Cottage cheese has made a surprising comeback recently, and suddenly it’s appearing in everyone’s grocery basket again. It’s likely because of the obsession with eating more protein, but cottage cheese is actually super versatile and delicious in its own right. As someone who never jumped off the cottage cheese train, I’ve been using it in different ways since childhood. It’s creamy but tangy, feels rich and light at the same time, and it can go in both sweet and savory applications. You can get it in smooth or chunky curds. What’s not to love?
As a food business owner, I use it in both my personal and professional life. It’s great on toast, crackers, eggs, and even just straight out of the tub, topped with honey. It’s also a really great ingredient to bake with, and I use it in numerous of my gourmet desserts. When clients wonder why their dessert order tastes so fresh and light, it’s usually because I snuck in some cottage cheese instead of other dairy products. In many of the trendy cottage cheese recipes I see online, it’s used mostly as a topping, the way you would use most cheeses. However, there are so many other uses for it that it would be a shame to stop there. Here are some unexpected ways to use cottage cheese as an ingredient.
Read more: These 10 Canned Foods Are Healthier Than You Think
Use it in pancake batter
Fluffy pancakes assembled on a white plate – adrianapirvu/Shutterstock
Perhaps one of my favorite uses for cottage cheese is in pancake batter. It’s such an interesting ingredient as it melts slightly, but not completely, the way other cheeses do. This results in crispy edges that you usually want to see in your pancakes. Plus, the center stays fluffy and moist. There are various ways to add cottage cheese to your pancake batter, but in general, I find that it’s best to use a smooth cottage cheese, or one where the curds are on the smaller side. This helps it incorporate better without having lumpy pancakes. Of course, if you can only find chunky cottage cheese, then blitzing it in a blender for a few seconds will make it relatively smooth and easier to work with.
In my experience, you can use your regular pancake recipe and use cottage cheese in place of milk or buttermilk, and it always turns out great. Still, if you’re on a health kick or you are eating gluten-free, you can make protein-packed pancakes using just three ingredients. Mix up rolled oats, eggs, and cottage cheese to get fluffy pancakes with delightfully crispy edges. All that’s left is to add your toppings of choice. Keep it simple with maple syrup, or add some yogurt and fruit to keep it light, fresh, and filling.
Sneak it into some brownies
Top view of a tray of brownies cut into squares – Yuphayao Phankhamkerd/Getty Images
In my opinion, it’s never a bad time to make brownies; the only debate is whether you want to add chocolate chips, marshmallows, nuts, or flaky salt. They are one of the most forgiving things to bake for novices because all kinds of brownie textures work, from gooey to cakey to fudgy. You can play around with different ingredients without major risk. Nowadays, you can find recipes online to make brownies a little lighter by using nut butters, bananas, chickpeas, dates, and yes, cottage cheese. Cottage cheese works great in brownies because it adds heaps of flavor and richness without tasting like cheese.
It also results in brownies that are light and packed with protein, ultimately making each bite more nutritious and satisfying. The best part is that I’ve found that you can incorporate cottage cheese into most brownie recipes. Just add it to your wet ingredients, then mix, and combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. It works well, whether you’re just adding it or you’re substituting it for butter. Still, you’ll get the best results with smooth or whipped cottage cheese so that everything can blend together without whole curds poking out of the brownies.
Make flatbread with it
A stack of cottage cheese flatbreads – Max_555/Shutterstock
I like to keep cottage cheese on hand for making quick flatbreads, because it’s the easiest lunch option when I’ve run out of bread during the week. The fact that cottage cheese crisps up when heated means that I can get a nice golden brown color and crispy edges when I cook the flatbreads in a pan, and the cottage cheese also keeps the bread moist and fluffy, which is especially necessary since I’m not adding yeast.
You may have also seen the viral two-ingredient cottage cheese “flatbreads” that contain no flour at all, and are made with just eggs and cottage cheese. Having tried it, I can attest that this technique yields one of the tastiest results I’ve had with a no-carb “bread” recipe. Its crispy edges and fluffy center make it appetizing, and it certainly works better than cauliflower or lentil “bread” recipes I’ve tried. It’s also extra handy for making bread for my gluten-free loved ones, and it comes together in just minutes. Topping the flatbreads with the right seasonings or some seeds also helps give them more of a bread-like feel. These are delicious with some avocado or hummus on top, or whatever toast toppings you’d usually eat.
Mix into egg salad
A close up of an egg salad sandwich on some brown paper – Tylim/Getty Images
Egg salad is another great meal to throw cottage cheese in. Texturally, egg salad and chunky cottage cheese are pretty similar, and I actually think nice big curds make egg salad even more interesting to eat. Egg salad is also something that can get boring if you’re always making the same classic recipe. Sure, it’s classic for a reason, but I find that using cottage cheese instead of mayonnaise gives you more opportunity for flavor.
Usually, you’d need to add some mustard to cottage cheese to give it a similar flavor to mayo, but that’s just the start. Then, you can add paprika, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. This makes a creamy and flavorful concoction that actually tastes even better than mayonnaise, in my opinion. Plus, it’s much lighter, so you won’t feel that greasy heaviness that you usually feel after eating a mayo egg salad.
The last thing I do before adding my cottage cheese mixture to my boiled eggs is add a small splash of pickle juice. This loosens it up a little and adds a bit of an acidic, pickle-like flavor, which will bring everything together in the egg salad. Don’t forget to add the pickles, too, of course! Then, spread your cottage cheese egg salad on some crusty bread, and you’ll likely never go back to using mayo in your egg salad again.
Soak it with overnight oats
A glass jar of overnight oats topped with blueberries and lemon zest – Anamomarques/Getty Images
Having recently tried to eat more protein-filled breakfasts, cottage cheese has even come in handy in overnight oats. I’m someone who struggles to eat breakfast in general, and the thought of cooking eggs or other savory, hot breakfasts felt too daunting. However, overnight oats are something I can make the night before, in large batches, and I don’t even need to think about it when I serve some up for myself in the morning. Cottage cheese makes it possible for me to still enjoy some overnight oats, but with a boost of extra protein.
It’s an easy add-in because it’s just replacing or adding onto the dairy you’d usually use. The flavors make perfect sense as you’re still getting creamy oats, but the little bit of sharpness that cottage cheese has makes it even more appetizing, and when mixed with some blueberries, strawberries, or fruit of any kind, really, it becomes a super delicious and fresh-tasting breakfast that’s meeting my nutritional needs but without any fuss whatsoever. You can use smooth or chunky cottage cheese, too, since overnight oats can involve a range of textures. It couldn’t be easier.
Bake it into rugelach
Close up of some chocolate rugelach pastries – SamK Photos/Shutterstock
If you’re not intimately familiar with rugelach, it may seem surprising to add cottage cheese to these iconic Jewish crescent-shaped cookies/pastries. In truth, it actually makes perfect sense. Rugelach is sometimes baked with cream cheese, giving it its delightfully tangy taste and adding moisture while making the dough easier to roll. Cottage cheese becomes a very easy thing to replace cream cheese with, and it works just the same. Cottage cheese will help give you rugelach that’s just as tender and flaky, and the cottage cheese has a nice little tang to it, too.
Using smooth or blended cottage cheese will make your life much easier. If you’re using butter, cream the cottage cheese and butter together before mixing it with the flour. Then, proceed as usual with the rugelach recipe. You’ll find that cottage cheese makes your rugelach even lighter than cream cheese, and gives it a unique twist.
Add it to pizza crust
A cauliflower crust cheese pizza – Drong/Getty Images
One of the reasons that cottage cheese works so well in baked goods of all kinds is because of its ability to crisp up, turn golden brown, and give us a satisfying bite. So it should come as no surprise that it would work a treat in pizza crust, too. If you’re looking for a low-carb solution to pizza crust, look no further. Cottage cheese tastes neutral enough not to steal the spotlight from the cheese topping on your pizza, while still providing you with a crispy base to work with. It also increases the pizza’s protein content, which is amazing news for pizza lovers who want something with a protein-forward nutritional profile.
Even if you’re not looking for high protein in your pizza crust, you may be looking for a gluten-free version. I can attest to the fact that a cottage cheese pizza base is tastier than a cauliflower base, and it’s way less labor-intensive, too. You could also try the Tattooed Chef’s new cottage cheese crust frozen pizza, which we think is better than the others on the market.
Use it for no-bake cheesecake
A slice of white cheesecake topped with berries – Arx0nt/Getty Images
Using cottage cheese in cheesecake has been one of my specialties for years, and my clients always rave about my cheesecake. I don’t keep it a secret, and I’m always happy to spill the beans: The only thing I do differently is use cottage cheese. It makes your cheese mixture incredibly light and tangy, exactly how you want a cheesecake to taste. In my experience, cottage cheese shines the most in no-bake cheesecake. It feels incredibly creamy yet isn’t heavy, and the texture is airy. Plus, it works with any flavor, whether you’re going fruity, chocolatey, or keeping it plain.
The thing to keep in mind is that cottage cheese might take a little longer to set in the fridge than a thicker cream cheese might. Either leave it to set overnight, or incorporate some gelatin into the cheese mix. It’s going to be hard to resist having some before it’s properly set, but trust me, it’s worth the wait. Since it’s a no-bake cheesecake, you don’t need to use eggs, so I always keep a little bit of cheese batter on the side to eat while waiting for the cake to set.
Make the fluffiest dinner rolls
A tray of golden dinner rolls – Alleko/Getty Images
One of the first recipes I tried out when I started baking was soft dinner rolls. My aunt promised me they were the easiest thing to bake for a beginner, and somehow I still ended up screwing them up. Yeasted bread is a delicate process, no matter how simple the recipe may be, and dinner rolls can end up being too dry and tough if you take a misstep. Thankfully, this is where cottage cheese comes in. Adding cottage cheese to my regular dinner roll recipe ensures that they come out moist and fluffy every time.
Cottage cheese adds softness to the rolls, plus richness for a tastier bread. It also makes the dough easier to knead and work with, so if you truly are a beginner baker, then cottage cheese can really help you out. Plus, a little extra protein in bread rolls doesn’t hurt either! Use creamed cottage cheese and add it to your wet ingredients. Then add your flour and other dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix in just a little at a time until everything comes together into a dough.
Blend it into smoothies
Hands pouring a berry smoothie out of a blender into a glass – Miniseries/Getty Images
Adding cottage cheese to smoothies may seem like a very obvious thing to do, yet most people are still perturbed when I suggest it. Nobody would bat an eyelid at adding yogurt to a smoothie, but people seem to think you can’t do the same with cottage cheese. But cottage cheese isn’t inherently a savory ingredient. It’s a pretty mild-tasting white cheese that works just as well as yogurt in a smoothie. You can mix it into a banana and peanut butter smoothie, or into your tropical fruit smoothie, and the result will be a creamy, fresh, and rich blend that will keep you satiated for a long time.
People go to great lengths to increase their protein intake, even adding raw eggs or cooked chicken breast to smoothies. Instead, cottage cheese offers you protein and deliciousness, with a neutral taste that goes well with just about anything. Plus, since you’re blending everything up anyway, there’s no worry about using chunky or smooth cottage cheese; just throw some in and whizz up until smooth and creamy.
Add it in some pastelitos de guayaba
A tray of baked guava pastelitos cut into strips – tome213/Shutterstock
If you’ve ever had the privilege of tasting some pastelitos de guayaba (guava pastelitos) con queso, you’ve probably been dying to have it again. Thankfully, these Cuban pastries are pretty easy to make if you use some store-bought puff pastry. Although they’re usually made with cream cheese, cottage cheese makes for a really handy substitute. It’s creamy enough to resemble the traditional pastry, but cottage cheese gives you a bit of a lighter bite, with a bit more sharpness than plain cream cheese. This goes really well with the sweetness of the guava paste; in fact, I think it really makes the guava flavor pop even more.
You can use either creamed or chunky cottage cheese, since it won’t make a huge difference in the cooked pastry. Since cottage cheese is so similar to cream cheese, you can proceed as you usually would by spreading some of it onto the raw puff pastry, then topping that with some guava paste. Cover with the top layer of puff pastry and bake until golden and flaky.
Bake it into cookies
A pile of cottage cheese cookies on a wooden board – Joanna Durczok/Shutterstock
You may have heard of cottage cheese cookie dough, but you can actually take this a step further and bake cottage cheese-filled cookies, too. Cottage cheese brings richness and chewy softness into baked cookies, while also allowing a crispy exterior. It’s a wonder why there aren’t more people using cottage cheese in cookies, beyond health benefits.
You can use cottage cheese in your regular cookie recipe with flour and butter, or you can completely replace those two ingredients with cottage cheese for a gluten-free and protein-forward cookie. Similar to brownies, there’s a lot of room for experimenting, so you can play around with almond flour, chickpea flour, or even nut butter instead of wheat flour. For my gluten-free friends and clients, I like to use creamed cottage cheese, sugar, a flour substitute, peanut butter, and some chocolate chips. Roll into cookies and once baked, top with some flaky salt for a delightful crisp.
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