How to make delicious, soft homemade Cream Cheese using a super-simple method and 3 ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen
If I’d know how simple it was to make DIY cream cheese, I would have been making it months (if not years!) ago. Somehow I’ve managed to go through DIY’s for DIY Homemade Ricotta Cheese and DIY: Homemade Herb Butter ( Compound butter) without trying this simple cream cheese method, which is actually a bit of in-between method of both of them.
In fact, I’m still being surprised at just how many ingredients you can make/get from a single dairy product. Cream cheese, cheese, butter, buttermilk, whey and more.
Smooth and creamy soft cheese only requires three ingredients, that you probably already have; Whole Milk, Lemon Juice and Salt. It can also be customised in any way you’d like – with herbs, pepper, sweet chilli, etc or used for a variety of sweet or savoury purposes.
You are able to experiment with the milk used as well: Combining milk and cream in equal parts instead of just using milk, or even using heavy cream alone. Obviously the more cream you use, the richer and ‘creamier’ your final product. However, it would also up the fat levels.
I thought I’d keep things super simple for the first time trying homemade cream cheese and I loved it so much that I didn’t feel the need to complicate or change the recipe in any way.
I have seen recipes for cream cheese using liquid rennet, a cheese culture/starter and more potentially confusing and unobtainable ingredients and that is definitely not ‘my jam’. This is a recipe anyone can do and then can go crazy experimenting with, if desired.
Why make your own cream cheese?
I know that’s probably a question that some of you are asking, and I actually have the perfect answer. Because homemade cream cheese is SO much better – and I’m not just saying that.
I’m not just talking about taste and texture either. Now, obviously I haven’t tried EVERY cream cheese out there – but last time I was at the store I decided to have a look at the ingredients list of some of the biggest brands of cream cheese here in the UK.
What I found was ‘E’ ingredients, gums and thickeners including the controversial carrageenan! Homemade cream cheese simply uses lemon juice, milk and salt and is still wonderfully smooth and creamy.
How to Make Cream Cheese:
As I said above, the method for making cream cheese is actually very similar to making ricotta; Heat your milk, add a coagulant, leave to curdle, drain and blend!
Okay, there’s a little more to it than that, but you get the gist.
What’s needed:
- full-fat milk – it’s important to use full-fat milk because of its fat content.
- lemon
- salt
- optional add-ons – dried herbs, garlic powder, dried chillies
Note* You could alternatively use half whole milk and half heavy cream OR completely use whole cream for soft cheese that is richer/creamier (but with a higher fat content)
You will also need a cheesecloth or a fine-mesh sieve
The Steps:
Begin by pouring the milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk and bring it to boil over medium-high heat.
As soon as it boils, add the lemon juice and then turn off the heat.
Set aside for a few minutes while the milk curdles. You’ll notice curds forming and a yellow-ish liquid being left behind.
Within a few minutes, all of your curds should have formed. Pour the curdled milk through a cheesecloth and a sieve to strain all the liquid whey.
Alternatively, you can use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the curdles, while leaving the liquid whey in the pot.
Note* This leftover whey can then be used in a variety of ways. I’ve talked about this more in my DIY How To Make Paneer At Home post.
Rinse the curdled milk with cold water by pouring the water over the sieve. This will help to get rid of any extra whey, clinging to the curds.
Squeeze the curdled milk as much as possible to drain any last drop of the liquid whey.
Put the strained milk into a food processor/blender and add the salt.
Within 1-2 minutes (this may vary, depending on how powerful your machine is) you’ll have a light and fluffy cream cheese.
If you want to add any additional herbs/flavourings, then do that now too. Be warned though as certain additional ingredients will affect the shelf-life of the cheese. I like dried herbs and garlic powder as natural flavourings that don’t affect the shelf life too much.
Store the cream cheese in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can freeze cream cheese, but the texture upon thawing is more crumbly and is best used when you’re cooking it into something like a dip or sauce.
How to eat it?
Once your cheese is ready, then it can be used the same way you would with the store-bought version:
- Spread over a bagel, toast or sandwich
- Added to pasta and other sauces for a delicious creamy twist.
- Blended into a delicious cream cheese frosting (like for this gluten-free banana bread or a carrot cake) or for a cheesecake
- It’s delicious when added to soups and dips, too – like this Moutabal Aubergine Dip
- Spread in pastries, like this Ricotta & Spinach pie
- As a filling or topping for french toast and pancakes (served along with a berry compote)
And a bazillion (the technical term, of course) other ways.
The Homemade Cream Cheese Recipe:
Simple Creamy Homemade Cream Cheese
How to make delicious, soft homemade Cream Cheese using a super-simple method and 3 ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen
Ingredients
- 2 litres full fat milk
- 1 lemon (5 tBsp lemon juice)
- Salt to taste
Optional Flavouring add-ons
- pinch of dried herbs, garlic powder, dried chillies, etc
Instructions
- Begin by pouring the milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk and bring it to boil over medium-high heat.
- As soon as it boils, add the lemon juice and then turn off the heat.
- Set aside for a few minutes while the milk curdles. You'll notice curds forming and a yellow-ish liquid being left behind.
- Within a few minutes, all of your curds should have formed. Pour the curdled milk through a cheesecloth and a sieve to strain all the liquid whey. Alternatively, you can use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the curdles, while leaving the liquid whey* in the pot.
- Rinse the curds with cold water. This will help to get rid of any extra whey, clinging to the curds.
- Squeeze the curdled milk as much as possible to drain any last drop of the liquid whey.
- Put the strained milk into a food processor/blender and add the salt. Within 1-2 minutes ( this may vary depending on how powerful your machine is) you'll have a light and fluffy cream cheese.
- If you want to add any additional herbs/flavourings then do that now too. Be warned though as certain additional ingredients will affect the shelf-life of the cheese. I like dried herbs and garlic powder as natural flavourings that don't affect the shelf life too much.
Store the cream cheese in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. You can freeze cream cheese, but the texture upon thawing is more crumbly and is best used where you're cooking it into something like a dip or sauce.
Notes
- The leftover whey can then be used in a variety of ways. I've talked about this more in my DIY How To Make Paneer At Home post.
- Instead of just whole milk, you could use a 1:1 ration of whole milk and heavy cream or even JUST heavy cream for creamier cheese. However, this will also affect the fat content.
If it’s DIY’s you’re looking for, then it’s DIY’s you’ve found. I’ve practically got them coming out of my ears. Here is a list of other dairy-based DIYs you may like though.
- DIY Homemade Ricotta Cheese
- Simple Rainbow Goat Cheese Rolls
- DIY How To Make Paneer At Home
- DIY: Homemade Herb Butter ( Compound butter)
- HOW-TO: DIY HOMEMADE NATURAL YOGURT
Vegan Options:
If you’re dairy-free or vegan (or just curious), then you might like these DIYs instead.
- Simple Homemade Vegan Cashew Cheese
- Smoky Vegan Cheddar Cheese
- Herby Vegan Feta Cheese
- Easy Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella Cheese
- How To Make Tofu at Home • Two Simple Methods
Up until step 7, I could have sworn I was making Paneer (Indian cheese ) And then i tried the food processor and got some lovely smooth whipped cream cheese to asked over hot fresh bagels.
Great easy recipe for cream cheese in no time at all. I live in the rural part of my state and am able to obtain fresh raw cow and goat milk, and that gives such a fantastic taste to cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, etc. My neighbor one ranchette over from me has a small dairy operation for cows and goats, so i just get over there early in the morning to get the milk before he processes it. If you can obtain raw milk for this and other cheeses, I credibly recommend it.
Thanks again!
It’s quite funny how similar lots of the cheese-making processes are apart from one or two steps. That sounds lovely – I’ve actually never tried it with raw dairy as it’s quite hard to source where I am but thanks for the tip! 🙂
Hi
I do a lot of baking for my daughter’s coffee shop in Lancaster and have BIG problems with cream cheese frosting. Every time I add the icing sugar the frosting goes runny or the frosting curdles. Reading about cream cheese, I think that the varieties we buy in England are too soft with too much liquid. So thought I might make my own as I need a firm cream cheese for frosting. Would you suggest using only double cream and squeezing out as much liquid as possible? Please help as I am at my wits end with this frosting.
Thanks and hope to hear from you soon.
the only thing you have to worry about when straining the cheese/ leaving it to press is that you don’t do it for too long that you end up with paneer instead of fluffy cream cheese- but otherwise, yes, the more you strain it, the thicker it should become and hopefully then hold up. For the frosting I would try to have it be a consistency that is slightly harder than Philadelphia spreadable cheese 🙂 Let me know how it works out for you 🙂
My milk does not curdle and I followed every step.. what could be wrong?
Hi Olive, it could be maybe because the milk could be a bit old? or the temperature? when it doesn’t curdle with me, I bring it back to heat for a bit and that does the trick!
Never mind!! It worked!
Glad to hear it worked :). Hope you liked it :)!