How to Make Cream Cheese (The Easiest Cream Cheese Recipe)
My Homemade Cream Cheese recipe could not be easier to make, because everything you need to make rich, creamy, and tangy cream cheese is most likely already in your fridge.
4 cups (32 oz /1000 ml) whole milk (full fat, not low fat)
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice ((lime juice or white vinegar))
¼-½ teaspoon salt ((read notes))
Categories
Ingredient
Cuisine
American
Steps
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the milk on med-high. Stirring constantly until it starts to a rolling simmer.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the lemon juice 1 tablespoon at a time, in 1-minute intervals. Continue stirring constantly.
Continue cooking until the mixture curdles. Stir constantly until the mixture has separated completely, this should take just a few minutes. There will be a yellowish liquid on the bottom and thick curdles on top. Remove from the heat. This should happen within a few minutes.
Lay a cheesecloth in a large sieve and place it over a large bowl. Pour the curds into the sieve. Let it strain and cool for about 15 minutes.
Once cooled, use the cheesecloth to squeeze the excess whey out of the curds. (Note: You can reserve the whey for marinades, bread, pancakes etc)
Transfer curds to a food processor and process until very smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. If the mixture seems grainy and stiff then add in a splash of the whey or cream to loosen it.
Add salt and taste. Add more if you want more flavor. Now is also a good time to add herbs, garlic or any other flavors you like.
This cream cheese must be stored in the fridge. I always use it within 7 days.
Reviews
Kenna on 2026-09-27 (2 stars): I made this recipe, worked just as expected but it was very grainy even after I blended it. I added back some whey and then add some yogurt. Still grainy. It also had almost no taste. I spiced it up so it works ok enough to eat this batch but I don’t think it is worth doing for me personally. One quart of milk yielded just equivalent to one standard brick of commercial cream cheese. I have very limited use for the large amount of whey that was left over, so had to throw it away.
Zadine on 2026-09-07 (5 stars): This actually worked! Thanks so much Gemma :) I don't have a food processor, so I used a fork, as well as my blender — I had to make it a bit looser with some more of the whey water. I used it to make a cheesecake and it turned out wonderfully!
I made my cheesecake too stiff, but that wasn't due to the cream cheese.
I'm so excited to be making this again and again, what a treasure! 😊
Of course the texture isn't 100% like store-bought cream cheese - because it is homemade - but in my opinion it's fantastic.
sandra sweatman on 2026-08-23 (4 stars): I'm not sure if it's available world wide but here in Africa we can buy soured milk which is actually lumpy. yesterday I made a batch using that and today using long life milk. The sour milk gives better results.
