenient and easy.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: Miscellaneous
Ingredients
- 1 gallon of whole milk
- ½ cup lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
Instructions
- Pour the milk into the Instant Pot and set it to the "Yogurt" setting, adjusting it to "boil".
- While you are waiting for the milk to boil, squeeze the lemon juice. You can use a small sieve to strain out the seeds from the lemon juice.
- When the milk reaches 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit, the Instant Pot will beep and turn off. Slowly pour in the lemon juice, stirring gently in a circular motion. Be careful not to mix it too vigorously, or the cheese will be grainy in texture. Allow it to stand for about 5-10 minutes.
- Place a fine mesh sieve or a colander over a large bowl. Put a cheesecloth over the sieve.
- Gently start scooping out the curds, transferring the cheese to the cheesecloth lined sieve. Continue gently scooping out the cheese curds until they are all in the cheesecloth. Pour out the strained out whey, either discarding it or saving it for another use.
- Let sit, undisturbed, until whey has drained from edges of cheese but center is still somewhat moist, about 5-10 minutes.
- Transfer the cheese to large bowl, retaining some of the whey that was left in the center.
- Store the ricotta cheese in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 7-10 days.
- If you want the cheese to have a dryer texture, more like farmer's cheese, let it drain for a longer period of time, up to a few hours in the refrigerator.
Notes
Stovetop Instructions:
- Pour the milk into a large pot and heat the milk over medium-low heat until it reaches 180-185 degrees Fahrenheit, about 10-15 minutes. The milk will look frothy. Stir it frequently and keep it under strict supervision; you don’t want the milk to scorch or boil over.
- Turn off the heat and pour in the lemon juice. Proceed with the rest of the instructions.
Olga; can I cut the recipe in half? Also can I reuse cheesecloth after draining cheese?
Yes, you can halve the recipe and you can also reuse the cheesecloth. I use mine many, many times. Just wash it well and dry it between uses.
Hi there, what function serves if you dont have the Yogurt on your Instapot ? Thanks 🙂
You can use the Saute function, just be sure to use a thermometer to measure the correct temperature of the milk.
for how long, what's the time frame ? Thanks!
Hi Olga, this is awesome. How to make farmers cheese then? Should I use the same amount of vinegar or less? I don't want it to taste too vinegary! Thanks! 😊
Make it exactly the same way, just drain it more so it has a dryer consistency.
It came out great! Ran out of ricotta so this was just what I needed. The only thing with my instant pot was it wouldn’t heat the milk past 177* even though it was on the yogurt boil setting for over an hour. I just put it on the low sauté function in the end which worked very well obviously. Not sure why it wouldn’t heat it further...I even did half the portion. Either way, I made it work. Just in case someone else has this issue..
Thank you so much for sharing, Lana.
You can make this cheese with kefir, right? Do you have instructions for this?
Made this recipe several times already! Every time turns very well. Thank you again for awesome recipe!
Heat the milk to a simmer, add buttermilk stir it in the add vinegar and it will start to curdle
1 gal milk, 1/2 gal buttermilk, 2T vinegar yields about 3 pounds.
If I want to add buttermilk to milk,do I heat it together,or I have to add the buttermilk when it’s off the heat? Thank you!!
Hi Eva, I never use buttermilk to make farmer's cheese, so I'm not sure.
Hello. I'm excited to try this recipe - I love ricotta and would like to try making my own. Before I start I have one question please. I'm planning to make this in my instant pot using the yogurt button. When you say take it off the heat is it enough to turn off the instant pot or do I need to take the inner pot out of the instant pot? Thank you!
Hi Stevielyn,
You don't have to take the inner pot out of the Instant Pot. As you can see in the pictures, I am adding the lemon juice without taking the inner pot out.
Hi I made this today in the instant pot. It turned out great 👍🏻 my question was about the color of the whey. When I made yogurt in the instant pot the whey turned out clear and more greenish in color. This whey was more cloudy and yellowish in color is the how it’s supposed to be? Or was it because the milk did not completely separate?
The whey should be more on the clear side. If it looks kind of "milky"/cream colored, that most likely means that it didn't separate enough and you could have gotten more cheese out of it, Yuliya.
Okay. Thank you Olga for your response. I am very thankful for your blog, we enjoy your recipes weekly! Thank you for teaching me how to cook well!
Hi Olya. Quick question. I made this today in my instant pot using your recipe and I had the same problem as Yuliya Peterson with whey being white and not much cheese. How do I fix it if I run into the same problem next time? Thanks
Put it back on the heat for a few minutes, mixing gently and you should see it curdle a lot more and get a significant amount more cheese:).
Hi Olga,
I really want to try this recipe in a few days. But I was wondering if I can make half the recipe. So just devide the amounts in two? Thanks!
Yes, not a problem, Minke.
Absolutely amazing recipe! And so easy! Love how creamy it turns out. Ever since you posted your recipe I’ve made it several times already:) thank you!
I'm so happy to hear that, Zhanna. I make it almost every week too, since my husband and boys love it so much.
I do ricotta differently.
1 gallon of milk
1 bottle (16 oz) of heavy cream
heat it up till steaming hot, but not boiling
add 7 table spoons of vinegar
some salt.
Let it rest for 3 hours
Put to cheese cloth, drain for 15 min - voila!
The reason to put heavy cream - ricottas have higher fat content than farmer's cheese, giving them that texture.
Also, by adding vinegar instead of lemon juice you get better, more consistent results.
Also, you got to make it in cast iron (Le Creuset or similar) pot - it keeps consistent temp, without burning the bottom.
Got to stir it, so heat is uniformly distributed throughout the milk
The final heating temp will result in texture: with slightly higher temps there will be more defined clumps, hence dryer ricotta, with less heat - smaller grains - creamer ricotta.
It's all about fat content and right heating temp.
Thank you for sharing, Victoria.
Hi Olga, I hope you are doing well at the end of your pregnancy!! Gods blessings to you!! I have a question that hopefully you will be able to answer when you have some time. If I don't have lemons, can I use lemon concentrate, and how much of it? Thanks!