Cottage cheese is one of those foods that people tend to love or hate. I have been a huge fan since first discovering its healthy diet food status back in the 1970s.
It is a great source of protein with about 14 grams in a 4 ounce serving and low in calories provided you choose a lowfat or nonfat variety. (You'll want to use non-fat cottage cheese if you are following Weight Watchers Simply Filling /no count program.)
Here are 15+ of my favorite ways to enjoy this classic diet food staple...
Easy + Healthy Ways To Enjoy Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is much more than a boring diet food. It can be enjoyed in so many ways - on its own, with fruit or salad, on toast, as a vintage Weight Watchers "Danish" and in a wide variety of both sweet and savory dishes.
How Do You Make Homemade Cottage Cheese?
As a lazy cook, I've never considered making cottage cheese myself. You can find it at most any grocery story. I'm sure the fresh homemade version tastes amazing.
So if you're curious here's a Quick Cottage Cheese Recipe from Alton Brown at the Food Network.
Are you put off by the texture of cottage cheese?
To give your cottage cheese a smooth consistency, give it a whirl in a food processor (affiliate link) or blender (affiliate link). Then it becomes a healthier alternative to sour cream in your favorite dip recipe or as a tasty topping for baked potatoes. This was a popular low fat alternative back in the "old days" before Greek yogurt came into vogue.
This smooth whipped cottage cheese is also delicious slathered on a bagel, or pancakes, with jam.
More Favorite Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese
#1 Serve it with fruit. One of my favorite ways to eat cottage cheese is with fruit. It's a match made it heaven.
I love it for both breakfast and lunch during the summer. Just about any fruit will work - fresh, canned in fruit juice, or frozen. Delicious options include:
- Sliced bananas
- Crushed pineapple or pineapple chunks
- Berries - blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or a combination
- Melon chunks or balls
- Fresh or canned peach slices
- Chunks of apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon
- Applesauce or apple butter
- Or get fancy and make this cottage cheese banana split.
Easy Healthy Breakfast Banana Split
#2 Mix it with nut butter. Stir a tablespoon of your favorite nut butter into a half cup of cottage cheese. Use it to stuff celery or spread on whole grain toast or crackers.
#3 Add it to smoothies. Blend it into your favorite fruit smoothie or green smoothie recipe for an extra boost of protein.
#4 Add it to pancake batter to make Cottage Cheese Pancakes, which are much higher in protein than regular ones, but taste just as delicious.
#5 Make muffins. Stir into muffin batter to make blueberry cheesecake muffins like Kristina did over at Love and Zest.
#6 Stir it into pasta. The cottage cheese gets warm and creamy and is especially good with lots of freshly ground pepper.
#7 Or use it instead of ricotta cheese in Lasagna, Baked Pasta with Zucchini and Cottage Cheese in Casserole Dish or Mom's Easy Baked Ziti.
#8 Or try this tasty low calorie Orzo with Cottage Cheese and Peas recipe:
Orzo with Cottage Cheese and Peas Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups low fat cottage cheese, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup minced scallions or chives
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- Black pepper to taste
- ½ pound orzo (rice shaped pasta)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook the orzo in plenty of boiling salted water until tender. While the orzo is cooking, place the peas in a colander in a the sink.
- While the water boils and orzo cooks, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the cottage cheese, salt, scallions, lemon zest, and black pepper. Mix until well combined.
- When the orzo is done, drain into the colander right onto the peas.
- Shake off the excess water and dump into the bowl with the cottage cheese mixture.
- Stir gently and sprinkle with grated parmesan.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
#9 Serve it on a baked potato with salsa. For an incredible quick, easy and healthy lunch or dinner, one of my favorite ways to eat cottage cheese I learned years ago from Weight Watchers.
#10 Spread it on toast. for a vintage Weigh Watchers "danish." I love cottage cheese spread on toasted raisin bread, then sprinkled with cinnamon and chopped walnuts. Or make this vintage "WW Danish".
#11 Spread it on thin slices of apple and sprinkle with cinnamon. Perfect for breakfast or a healthy after school snack.
#12 Add a spoonful while you're making scrambled eggs. It'll give you the cheesy flavor you crave with an extra dose of protein. Or try this light + healthy spinach and feta crustless quiche.
#13 Use cottage cheese as a substitute for sour cream. First buzz it in a blender (affiliate link) or food processor (affiliate link), with the tiniest bit of boiling water to make it make it creamy and then you can use it to make all kinds of skinny dips.
#14 Season it with your favorite spice blend. Lemon pepper, Mrs. Dash, Old Bay and Herbamare all work well. Spread on vegetables or whole grain crackers of stuff into celery or hollowed out tomatoes.
#15 Stir in some pesto with it. Then enjoy as a dip or spread for vegetables or crackers or stuffed into hollowed out cherry tomatoes.
# 16 Mix it with chopped vegetables or tuna or shrimp to make a salad. Makes another great dip or spread perfect with toasted whole grain bread, crackers, or vegetables.
A Simple Spread: Cottage Cheese with Olive Oil and Black Pepper
Food doesn't get much faster than this. This is best with large-curd cottage cheese, preferably organic. Put some on a plate, season with sea salt and coarse freshly ground black pepper, then drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil (affiliate link) over the top. Enjoy with whole grain bread or crackers.
*PersonalPoints® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
More WW Friendly Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese
- Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Cottage Cheese Recipes (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Baked Pasta with Zucchini and Cottage Cheese (Simple-Nourished-Living)
- Cottage Cheese Waffles (SnackGirl)
- Healthy Sour Cream Substitute (TheYummyLife)
- Tuna, Cottage Cheese & Avocado Salad (RecipeDiaries)
- 25 Uses of Cottage Cheese (Devour the Blog)
- Cheesy Guacamole (The National Dairy Council)
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Jenn
This was surprisingly good. I doubled the lemon zest and used Ted onion instead of scallions or chives.
maureen conner
I love it with mango or peaches but can't wait to try it in pancakes, Thanks for these ideas