Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

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 DUO Plus, a Mealthy MultiPot, GoWise Multi Cookersor a stand alone Pressure Cooker  make wonderful Homemade Yogurt, but they can also make Homemade Cottage Cheese or Pot Cheese, as well!

Both Multi Cooker machines, work the same way for this recipe.

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, 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 posted my Pressure Cooker Lokshen Mit Kaese recipe!

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.

Mixed with cinnamon and fake sugar broiled on top of toast, you have yourself a Weight Watchers Cheese Danish.

Cast of Ingredients for Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

With a few ingredients, you will end up with about five cups of Cottage Cheese. Is it cost effective to make your own? It depends.

For a low carb and keto option, use heavy cream in place of milk.

Are you using organic milk or regular milk? Do you want the freshest Cottage Cheese possible, with no preservatives? Do you eat Cottage Cheese regularly? If so, this recipe is for you.

Fresh Cottage Cheese will last less than a week in the refrigerator, so keep that in mind.

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.

Pour the Milk into the Instant Pot

Pour the Milk into the Instant Pot or GoWise Multi Cookers cooking pot and cover with a Glass Lid or the cover that came with your Pressure Cooker.

We are not cooking under pressure, so it does not matter what you use to cover the pot.

Push Yogurt and then Adjust

Push the button that says Yogurt and you will see 8:00. Then hit your Adjust button and you will see the word “Boil” start to flash.

That is the correct setting. The flashing will stop in a second.

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.

Cut it into cubes and you have Paneer!

That’s it for the Farmer Cheese! Now, continuing on with the Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe.

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 Smart DUO60
• 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
• Alpha Armour Salt Box with Spoon
• Salbree Steamer Basket

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Here is the handy printable recipe:

Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

4.94 from 31 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Lunch

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 48 servings

Calories: 281kcal

Author: Jill Selkowitz

Ingredients

• 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
• 1 RSVP Strainer

Equipment

• Instant Pot

US Customary - Metric

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 together.  Set aside.
• Pour the Cottage Cheese into a Strainer Basket, sitting inside of a Cooking Pot or other device to catch the Whey.  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.  Pour Salt/Cream into bowl and gently incorporate.
• Refrigerate and enjoy.

Pot Cheese

• Follow the exact same instructions for Cottage Cheese, but don't add any cream or salt, after draining out the liquid.

Notes

Recipe inspired by Mom'sThumb.

The nutrition information below is based on using heavy cream. For those using milk, the fat content will be considerably less.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe

Amount Per Serving

Calories 281 Calories from Fat 270

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 30g 46%

Saturated Fat 19g 95%

Cholesterol 111mg 37%

Sodium 79mg 3%

Potassium 61mg 2%

Total Carbohydrates 2g 1%

Sugars 1g

Protein 2g 4%

Vitamin A 23.9%

Vitamin C 0.6%

Calcium 5.3%

Iron 0.1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Instant Pot Homemade Cottage Cheese Recipe