Labneh with Za'atar and Olive Oil
Yogurt salted and hung until the whey drips out on its own — a spread somewhere between yogurt and cheese, made without turning on the stove.
- Serves
- 6
- Prep
- 10 min (plus 24 hr draining)
- Cook
- 0 min
- Written
Method
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Stir the salt into the yogurt until it’s fully dissolved.
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Line a colander with a few layers of cheesecloth and set it over a bowl deep enough to keep the base clear of the liquid that collects.
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Scrape the yogurt into the lined colander, gather the edges of the cloth over the top, and refrigerate.
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Let drain, checking after 24 hours, until the yogurt has shrunk by about half and holds a clean edge when you drag a spoon through it — up to 48 hours for a firmer, cheese-like spread.
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Unwrap and discard the whey that’s collected in the bowl, then scrape the labneh into a shallow serving dish.
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Swirl the surface with the back of a spoon, dimpling it, and pour the olive oil into the dimples.
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Scatter the za’atar and flaky salt over the top.
Notes
The salt is doing the work, not the fridge — it draws water out of the yogurt by osmosis, and the cheesecloth just gives that water somewhere to go. Use whole-milk yogurt with nothing added to stabilize it; the low-fat and gelatin-thickened kinds hold onto their whey and never drain past a loose paste.
Twenty-four hours gets a soft, spreadable curd; go the full 48 if you want something firm enough to roll into balls and store under oil. Either way it keeps a week in the fridge, and the drained whey isn’t waste — it’s good in a smoothie or in place of buttermilk in the pancake batter.