Homemade Ricotta Cheese
This homemade ricotta cheese recipe calls for nothing more than milk, buttermilk, salt, and 15 minutes. I promise it will be the best ricotta you’ve ever tasted…you might not ever buy supermarket ricotta again!
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why we love this recipe
Okay, the first thing I have to say is, hang in there with me for a few minutes. I know you are thinking, make your own homemade ricotta cheese? REALLY?
Here on this blog, where I have said about a million times, it’s all about getting in and out of the kitchen in 30 minutes or less? Has she finally eaten one too many piece of bacon and gone off her rocker?
Hang in there with me while I promise you these three things:
1. If you can boil water, you can make your own ricotta cheese.
2. It will take you less than 15 minutes from start to finish.
3. It will taste so good, you will wonder why on earth it took you so long to figure out that you should have been making your own homemade ricotta cheese for the past hundred years.
Let’s do this thing!
ingredients you need
ingredient notes and substitutions
- Buttermilk: You can find buttermilk near the cream in the dairy section of your supermarket…make sure you give the bottle a good shake before you pour it out.
- Milk: You have to use whole milk to make this heavenly ricotta…no low-fat or skim, please!
- Salt: We love using fine sea salt for this recipe, which you can find in the spice aisle.
how to make this recipe
STEP 1: Get out your handy strainer and put it in your sink. Line it with a little cheesecloth, which you can find in your supermarket, sometimes with the baking stuff and sometimes with the laundry stuff, for mysterious reasons. I usually fold it into a square that has about 3-4 layers until it looks like this. This will take you two minutes.
STEP 2: Now take a nice heavy saucepan and pour in 4 cups of whole milk and one cup of buttermilk.
PRO TIP: If you have any heavy cream hanging around, you can add this to the buttermilk and milk mixture – any amount up to 1/4 cup – and your ricotta will be extra super duper rich. Sometimes I do this and sometimes I don’t.
STEP 3: Set it on the stove and put the heat on to medium high and bring it to a boil.
In the early going, you may want to clip a candy thermometer on to the pot so you can watch the temperature, because when the temperature gets to about 185 degrees, the curds (the solid part) will have separated from the whey (the liquid part), and it’s time to strain it.
If you don’t have a thermometer don’t fret, because you can pretty much see it happening.
The milk mixture will boil, and it will gradually curdle and separate into the solids and the watery looking liquid. This will take about 10 minutes…sometimes less.
STEP 4: When the liquid starts to look like clearish milky yellow and you see lots of curds, take the pot off the burner and reach for your handy slotted spoon, and start scooping out the solids, letting the liquid drain off. Drop the spoonfuls of solids into your strainer.
STEP 5: I like to sprinkle a little sea salt onto the cheese every couple of spoonfuls or so. Once you are done, let it drain for about 2 minutes (if you like your ricotta moist) or 5 minutes (if you like it drier).
You can leave it right in the strainer, or you can be like I was when I first made it and hang it dramatically from your kitchen faucet.
STEP 6 (my favorite step): Taste it after a few minutes…if it’s gotten too dry just stir in a tablespoon or two of milk, and if it’s too moist for you, let it keep draining.
Fifteen minutes have now passed, and you have made your own homemade ricotta cheese. 🥳
recipe FAQ
Buttermilk is a low-fat dairy product that is high in protein. It has a slightly sour taste and a thick, creamy texture.
So many things! We love making steak marinated in buttermilk (super tender), buttermilk fried chicken tenders and of course, buttermilk pancakes!
Most supermarkets carry in either the laundry aisle, the baking aisle or both.
Pop your question the comments section below and I will answer pronto!
Recipes that are perfect for fresh ricotta
There are SO many, but I’m going to control myself and just tell you about my top three faves!
Number one on the list is scrambled eggs with ricotta. It’s comfort food on top of comfort food. And a close second is the recipe I make on repeat all summer…Summer Lasagna, full of fresh summer veggies and, yep, ricotta!
I’m also in love with this peach ricotta crostini, which is the perfect blend of a sweet and salty nibble.
And honey cheese pizza! Dolloped with this ricotta. THE BEST.
other homemade staple recipes we love
could you leave us some stars?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section. Your thoughts and advice will help both us and your fellow readers. 🥰
Homemade Ricotta Cheese Recipe
This homemade ricotta cheese recipe calls for nothing more than milk, buttermilk, salt and 15 minutes!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Staples
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole milk
- One cup buttermilk
- Sea salt
- 1/3 cup heavy cream (optional)
Instructions
- Line a fine mesh strainer with several folds of cheesecloth and set it in your sink.
- Combine milk, buttermilk and (if you are using it) cream in a medium heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Bring to a boil until cooking thermometer registers 185 degrees (if you don’t have a thermometer, keep an eye on it to see when the curds (the solid white parts) are mostly separated from the whey (the cloudy liquid). This will take about 10 minutes – stir a couple of times during the boiling process.
- Remove from heat and using a slotted spot, scoop spoonfuls of the curd into the cheesecloth-lined strainer, sprinkling with a little salt every few spoonfuls or so.
- Let the ricotta drain for about 5 minutes and then taste to check the consistency. If you like it drier, then let it drain a little more. If you like it moister, stir in a tablespoon or two of milk. This ricotta is best used right away, but will keep for a day or two in the fridge.
Notes
- Buttermilk: You can find buttermilk near the cream in the dairy section of your supermarket…make sure you give the bottle a good shake before you pour it out.
- Milk: You have to use whole milk to make this heavenly ricotta…no low-fat or skim, please!
- Salt: We love using fine sea salt for this recipe, which you can find in the spice aisle.
This seems too good to be true! I can’t wait to make my own ricotta. Thanks for the inspiration and sharing this great recipe with us
My pleasure! Have fun!
Can you make this low fat/ non fat? can you use SKIM MILK LOW FAT BUTTER MILK AND 1/2 FAT CREAM???
I’m honestly not sure as I have one ever made it with the ingredients in the posted recipe…sorry not to be more help on that one!
About how much ricotta does it yield? Do you just discard the whey?
It makes about 2 cups, give or take. And they whey makes fantastic pancakes if you sub it in for the liquid in your pancake mix!
This is s great recipe, I just made the ricotta and OMG it is fabulous. Very creamy and could eat right out of the bowl. I went ahead and made cannoli cream . Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
I’m so glad! And I totally agree about the whole eating out of the bowl thing. ;)
I make my own Feta by a similar method – using white vinegar to curdle. Hang the cheese for a while then press it until quite firm. I made my own ‘press strainer’ by poking holes in a plastic sour cream container with a darning needle, cut the rim off the lid and set it on top of the cheesecloth wrapped cheese, top with a heavy can (tomatoes). Save some of the drained liquid to store the ‘feta’ for 3-5 days.
Wow! You are so creative – clearly I need to try homemade feta next!
Making the riccota for sure! Can it be frozen? In-laws are Greek. Feta would be perfect Xmas gift! Can I have exact recipe? What else can you do with whey?
I don’t think it can be frozen – it’s actually best eaten as soon as possible after it is made! :)
I have made this and I did freeze it. I used it within a couple of weeks and it was really, really good.
Thanks Lisa – so good to know it can be frozen – I’v never tried that!
Hi there,
I understand u use the same ingredients as for the ricotta cheese and just add white vinegar. How much vinegar do you add?
Hi Venessa – I have never made mine with vinegar so I can’t help you there – maybe some of the readers of this post will know?
Thanks so much for this recipe. I just made it with 2% milk and added lemon juice to curdle it and it’s delicious!!
My pleasure – and good for you for trying it a little differently!
Using raw milk works wonderfully!!! No need to buy 4 differant kinds of milk and cream. Its all of that in one!!! Goat milk makes beautiful cheese.
Love raw milk! I only wish we could get it here in New Jersey…
This looks so good, I can’t wait to try it! I even have a recipe picked out to use my fresh ricotta cheese in tonight. I have one question though- Would using sea salt instead of a coarse iodized salt affect the recipe at all?
Not at all – it will be just perfect. Taste as you go to make sure you are getting the level of seasoning that you like!
This ricotta will change your life. It is perfection. Thank you. I will NEVER buy store bought again.
I’m so glad – and I totally, completely agree! :)
One word.
Devine
Yes!
Oh. My. Gosh…brilliant! And who knew it was so easy!
The best of both worlds! :)
Wow this was fun! I made 3 batches and more from the whey. I used 2% milk, whipping cream, and homemade buttermilk from milk and vinegar. It turned out great. I made more from the whey by just using whey and vinegar and that was a little more tart and a much smaller batch. The whey batch did not produce much and didn’t taste enough different that I would bother with it again. I’m excited to make some bread in my bread maker with the rest of the whey. Thanks so much now I just have to figure out what I’m going to make with all this ricotta!
How great! And I definitely think you should start with the Summer Lasagna in terms of what to make with the ricotta. :)
This is completely fantastic. I used reduced fat buttermilk because it was all I could find and it worked great. This recipe so easy and delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Isn’t it the best?? Thanks for letting us know about the low-fat buttermilk. :)
i have done this with just using fresh whole and the applecider vinager .and added the salt with the milk. but the milk was heated higher. then added the vinager and strained. gallon of milk made a good quart… . you can do the same with making your own cheese by adding white vinager and if you want add chives with the milk. really good never lasts very long and rarely makes it to the refrigerator.
Thanks – and I so agree about the never making it to the fridge part!
Thank you for this post….I made it today & it turned out awesome
I’m so glad – hurray for ricotta!!