How to Make Yogurt Cheese (and Where Do I Find Whey?)

Whey is used for soaking grains, homemade ferments, and as a protein source (although it’s not a good one). I prefer homemade whey as the acidic medium for soaking my oats because I have found it least likely to impart a sour flavor to the finished oatmeal. PLUS you get gorgeous yogurt cheese, which is an amazingly frugal cream cheese substitute and makes really healthy frosting and more.

What Is Whey? Can You Make It at Home?

My brother, a big weightlifter, is huge into the “whey protein powder” drinks for big muscles. Don’t get this sort of whey confused with the powdered stuff, which I’m sure has some “I-am-not-real-food!” sort of health issues. (UPDATE:  A faithful commenter tells me that powdered whey is just spray-dried regular whey.)

Regular whey is a byproduct of cheesemaking, just like Little Miss Muffet had: curds and whey. It is a nearly transparent, yellowish liquid that pours like water. You may be thinking, “Great, now I have to make cheese.”  Luckily, this is much easier than that sounds and one of the easiest ways to make whey is from yogurt.

What Is Yogurt Cheese? (Perfect Cream Cheese Substitute!)

I get my whey from yogurt, which I happen to make homemade, but you could use plain, unsweetened yogurt from a store with the same results (you’ll get less whey/more cheese with Greek yogurt and more whey/less cheese with regular).

Yogurt cheese has the same consistency and almost the same flavor as cream cheese, but with power-packed probiotics for good digestion and more. Plus no additives! If you use cream cheese, even if you don’t want the whey, this process is the most frugal substitute for cream cheese you’ll ever find. It costs less than 50 cents for 8 ounces of yogurt cheese if you make your own yogurt and your milk is on sale for $2 or less.

Watch this Quick Yogurt Cheese Demo!

Can’t see the video? View it here on YouTube!

How to Make EASY Yogurt Cheese and Whey

It’s almost embarrassing to post something this easy. Love it!

This recipe covers both how to separate the whey from the yogurt AND how to make yogurt cheese. You know me, I’m all about making my time in the kitchen as efficient as possible.

1. Line a colander with a tea towel or cheesecloth.
2. Place a large bowl or measuring cup (at least 4 cups) under the colander. Make sure the opening is wide enough to be underneath all your yogurt (see next step).
3. Pour a container of yogurt (I do a quart at a time) into the towel.
   
4. Wait. See the whey draining out? *peek*
   
5. After an hour or so, rig up some way to hang the towel so that gravitational pressure gets all the whey out of the yogurt. Here’s my method:
   
6. After approximately 4 hours, or whenever your yogurt stops dripping, that’s it! You have about 3 cups of whey in the bowl and 1 cup of yogurt cheese in the towel.

Yogurt cheese lasts 1 week (you’ll know when it goes bad) and the whey may last up to 6 months.

It looks, tastes, and behaves just like cream cheese! The only thing it doesn’t do great is melt, like in a hot food recipe.

A quickie version of yogurt cheese:

You can put a few tablespoons of yogurt onto a coffee filter on top of a jar, and in an hour or less you’ll have a smidge of yogurt cheese for your toast on top and whey to soak your oatmeal in the jar.

Recipes and Uses for Whey

So what do you do with all of this whey? It’s easy to use in multiple different recipes, so it won’t go to waste!

• Make tortillas (uses 1/2 cup of whey per batch)
• Make soaked homemade crackers
• Use as up to half the water in any bread recipe. You’ll need to add more flour, even up to a whole cup for a loaf of bread.
• Soak oatmeal.
• Soak other grains, including breadmaker bread.
• Freeze in ice cube trays and add it to smoothies as a protein source.
• Lacto-fermentation:
  • Salsa
  • Pickles
  • Mayo
  • Ketchup
  • Caesar dressing
  • Sauerkraut 
• When I have too much whey on hand, sometimes I’ll start throwing it willy nilly in place of liquids in recipes: pancakes, soup, biscuits, soaked baked oatmeal…I haven’t had any massive failures yet, although clearly, attempt at your own culinary risk!

Recipes and Uses for Yogurt Cheese

• Fruit Pizza
• Creamy Garlic Veggie Dip (in Healthy Snacks to Go eBook)
• Tuscan Beef and Bean Stew
• Avocado Dip
• Homemade Fudgesicles (now in Smart Sweets along with 30 other healthy desserts!)
• Use in place of some or all of the ricotta in a pasta recipe
• Yogurt Cheese and Jelly Sandwiches
• Any dip, dessert or main dish that calls for cream cheese – this is such a frugal and quick substitute, I feel like we’ll put cream cheese brands out of business!

Need More Baby Steps?

Here at Kitchen Stewardship, we’ve always been all about the baby steps. But if you’re just starting your real food and natural living journey, sifting through all that we’ve shared here over the years can be totally overwhelming.

That’s why we took the best 10 rookie “Monday Missions” that used to post once a week and got them all spruced up to send to your inbox – once a week on Mondays, so you can learn to be a kitchen steward one baby step at a time, in a doable sequence.

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