Homemade Ricotta
Fresh ricotta made from whole milk, cream and lemon juice: heated for 15 minutes until curds form, then drained into soft, sweet cheese.
Photograph credit: Homemade ricotta by Joel Kramer · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Make Ahead and Storage
Keeps for 4 days in a covered container in the fridge. Do not freeze.
Homemade Ricotta: The Method
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Pour the milk, cream and salt into a large heavy pot. Heat over a medium heat, stirring now and then, for 15 minutes until it reaches 90°C / 194°F and small bubbles break at the edge.
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Take the pot off the heat, pour in the lemon juice, stir once and leave undisturbed for 10 minutes until curds form.
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Line a sieve with muslin and set it over a bowl. Ladle in the curds gently and drain for 15 minutes.
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Serve warm, or chill in a covered dish.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Worth Knowing
- Avoid ultra-pasteurised milk; it does not curdle well.
- Stir once after adding the lemon, then leave the curds alone.
- Drain for longer for a firmer cheese to slice or crumble.
Why the Method Is What It Is
What is ricotta, really? Curds, drained. Heat milk until it is just short of boiling, add acid, and the proteins gather into soft white clouds that can be lifted out with a slotted spoon. That is the whole cheese.
Use whole milk and a little cream, and avoid ultra-pasteurised milk, which refuses to curdle properly. Heat gently, stirring now and then so the bottom does not catch, until small bubbles appear around the edge and a thermometer reads 90°C / 194°F. Pour in the lemon juice, stir once and then stop. Stirring after that breaks the curds into a grainy mass. Use fresh milk.
Leave the pot alone for ten minutes while the curds form, then ladle them into a sieve lined with muslin. Drain for fifteen minutes for a creamy ricotta, or longer for a firmer one. Use the cheese warm on toast, in lasagne or with honey, and keep the whey to use in bread dough or soup. Keep the whey too.
Serving Ideas
Toast and honey · Lasagne · Fresh figs · Pasta
Changing the Recipe
- In a sauce, full-fat crème fraîche can usually take the place of the double cream; single cream is thinner and more likely to split if it boils, so keep it below a simmer.
Quick Answers
How long does Homemade Ricotta take to make?
5 minutes of preparation and 15 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of Draining, so allow 35 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published .
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