30-60 min6 servingsceliac

Homemade Ricotta

By Ivy Manning

6 servings

30-60 min

Easy

Recipe Details

Course: Side Dish

Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 5 min

Cook Time: 40 min

Total Time: 30-60 min

Cooking Technique: Yogurt

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Celiac, Gluten Free, Low Carb, Vegetarian

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

8 cups whole milk
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Store-bought ricotta can’t hold a candle to creamy, rich homemade cheese. You don’t need any special equipment, and the YOGURT setting on most Instant Pot models gently heats the milk to the perfect temperature, so there’s no worrying about scorching the milk on the stove. If you don’t have a Yogurt setting, heat the milk on Sauté on Normal/Medium heat, stirring occasionally, until a thermometer reaches 190°F before proceeding as directed. Ricotta is only as good as the milk you use to make it, so buy the best milk you can find and make sure that it isn’t ultra-high-temperature (UHT) pasteurized milk. The UHT process changes the proteins in the milk and will prevent it from forming curds. You can use fresh lemon juice to make the milk coagulate, but I find it easier to add citric acid, which you can find at spice shops or buy online. The liquid left over in the pot after cheese making is called whey, as in Little Miss Muffet’s “curds and whey.” It’s full of beneficial probiotic organisms, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, so don’t pour it down the drain! You can use it in soups, sauces, and smoothies as a neutral-flavored liquid that adds a big nutritional boost.

INSTRUCTIONS

Pour the milk into the pot and cover with a regular pot lid that fits on top of the Instant Pot. Select the Yogurt function and adjust until the digital display reads BOIL. When the cooking time is up, remove the lid, being careful not to let any condensation drip back into the pot.
Remove the inner pot from the appliance and place it on a trivet. Add the lemon juice or citric acid and stir gently a few times (overzealous stirring will yield cheese with a grainy texture) until you begin to see the milk coagulate—there will be a separation between bright white chunks of curd and thin yellowish liquid whey. This will take about 30 seconds. Stop stirring and let the mixture stand for 5 minutes.
Line a fine-mesh sieve or colander with cheesecloth or a clean, thin cotton-sack towel and set it over a large bowl. Carefully pour the cheese and whey into the colander.
For moist, creamy ricotta, let the cheese drain for 5 minutes. For firmer ricotta, allow the cheese to drain for up to 4 hours at room temperature. When the cheese is done draining, stir in the salt (if using). Save the whey for another use (see Headnote in description of the recipe).
Transfer the cheese to an airtight container and refrigerate.The ricotta can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

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About the chef

Ivy Manning

Ivy Manning is a Portland, Oregon-based food and travel writer and author of 10 cookbooks including her most recent title, Tacos A to Z- A Delicious Guide To Inauthentic Tacos (West Margin Press, 2023). Her work regularly appears in Cooking Light, Clean Eating, Eating Well, Better Homes & Gardens, and The Kitchn.com. She is a regular contributor to lifestyle brands like Fitbit, My Fitness Pal and The Spruce Eats. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Manning attended Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, followed by an externship at the award-winning Paley’s Place restaurant, stints at some of Portland’s best restaurants, and stages in Barbaresco, Italy and Chiang Mai, Thailand. She held the position of Salud Cooking School director at Whole Foods Market in Portland for several years and currently teaches classes at Bob’s Red Mill. Manning lives in a sweet bungalow in Portland, Oregon with her vegetarian husband Gregor, and her rescued Whippets, Astor and Remy. When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s traveling the world to eat, working with the nonprofit Les Dames D’Escoffier Portland, hanging out in international food markets, or doing yoga with goats.

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