How to make cream cheese at home

Cream cheese is one of those products with seemingly endless uses, from savory to sweet with a range of flavors, it’s so versatile. Perhaps you like having cream cheese in your fridge but you’re not happy about buying mass-produced brands with a worrying amount of ingredients in them? Here is all you need to know about how to make cream cheese at home.

Cream cheese should be made with a minimum of ingredients, three or four is enough. Cream cheese is typically made from non-aged curds that are drained and then blended. Ricotta is different because the curds are not drained, while cottage cheese is separated curds and whey together. 

Ingredients needed to make cream cheese at home

To make cream cheese at home you only need three ingredients—whole milk, lemon, and salt. The quality of your end product will of course depend on the quality of these three ingredients. The milk should be whole, organic, and as fresh as possible. Get yourself a good fresh, high-quality lemon, and the salt should be kosher or Maldon Sea Salt.

Makes 4lbs/1.8kg:

½ gallon (approx. 2l) whole milk
Juice of one small fresh lemon
1 tsp salt

Pasteurized or unpasteurized milk?

This is a personal choice and many prefer to work with unpasteurized milk to get as close to traditional methods as possible. However, unpasteurized milk does present certain health risks, so you need to be fully aware of these before you choose this type of milk. Pasteurized whole organic milk is a lot safer and provides excellent results.

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How to make cream cheese at home

Place your whole milk in a large steel pot and bring to the boil. When the milk starts to rise, pour in the lemon juice and gently stir through. Set to the side and leave undisturbed for about five minutes.

Strain the mixture using a sieve and gently rinse under cold water. Transfer to a cheese cloth and rinse again. Leave the cheese over the pot to allow any excess water to drain off.

Transfer the cheese to a blender, add the salt, and blend until you achieve a creamy consistency. You may want to add butter at this point. This will give a creamier texture and fuller flavor. This is also a good time to add your sweetener, like sugar or honey, or fruit or berries if you are using your cream cheese for desserts. It is also a good time to add aromatics like garlic, chives, tarragon, or sage.

When everything is blended and you’re happy with the consistency, transfer everything to a glass container and chill in the fridge.

How to use your homemade cream cheese

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There is no limit to what you can do with your cream cheese. Here’s a roundup of recipes from Fine Dining Lovers to use your cream cheese from dips and appetizers to full-on mains and of course desserts.

Make the perfect, classic Italian Tiramisu

This homemade cream cheese is very similar to mascarpone; indeed, the only difference is that instead of lemon juice, mascarpone is made with cream of tartar. Use your cream cheese with cream, coffee, lady fingers, and cacao to turn it into something extraordinary.

Korean cream cheese garlic bread

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Try something different with this recipe for Korean cream cheese garlic bread. It might not be for everyone, but for some, this will be gooey, garlicky, bready goodness all in one.

Don’t forget the cheesecake

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Of course, cheesecake is the number one reason to make cream cheese at home, so in case you need a recipe, here is one for an easy no-bake cheesecake. A bonus is that you can tell your dinner guests that you made the cream cheese from scratch; you may as well tell them you milked the cows yourself too.