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With just three simple ingredients and a few inactive hours, this Homemade Cream Cheese is creamier, fluffier, and more delicious than anything store-bought. You’ll love it smeared on protein bagels or a piece of toast.
Breakfast at home will always beat brunch out—why pay for overpriced, mediocre food when you can make something way more delicious for a fraction of the price? I love whipping up everything from Breakfast Burritos and Breakfast Tacos to the best Blueberry Muffins.
Supplies You’ll Need to Make Homemade Cream Cheese
Most of the supplies you’ll need to make homemade cream cheese are easy to find, especially on Amazon. Here is what you’ll need:
Ingredients for Homemade Cream Cheese
- Dairy – We need heavy cream, whole milk and buttermilk.
- Rennet – You can use vegetable or animal rennet.
- Salt – I like to use kosher salt. That’s it!
How to Make Homemade Cream Cheese
- Combine the milks. In a big pot, add the heavy cream, whole milk, buttermilk and salt.
- Warm to 75 degrees F. Heat the milk mixture to this temperature.
- Mix in the rennet. Add the rennet and mix throughout. This is going to make it so the solids separate from the whey.
- Allow to stand at room temperature in a warm place. In order for this to actually work, the temperature has to be nice and warm.
- After 14 Hours, strain it. This takes about 14 hours for the whey and solids to separate. Line a sieve or strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth. Nestle it over a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the cheesecloth.
- Allow it to drain. This should take about 4 hours for it strain.
Recipe Tip for Homemade Cream Cheese
Leftover Whey. You’ll end up with whey, which is the liquid leftover from the curds. Don’t throw it away! Instead, use it in place of the buttermilk in my Buttermilk Biscuits. The result will be divine, super tender and delicious biscuits.
Recipe FAQs
I adore cream cheese frosting (my brown butter cream cheese frosting is DIVINE). This homemade version is MUCH softer than store-bought cream cheese so this will make the frosting softer too. I would add less heavy cream in that recipe, as well as chill the frosting so it doesn’t melt.
Homemade cream cheese is smoother, lighter, and creamier than store-bought versions, which use gums that make them thick and dense. It’s so good that I’ll probably never go back to store-bought again.
More Breakfast Recipes
Quick and Easy
Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie
Breakfast
Apple Cider Doughnut Muffins
Breakfast
Best Lemon Ricotta Pancakes
Holiday
Buttermilk Biscuits
If you tried this Homemade Cream Cheese Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Homemade Cream Cheese
Equipment
- Cheese cloth
- 1 Strainer
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk, ultra-pasteurized is ok!
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk, shaken
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 drops liquid vegetable or animal rennet, dissolved into 2 tablespoons of water
Instructions
- In a large pot, combine heavy cream, whole milk, buttermilk and salt. Heat to 75 degrees F. (Warm to the touch.)
- Mix in rennet being sure it’s evenly distributed. Cover with clean kitchen towel and allow to stand in place that’s 75 degrees for 14 hours. Just a heads up, I tried this once during the day and once at night. No surprise that the batch that sat for 14 hours during the day was MUCH better. It was just warmer and was overall a better environment for the cream cheese.
- Line a fine-mesh strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth; and then nestle it over a large bowl. Pour the cream/milk mixture into the cheesecloth and allow it to strain, on its own (don’t work it through), for about 4 hours to 5 hours. When it’s completely drained, the final product should be a creamier, smoother and lighter version of cream cheese that you’re probably used to. It keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
*This post was originally published on June 24th, 2015 but it has since been updated with new copy and new photos!
I just made the cream cheese, and want to make the biscuits with the whey, but I don’t have your recipe for the amount of the whey to use. Thank You Shannon
Can you use this to make cheese cakes?
You technically can but I would use storebought because the fillers and stabilizers added help in the texture for cheesecake. But you definitely can use this for cheesecakes; they just won’t be as firm!
Plain and simple
Can I use powdered buttermilk instead of liquid as so little is needed? I never use buttermilk and the rest would go to waste.
hmm…i’m not sure that will work? you can try it and report back?
Put a few drops of white vinegar or lemon in 2 tablespoons of milk.
I’ve used your recipe a few times with great success, but my latest batch did not separate? Could heating the milk up to 95°f be the problem
hmm that’s so strange. i’m not sure where you live but this could have something to do with it. it’s very cold right now so it could just not have been warm enough.
There’s an electric heater in the room keeping the temp at 80 f. I re heated the mixture, put in more heavy cream 33% added more rennet and left it for 11 hours as I’m typing this. It seems more like its thickening but not really separating. I have 100 count cheese cloth and 50 count cheese cloth. The 100 count seemed to be too fine last time. Perhaps the 50 count is not fine enough. Ill wait till morning and pour it over the 100 count and see what happens. What do you think?
I did what I said I’d do and it worked now I have it going thru the 50 count just to firm it up a little. It smeels and tastes fantastic , cant wait to try it with some garlic and herbs mixed in!!
I really appreciate the recipes! Unfortunately, as with so many recipe sites now, it is nearly impossible to read the content/recipe because of the incessant pop-up ads. I understand the need to make money, but really? Also, we, your readers, are adults, not tween texters…”4verrrrrr” – really? I’m trying to look past the tone and ads, but we’ll see…
hi james, feel free to find another website.
seriously Who the F&*^ made you the internet god
I don’t know how to keep something at 75° for 14 hours. Once everything is mixed and heated to that temperature would it be possible to place everything in a gallon size bag and use a sous vide machine set for exactly 75° for those 14 hours?
leave it in a 75° room a little hotter isn’t a problem
I need to know exact nutritional values as I am on a strict renal diet limiting potassium, phosphorous, calcium, and sodium.
Can anyone help? With nutritional values of homemade cream cheese?
If I make a lot can I freeze what is leftover?
yep absolutely!
Hey there-
What brand of rennet are you using? I’m mainly asking since the recipe says 3 drops. Any idea on what the actual measurement (either weight or volume) is of 3 drops?
Also curious if you had any thoughts on the previous question in your comments regarding doubling the recipe.
Thanks so much!