The chhana roll is an indigenous, milk‐based sweet of the Indian subcontinent that is sold at cottage scale without any packaging. It is prepared from chhana, an intermediate product obtained from heat and acid coagulation of milk. In order to enhance its shelf life, the product was processed in a retort pouch using a stationary retort. Product optimization was carried out through response surface methodology using two variables, i.e., level of nisin (0.00–692 IU/g) and process time (15–25 min). The Fo varied from 4.48 to 12.04 min. The lag period for the heating curve, jh (0.82–0.96), heating rate index, fh (8.5–13.9 min) and the lag factor for the cooling curve, jc (0.83–1.77) implied a conductive heating regime. The total process time (B′) ranged from 13.94 to 28.13 min. The process time of 15 min and nisin concentration of 118.73 IU/g resulted in a shelf life of 90 days at 37C. Practical Applications The chhana roll is an indigenous, milk‐based sweet of Indian subcontinent. It is sold at cottage scale without any packaging. There is no large‐scale process to manufacture this product, which could result in its commercialization. However, it is also very susceptible to microbial spoilage due to unhygienic conditions adopted during its manufacture, handling and its poor packaging. Hence, with a view to improve the shelf life of the chhana roll, it was subjected to thermal sterilization in combination with a biopreservative. This study could be useful as it aims at developing a large‐scale retort‐based process for production of the channa roll with a commercially useful shelf life under ambient conditions.