An easy and delicious, homemade labneh recipe for you in this article.
There’s a certain satisfaction in reaching for your own, homemade, versatile creamy labneh cheese that makes a great spread or dip as part of your Turkish breakfast – or as part of your meze table.
It also makes for a great cheesecake ingredient. But let’s not go off on a tangent!
In Turkey, it’s known as labne. But in Middle Eastern cuisine, it’s perhaps more famously to many, labneh.
And homemade labneh cheese is so easy.
Homemade Labneh Cheese
If, like us, you’ve been buying plastic tubs of labneh from the supermarket for years, now’s the time to change that.
And if it’s the first time you’ve thought about making delicious labneh, we’re talking very simple ingredients, a bit of patience and minimal equipment!
Seriously, you can’t go wrong!
The hardest part about making this creamy yoghurt cheese is waiting…
A couple of minutes’ effort – and then it’s an overnight wait.
But after that, whether you’re making labneh balls with a spreadable consistency or simply a tub of this this soft cheese for storing in the fridge, you’ll have yourself a delicious, tangy yoghurt cheese that will have you wondering why you never made it sooner.
Well, that’s what we thought, anyway!
We love to make little balls of labneh because they look great when stored in a jar, immersed in good olive oil – infused with chilli flakes, too, of course.
And you can dress them up, too, which you’ll see below…
Quality, Full Fat Yoghurt
Essentially, this is the main part of the process for making your own labneh.
You just need a good quality, thick, natural yoghurt.
It can be goat’s milk yoghurt or cow’s milk.
Our homemade labneh is made from cow’s milk yoghurt just because that’s what we always have in our fridge at home.
The thicker and creamier your plain yoghurt, the better. Full fat yoghurt; not low fat.
We use Turkish süzme yoghurt (strained natural yoghurt) but if you can’t get that where you are, a good quality whole milk Greek yoghurt is very similar.
We mix a half teaspoon of salt into the yoghurt and then spoon it onto a fine-mesh strainer sitting over a large bowl.
And then, you simply place it in the fridge and let the straining process begin; the liquid whey will drip through the strainer into the bowl overnight.
At this point, we should point out that lots of people spoon their yoghurt into layers of cheesecloth or muslin before placing into a sieve or strainer for the straining process.
As you can see in our photos, we use a flat mesh strainer and it works perfectly well for us for the type of yoghurt we use.
Yoghurt Becomes Labneh Cheese
Because we are using an already strained, thick and creamy yoghurt – süzme yoghurt – the straining process for our labneh recipe only takes a maximum of 24 hours.
If, after 24 hours, your yoghurt is still dripping liquid whey, you need to be patient and wait until this process is completed.
And that’s your labneh recipe completed, if you so wish.
We’ve included the above photo to show you the difference now that the liquid has drained.
You now have a labneh with the consistency of cream cheese – and with a lovely light flavour.
If you just want a simple labneh that you can use as a spread, spoon this into an airtight container and keep it in the fridge.
It should last for around two weeks.
But – Labneh Balls
Whilst our basic labneh recipe might be complete, we’re not quite done yet…
It’s really easy to make your homemade labneh look – and taste – even more impressive.
And that makes for a great addition to a party table – a Turkish and Middle Eastern touch to your Christmas party food offerings, for example.
We like to roll little labneh cheese balls that can be stored, immersed in olive oil in a jar.
Tip: Before you start to roll your labneh balls, rub a drop of olive oil into the palms of your hands and this will stop the cheese from sticking to your hands as you roll.
We use a teaspoon to scoop each bit of of labneh and this gives us little balls with a cross section of about an inch in diameter.
Different Labneh Coatings
Obviously, you can leave your homemade labneh balls as they are, if you like.
But you can also have fun experimenting with these small balls, adding your own favourite ingredients.
On our spice shelf, we have a mixed jar of sesame seeds and nigella seeds (two ingredients common in Turkish recipes) that we use as a topping for dishes like tepsi böreği.
Your labneh balls taste great, rolled in these seeds. A treat for the taste buds.
Other ideas for coatings for your labneh balls are:
- Lemon zest
- Za’atar
- Sumac
- Chilli flakes (hot red pepper flakes)
- Dried herbs – mint is great
Experiment away!
Jar Them Up
And when you’re done, you can jar your labneh balls up.
Place the labneh balls carefully into a jar and add a generous amount of olive oil until they are completely immersed.
Place the lid on and now you have a choice. You can either:
- Store in a cool dark place and the olive oil will preserve the cheese for around two weeks.
- Store in the fridge (again, it should keep for two weeks).
The second option is the one for us just because of the temperatures in our house.
If this is the route for you, don’t worry if the oil solidifies or goes cloudy in the fridge.
The oil will return to its normal state as it comes up to room temperature when you serve your labneh.
Time To Eat Your Labneh
And for such little effort, your labneh recipe will give you so many delicious treats because you can serve it how you like, when you like.
For this serving, we used a thick wedge of toasted Turkish bread; a labneh ball spread over the top, drizzled with some of the chilli oil, a sprinkling of fresh herbs (basil in this case) and some sundried tomato.
Heaven!
Use this type of crusty bread, fresh simit or pita bread (make your own quick and easy Turkish balloon bread) and serve your labneh as part of a meze platter with other dips like hummus, aubergine salad and spicy ezme.
Homemade Labneh Recipe
Let’s make labneh!
Homemade Labneh Recipe
Labneh is versatile, creamy yoghurt cheese that makes a perfect spread or dip for your meze table, breakfast table or for a quick, healthy snack. Store as a spread or create labneh balls for individual servings.
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- 400 grams thick natural yoghurt full fat
- ½ teaspoon salt
For Labneh Balls
- olive oil enough to immerse the labneh balls
- 2 teaspoons chilli flakes to infuse in the oil
- 2 tablespoons mixed sesame and nigella seeds to coat the labneh balls
For The Labneh
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Mix your yoghurt and salt together, thoroughly.
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Place onto your strainer and suspend the strainer over your bowl.
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Now place in the fridge for 24 hours or until all the liquid has stopped dripping into your bowl, below.
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Spoon the labneh cheese into an airtight container and store, refrigerated, for up to two weeks.
For The Labneh Balls
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Rub a drop of olive oil into the palms of your hands to prevent the labneh from sticking.
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Take a heaped teaspoon of labneh at a time and roll it into little balls.
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If using, roll each labne ball in your sesame and nigella seeds.
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Place each ball carefully into your jar.
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Now (if using) sprinkle your chilli flakes into the jar.
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Pour olive oil into the jar until your labneh balls are immersed.
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Place lid on the jar and either store in a cool dark place or in the fridge for around 2 weeks.
- The key to this labneh recipe is great quality, full fat natural yoghurt. We use locally produced natural süzme yoghurt (strained yoghurt) but good quality Greek yoghurt is also fine.
- Even though our yoghurt is thick and creamy, it still releases liquid whey overnight.
- The amount of liquid your yoghurt releases will depend on the brand.
- We reserve our fine-mesh strainer for making labneh. If you don’t want to place your yoghurt directly on the strainer, you can wrap it in cheesecloth, muslin or line your strainer with paper towels.
- For us, 400 grams of yoghurt makes 12 labneh balls.
- If your yoghurt contains a lot of liquid, this will result in less labneh once it has strained.
- If you want to make labneh balls, you can store in them in olive oil as they are – or experiment by rolling them in different herbs and spices.Â
- We haven’t done any nutritional information for our homemade labneh recipe because it depends which yoghurt you use and whether or not you are making labneh balls.Â