How to Make Halloumi at Home With Rennet Tablets: 7 Steps

How to make halloumi at home with rennet tablets: warm milk to 90-95°F and stir in dissolved rennet. Let it set for 30-45 minutes, then cut the curd, cook it, drain it and press it into a block. Poach the pressed curd in hot whey until it floats, about 3 to 4 hours start to finish.

What You Need First

• Milk: 1 gallon, fresh and not ultra pasteurized. Cow, goat, or sheep milk all work.
• Rennet tablets, plus non-chlorinated water to dissolve them.
• A thermometer, heavy bottomed pot, curd knife and cheesecloth.
• Salt, and mint if you want the traditional fold.

How to Make Halloumi at Home With Rennet Tablets: Step by Step

1. Warm the milk to 90-95°F (32-35°C): Heat it gently in a heavy bottomed pot, stirring so it doesn't scorch.
2. Dissolve the rennet tablet in water, then stir it in: Mix for about two minutes, then let the pot sit undisturbed.
3. Let the curd set for 30 to 45 minutes: It's ready at a clean break, when it pulls cleanly from the side of the pot. Cut it into roughly 1 inch cubes and rest 5 minutes.
4. Cook the curd for about an hour: Raise the temperature slowly to around 104°F (40°C), stirring every few minutes so the pieces firm up without matting together.
5. Drain the curd in cheesecloth and press it: Save the whey. Press the curd into a block for about an hour, then slice it for poaching.
6. Poach the slices in the reserved whey, heated close to boiling: Float time depends on thickness. Thin slices surface in 5 to 10 minutes, thicker pieces take 20 to 30.
7. Cool, salt and store. Fold each warm piece in half, the traditional halloumi shape, then chill it in brine or the reserved whey. It keeps for weeks refrigerated.

The Rennet Dose Mistake That Ruins the Curd

Most rennet tablet instructions are written for standard fresh cheese not halloumi. One rennet tablet typically sets about 4 liters of milk but halloumi needs double that dose (Mad Millie, accessed 2026). Big difference. Under dose it and the curd stays too soft to survive the hot whey poach. It falls apart instead of firming up.

Bottom Line

Halloumi rewards precision: nail the milk temperature, the rennet dose and the whey poach, and you'll have firm, squeaky cheese in 3 to 4 hours. That's the whole story behind how to make halloumi at home with rennet tablets: exact temps, doubled rennet and a hot poach.

Halloumi needs double the standard rennet tablet amount and eyeballing that conversion is how curds turn out too soft to survive the poach. Convert rennet tablets to liquid rennet by milk volume and brand for an exact dose in seconds.

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