Making your own Cream Cheese From Scratch is a lot easier than you’d think!
In honor of our homemade bagels, of course we had to try making our own cream cheese from scratch. ‘Cause what’s a bagel without cream cheese?
Ok, I say that now but embarrassing confession: the first time I had a bagel with cream cheese was when I was 17, a senior in high school, and the only reason I tried it then was because the girls in my AP English class were horrified when they heard I’d never eaten it before and made me eat one right then and there. And I loved it. I’d never had cream cheese on a bagel before in my life, because like my other weird (former) dislikes for salmon, mayo on sandwiches, and peanut butter and jelly (despite never having them either), I had the same feelings towards cream cheese. I just decided I didn’t like it. I ate bagels plain. Sometime with butter. But mostly dry and plain. I know, such a weirdo.
Even now, I’m not a huge bagel fan which means we rarely ever have cream cheese in the house. But after our Vegas trip that sparked a hankering for bagels, it also sparked a hankering for cream cheese with said bagels. Making the bagels, no problem. We’re getting pretty good at bread making, but cream cheese from scratch? I had no idea. It wasn’t even on our homemade cheese hit list; it’s a cheese I’ve never really thought about.
Turns out, it’s super easy. Like making ricotta easy, which is pretty much just adding citrus to milk. The difference between a ricotta and a cream cheese is simply the fat content. So instead of using just whole milk, cream cheese from scratch requires just a quart of milk, a quart of half and half, and then 2 quarts of heavy cream. Neat. Thanks, Lynn Rossetto Kasper!
To start, I just added all the creams and milk into a large pot on medium to medium high heat.
Then added some kosher salt, and brought to a simmer. Once it came to a good simmer, I added about a 1/3 of cup of fresh lemon juice, a good stir, and I let it simmer a few more minutes before removing it from the heat. The pictures of these steps ended up just looking like white blobs in a pot. Not helpful or even really discernible in the slightest.
So here’s a picture of a colander on another pot lined with a cheese cloth. BTW, if you want a great reusable cheese cloth, I highly recommend this one. I’ve used it so many times now and it’s awesome. 
Lynne Rossetto Kasper said I could then scoop out the curds… mine were not that solid for the slotted spoon I had, so I went with the longer process of pouring it all into the cheese cloth lined colander and waiting for the whey to drain…
It all didn’t fit in that colander though so I used a fine sieve too for the rest. Then I left it overnight. Cause there was a lot of whey in both. After about an hour I gathered the ends of the cheese cloth and suspended it on our kitchen sink faucet for it to continue to drip. The sieve I just let over the pot.
The next morning, we had some super creamy ricotta cream cheese from scratch! Honestly, I was shocked at how creamy and smooth it was. And it actually tasted like cream cheese!
So, I toasted up one of our bagels (which clearly my bagel making skills need some work as I lost the holes in them…)
A nice creamy spread of the cream cheese,
From scratch bagels and cream cheese!
I think our bagel and cream cheese consumption levels will be changing in this house, from now on. And now I want to try some flavored cream cheeses!
Who knew cream cheese from scratch was so easy??
- 1 quart of whole milk
- 1 quart of half and half
- 2 quarts of heavy cream
- 1/3 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- Line a large colander with a layer of cheesecloth and place in the sink or over a bowl if you want to save the whey. Wet the cheesecloth to hold it firmly in place.
- Over medium-high heat, bring the milk and salt to a gentle simmer in a heavy large pot. Stir in the lemon juice and continue to simmer gently until curds begin to form and float to the top, 1 to 2 minutes. They will first look like spatters of white, then gather into soft, cloud-like clumps. When you see the liquid begin to clear of cloudiness and the curds are firming up but not hard, scoop them out with a slotted spoon or sieve. My liquid didn't really clear and my curds didn't really firm up so I just poured all of the liquid into the cheese cloth lined colander and a sieve. This seemed to work just as well, but it required draining over night. I let the sieve sit out covered with a cloth napkin and I gathered the ends of the cheese cloth and suspended it on the kitchen sink faucet to drain. My house is kept pretty cool at 55-60 degrees though so I had no problem leaving it out- if your house is pretty warm, I'd suggest suspending them in a cooler place if leaving overnight.
- Let the curds drain thoroughly in the lined colander. If very soft, press gently to extract a little moisture, but take care not to dry out the cheese. Turn into a bowl, cover and chill.
- "Cook to Cook: Rinsing the pot with cold water before pouring in the milk will save you some serious cleanup! The liquid whey can go into soups, stews and curries, and be used to cook pasta and rice."
Never heard of making homemade cream cheese, great idea and it looks wonderful.
superb!
Wow, this looks so creamy. Who needs wholes in bagels? You just have more yumminess!
I like the way you think, Julie! 😉
I had the same problem with my donuts…who cares! 🙂
Awesome! Homemade cream cheese is going on the “to do” list! Thanks!
Thank you!
I’ve never thought of making my own cream cheese, but now I need to immediately! Thanks so much for sharing!
I hadn’t either! But it turns out it’s surprisingly easy! I hope you do try it 🙂
Wow, I’d never heard of making one’s own cream cheese! Genius!
Whoa, that cream cheese is the real deal!! SOOOO smooth- I love it on that homemade toasted bagel…. it doesn’t get much better than that- as always, I’m impresseddddddddddd…. and hungry.
Thanks!! 🙂
Fantastic!!!
Looks so simple – and I really believe you as I got into cheese making recently with home made mozzarella – ricotta is next on my list!
I’ve just posted about making my own yogurt – these things are so easy if only we were taught how! With yogurt you use a starter bacteria and with cream cheese it seems to be lemon juice – who knew?
Wow! This is great! I am certainly going to try this recipe really soon. Thanks for the heads up about rinsing the pot in cold water first. Also keeping the whey for cooking pasta sounds interesting, so of course I’ll be trying that as well.
Oh my gosh, I need to try this ASAP! I love cream cheese, I didn’t realise it was so easy to make yourself. I can only imagine how much better it tastes too, plus I can flavour it however I like!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
Pinning and sharing!
Super cool! I have not tried to make any kind of cheese yet but your directions look quite simple so will start with your morning classic- cream cheese. Wishing you a super weekend
I never ate cream cheese on bagels either! I was a weirdo as well, although I normally put peanut butter on my bagels. I only discovered the beauty of cream cheese as I got older. I bet made from scratch ios amazing!
I just am so amazed by this! Now I’m craving some cream cheese! mixed with veggies, or nuts, or plain!
I absolutely love making my own cream cheese at home – but I do it a little differently! NEED to try out this recipe it looks perfectly creamy and delicious! <3
This looks amazing Tracy! It came out so creamy, and love that you could flavor it anyway you wanted!
How much cream cheese does this recipe make? You are basically staring with a gallon of liquid. I understand that the whey will be dripped of through the cheesecloth, and the cream cheese has to coagulate and thicken substantially, but I imagine the final product is still a substantial amount of cream cheese.
Hi Kathy- it does make a good amount, about 1 1/4 lb. You can definitely cut the recipe in half though to make less. Or, its great to use for recipes that call for a lot of cream cheese like dips and desserts!
Seriously? That would make it prohibitively expensive. Just the heavy cream alone would cost over $8.00, not to mention the cost of the additional half & half and the milk. I can buy a pound for $4.00 any day of the week, and while I don’t doubt that it may taste marginally better, who could afford it? Sadly, I can’t. I like to make things from scratch when I can because it’s often better for you (lacking preservatives, coloring, etc.), and in the case of say, vegetable gardening , no supermarket tomato can compare to a tomato fresh off the vine. But that also saves a lot of money and offers me a variety of choices not available commercially. Obviously, I was interested in trying it, or I wouldn’t have read this far, but I have to say, this just doesn’t seem to make good sense. Are you sure about the yield?
Hi Kathy,
You’re totally right – it DOES make it much more expensive. Cooking from scratch certainly isn’t always the most economical choice – like tomato paste. I stopped making that on our own because of the yield to # of tomatoes required. So it’s all about personal preference. I really enjoy the process in an of itself, so that plus knowing exactly what’s in it makes it worth it to me, but I totally understand and respect that it’s not worth it to everyone 🙂
Hi Tracy .. This is amazing .. I just wanna ask if we can use it for making cheese cake.. Thank you
Hi Rana! Thank you! You know, I haven’t tried it with cheesecake yet. That’s mainly because I have a cheesecake weakness and if I make it, I will eat ALL of it. But it should, though! As long as it’s drained well and creates a good creamy consistency, it should be delicious!!
How much cream cheese does it make? Having to buy all that milk, half and half and heavy cream is kind of pricey if you only get the equivalent of a couple of blocks of cream cheese. Just wondering…….
Hi Sue! This recipe make about a 1 lb and a 1/4. It is definitely more expensive than buying it, so I make it really only when I want it for bagels or a homemade cream cheese frosting – otherwise it makes a cream cheese based dip pretty expensive!
How much cheese does this recipe render
Hi Xeb – it makes about a 1 1/4 lb cream cheese, a little more if you like a looser cream cheese and drain it for less time, which may be good in certain dips / recipes. But for the consistency for bagel spreading, about a 1 1/4 lbs.