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The Spruce Eats / Lecia Landis
If you’re the kind of person who always has to have cheese in the fridge, it might be time to take that love to the next level. Making your own cheese can feel intimidating at first, but there are plenty of great resources on the internet and beyond that will make you a pro in no time.
If you’re an intrepid kitchen explorer, by all means, feel free to set out on your own with this venture, but for the rest of us, a good cheesemaking kit is a perfect place to start. It has most of what you need, including ingredients and supplies. Just know that you'll need to buy your own milk separately.
Here are the best cheesemaking kits, from vegan varieties to goat cheese, mozzarella, and more.
Best Overall
Standing Stone Farms Ultimate Cheese Making Kit
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Amazon
Can make many styles of cheese
Easy-to-follow instructions
Requires only 30 minutes to make
Liquid rennet can be inconsistent
What do buyers say? 90% of almost 700 Amazon reviewers rate this product 4 stars or above.
The Standing Stone Farms Ultimate Cheese Making Kit is both easy to use and wildly versatile. You can make mozzarella, feta, halloumi, cheddar curds, pepper jack, cream cheese, mascarpone, chèvre, burrata, and more. The kit comes complete with the cultures and gear you need, including an instant thermometer, plus liquid rennet (which contains the enzymes necessary for cheesemaking) over the tablet variety, which the company claims causes inconsistent cheese. All you need to do is find cow, sheep, or goat milk at the store or a farm near you.
Price at time of publish: $45
Recipe Time: 30 minutes | Yields: Up to 25 pounds | Includes: Liquid rennet, calcium chloride, citric acid, cheese salt, lipase, cultures, instant-read thermometer, cheesecloth
"If you are going to buy milk for cheesemaking from a supermarket, the most important requirement is that the milk is not ultra-pasteurized. This process denatures proteins to a point that it is impossible to make cheese from." — Andi Wandt, cheesemaker at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont
Best Budget
Urban Cheesecraft Mini Cheese Kit
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Etsy
Unlimited email support
Very easy to use
Inexpensive
Could make these cheeses without a kit
If you’re looking for a cheesemaking experience with minimal effort and cost, meet your new best friend: the Mini Cheese Kit from Urban Cheesecraft. Your options are limited to ricotta and farmer’s cheese, but on the flip side, you and your family will have homemade cheese ready in 30 minutes. Use the fresh ricotta for pancakes, dips, or lasagna and the farmer’s cheese for topping for tacos, chili, salad, and more. This is a great option for gourmet-in-training kids.
Price at time of publish: $22
Recipe Time: 30 minutes | Yields: Up to 2 pounds | Includes: Cheesecloth, citric acid
Best for Mozzarella
New England Cheesemaking Supply Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese Making Kit
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Amazon
One of the easier kits
Makes two popular styles
Mozzarella technique can be complicated
Gloves aren't included
Perhaps you’re looking for a low-effort, high-reward cheesemaking activity, and there's not much like pillowy, silky, fresh mozzarella—especially if you're in the market for Caprese salad. Based on the cheesemaking wisdom of legendary home cheesemaking instructor Ricki Carroll, this kit for mozzarella and ricotta sets you up to make your own at home in no time. It includes 3 ounces of citric acid, 3 ounces of cheese salt, ten tablets of vegetable rennet, 1 yard of butter muslin, a thermometer, and a recipe booklet. This kit is the one you’ll see most at cheese shops—and that’s for a reason. It’s tried, tested, and true.
Price at time of publish: $26
Recipe Time: 30 minutes | Yields: 20 1-pound batches | Includes: Rennet, citric acid, cheese salt, a thermometer, cheesecloth
Best for Beginners
Fermentaholics DIY Fresh Cheese Making Kit
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Amazon
Can be used for many cheeses
Includes gloves, unlike many others
Makes less cheese than others
The Fermentaholics DIY Fresh Cheese Making Kit allows you to take cow, goat, sheep, or buffalo milk and turn it into ricotta, mozzarella, burrata, paneer, cottage cheese, and more. It includes four microbial rennet tablets (vegetarian-friendly rennet), 100 grams of cheese salt, 100 grams of citric acid, 1 yard of cheesecloth, one pair of gloves, and the "Easin' Into Cheesin'" recipe book. Each recipe takes approximately 30 minutes or less.
Price at time of publish: $30
Recipe Time: 30 minutes or less | Yields: Up to 15 pounds | Includes: Rennet, cheese salt, citric acid, gloves, cheesecloth
Best for Hard Cheese
Homesteader Creations Hard Cheese Making Kit
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Etsy
Everything you need to make hard cheese
Can make several types
Takes a long time
Pricey
You’ll notice that this is easily the priciest option on the list. That’s because hard cheese requires more equipment. It’s useful here to review the basics of cheesemaking, which is essentially just isolating and fermenting the fat and protein in milk that’s suspended in liquid. In order to make hard cheese, the whey and water content needs to be more forcefully expelled from the curds, making a cheese press necessary. This one was designed and manufactured in Sparta, Tennessee, and comes with cultures, enzymes, cheesecloth, salt, and more. It’s more of an investment than some of the other kits, but for home cheesemakers who want to make hard cheese, it’s well worth it.
Price at time of publish: $245
Recipe Time: 1 week or more with aging | Yields: Several batches | Includes: Press, rennet, lipase, several types of cultures, calcium chloride, a thermometer, cheesecloth, and more
Best for Goat Cheese
Standing Stone Farms Basic Beginner Cheese Making Kit
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Amazon
Can be used for many cheeses
A great gift
Liquid rennet can be inconsistent
This one is for the goat cheese fiends. While you can make your own mozzarella, burrata, ricotta, burricotta, queso blanco, mascarpone, and butter with this kit as well, we love it for chèvre. It includes liquid microbial rennet (both vegetarian and organic) as opposed to a tablet form of rennet, which must be dissolved and divided. It also comes with calcium chloride, which helps milk coagulate faster and more firmly; this is especially helpful when using store-bought milk, but it is not often included in home cheesemaking supplies. Also included are non-GMO and 100 percent food-grade citric acid and cheese salt, plus reusable cheesecloth for draining the softer cheeses and processing butter.
Price at time of publish: $30
Recipe Time: 20 minutes | Yields: Up to 25 pounds | Includes: Liquid rennet, calcium chloride, citric acid, cheese salt, cheesecloth
"Ideally, find cheesemaking milk that is non-homogenized and vat pasteurized, which is a gentler process than standard pasteurization. If it’s in a glass bottle with cream on the top, it will be perfect for making cheese." — Andi Wandt, cheesemaker at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont
Best Dairy-Free
The Big Cheese Making Kit The Big Vegan Cheese Making Kit
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Amazon
12-month shelf life
6 different cheese options
Inexpensive
Requires a lot of nuts per recipe
For those on a dairy-free diet, this is the versatile kit for you. This gives you the opportunity to make six different vegan and gluten-free cheeses—mozzarella, ricotta, mascarpone, halloumi, feta, and parmesan—across 20 total batches. Thanks to a mix of agar powder (seaweed), tapioca (cassava), citric acid, and a range of herbs and seasonings, you just need to add a base of soaked nuts and dairy-free milk to make delicious vegan cheeses. In addition to step-by-step instructions on how to whip up each of the dairy-free cheeses, a recipe booklet with selections like Fried Halloumi with Caper Salad is included, along with muslin and a thermometer. With vegan cheeses sometimes being quite expensive, this kit is a steal.
Price at time of publish: $23
Recipe Time: Depends on recipe | Yields: 20 batches | Includes: Gelling agents, seasonings, muslin, thermometer, recipe booklet
We recommend the Standing Stone Farms Ultimate Cheese Making Kit or its versatility and ease of use, though the Urban Cheesecraft Mini Cheese Kit is amazing for those on a budget. For vegan cheese, you can’t beat The Big Vegan Cheese Making Kit.
What to Look for in Cheesemaking Kits
What’s Included
Even professional cheesemakers do things a little differently from each other, so it makes sense that each cheese kit will be a little different, too. For instance, some include tablet rennet (which needs to be crushed and diluted in liquid before using), while others include liquid rennet (which is easier to use, but can be inconsistent and has a much shorter shelf life).
Styles
Do you want to make cheese as a way to have a fun afternoon project or do you want to learn a new technique? Do you eat a lot of ricotta or feta or both? Make sure the kit includes styles that you will want to eat. If you’re buying a kit for someone else, go for the kits with a wider range of styles.
Reviews
We read the reviews for all the kits we included, and we stand by our recommendations. That said, reading the reviews yourself before you commit to any of these is a great way to get a sense of what your cheesemaking experience will be like. If you want to make something like ricotta, the task ahead is very easy. Something like mozzarella, though, requires a little more technique, and reading the recommendations of other people can help you understand what your experience might be like.
FAQs
Does cheesemaking stink?
Cheesemaking doesn’t smell offensive, but there is a bit of a smell. It usually will smell like lightly milky vinegar, but it shouldn’t have the same yeasty pungency as spoiled milk. Luckily, the scent will go away quickly.
How long does cheesemaking take?
Different styles of cheesemaking take different amounts of time. It generally will take at least 30 minutes, but can take up to several hours or a week or more with aging.
What kinds of cheeses can you make at home?
The easiest types of cheese to make at home are those that don’t require aging. This could include feta, fresh goat cheese, mozzarella, and more.
What is the whey that is formed during cheesemaking?
The whey is the leftover liquid from milk (which is 80 to 90 percent water), minus the fat and protein that went into the cheese. Whey also contains minerals, protein, and lactose.
How do you become a licensed cheesemaker?
Most cheesemakers in America actually learn on the job. The only place in the U.S. where a cheesemaker needs to be licensed is Wisconsin. If you want to be licensed in Wisconsin, you’ll need to take classes, apprentice under a cheesemaker, and pass a written test.
How We Researched
To compile this list, our team of editors and contributors spent hours researching the best cheesemaking kits on the market in this category, evaluating their key features—like what they include, the recipe time, and price—in addition to reviews from customers and other trusted sources. We then used this research to assign a star rating from one to five (five being the best; one being the worst) to certain products on the list.
Why Trust The Spruce Eats?
Writer and professional cheese eater Christine Clark teaches cheese and pairing classes throughout the United States and knows how and where to get her cheese fix, no matter where she is. Her cheese adoration is so strong that she has a whole podcast dedicated to it. She is a Certified Cheese Professional through the American Cheese Society.
Jacqueline Weiss, who added more information to this piece, is a professional food writer with over five years of experience, and a lifelong lover of working in the kitchen. Her writing has appeared in Eat This Not That, EatingWell, AllRecipes, Simply Recipes, and elsewhere.
Amanda McDonald is an editor at The Spruce Eats and has over seven years of experience researching, writing, and editing about all things food — from what new products are at the grocery store to chef-approved hacks that keep tricky leftovers fresh for days. She updated this story to include the most up-to-date information.
Sources
- Andi Wandt, cheesemaker at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont
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