Instant Pot

Sheri Castle's Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese

by:
October  4, 2022
3.8
4 Ratings
Sheri Castle's Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese
Photo by Hélène Dujardin
  • Serves 6 to 8
Author Notes

Recipe reprinted from Instantly Southern: 85 Southern Favorites for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot®. Copyright © 2018 by Sheri Castle. Photograph copyright © 2018 Hélène Dujardin. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Homemade cottage cheese is less creamy and has smaller curds than most store-bought varieties, and its incomparable flavor is a real treat. Many Southerners serve cottage cheese as a side dish, either solo or as part of a fruit or vegetable plate, or with a salad alongside, as I do here. I remember my grandmother making cottage cheese—she would have been awestruck to see a multicooker turn out a perfect version with little more than the press of a button. This recipe requires a multicooker with a yogurt setting. —Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Featured in: 10 Surprising Things You Can Make in Your Instant Pot. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Cottage cheese
  • 1 gallon 2% milk
  • 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
  • Salad
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
  • 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 English cucumber, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice
  • 2 large tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Directions
  1. For the cottage cheese: Line a large, fine-mesh sieve with a double thickness of dampened cheesecloth and set aside.
  2. Pour the milk into the pot. Cover, select the yogurt function, and adjust to the boil setting. When the cooking time is complete (usually 45 to 60 minutes), turn off the pot. Let stand, covered, for 1 hour.
  3. Add the vinegar in a slow, steady stream while stirring gently. Let stand 20 minutes. Strain the mixture through the prepared sieve. Gently rinse the cottage cheese curds under cold running water. Transfer it to a bowl and stir in the half-and-half and salt. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour or for up to 4 days. Taste and adjust the salt, if desired.
  4. For the salad: Whisk together the mayonnaise, onion, vinegar, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the cucumber and tomato and stir gently to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. Just before serving, stir the salad gently. Taste and adjust the seasoning, if desired.
  5. To serve, spoon the cottage cheese onto serving plates and top with the salad.
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8 Reviews

margot13
margot13 October 29, 2020
I love my Instant pot. I have never used the yogurt function so I thought this recipe would be interesting. So I had to figure out the boil setting but was confused by the timing since it didn’t show the time. I think I cycled it twice? Made the curds and I squeezed out a lot of the whey but maybe too much for the finished curds . Was wondering if you have to use heavy cream or would milk be ok. I followed the recipe it tastes very good not quite like cottage cheese. I will be making the salad part later using the last of my garden tomatoes. All in all it expanded my instant pot recipes.
 
Audrey W.
Audrey W. August 29, 2020
This is very, very good, but I think it's more of a farmer's cheese since there's no culture introduced to the milk like you would a cottage cheese. I think that'll get you a bigger curd.
 
mr
mr April 15, 2019
this was very good, tasty and easy to make. I have a question tho - after I let the cheese sit in the fridge for a while, the curds started to blend in - while it still had texture, it began to feel more like a loose cream cheese (very tasty tho!)
I'm going to experiment again, but wondering would more vinegar, and more vigorous stirring while adding vinegar produce smaller, more defined curds? would it help to spread them out on a tea bowl for a bit to let them form?

thanks!
 
Oregon C.
Oregon C. April 11, 2019
Confusing recipe. Do you put the lid on the IP? What does it mean to "adjust to the boil setting?" Would love to make the recipe but it doesn't make sense as written. I own/use an IP Ultra. Does this make a difference?
 
Dawn
Dawn April 12, 2019
In the instructions, #2 says to cover it. The adjust to boil is using the yogurt button. The high setting on it is the boil.
 
Ralph Y.
Ralph Y. October 21, 2018
I don't have a yogurt function on my instant pot. Is there another setting I could use?
 
Rosemary C.
Rosemary C. April 24, 2021
Not really Ralph.
 
Jessica B.
Jessica B. October 17, 2018
What is the yield for this recipe? Is four days the maximum it will keep in the fridge?