Homemade Ricotta Cheese Recipe

If you only need a small amount, just buy some at the store! If you can't find it in your area, or if you need a huge amount (e.g., for five lasagnas!) it is cheaper and very easy to make your own.

Technically, Ricotta Cheese should be made from whey leftover from cheesemaking. Therefore, this recipe is more like Cottage Cheese without the addition of a smoothing agent such as cream. I use this as just one of many ingredients in other recipes, so the subtle sweetness of Ricotta isn't all that important.

Before You Begin

Ingredients

• 1,000.0 ml (1 quart) Whole Milk. Not UHT pastuerized. Size units are close enough here. Low-fat (but not skimmed) milk can also be used, but whole milk is preferred.
• 45.0 ml (3 tbsp) White Vinegar. You can in theory use lemon juice instead, but I think vinegar works better.
• 2.84 grams (1/2 tsp) Salt (optional). Only add this if you'll be eating the ricotta by itself. Omit if using this in another recipe such as for lasagna filling.

Preparation

1. Heat the Milk to 85°C (185°F). Avoid boiling. This is the temperature at which there will be steam, bubbles on the edges of the pan, and a film forms on the surface.
2. While stirring the Milk, add the Vinegar or Lemon Juice. Solid curds will begin to form. The remaining, slightly yellow liquid is called "whey".
3. Turn off the heat. Cover and allow the mixture to rest for at least 15 minutes, but even over night is fine.
4. Drain off the yellow liquid, called whey, catching the white curds in a fine collandar or seive. The seive should preferably be lined with cheesecloth. Allow the curds to drain for up to one hour. Stir occaisionally to create a path for any remaining whey to escape. If you're using cheesecloth, you can form a ball with the curds inside, and then squeeze the ball to speed up the process slightly. Note that you can use the whey as a substitute for water in baking recipes.
5. If you're making lasagna you'll want to add Eggs, Salt, and Parsley here.
6. Transfer the curds to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use. When I make lots of this for lasagna, I save half the milk cartons, and divide the curds equally. This gives me one carton per pan of lasagna, and 1/2 of each carton goes onto one layer.

Storage

References