This Instant Pot Homemade Cream Cheese is so creamy, easy, fresh and delicious you will never want to buy it again.
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Homemade Cream Cheese is so smart. Sometimes you need cream cheese for a recipe and you do not have any. This clever hack will allow you to make it quick, it is already at room temperature and you control the quality of the ingredients.
Ever wonder what the history of cream cheese is? Check this out.
- 30 Minute: Less than thirty minutes
- Easy Ingredients: 3 Ingredients
- Adaptable: Can make it low-fat, sodium free, no preservatives.
What You Need to Make Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- milk
- lemon juice
- salt
Equipment
How to Make Instant Pot Cream Cheese – Step by Step
- Pour: First, in instant pot, pour in milk and lemon juice.
- Cook: Second, set instant pot for 6 minutes on low pressure.
- Release: Next, naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then release any other pressure manually.
- Stir: Then stir, curds should have separated from milk leaving whey.
- Strain: Place a cheese cloth over a strainer and remove the curds with a slotted spoon or spider spoon. Place the curds on the cheese cloth and then cool.
- Squeeze: Once cooled, wrap the cloth and squeeze the curds until dry.
- Smooth: Finally, place the cheese curds in a food processor and blend until smooth. Salt to taste.
LOOKING FOR MORE HOMEMADE STAPLES? TRY THESE FAVORITES:
- Copycat Chick Fil A Sauce Recipe
- GREEN GODDESS SALAD DRESSING
- House Seasoning Blend
- Instant Pot Cheesecake
Looking for more? Check out all of the Instant Pot Recipes on It Is a Keeper.
Common Questions About Instant Pot Cream Cheese
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Of course, make with a low fat yogurt.
Definitely, just adjust the recipe accordingly.
Sure, but it does change the texture, just like store bought cream cheese.
>Instant Pot Cheesecake
>Cream Cheese Cookies
>Slow Cooker Corn Dip
Expert Tips for Making Homemade Cream Cheese
- Add Fruit: Great to smear on your favorite bagel or to dip your favorite cookie.
- Herbs: This is great to add fresh garlic and herbs to make a fabulous dip.
- Variation tip: Feel free to add as many tips as you need in this section.
- Fat Bombs: Wonderful for using to make Fat Bombs. The ingredients are so clean and fresh.
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Instant Pot Cream Cheese
Equipment
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Ingredients
- 8 cups of milk
- 6 tbsp of lemon juice
- Dash of salt, optional
Instructions
- In instant pot, pour in milk and lemon juice. Give it a little stir.
- Close the lid, seal the pressure valve and set instant pot for 6 minutes on low pressure.
- Once finished, allow the instant pot to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then release any other pressure manually.
- Stir result. Curds should have separated from milk leaving whey.
- Place a cheese cloth over a strainer and remove the curds with a slotted spoon or spider spoon. Place the curds on the cheese cloth and let the curds come to room temp.
- Once cooled, wrap the cloth and squeeze the curds until dry.
- For smooth creamy cream cheese, place the cheese curds in a food processor and blend until smooth. This is the point you would add salt to taste and or other flavor options.
Christina’s Notes
- Add Fruit: Great to smear on your favorite bagel or to dip your favorite cookie.
- Herbs: This is great to add fresh garlic and herbs to make a fabulous dip.
- Variation tip: Feel free to add as many tips as you need in this section.
- Fat Bombs: Wonderful for using to make Fat Bombs. The ingredients are so clean and fresh.
- Scale the recipe: Simply adjust the serving size in the recipe card and the ingredients will update automatically.
- Make your own All Purpose Seasoning: When a recipe calls for All Purpose Seasoning, you can use my homemade All Purpose Seasoning recipe or substitute salt and pepper to taste.
- Meat doneness: I always use a meat thermometer to test for doneness when cooking meat.
- Use unsalted butter: I use unsalted butter so I can control the salt level in the recipe.
- Preheat the oven: Unless otherwise noted, always preheat your oven before baking.
For more helpful information about this recipe, such as variations, substitutions and other pro-tips, check out the blog post.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided are estimates. It is recommended that you verify this information with your own trusted resource.
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I’m excited to try this. any suggestions for the leftover whey?
Substitute whey for milk or water in recipes for bread, muffins, pancakes, and waffles. It can add a subtle tang and enhance the texture.
mine turned into whey soup, no curds…cooked on low, everything like instructions. :/
Would this work with a plant based milk?
I have never made it with a plant milk so I could not say.
I’m in I’m and do t have an instant pot, can I make on stove?
Yes you can bring the milk to a boil and then add the lemon juice and then allow to curdle.
This turned out delicious! I do not have a low pressure setting on my instant pot, only high pressure. I still followed the instructions to the ‘T’ and it came out marvelous! This will be used to make delicious cheesecake.
This burned in my instant pot. It was set for low pressure for 6 minutes. Didn’t even cook for one minute and it was burnt. 🙁
I have made this recipe several times and never had that problem. I do not know if it is your instant pot. The only thing I can think of is that it cooked it at high not low.
My curds seem too dry. I have been blending but it is not getting creamy; should I add milk?
This has never happened to me. The Instant Pot should be set to low pressure. That is key. You can definitely try adding a little milk.
Same thing happened to me. I wonder if it was because I used fresh squeezed lemon juice? I did use low pressure. I added back some whey while blending.
Can you make this with 2% milk?
Yes. Here is the way to do it if you wish https://www.bonappetit.com/story/make-your-own-cream-cheeseto use the 2% milk.
this page doesn’t work, I just get an ‘OOPS’
I am not sure of the problem as it is fine on the site. Maybe it is a bad link. Here is the page. https://www.itisakeeper.com/56312/instant-pot-homemade-cream-cheese/
Can you replace some of the milk with Greek yogurt? Have you tried that?
I have not tried it. It would definitely change the consistency. Let me know how it goes if you try it.