I'm Marci! Join me here on TIDBITS for healthy Instant Pot recipes and get 10 free recipes from my cookbook, Master the Electric Pressure CookerHomemade ricotta cheese made in an Instant Pot is super quick, easy and an extremely yummy way to make ricotta cheese in your very own home – with only 3 ingredients needed! Printable recipe included.
This post is part of an original TIDBITS recipe, first seen HERE on tidbits-cami.com. But I’m bringing it back from the archives for Instant Pot Yogurt Button Lovin’ week!
Clippin’ right through Instant Pot Yogurt Button Lovin’ week! And we’re going back to cheese! I’m gonna assume that’s okay with everybody, because, well . . . cheese.
Did you know you could make ricotta cheese at home? And that it will be super easy and taste better than store bought? AND you can make it in your Instant Pot? No, you’re not pressure cooking it per se, but the pressure cooker makes it that much easier! Read on for details!
The ricotta cheese is made using the yogurt function, of course!
Cami introduced me to this amazing toast topper idea, that I highly suggest you slather all over some Instant Pot Whole Wheat Crusty Bread. A generous scoop of ricotta cheese + a generous scoop of plain Greek yogurt + a liberal swirl of honey and mix it all up. Smear that on some warm crusty bread, add some blueberries and drizzle more honey on top. Wowzer!
My kids and I love Cami’s Healthy Banana Ricotta Muffins. Manicotti is also a favorite around my house, where we use plenty of ricotta cheese for the stuffing.
In an ideal world, I would love to make most everything homemade – bread, ranch, pizza sauce, yogurt, etc, etc. But in reality there’s this thing called life, and it’s just not allowing that kind of time.
Instant Pot Ricotta however is so easy and quick, and, most importantly, tastes better than store bought, that it’s one of those things I actually do make often. No, not every time, playing dress up with fluorescent eye shadow with my daughter still takes priority over cheese.
For a smoother, creamier ricotta, strain for a shorter amount of time.
Now, let’s talk details. Follow the simple printable recipe to learn how easy it is to make in a Instant Pot. But here are a few things you need to consider or have on hand before you begin.
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- The Instant Pot makes this easy with a push of the button and does not scorch the bottom, which is why this is my preferred method.
- You will need something to strain the curds from the whey. Here are 3 options:
- A colander lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth.
- Nut Milk Bags
- Or this handy yogurt strainer which is my personal favorite
- You can experiment with 2% milk, but you will get more whey and less ricotta with reduced fat milks.
- Distilled white vinegar can be used in place of the lemon juice. I like the taste and consistency I get with the lemon juice better.
- Don’t throw away the whey! It can be used as a buttermilk substitute or I’ve recently started using it in place of water in our whole wheat bread or this Crusty Bread.
It’s absolutely better than store bought, it’s easy, and it’s cheap, it’s Instant Pot Ricotta!
Be sure and check out the other Yogurt Button Lovin’ recipes from this series. Mozzarella, Burrata, Yogurt, Skyr, Crusty Bread.
Don’t forget! Instant Pot is giving one of you lucky people a brand new pot! You can enter to win with each recipe this week and I’ll announce the winner October 30th. Enter by:
Subscribing to this here TIDBITS blog. I have so many new pressure cooker recipes to share with you!Answer the question of the day in the comments below
Question of the Day: What is your absolute favorite thing you’ve made in your Instant Pot? I’ll admit up front, I may hound some of you for your recipe ????.
Mine? Crio Bru, big surprise, right? This Egg Roll Bowl is right behind it though.
This Giveaway is now over
Instant Pot Ricotta Cheese
Instant Pot Ricotta Cheese is quick, easy and so creamy delicious. You’ll also save money by making this at home.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: About 1 hour
- Yield: 2 Cups 1x
- Category: Cheese
- Method: Pressure Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- ½ gallon whole milk
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine the milk and salt in the pot of the Pressure Cooker. Put the lid in place and set valve to seal position. Press the yogurt feature and press adjust until it says boil.
- When the Instant Pot beeps, remove the lid (it won’t have built up any pressure), give the milk a stir and then use a thermometer to check the temperature. Press saute and warm the milk to 190 degrees, stirring often.
- When the milk reaches 190 degrees, unplug the pressure cooker and add the lemon juice. Give it a very gentle stir. The milk will start to separate immediately.
- Let the pot of milk sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. The milk will separate into white, milky curds and watery, yellow colored whey.
- Without stirring it, pour the curds in either a colander lined with a double layer of cheesecloth, a nut milk bag, or a handy yogurt strainer.
- Let the ricotta drain for 10-60 minutes depending on how thick you want it. If it becomes too thick, you can stir some of the whey back into the ricotta.
- Scrape the ricotta into a bowl. It can be used right away or stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
Keywords: ricotta, homemade cheese, cheese
I would love to hear if you give it a try or if you have any questions we can help you with! Thanks for being here, and don’t forget to pin the recipe for later.
*This post contains affiliate links, thank you!
I haven’t made anything in an Instant Pot because I don’t have one 🙁 BUT I’ve been eyeing this hot chocolate recipe on Pinterest
Oh man, homemade ricotta is so SO good!! I <3 this recipe 🙂
As to my favorite, I don't think I can pick. I love how easy it makes things like baked potatoes and hard boiled eggs. I love how fast I can turn frozen chicken breasts into tender shreds (with just about any flavoring I want). If you asked my kids (especially my youngest) it would hands-down be Mac and Cheese, though.
We love the recipe for Chinese Lemon Chicken from the pressure cooking today website. It is yummy.
I love everything I’ve tried so far…hard boiled Eggs, ribs, whole chicken, rice, pasta…
No idea what would be my favorite as I don’t have an IP yet..key word is yet..I’m hoping to get one for Christmas (it’s on my list like five times! !)Or maybe I’ll be really blessed, n win from you!!I’ve been very intrintrigued with the vanilla n the flavor infused water! I taught home-ec n I’m sure that the IP would be a great way to get students excited about cooking!!
Current favorite is making yogurt….but there are so many. Must try your ricotta!
Don’t have an IP but have been considering one. Recipes look yummy. My favorite general Electric pressure cooker recipe is pork loin. Makes yummy pulled pork.
Just starting out with Instant Pot, but so far my favorite things to make have been hard boiled eggs (they’re easy to peel), and corn on the cob.
I don’t have an instapot. Which is why I need to win this giveaway. 😉 I’m dying to have one!
Could this work to make feta cheese also? We love feta, especially goat milk feta, and would love to make a feta style cheese.
I’ve only had my Instant Pot for a few weeks and so far my favorite recipe is Shrimp Scampi Paella! It’s spectacular and cooks in 5 minutes!
I purchased your book and made vanilla! Saving pits in the freezer to make almond extract and can’t wait to try some more recipes!
Thank you for a beautiful book!
Nancy
I think I made a good stew and some good pork shoulders. My most frequent use is for hard boiled eggs to take to work for breakfast.
So far it would be lasagna! It was done in no time, and my family just loved it!
So far my favorite thing has been cheesecake, but I am still a newbie. Trying to figure out perfect rice pudding.
I have an Instant Pot Lux that doesn’t have a yogurt button. Any idea how I can make ricotta in that?
Monique, The IP just makes it easier to warm the milk to the proper temperature, but you can just hit saute and use a thermometer to take it to 190 degrees.
It seems the whole point of an IP is that one not have to pull out thermometers and manually check temperatures (bring to 190)
So this seems another “sledge hammer to drive a tack” over-use of an IP.
Why not just boil the milk in a saucepan to 190 and skip the IP altogether?
Peter, the yogurt boil cycle for me is a convenience factor. You could absolutely do it in a pan on the stove top, but I find the gentle heating cycle of the yogurt button to be just the right temperature to heat it gradually without burning. You can of course achieve that on the stove top as well if that’s how you prefer to do things. I like to think of it as another convenient use for the pressure cooker.
I think the point is how to do it if you don’t have a yogurt button. Seems the answer is don’t because you lose the convenience factor.
I ruined an entire 4 litres of whole milk following this recipe and the same thing happened a long time ago when I used some other IP recipe. (I had forgotten why that hadn’t turned out) As far as I’m concerned, the temp needs to reach 200 degrees (just before it boils) in order to achieve consistent success.
Janice, That’s so disappointing! What percentage of milk fat did you use?
Would this ricotta recipe work with organic and/lactose free milk?
Julie Lee, I don’t think the organic part will be an issue, but the lactose free might. Sorry! I’m not sure, I’ve never tried it with anything but cows milk.
Don’t know what you mean by the adjust button. My instant pot doesn’t have one. So if I press yogurt, how do I get to boil?
Debirah, Which model do you have?
I own the instant pot 6 quart duo. I was finally able to figure it out from another person’s comment. I had to hit the yogurt button twice. There was no information in my manual or in the recipe. I’m happy to say that after an hour of research and trial and error, it came out wonderful. Thank you for getting back to me.
Great! I love homemade ricotta!
This sounds so interesting to make ricotta in the instant pot. Quick question, has anyone tried making it with Fairlife lactose free whole milk? Curious is you think it would work. Thanks for the feedback
Michelle, I’ve never tried that. If you do, let me know how it goes! I’m very curious