From scratch · Dairy
Fresh ricotta-style cheese
Hot milk and cream curdled with lemon juice and drained: soft, fresh cheese in under an hour.
✋ 15 min hands-on
⏱ 1 hr 10 min start to finish
🍽 About 2 cups (about 1 lb), depending on how long it drains.
ContainsMilk.
Ingredients
- 8 cup whole milk, pasteurized, not ultra-pasteurized
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 g table salt
- ⅓ cup lemon juice (bottled), or white vinegar
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Heat the milk and cream | 5 min | 25 min |
| Curdle, rest and drain | 10 min | 30 min |
| In all | 15 min | 55 min |
How long it keeps
- Refrigerator: about 1 week (NDSU’s figure for ricotta).
- Freezer: about 1 month; the texture turns crumbly, fine for baked dishes (NDSU).
Nutrition
Much of the milk’s water and sugar drains off with the whey, so the numbers are USDA’s for whole-milk ricotta.
Steps
You’ll need: large heavy pot, thermometer, strainer lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, slotted spoon.
- Heat the milk, cream and salt in a heavy pot over medium, stirring often so the bottom doesn’t scorch, to 185 to 190°F (steaming, with small bubbles at the edge).
- Take it off the heat. Pour in the lemon juice and stir gently just two or three times. Curds should separate from the yellowish whey within a minute; if it still looks milky, stir in another tablespoon of lemon juice.
- Let it stand 10 minutes without stirring.
- Ladle the curds into the lined strainer set over a bowl. Drain 10 to 15 minutes for soft, creamy cheese or 30 to 60 minutes for a firmer one to use in lasagna.
- Refrigerate it in a covered container right away.
⚖️ ScalingScale the milk, cream and lemon together. Ultra-pasteurized milk forms weak, small curds, so use regular pasteurized milk.
🛡 SafetyUse pasteurized milk and very clean equipment; fresh cheeses are watched for Listeria and other germs, which sanitation and proper heating control (NMSU).
Good to knowWithout the cream it still works, with smaller, firmer curds and about 1½ cups of cheese.
Sources
- Making Homemade Cheese (Guide E-216), New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension, 2022. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Food Storage Guide (FN579), NDSU Extension, reviewed January 2023. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Food Freezing Basics: Freezing Dairy Products, Eggs and Other Foods (FN616), NDSU Extension, reviewed 2022. Accessed 2026-10-25.