How to Make Ricotta Cheese at Home

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What Is It?

Ricotta is an Italian whey cheese that is made by coagulating the protein in milk. It can be cow milk, sheep or goat milk. The texture is soft, creamy and crumbly. It is used both in sweet and savory dishes.

I've used ricotta for both of my spinach ricotta pie, spinach ricotta cannelloni and ricotta pie with dulce de leche, if you want to check them out. All of the dishes were delicious!

Homemade Ricotta

I remember one year during Christmas time, my husband and I went to our nearby supermarket to buy ricotta because my mother in law wanted to make ricotta spinach cannelloni for the holiday.

We were stuck in the parking basement for like an hour, due to Christmas chaos and on top of that, all the ricotta were sold out.

After learning how to make my own ricotta, I know we will never go through that again! Haha!

Like most of the recipes in my website, this one is also a super easy one. It's almost not a recipe.

You don't really need much except for patience. A huge pot, whole milk, salt, whipping cream, some lemon juice, a sifter, clean kitchen towel and a huge bowl. That's all.

Some people say to use cheese cloth in the straining stage but I've used kitchen towel all this while and my ricotta comes out perfect. So if you don't have any, don't worry about it.

So basically what you want to do is bring your huge pot of milk, cream and salt to a boil. Use medium heat and stir now and then to prevent the milk from scorching. Once it's boiling, add in lemon juice and reduce the heat so that it simmers.

Gently stir and in 2 minutes you can see the milk curdling. Turn the heat off. Pour into a kitchen towel that is placed inside a sifter, on a huge bowl. Leave to strain for more or less 1 hour. Your homemade ricotta is ready! How simple is that, right?

I love homemade stuff as I know what goes in the food and what quality of ingredients I'm using. If it's difficult to find ricotta at your place or the price is crazy expensive, then now you know you can make your own without any hassle. Enjoy!

Recipe Video

📖 Recipe

How To Make Ricotta

There's nothing better than homemade ricotta cheese! It's super easy to do and it only uses the basic ingredients in the kitchen. No fancy equipment needed too. Try it!

Author: Bea & Marco

5 from 1 vote

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Servings: 2.5 cups

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Passive Time1 hour hr

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 8 cups whole milk (2 liter)
• ▢ 7 oz whipping cream (200 ml)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 3 tablespoon lemon juice

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Instructions

• In a pot, add in milk, cream and salt. Bring it to a boil on medium heat. Stir now and then to prevent the milk from scorching. When the milk is boiling, add in lemon juice. Reduce to simmer and stir for 2 minutes until the mixture curdles. Turn the heat off.
• Place a kitchen cloth on a strainer and place it in a bowl. Pour the mixture in. Leave to drain for 1 hour. Your homemade ricotta is ready! Place in a container and keep it in the fridge if you were to use it later.

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 768.9kcal, Carbohydrates: 42g, Protein: 29.4g, Fat: 55.1g, Saturated Fat: 33.6g, Cholesterol: 188.7mg, Sodium: 806.9mg, Potassium: 1331.9mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 42.5g, Calcium: 1068.6mg, Iron: 0.1mg

The nutrition facts provided are an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.

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