How to Make Ricotta Cheese

Ricotta cheese is a classic ingredient in many Italian dishes and a versatile kitchen staple. However, most supermarket ricotta is grainy and bland, not to mention expensive. Luckily, ricotta cheese is extremely easy to make at home, using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.

Ricotta, which means "re-cooked" in Italian, is traditionally made from whey, the remnants of the traditional hard cheese making process. There's no need to make hard cheese first, though - ricotta can be made just as easily from regular milk. In fact, making ricotta cheese from milk instead of whey yields a great deal more cheese for your efforts.

Homemade Ricotta Cheese Ingredients

1 gallon whole milk

1/4 c. cider vinegar

2-3 Tbsp. cream

Salt and/or herbs to taste

Pour the milk into a large saucepan or dutch oven with a heavy bottom and heat it gently to 180 degrees. Add the vinegar and stir gently to combine, then continue heating the milk without stirring until it reaches 200 degrees. The milk should have curdled and separated into clear, greenish whey and white curds. If the whey appears milky or whitish, add a bit more vinegar to achieve a clean break. Turn off the heat and allow the cheese to rest for 10 minutes, undisturbed. Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth-lined colander (reserve the whey for another use, if desired). Gather the corners of the cheesecloth into a bag and hang the ricotta cheese to drain for an hour, or until desired consistency is achieved. Add salt or herbs to taste, and stir in cream if a looser consistency is desired. Serve warm or chill until ready to use.

Homemade ricotta cheese is much sweeter and more flavorful than supermarket ricotta. It can have a drier, more crumbly texture or be extremely soft, smooth and creamy, depending on how long you drain it and how much cream you add to it. Ricotta cheese is delicious in baked pasta dishes, dolloped atop pizza, added to fillings and stuffings, or simply mixed with sugar and spread on toast.

This recipe yields more than a pound of ricotta cheese - and given that a gallon of milk only costs about $2 but a one pound container of supermarket ricotta is closer to $4, you can see that it's an incredible value! Homemade ricotta is preservative-free, so it is quite perishable - however, it freezes very well, so you can always have fresh homemade ricotta at a moment's notice. Bon appétit!