Let's Make Labneh!

I first heard of Labneh via a Sandor Katz’ charming book Wild Fermentation. Labneh is a creamy cheese-like spread made by draining yogurt of its liquid. Making labneh is a simple process and the results are a delicious, nutritious and wow-is-it-ever-thrifty 1 replacement for cream cheese. But don’t stop there. Labneh is also an ingredient in the most incredible Risotto you ever put in your mouth, for instance.

For this recipe you will need a bowl for collecting the whey (liquid) that will drip out of your yogurt, a strainer and a piece of cloth. Good options on the cloth are cotton, linen, muslin, cheesecloth. I use an old tea towel because it’s easy to wash and I can use it over and over. I’ve seen people using “nutmilk bags”, pillow cases, even good quality paper towels2 will work just fine. Don’t run out and buy some specialty food strainer if you can help yourself, ok? It’s just one more thing and it won’t do a better job than a kitchen towel. Besides, buying stuff messes with our thriftyness-factor.

Want to get solid about what you are doing with a short video before you get started? Try How to Make Labneh from Scratch from Suzy at The Mediterranian Dish. Time: 2:51

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient Preparation  
32 oz Yogurt choose an organic, probiotic brand  
1 tsp Salt or more to your taste  

Instructions

Tip: Use the checkboxes as placeholders while you work your way through the recipe. Reload the page to clear them.

For Serving

Dig a little trench in the labneh and fill with olive oil like you do for hummus. Sprinkle herbs that you like4 over the top and serve with fresh vegetables. Use it on a sandwich in place of mayonnaise. Top a bowl of soup with a dollop of labneh for a creamy-texture add. And of course, anywhere you’d use Philly, try labneh.5

Your labneh will keep at least a week in the fridge. At least.

Footnotes, anyone?

  1. And by thrifty I mean that when I looked at wallmart.com today (27 Sep, 2024) Stonyfield organic yogurt costs $4.46 / 32 oz. and Philadelphia Original cost $3.13 / 8 oz. Let’s do that math. ($3.13 x 4 = $12.52 (32 oz of Philly). Then, we divide $12.52 / $4.46 (cost of yogurt) to find out that Philadelphia costs 2.8x as much as Lebneh and is neither probiotic nor particularly nutritious. It’s a no-brainer, right? For that, it’s worth it to at least a try, isn’t it? ↩

  2. If you use paper towels, 1.) be sure to choose the expensive ones that don’t fall apart the first time they get wet. 2.) leave the yogurt inside the strainer for support and finally 3.) when finished, dump the whole strainer full of labneh into the end-container paper-towel side up and then remove it. ↩

  3. The longer it stands, the more whey will drip out and the dryer your labneh will be. It will also ferment and become tangy-ier the longer it sits on the counter. If you don’t like the tang, let it drip in the fridge instead of on the counter. ↩

  4. All over the internet za’atar is suggested as if this were the only choice available. It’s not. All herbs all spices. Make your own mixture to make it your own labneh. ↩

  5. I haven’t tried it in frosting yet. If you do, let me know what you think! ↩