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
Any option for us “early pot” people that don’t have a yogurt button?
Not sure if you’ll be able to answer this or not, but do you happen to know if this would work with goats milk as well? I know we have to add thickener to goat milk yogurt, but was thinking since this is curds/whey it probably doesn’t need to be treated differently?
Rachel, I have not tried this recipe with goats milk. Jill
Can you freeze the cottage cheese before you add the cream?
Hi Dori. Cottage cheese does not freeze well. Jill
180 degrees F? Or C?
My 2nd batch of cottage cheese is in the cooker as I type this. The first batch I cut the recipe in half as I wasn’t sure I would like it. This is the most amazing cottage cheese! So easy! I use whole milk and half & half. Thank you for such well written instructions and a delicious recipe! Eating this within a week will not be a problem for me at all!
Hi! If I want the cottage cheese to be cultured, could I just let it sit longer than the 30 minutes after incorporating the vinegar?
If you want culters as in yougrt you need starter or use a bit of yougert to get it to have the same bacteria yougrt has. Fyi, yougrt is very easy in an insta pot
I was winging it with another recipe that said to use lemon instead of vinegar, but my “cheese” has not curdled or solidified at all. Does anyone have an idea if this would possibly work if I reheated the milk with the lemon & salt & tried again?
Thank you for sharing! This actually looks very close to the ricotta cheese that I make for pasta – just a bit more vinegar. Nice to know I can make this at home and not have to buy it at the store – one more use for my weekly gallon of raw milk.
Made this recipe today. Only had about a half a gallon of whole milk so I added a pint of heavy cream the leftover buttermilk I had on hand, which was probably about a cup and then topped it all off with half and half until the gallon was full. I followed the instructions to a tee. And then I tried the cottage cheese while it was warm and I was draining the way off of it. I didn’t expect it to taste good but to my surprise it was actually delicious! Now I’ve added heavy cream and salt and it even more delicious. I finally made myself stop eating it and put it in the fridge so I can’t wait to taste it once it has chilled. I will never buy store-bought cottage cheese again. This was so incredibly easy to make and The Taste far exceeds anything you get in the store!
I made this cheese last night and it’s absolutely delicious! I had a gallon of whole milk but needed 2 cups of it for another recipe so I subbed in 1 1/2 cups heavy cream. I did put in near 7/8 of a cup of white vinegar (5% acetic acid) and used 1 tsp of plain old table salt which I sprinkled on and stirred in after rinsing the curds with cold water. I wanted to press it into a block so I didn’t want to add heavy cream at that point. It worked beautifully and I had trouble not eating all of it!
Is it possible to use apple cider vinegar instead of regular distilled vinegar?
Yes, ma’am, no problem. Enjoy. Jill
WOW, thank you so much, this is by far the best cottage cheese ever. And I followed your instructions exactly, used my IP and RSVP strainer (I have two, one with handles and one without, lol), brought the milk to between 170-180F, used 2% milk and half and half. I don’t think I can go back to store bought! As another commenter mentioned using Alton Brown’s recipe, I almost did too, but the 120F using skim milk made me wonder if temp with 2% would be the same. Since I have used so many of your recipes I went with yours. So perfect, thank you!
Thanks for the recipe! I’ve tried it twice and love the flavor but can’t get the larger chunky curds. The texture I’m achieving is verging on ricotta. Do you know what might be causing this? 🙂
HI! How long can you store your yogurt and cottage cheese in the fridge? How long before it spoils? I have a feeling that it will be gone before it spoils, but curious none the less. Thanks for the great recipes, love your site!
Can I use my yogurt strainer to strainer it?
I made the cottage cheese yesterday. Turned out perfect. I used whole milk and half and half. I tasted it when I was finished. It was okay…now when it had been in the fridge all night. Wonderful! Peaches and cottage cheese for breakfast. A large salad for lunch with an IP hard boiled egg. A side of homemade cottage cheese. So easy. I am truly blessed.
Hello! I’m trying to figure out the macros for this. I input all the ingredients into the recipe builder of MyFitnessPal, and it’s giving me crazy high calories and carbs. Somebody pointed out that draining the whey probably drains some of the calories/carbs/fat/protein. Do you have any idea how I can figure out the ACTUAL macros, minus the whey?
Hi Liz. I am sorry, I don’t have a macro calculator, but I am sure there are some websites with the info. Jill
Can you use lemon juice instead of vinegar for this recipes
Yes, Nina. Jill
I love cottage cheese but can’t have cow’s milk so I drink goat milk. Do you think this could be done with whole goat milk and then a dairy free creamer?
Hi Erin. I have never tried that, but let me know how it goes. Jill
Do you think that this would work with UHT milk (the boxed one that is made from powdered milk)? In Spain, we drink very little fresh milk and drink lots of UHT milk.
Thanks! I look forward to trying it!
I haven’t tried it myself but I don’t see why it would be an issue. However, please understand that it is very difficult to give exact advice for a new recipe without recipe testing. Jill