It is 100% possible for you to make your own ricotta cheese at home. You only need minimal equipment and two ingredients. Yes, only TWO.
What Do You Need to Make Ricotta Cheese?
Just like I said, two ingredients. Milk and acid of some sort. You can use either lemon juice or vinegar for the acid. And for the milk you want to go for the ones in the refrigerated section. You do NOT want to use UHT milk. For some reason it just won’t coagulate as easily as the pasteurised one.
The Experiment
How It Went
I used the recipe from Foodtasia, I chose the one that used only milk.
2 L whole milk, not Ultra-pasteurised or UHT
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp lemon juice
Directions:
Heat the milk and salt to about 85 C, turn off the heat then add the acid. Stir once or twice and no more than that as it could separate the curd
Let it sit untouched for 20 minutes while maintaining the temperature around 80-88 C
Spoon out the curds and strain on a cheesecloth-lined strainer, let it drain until desired consistency
I followed her recipe to a T, I used my thermometer and after adding the lemon juice the milk started to coagulate immediately. I also made a batch with UHT milk, it got thicker but did not coagulate like the other milk.
I let the milk sit for about 20 minutes, but the leftover liquid (whey) was still white and not clear like the one in her photos. So I strained the milk and let the smaller curd drain. I put the milk back into the pot and looked for another recipe. Then I found Gemma’s recipe.
About 1900 ml whole milk
225 ml heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp lemon juice
Directions:
Bring the milk, cream, and salt to a gentle simmer then add the lemon juice
Turn down the heat to a medium-low and stir constantly until the curd forms
Pour the mixture through a sieve lined with cheesecloth and let drain for about 1 hour
Her recipe is way easier and doesn’t require a thermometer. You just need to heat up the milk (and cream) until you can see a little bubbles forming around the pot, then add your acid and let it coagulate and turn off the heat.
After I followed Foodtasia’s recipe with 2 L of milk, I still had milk/whey that was still white in colour. So I used that milk/whey for Gemma’s recipe, her methods to be precise. I weighed the leftover milk/whey and I had about 1388 g left. This time I used vinegar as my acid instead of lemon juice. My vinegar was super concentrated that for 1388 g of milk/whey I only needed ¼ tsp of vinegar and the milk coagulated very quickly with tighter and firmer curd. I was curious and had to try the same method with the UHT milk and it DID work, though it looked like the UHT milk made less curd than the pasteurised milk. I let all my curd drain and saved the whey for later use. I read that it’s a good substitute for buttermilk in baked goods.
After Draining
I drained the three batches of ricottas, #1 2L milk + lemon juice, #2 1.38 L leftover milk + vinegar, and #3 UHT milk + vinegar, and put them in 3 different containers and left it overnight. The next day I could see that the #1 had the softest and creamiest consistency, the #2 and #3 were really crumbly and firm with the #3 being the most firm.
I also noticed #1 had more mellow taste though there was not much of a difference, also #2 and #3 were slightly yellowish in colour. I was planning to use the ricotta for my lasagna and figured that I wanted my ricotta to be looser. So I experimented by blending the ricotta in a food processor with a little bit of leftover whey.
Get Looser and Creamier Ricotta
I took ricotta #2 first and put it in my mini food processor. I added 1 tbsp of whey and blended it. It became smoother but still not as loose as I wanted it to be so I added another 1 tbsp of whey. With ricotta #3 I only needed ½ tbsp to get the consistency that I wanted. And the last one, #1 I didn’t add any extra whey because it’s already loose as is. Here are the after for the three ricottas. They became so smooth and creamy after blending.
How Much Does this Recipe Make?
From the first batch (2 L milk + 3 tbsp lemon juice) I made about 300 g ricotta. From the leftover milk/whey (1.38 L milk + ¼ tsp vinegar) I made about 200 g, and for the one with 500 ml UHT milk and a drop of vinegar it made about 100 g ricotta. So in total with 2.5 L of milk I made 600 g of ricotta cheese.
What Do I Use Ricotta For?
The reason I made this recipe was to make lasagna. But you can use ricotta for a bunch of different dishes. You can make homemade ravioli and fill it with ricotta, maybe for a calzone, to top your pastas or salads, as a mixture of pasta sauce to make it creamier. Some baked goods also calls for ricotta like this Chocolate Cheesecake from How to Cook Smarter on Youtube. Sometimes I also just spread it on my toast and top it with whatever toppings I desire.
Should I Try Making My Own Ricotta?
Yes absolutely!! If you take anything from my experience, the ricotta making process is so easy and forgiving. Just remember to use milk from the refrigerated section and adjust your acid. Some acids are more concentrated than the other, we don’t want a sour ricotta, right? I’d say for 2 L of milk you could use about 3-5 tbsp of lemon juice, but start with 3 and add a little more as you go. And don’t forget to taste to find out if you’ve added enough. For vinegar, if you’re using white distilled vinegar that has the same acidity as lemon you might want to start with 2 tbsp and add more. But if you use vinegar like Dixie that’s super acidic, you might only need ¼-⅓ tsp of vinegar for 2 L of milk.
Another thing to consider when making your own ricotta is that you’ll have a LOT of leftover whey, maybe over 1 L. So you might want to do some research on how to use it. For me I just freeze it for later use. I also read somewhere that it’s good for your plants. But it’s up to you, the choice is yours!!
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