This Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe is so quick and easy. In under two hours, you will have delicious Homemade Cottage Cheese or Pot Cheese.
Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe
Not only can your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker make wonderful Instant Pot Yogurt, but you can use them to make Homemade Instant Pot Cottage Cheese, Pot Cheese, Farmer Cheese and Indian Paneer as well!
Most of the major brand of Multi Cooker machines that have a yogurt button work in much of the same way.
As a kid, I hated cottage cheese. I was forced to eat cottage cheese because my parent(s) always had me on a diet.
I did, however, love pot cheese and farmer cheese, with Creamettes, sour cream and salt and pepper, which I was recently reminded. It’s a Jewish thing. In fact, I love it so much, I created a post with my beloved recipe. Check out my Pressure Cooker Lokshen Mit Kaese recipe and I bet you will love it too!
Cottage cheese was big in Weight Watcher circles and I followed Weight Watchers as a very young kid. As I got older, I actually started liking cottage cheese. In fact, one of my favorite Weight Watchers treat is a Weight Watchers “cheese danish” made with cottage cheese, cinnamon and a sugar substitute melted on top of toast.
Cast of Ingredients for Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe
With a few ingredients, you will end up with about five cups of Instant Pot Cottage Cheese.
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What Type of Milk to Use?
That my friends is up to you. Low fat, full fat, non-fat, whichever you please.
Just keep in mind that the less fat in the milk, the less dense and creamy cottage cheese.
Is it Cost Effective to Make Your Own?
It depends on the type of milk you are using. You will get a lot of whey out of the cottage cheese when straining. Since the homemade cottage cheese is super fresh, you could compare the cost to what you would spend in an organic store, which sells fresh cottage cheese.
Pour the Milk into the Instant Pot
Is There a Low Carb Keto Option?
Yes, pretty much there is and it is simple. Substitute the milk with heavy cream
For a low carb and keto option, use heavy cream in place of milk.
Recipes Using Cottage Cheese
I love to eat a scoop of Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe for breakfast, as a side dish to my Mexican Salsa Lime Chicken Omelet and my Pressure Cooker Spanish Tortilla and also on my Pressure Cooker One Pot Spaghetti Dinner.
Push Yogurt and then Adjust
Which Lid To Use When Making Homemade Cottage Cheese?
As Instant Pot Cottage Cheese is not made under pressure, like Instant Pot Yogurt, just a glass lid is needed.
Of course, you can use the lid that came with your pot.
The Boil Cycle is about 45 Minutes
It is easier for me to use the Instant Pot Glass Lid during the Boil Cycle, so that I can easily lift if off and Whisk the Milk.
Your Instant Pot will Beep after about 30-45 minutes, letting you know that it is ready and up to temperature.
Give the Milk a Whisking
If you Whisk the Milk a few times during the Boil Cycle, the Milk will come up to temperature quicker.
It will also prevent any milk from sticking on the bottom.
Take the Temperature
Because I am a perfectionist, I use a Digital Thermometer to take the temperature. It’s really not necessary, as exact temperature for this recipe is not key. 170-180 is fine.
There is a slight difference in getting up to 180, but really, not enough to worry, so if you feel like it, take the temp and get the milk up to 180.
By starting with a cool Cooking Pot AND Whisking during the boil cycle, I can get up to temp on the first try.
By the time I snapped this picture, the temp had already come down a bit, as I was trying a different set up and almost knocked the Instant Pot off the counter.
Slowly Pour in the Vinegar
How to Make Cottage Cheese in the Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker.
- The milk is warmed to about 180 degrees.
- Lemon juice or White Vinegar is carefully mixed into the milk.
- The curds will separate with the whey.
- Whey is drained from the curds and cream and salt is added.
Cover and let sit for a bit
Turn off your Instant Pot or GoWise Electric Pressure Cooker and cover the Cottage Cheese.
Leave the Cottage Cheese alone for at least 30 minutes.
Prepare your Strainer
I have several Cooking Pots, so, if I am planning on saving the Whey, I place my Strainer Basket into my extra Cooking Pot, so that I can catch the Whey.
The Whey from the Cottage Cheese will have vinegar in it, which essentially turns the Whey into a good substitute for “Buttermilk,” which is awesome!
I love to use the substitute “Buttermilk Whey” in my Banana Bread recipes and in my Country Sourdough recipe.
It is also good to use in my Instant Pot Dutch Oven Crusty Bread recipe.
Pour the Cottage Cheese into Strainer Basket
If you want to make Farmer Cheese out of this recipe, line your basket with Butter Muslin, so that you can squeeze out all the liquid.
Keep squeezing until you get out every drop. Wrap it in plastic wrap and you can shape the Farmer Cheese.
YARKOR Tofu Press, Paneer Press, Farmer Cheese Press
Or check out this Yakor Tofu Press and easily drain the liquid. You can also use it for making Paneer, which is Indian cheese!
Cut it into cubes and you have an easy recipe for Indian paneer!
That’s it for the Farmer Cheese, Indian Paneer and tofu!
Rinse the Strainer of Cottage Cheese under Cool Water
Using a light stream of cold water and a Spatula, carefully move around the Curds, so that the Vinegar will be removed.
For Pot Cheese – drain the liquid, but don’t squeeze it out. That’s it. Stop here. You have Pot Cheese!!
Use Pot Cheese for my Pressure Cooker Creamettes and Pot Cheese recipe.
Mix Salt in the Cream
Add the Salt in to the cup with the Cream and give it a good Whisk. If you want to keep your Cottage Cheese lower in fat/calories, you can use Half & Half, if you like.
Milk actually works too, but the result will not be creamy.
Pour Cream into Cottage Cheese
Gently incorporate the Salt/Cream mixture into the Cottage Cheese, making sure not to break the Curds up too much.
For a smaller Curd, break them up more.
Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese
What a difference this Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe is from store bought.
It tastes so fresh and delicious.
Try it on top of my Pressure Cooker Spaghetti Squash and Meat Sauce, for a very healthy meal.
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot DUO 6 Quart
- GoWise 8 Quart Pressure Cooker
- Amco Advanced Performance 18/10 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons
- Rösle Stainless Steel Flat Whisk– a MUST have, probably my most used utensil
- di Oro Living Silicone Spatulas Set
- Porcelain & Bamboo Salt Box with Spoon
- Salbree Steamer Basket
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe
Print Pin Save RateIngredients
- 1 Gallon Whole Milk or Heavy Cream 2% or 1%
- 2/3 cup Distilled Vinegar or Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream or Half & Half more as needed
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Pour milk into Instant Pot cooking pot and cover with Glass Lid or Black IP Lid.
- Push the Yogurt button and then the Adjust button. The display should read "Boil."
- During the Boil cycle, remove the lid and whisk the milk a couple of times during the cycle.
- When Beep sounds, remove lid and take temperature.. Anywhere from 170-180 degrees is fine.
- Slowly pour in the lemon juice or vinegar and gently move around the milk. It will begin to look curdled.
- Turn off the Instant Pot. Cover the milk with the Glass Lid and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
- Add salt to the cream and whisk. Set aside.
- Pour the Cottage Cheese into a Strainer Basket lined with butter muslin, sitting inside of a Cooking Pot or other device to drain.
- Remove Strainer Basket to sink and run a slow stream of cool water over the Strainer Basket to remove excess Vinegar.
- Place Cottage Cheese into bowl.
- Gently pour in the cream with the salt and incorporate.
- Refrigerate and enjoy.
Farmer Cheese and Indian Paneer
- Follow the exact same instructions for Cottage Cheese, but don't add any cream or salt.
- Instead of placing the cottage cheese into a bowl after draining out the liquid, gather the ends of the butter muslin and twist. Squeeze out as much liquid with your hands as you can. The cheese will form into a ball.
- Shape the cheese into a block.
- Place block of cheese into Tofu/Paneer Press and lock into position.
- Let sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour, so that more of the moisture will be removed.
- The farmer cheese/paneer can then be cut into pieces.
Notes
Nutrition
PIN this Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese!
Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese
Delicious fresh squeeky cheese…very easy! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Just finished the last step of the process. It did take me an hour and 20 mins to reach 180′ every 10 mins stirring the boiled milk.
I used a gallon of whole organic milk. 1 cup distilled white vinegar and a 3/4 cup of Heavy whipping cream and 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt.
No one else in my family likes cottage cheese so no other taste testers but I think it turned out delicious! A great and healthy snack for my Keto WOE
Thank you for the recipe.Can you use the fat free half and half ?
Thank you,love your recipes.
I would really like to try the Creamettes and cottage cheese recipe, but I can’t find it on your site. Can you tell me ehetevto find it? Thanks.
Whoa…my phone went nuts on that one! Can you tell me where to find it is what it was supposed to say!
Andrea, I linked it up. Thanks for reminding me. Enjoy. Jill
When you cut this receipe or the Greek yogurt recipe in half for a smaller batch do you keep the same cooking times or do you need to cut cooking times in half also?
Hi Karen. It will take less time to get up to temperature. Incubation time is however long you like, depending on tartness. Jill
Hi, my instant pot is different from yours – ipduo80 I have yogurt setting but when pressed it doesn’t say boil. It just goes from 8:00 to 0:00. Is the recipe and steps still the same?
You have to press the ADJUST button a couple times until you see BOIL.
I don’t have adjust button on mine
Push your yogurt button again. It will change to boil.
So grateful for comments. hadn’t realized I didn’t have an adjust button until I got started. Scrolled hoping for a comment. Whew thanks.
Could you use lactose free milk? I am lactose intolerant… but love cottage cheese!
I made this and I liked it, but 1 gallon is to much for me to eat by myself. Could I just do like 4 or 5 cups of milk and how much of vinegar I would use?
Hi Carol. You can just completely cut the recipe in half or in quarter. Jill
First of all, let me say this stuff is good! I have made it twice now. The first time I wasn’t as happy because it never really came to the curd stage and it was really soupy, but when I added a little bit of home canned peach or strawberry preserves, it was fantastic. This time I used 2% milk, the curdling stage was much better, but it was still quite loose. So I did squeeze out more liquid and got something more like ricotta but still, oh, so good. I’ve eaten it again with my jam and the today with tomatoes and cucumber. I’d love for it to be more cottage cheesy, though, and am wondering what to do the next time I make it.
I did this recipe today. I ended up with cottage cheese that is very fine and didnt curdle well, what did I do? I used whole milk. My instant pot doesnt have a yogurt setting so I did soup setting, turned to high and set for 45 minutes. My milk ended up boiling over and that was a mess. so it was “less milk that originally called for. and I still added same amount of vinegar. so maybe wrong ratio? did I get the milk to hot? and if I do not have that setting on my instant pot, what setting would work best?
How does the cottage cheese recipe work with skim milk?
Please help! I followed this recipe which one big exception – the milk temp. I was following Alton Brown’s recipe which said to only let the milk get to 120. As I was stirring the vinegar in the curd congealed into one big lump like fresh mozzerella. I let it sit 30 minutes. Same thing. His recipe said to use a tea towel and rinse/squeeze/rinse/squeeze. I ended up needing to break it up by hand which took 15 minutes and left my hands aching. What I have now, even with cream added, is something more like a cross between mozzerella and ricotta. It tastes nothing like cottage cheese, and the texture is wayyyyy off. What on earth did I do wrong??
How would you make this in an IP that doesn’t have a yogurt button?
Thanks!
Following, I would like to know that too
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, it came out really tasty. I made this for my kids who LOVE cottage cheese, I am sure they will devour it. I am not a big fan, but still this one tastes relly really good. I just needed some clarification on the farmers cheese. When do you put salt? Also, how to refrigirate it? No brine?
I made your cottage cheese this morning, it was not good,,looked ok but completely tasteless even with salt and pepper added. I used an ip duo 60 with yogurt setting. I used 2% milk and 3/4 cup half and half. Temp up to 175, added vinegar, turned off. Set 35 minutes. I hope you can get me on the right track, I like cottage cheese but can’t eat this.
Thanks
Try whole milk, and cream…you took out all the flavor by using 2% and half and half…LOL
Jill, first of all … thanks for all the great IP recipes. I tell other people with IP about your site and the quality of your recipes. I do have a question about the cottage cheese recipe. I don’t know if this is the best way to ask or through the facebook group. But, the cottage cheese was good … but the texture was a little ‘soft’. Is it possible I stirred a little too much to incorporate the vinegar before setting? I let it set just over 30 minutes before draining and rinsing. I ran the water soft over it to rinse vinegar and gently folded in the cream/salt. Any ideas of what I might try different would be appreciated, not sure if anyone else has had this experience since the only issue I came across when looking at it was ‘squeaky’ cheese. We did still enjoy it and I will be making it again. Thanks, Nancy
Hi Nancy. Squeaky cheese sounds like the milk was heated longer than it should. I think you made curds. 🙂 Jill
Sounds great but I’m lactose intolerant. Do you gave a recipe for lactose free cottage cheese?
The link in the printable recipe to the RSVP strainer goes to glass measuring cups instead. Did you take off the handles on your strainer. My husband and I love cottage cheese and he will not believe I can make it in my Instant Pot!
Hi Colleen. Thanks for letting me know. I made the correction. I did remove the handles. They just wiggle off. I am glad you enjoyed the cottage cheese. Jill
I am so excited to try this. I love fresh cottage cheese and I haven’t had any in a really long time. Thank you so much.
Hi there, can you post the instructions on how to make farmer’s cheese from this? Or do you just squeeze out all the liquid when you are straining it?