Instant Pot Cream Cheese is fantastic. I tried to figure out how to make it after making a huge batch of my Air Fryer Blueberry Bagels. There is nothing better than homemade bagels and homemade cream cheese—a winning combination.
Do not let it intimidate you if you have never made homemade cream cheese, whether by the Instant Pot or a traditional homemade method. Instant’s help makes it easy and only requires three ingredients and your Instant Pot. Easy Peasy.
If you are looking for some other easy toppings for your bagels, here are some really easy recipes, INSTANT POT STRAWBERRY JAM, and INSTANT POT HOMEMADE BLUEBERRY JAM.
How To Make Homemade Instant Pot Cream Cheese
If you ever shied away from making homemade cream cheese, this is so the recipe for you, it’s easy, and it’s beautiful.
If you have never had homemade cream cheese, the texture differs from store-bought. It is lighter, creamier, and much smoother.
Ingredients Needed To Make The Best Instant Pot Cream Cheese
- Milk: You can use almond milk, coconut milk, 2% milk, whole milk, or even Fairlife milk.Although the consistency might change a bit.
- Lemon Juice
- Salt (Optional)
How To Make Cream Cheese In Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
In an 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 cheesecloth over a strainer and remove the curds with a slotted spoon or spider spoon. Place the curds on the cheesecloth and let the curds come to room temperature. 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.
How to Use This Cream Cheese, and Can You Bake With It?
This is a great cream cheese recipe, not only to serve on top of your favorite bagels, but you can use it however you would, baking it, or using it in homemade cream cheese frosting. The possibilities are endless.
If you find yourself running out of cream cheese and want this for a recipe, this is a great go-to recipe since you probably have all of the ingredients already in your refrigerator.
How to Store Cream Cheese
This recipe yields about 2 cups. Therefore, unless you use it all up, you must place it into an air-tight container and in the refrigerator within the first hour or so.
I use mason jars to store my cream cheese. Mason jars are the perfect containers to use cream cheese from, as they can be easily opened and easily closed.
SOME HELPFUL PRODUCTS USED IN MAKING THIS RECIPE–
DON’T FORGET TO PIN–
Instant Pot Cream Cheese is amazing. I actually tried to figure out how to make it after making a huge batch of my Air Fryer Blueberry Bagels. There is nothing better than homemade bagels and homemade cream cheese—a winning combination.
- 8 cups milk use whole milk, 2%, coconut milk, or almond milk. Fairlife milk is a great option as well.
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt optional
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In an Instant Pot, pour in milk and lemon juice. Give it a little stir.
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Close the lid, seal the pressure valve, and set Instant Pot for 6 minutes on low pressure.
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Once finished, allow the Instant Pot to naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then release any other pressure manually.
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Stir result. Curds should have separated from milk, leaving whey.
-
Place a cheesecloth over a strainer and remove the curds with a slotted spoon or spider spoon. Place the curds on the cheesecloth and let the curds come to room temperature.
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Once cooled, wrap the cloth and squeeze the curds until dry.
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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.
Please note: You can use whole milk, 2% milk, or even skim milk. I have had some readers make this with almond milk, coconut milk, and even Fairlife milk; although the consistency does change, the recipe will remain the same.
I SO want to make this! Hoping to give it a try next week. Thanks for the recipe.
Love this recipe. Plan to add herbs in a future batch and can’t wait to bake a cheesecake with it.
Can this be made using low fat milk??
Yes, although I have not tried it, I don’t need see why it wouldn’t work.