Are you as obsessed with cottage cheese as my family is? If so, here are the best cottage cheese recipes to keep in your arsenal.
My favorite ingredient these days is a surprising one – cottage cheese. I know cottage cheese can be a pretty divisive ingredient. Many either love it or hate it. Personally, I could always take it or leave it. Lately, though, I always take it.
Why? Well, it’s having a bit of a resurgence. We no longer have your 1980s cottage cheese options. The options are pretty much endless. It’s also really good for you. The protein, the healthy fat – is it the perfect food? It might be. But above all else, I’m really into cottage cheese lately because my kids like it. And if you have kids you know that when your kids like something that’s actually healthy, you go all in!
Over the last few years, I’ve basically put cottage cheese into anything and everything I can think of. Some of these have turned out great, some not so much. I’m sharing with you the best cottage cheese recipes I’ve tried. These are only the best of the best!
Best Cottage Cheese Recipes
Breakfast
When I was growing up, cottage cheese was most often used at breakfast. The classic Weight Watchers breakfast was a bowl of cottage cheese and some fruit, after all. And don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a simple bowl of cottage cheese with fruit. But we’ve kicked up the use of cottage cheese at breakfast a notch.
Cottage cheese bowls
Cottage cheese and fruit is delicious! But instead of plopping some cottage cheese in a bowl with some canned peaches in light syrup like we did in the 1980s, we’ve simply jazzed it up a bit and called it a cottage cheese bowl!
My favorite way to make a cottage cheese bowl is actually with whipped cottage cheese! Put your cottage cheese in a blender with a little vanilla and sweetener, then top your whipped concoction with fresh berries (or any other favorite fresh fruit) and some nuts and/or granola for crunch. It’s easy and good, y’all!
Eggs
Everyone knows that eggs are a great breakfast option. But if you really want to start your day off with a protein bomb, mixing some cottage cheese in with your eggs is a great idea.
Scrambled eggs
If you’re just making eggs for one or two, it’s easy enough to stir some cottage cheese into your scrambled eggs before you cook them. It’s really as easy as that!
Baked eggs
Baked eggs with cottage cheese might be my favorite recipe on this list. It’s the perfect big-batch breakfast. I make it for home consumption all the time and I’ve even made it to give a friend in need. Due to having small kids, I swap the pepper jack cheese listed in the recipe with sharp cheddar. It is absolutely delicious with cheddar if the pepper jack is scaring you a bit.
Muffins
Did you know that you can make muffins with cottage cheese? I didn’t either, until I tried to make Half Baked Harvest’s cottage cheese chocolate chip peanut butter banana muffins. They give off a sweet breakfast vibe but give you a hefty amount of protein to fill you up. If you’re a chocolate peanut butter fan, you have to try these!
Pasta
My kids are pasta fiends, so much of my experimentation with cottage cheese has come in the form of pasta dishes. The good news is that cottage cheese and pasta go together really well most of the time. Here are some of my family’s favorite ways that cottage cheese and pasta make dinner a happy time.
Skillet lasagna
My whole family loves lasagna any way they can get it. They would have lasagna every night if I let them. Because I know they like lasagna and will eat lasagna, I make lasagna a lot, but I try to mix it up so I don’t get sick and tired of eating lasagna. When I need to get lasagna on the table quickly, I make a skillet lasagna with cottage cheese. All the flavor of lasagna, all the protein of cottage cheese, and all able to be done on a weeknight!
Lasagna roll-ups
My kids’ favorite way to eat lasagna is undoubtedly lasagna roll-ups. You boil lasagna noodles, spread a cottage cheese-based filling on each noodle, and roll it up. Then cover with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese and bake. These take a few more minutes to make than skillet lasagna, but they’re still pretty doable on a modern mom’s schedule.
Stuffed shells
Lasagna’s cousin, stuffed shells, is also a fabulous way to get cottage cheese in at dinnertime. They can be finnicky, though, so I always save these for weekend nights.
Cottage cheese pasta
When you don’t have time to go through the rigamarole of any sort of stuffed pasta, you can still enjoy a delicious cottage cheese pasta by simply making a “cream” sauce using cottage cheese. I’ve done this both with a tomato-based sauce and a pesto-based sauce. Both are delicious!
Cacio e pepe
Cacio e pepe is my favorite type of pasta. The simple combination of cheese and pepper just can’t be beat, in my humble opinion. While I’m not suggesting that cacio e pepe made with cottage cheese is going to taste like authentic cacio e pepe that you’d get in Rome, it’s a pretty decent way to make a homemade cacio e pepe that packs a protein punch. This one is a cottage cheese dinner winner!
Polish noodles
When my parents were visiting over the holidays, my mom found a simple recipe for Polish noodles. She thought my kids would like it, I had all the ingredients, so we gave it a try. Polish noodles are essentially just noodles with cottage cheese and sour cream, so I was cautiously optimistic. Everyone gobbled them up! We’ve made them again since and the result was the same. This is a keeper!
Sour cream noodle bake
Do you miss old school casserole dishes? If so, you can’t miss this sour cream noodle bake from Pioneer Woman. It’s everything you miss about the comforting casserole dishes from your youth. This one reheats beautifully too, so it makes for an awesome weeknight lunch!
Other
Although breakfast and pasta are my go-to ways to use cottage cheese, there are a few other ways I use cottage cheese in my kitchen. Here are the best cottage cheese recipes worth making that don’t fit nicely into a category.
Queso
I don’t know about you, but I love a good queso dip and a nice lightly salty tortilla chip. Manna from heaven en Espanol. But even though it’s super delicious, queso isn’t exactly what anyone would call healthy. Use cottage cheese to make your queso, though, and you at least have a colorable argument.
Gnudi
The biggest surprise hit of this list has got to be cottage cheese gnudi. I had never heard of gnudi before until I did a search for non-pasta cottage cheese recipes. Pillowy, protein-packed dumplings swimming in marinara sauce could go either way, but I gave it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did and I implore you to give it a shot too! Gnudi might be my kids’ favorite dinner all year. Immediate add to the dinner rotation!
Other posts
Looking for more kitchen inspiration? These posts might help:
So, which one of the best cottage cheese recipes will you try first? Share what you’re making and tag me (@sarainseason) on Instagram!