Name: Homemade Creamy Ricotta Cheese
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 8 cups whole milk; 3/4 teaspoon table salt; 1/4 cup distilled white vinegar; 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream

Why This Recipe Works

Homemade ricotta is surprisingly easy to make, but all too often the results are bouncy, rubbery, or grainy cheese. We wanted ours to be luscious and creamy, with a distinct sweetness from the dairy and just a hint of tang. We began by bringing whole milk and a pinch of salt to 185 degrees in a saucepan—just hot enough to enable the dairy to curdle after the addition of some vinegar but not so hot that the curds would toughen and turn chewy. Adding just enough vinegar kept our ricotta from tasting sour. After draining off all the excess whey, we then chilled the curds so that we could better judge the cheese's finished texture (warm ricotta seems much soupier than cold). Finally, we pureed the relatively large ricotta curds in a food processor to break them down and smooth out the cheese's texture, adding a bit of heavy cream to enrich our ricotta and make it perfectly spreadable.

Before You Begin

Do not use ultra-pasteurized (UHT) milk or cream in this recipe. Use a large fine-mesh strainer to drain the ricotta. If you don't have one, you can also use a colander lined with a single layer of cheesecloth, but you may need to stir longer in step 4 to drain off 5½ cups of whey. This recipe yields a creamy ricotta cheese with much smaller curds than many other homemade versions.

Instructions

Set large fine-mesh strainer over large bowl. Heat milk and salt in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently with rubber spatula to prevent scorching, until milk registers 185 degrees.

Remove saucepan from heat. Add vinegar and stir until mixture curdles, about 10 seconds. Let sit, undisturbed, until mixture fully separates into curds and cloudy whey, about 5 minutes.

Using ladle, transfer curds and whey to prepared strainer. Let sit until most of whey has drained from ricotta but center is still moist, about 10 minutes.

Using rubber spatula, stir ricotta in strainer, gently scraping sides and bottom of strainer, until any excess whey has drained from ricotta, about 30 seconds (you should have at least 5½ cups whey; if not, continue stirring until you have 5½ cups whey). Discard whey. Transfer ricotta to airtight container and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours.

Process ricotta and ¼ cup cream in food processor until ricotta is uniformly smooth and spreadable, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Finished ricotta should have texture of buttercream frosting.) If ricotta is too stiff, add remaining cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until desired consistency is achieved. Serve.

to make ahead

Ricotta can be refrigerated for up to 5 days; stir to recombine before using.