Thinking about making your own cheese? This is a great one to start with! It only takes a few ingredients and some little time to can make your very own homemade Cream Cheese From Scratch! - Newly updated with a smaller, easier-to-make amount!
What's at the heart of from-scratch cooking? Cheese, of course! One of the easiest cheeses you can make yourself is homemade Cream Cheese From Scratch! It takes just a few ingredients and you can have the creamy dreamy perfect bagel pairing rich cheese.
Ingredients Needed:
- Whole Milk - For this, you really want "regular" milk from your favorite grocer. Farm fresh (straight from the cow) don't quite work for this recipe.
- Half and Half and Heavy Whipping Cream - This is what adds the "cream" to the cream cheese.
- Lemon juice - Fresh is what we always use, but a bottled juice is totally fine, too!
- Salt - Kosher is always our preferred for cheese making because it is the purest form of salt.
Ok, so I know that ingredient list is expensive. You can totally just use all whole milk, too but that will make really more of a Ricotta Cheese. What separates Ricotta from Cream Cheese? Cream. By using the heavy cream and half and half, you will get a much richer tasting, creamier cheese.
Equipment Needed:
- Cheese Cloth
- Sieve or colander
- Large Pot
- Thermometer
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Add milk, cream, and salt to pot and slowly heat
- Heat to about 165 - 170 degrees.
- Add lemon juice and give a stir.
- Continue to heat for a couple of minutes then remove.
- Line a colander with a cheese cloth
Tip: Definitely make sure you have a big cheesecloth that it covers the sieve or colander fully and will give you enough to gather all of the edges.
- Scoop / Pour curds into the the cheese cloth.
- Gather ends of the cheese cloth and let drain.
And done!
Tip: We've let this drain as little as 1-2 hrs and as much as 24. If leaving it out to drain more than 3-4 hrs, let it drain in your fridge or in a very cool place.
Once it's drained, you have a super creamy, delicious cream cheese from scratch! Who known homemade Cream Cheese From Scratch was so easy!
Tips for Making Cream Cheese:
- Keep the ratios of milk to cream and half and half. You can use just milk, but if you want to use cream and half and half, keep to these ratios.
- Rinse your pot with cold water, first. This will help with the clean up after!
- Use a Thermometer. This will help ensure that you're not overheating your milk and help prevent you from burning it.
- Make sure you have a good cheese cloth. Be sure that it's one that's wide so when you line your sieve or colander so that you have enough room to gather it all to hang to drain.
- Hang it for faster draining. You can just let it drain while in the sieve/colander, but gathering the edges of the cheese cloth and suspending it will help it all drain faster. Plus, doing this will allow you to gently squeeze the cloth a bit to release liquid faster.
Now that you have this Cream Cheese, you can make this amazing Cream Cheese Frosting From Scratch!
FAQs
If you overheat your milk, you'll end up with a kind of gritty cheese. It'll be smooth but it will have a grainy texture because the protein is denatured.
Totally. I think that it's a little less creamy and will make a cheese that's more like ricotta, but just using milk is still delicious!
No problem, use a mixture of half and half and heavy cream that you have, as long as the two are the majority (and ideally 2x the milk).
The separation of the curds and whey for this recipe won't be as distinct as another cheese like mozzarella. Often, they're very soft and cloud-like with not a lot of distinct whey and curd separation. Even if it seems like distinct curds have not formed, continue with draining.
We find the best results with 2-4 hrs. but if you want a looser, wetter cheese, then drainer for a shorter period.
It's best to use this cheese within a week of making it.
Yes, you can. However, it will change the texture. So it won't be great for spreading on bagels, but it'll be great for baked goods. Just be sure to wrap it in foil and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
As always, if you do please let me know!! I love to hear about it on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Cream Cheese From Scratch
Equipment
- large spoon
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup half and half
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 5 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Line a large sieve or colander a large cheesecloth and position over the sink or over a large bowl or pot if you plan to use the whey later. Be sure that your cheese cloth hangs quite a bit over the edges of the sieve - plenty for gathering when you drain.
- Rinse a large pot with cold water. Add milk / creams and salt to the pot and heat over medium heat. Heat to approximately 165°-170° F, approximately 5-6 minutes.
- Stir in the lemon juice and continue for a minute or two. Curds will begin to form and float to the top and the milk/cream will begin to simmer a bit and a gentle foam will start to form. Soft curds will start to form, but they won't be as firm as curds from mozzarella, they'll be much softer and cloud-ike. Once you start to see them form, turn off heat and let it sit for another minute and then remove from heat.
- Let sit for 2 minutes and then use a large spoon to gently scoop curds into the cheesecloth, and then slowly and gently pour the rest of the curds/whey into the cheesecloth. Note: The curds will often seem very soft and cloud-like and it may seem like they're not scoopable. If that's the case, just gently pour into the cheesecloth and allow to drain.
- Gather edges of the cheesecloth and suspend over kitchen faucet or just let drain in the cheesecloth lined sieve/colander. You can give the wrapped cheesecloth a gentle squeeze or release some of the whey. See recipe notes.
- Let drain for at least an hour and up to four.
- Gently open cheese cloth and turn cheese into a large bowl. If it seems a little loose still, that's ok it will thicken a little more in the fridge as it chills.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap or add to an air tight container and let cool for at least 2-4 hrs, this will help it thicken.
- Store in fridge for about a week or in freezer for up to 2 months.
Sue
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.......
Tracy
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!
Rana
Hi Tracy .. This is amazing .. I just wanna ask if we can use it for making cheese cake.. Thank you
Tracy
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!!
Kathy
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.
Tracy
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!
smsutton
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?
Tracy
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 🙂
Del
This does sound a very wonderful and creamy recipe but I do agree it also sounds very expensive. Most of the recipes I’ve seen just use whole milk or on occasion includes a small amount of pouring cream (single cream in uk) so you could make this a lot cheaper. Making from scratch for me a is a combination of 1. It’s cheaper and 2. The quality of what we’re eating is healthier. R
Tracy
Hi Del! Yes, it is certainly expensive with the mixture of heavy cream, but you can just make it with whole milk which makes it a little more cost effective!
Julie at Hostess At Heart
This looks amazing Tracy! It came out so creamy, and love that you could flavor it anyway you wanted!
Aena | Scrambled Chefs
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
Shadi
I just am so amazed by this! Now I'm craving some cream cheese! mixed with veggies, or nuts, or plain!
Meghan | Fox and Briar
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!
Bam's Kitchen
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
Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake
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!
Tina Marie
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.