Today, I wanted to share the first and easiest goat cheese recipe we started with here. You can find similar recipes online at various sites, but we first encountered this vinegar-based recipe in a homesteading book. So, we don’t claim this is unique or totally original. But, we did do some experimenting with the recipes we found to make what we think is the best version of these cheese. Without further ado, let’s jump into the ingredients you’ll need!
Get Your Ingredients Ready
When I say this is the easiest goat cheese recipe, I’m not exaggerating. Here’s all you need:
- 64-128 Ounces of Raw Goat Milk
- 1/4-1/2 Cup Vinegar (we prefer apple cider vinegar)
- Salt to taste
- Any other seasonings you want
Other than this, you’ll want a thermometer you can use and a big enough, stainless steel stock pan to heat the milk in. We recommend this digital thermometer. And of course, you’ll need cheesecloth or some other way to filter the whey from the cheese curds. Flour sack towels work well too and allegedly, you can substitute nut bags. Finally, we recommend having a secondary strainer to place the cheesecloth in.
Making the Goat Cheese
Step 1: Make sure everything is perfectly clean. You’ll want a spoon of some sort -a slotted spoon is your best bet, but not explicitly necessary for this cheese. Set out your cheesecloth in the other strainer. And, to catch the whey, make sure to place that strainer in a bowl or some other receptacle.
Step 2: Pour your milk into your stainless steel stock pan. Put the heat on to medium low (if in doubt, put it lower). It’s important you don’t heat up the milk too quickly during this initial heating as it could scorch the milk or burn it into the pan.
Step 3: Stir the milk as it heats up. If you’re using the same thermometer we do, you’ll find it easy to keep an eye on the temperature as you stir. One tip here -make sure you scrape along the bottom and sides as the heat rises. And, while you don’t need to continuously stir, we recommend keeping a close eye on things and stirring more frequently than not.
Step 4: Once the milk reaches 170 degree Fahrenheit, turn off the stove and remove the pan from heat. Keep in mind, some recipes call for it to be closer to 160 and some closer to 180. In our testing, we found 170 was a happy medium. And, the temperature will likely rise a bit more, even after removing -this is fine!
Step 5: Add the vinegar. Again, we recommend apple cider vinegar, but you’re welcome to use plain white vinegar. We never tested with red wine vinegar or other types, so we can’t confirm whether those would work or not. In either case, add your vinegar and stir it in. If you’re only doing half a gallon (64 ounces), you’ll only need 1/4 cup of vinegar. You’ll need a 1/2 cup if you’re doing a full gallon. Regardless, make sure to stir the vinegar in thoroughly so it can interact with all that milk.
Step 6: Let your mixture sit. You’ll want to leave it for at least 10 minutes to let the curds separate from the whey. However, feel free to leave it for 15 or even 20. It can change the flavor profile, so we recommend trying different times as you make this the first few times.
Step 7: Use your spoon to start removing the curds from the whey and straining through your cheesecloth. Once you’ve gotten all the larger curds out, pick up the pan and carefully (and slowly) pour the rest into the cheesecloth. This is why we recommend a secondary strainer and something to rest it in -otherwise, you might wash your curds out of the cheesecloth.
Step 8: Lift up the cheesecloth and give it a good squeeze. This will help release extra whey and speed up the draining process. You don’t have to go too crazy here, but wringing it out to remove excess moisture will definitely help.
Step 9: Pour the excess whey from your bowl into another container. We use wide mouth mason jars. After the bowl is empty, place your strainer and cheesecloth back in. Now’s where the magic happens.
Step 10: Leave the cheese to allow more moisture to drain out. There’s no need to press it. But, there is a need to let it “age” for a bit. In fact, we found leaving the cheese for about 2 hours like this allowed it to dry out nicely. But, more importantly, it allowed it to get a nice tangy flavor. If you want to go for a more milk cheese to start, just give it an hour. But, we wouldn’t recommend less than that.
Step 11: Pick up your cheesecloth and squeeze out any extra moisture.
Step 12: Place your cheese into a container and season to taste. We never measure out our spices. And, we don’t recommend you do either. Instead, give yourself permission to experiment and learn what works best for you. The first time we made this, we used way too little salt. The second time, we added to much other spices. If anything, we recommend using more salt than you think and less of any other seasoning. Whether you do, gently mix the seasonings in by hand.
Step 13: Enjoy your homemade, farm fresh cheese.
It really doesn’t get any better than this easiest goat cheese recipe.
Don’t Waste Your Whey
One final bit of advice for those new to cheesemaking. That whey is still worth keeping! One great option we found is to use the whey to cook your rice in. Not only does it add some protein and other nutrition, it also makes the rice more delicious than you might imagine. Another option for this sort of whey is to water any acid-loving plants. We used some of this to our new blueberry bush starting out. We can’t say how much it helped, but it’s definitely better than letting the whey go to waste.
Making the Easiest Goat Cheese Recipe
So, if you find yourself with some milk but don’t have the needed rennet or starter culture, know hope isn’t lost. You can still make this easiest goat cheese recipe with just some added vinegar (or apple cider vinegar as we prefer). Don’t be afraid to experiment with your seasoning either -adding a pinch of extra salt, putting in your favorite spice blend, or whatever might best suit you. And, if you’re looking to learn more about cheesemaking, make sure to check out or post from earlier this week where we discussed the science of cheese making.
How do you intend to enjoy this simple cheese? Let us know in the comments below! Until next time, we’ll see you around the homestead.