If you love cheese, you’ve probably daydreamed of making cheese in your very own kitchen. Yes, you can make cheese at home—and the easiest way to learn how is to start with a few quick, easy, and delicious recipes like ricotta and mozzarella. Here are the types of cheese you can make at home with simple ingredients and basic home cheesemaking equipment.

The Types of Cheese You Can Make at Home

You might dream of slicing into a hunk of homemade cheddar or aging a wheel of Camembert you made yourself. But making aged cheeses is graduate-level home cheesemaking that requires lots of additional time, equipment, and the proper conditions. If you’re making cheese at home for the first time, you’ll want to start with easy, accessible recipes to get the hang of things.

The easiest types of cheese to make at home are fresh cheeses. In addition to basics you probably already have in your kitchen, you’ll need a few specialized ingredients and pieces of gear. Once you’ve gathered the ingredients and equipment for home cheesemaking, you can go from milk to cheese in as little as one hour.

Paneer

This Indian classic is one of the simplest cheeses to make at home with equipment and ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. Check out our paneer recipe here.

Ricotta

While commercial ricotta is a byproduct of making mozzarella, you can make a similar cheese at home with milk or buttermilk and lemon juice, vinegar, or citric acid. Here’s our whole-milk ricotta recipe and our buttermilk ricotta recipe.

Mascarpone

Rich, creamy mascarpone is super simple to DIY at home. It’s a bit like whole-milk ricotta made with heavy cream. Check out our homemade mascarpone cheese recipe.

Mozzarella

Yes, you can make this tender, milky cheese at home! You need good milk, a few special ingredients, and basic kitchen equipment. Check out our guide to making fresh mozzarella at home the quick and easy way.

Burrata

This luscious, next-level fresh Italian cheese is always in style. Once you’ve mastered homemade mozzarella, try your hand stuffing the cheese with creamy stracciatella. Here’s how to make burrata at home.

What You Need to Make Cheese at Home

The most important ingredient for home cheesemaking is fresh, good-quality milk. You can use raw or pasteurized milk, but avoid ultra high-temp (UHT) pasteurized milk. Because of how high heat interacts with milk protein, it can’t be used for cheesemaking.

In addition to milk, you’ll need citric acid and rennet to acidify the milk and coagulate it into curd. Finally, salt seasons the cheese and supports shelf life.

You’ll need everyday kitchen gear like a large nonreactive pot, a heatproof bowl, a slotted spoon or ladle, and a fine mesh strainer in addition to a stove or burner for heating the milk. You’ll also need some specialized equipment, like a milk thermometer, cheesecloth, and basket molds for making ricotta.

Home Cheesemaking Kits

One of the easiest and most affordable ways to get all the cheesemaking ingredients and equipment you’ll need is by purchasing a home cheesemaking kit.

The Farmsteady Italian Fresh Cheesemaking Kit is our favorite for cheese lovers starting on their DIY cheesemaking journey. It’s got everything you need to get started making delicious fresh cheeses like these in your kitchen.

Have you tried making cheese at home? How did it go? Tag us @cheesegrotto on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and let us know!