1 week Ago By [email protected] (Jay Wilson)
Cottage cheese has an undeservingly bad reputation. In recent years, more and more people have come around to this cheese's potential as a high-protein snack that goes well with loads of different foods — but unfortunately, a lot of folks are still put off by cottage cheese's inconsistent texture and occasionally bland taste. Well, look, we're not gonna argue that it can feel slightly more challenging than other, smoother cheese products.
However, cottage cheese is a food that's full of untapped potential, and it can be upgraded in a load of different ways to make it even tastier and change up its texture. One of the most surprising things you can do with cottage cheese is turn it from its lumpy, bumpy state to a food that resembles bread or crackers. Flatbreads, chips, and pancakes can all be made from this cheese, often without many (or any) additional ingredients.
Cottage cheese can also be amped up with some unexpected additions that bring out its creamy notes while also balancing them with some inspired contrast. Whether you prefer sweet or savory tastes, we've got the upgrades for you for this maligned food. 1.
Mix in some spices Cottage cheese has a neutral flavor, and that flavor is practically begging you to introduce a little excitement to it. In our opinion, one of the best ways to do this is by adding spices. Cottage cheese goes well with spices in much the same way that paneer does: the piquant, musky flavors and scents of whichever spices you're adding serve to add depth to the cheese, while its inherently creamy flavor stops them from overpowering everything.
You can add almost any spice you like to cottage cheese, but we prefer to reach for something a little different. Chaat masala is our go-to here. This sour, spicy, slightly bitter mix includes ingredients like tamarind, green mango, and ginger powder, which offset the more savory-leaning and fragrant notes of cumin and coriander.
The addition of kala namak, or Himalayan black salt, gives chaat masala a funky note that works well to deepen the flavor of your cheese. If you want something a little warmer for your cottage cheese, try using garam masala, a blend of roasted spices which is typically added to curry dishes towards the end of the cooking process. 2.
Turn it into a flatbread We're willing to bet you didn't know that a pot of cottage cheese sitting in the refrigerator could be turned into bread. Well, folks, it can — and it's surprisingly delicious. You can make cottage cheese flatbread with just two ingredients : the cheese itself, and some eggs.
Beat the two together, press the mixture into a nonstick baking pan (making sure not to make it too thick), and bake until cooked through. What you'll be left with is a pliable, springy flatbread replacement that you can use in loads of different ways. By piling some cooked ground beef and a few sliced vegetables into it and wrapping it up, you can make a high-protein, low-carb lunch that'll keep you full for hours.
Alternatively, slice it up into planks or wedges, and then use it instead of chips as a vehicle for dip. You can even make a pizza from your cottage cheese flatbread, by piling your favorite toppings on and putting it under the broiler until everything's melted and slightly charred. Crucially, your cottage cheese flatbread will never get as crispy as you'd probably like, but it'll retain a bouncy springiness that's oddly satisfying.
3. Add some apple butter There are some cottage cheese upgrades out there that are pretty well-kept secrets, and this 2-ingredient Pennsylvanian cottage cheese snack is one of them. In Pennsylvania, cottage cheese is often referred to as "smearcase," its Pennsylvania Dutch name that comes from the German word "schmierkäse," which refers to a spreadable cheese.
Apple butter is typically mixed into the cheese, which gives it a smoother texture and a bright tartness from the apple flavor. The apple butter in this combination also sweetens the cottage cheese considerably, without making it overly sugary. If the apple butter recipe you're using has spices, these also add an intoxicating fragrance and additional depth.
Importantly, too, while apple butter has the word "butter" in it, this doesn't mean that it's going to make your cottage cheese greasy. You can make apple butter without any fat whatsoever, and as you cook it down it'll develop a smooth, soft, spreadable consistency. Once you've mixed it with your cottage cheese, you can then use it as a dip, spread it onto toast, or just spoon it straight from the container.
4. Sprinkle over some crushed potato chips We're all about contrast, people — and contrasts don't come much better than this. Next time you rip open a pot of cottage cheese, take a moment to crush up some potato chips and scatter them on top.
With this simple move you get a taste explosion you never knew you needed: The salty, greasy, sharp flavor of your potato chips will contrast effortlessly with the creamy, rich notes of the cheese. Naturally, too, the crunchy texture of the chips will offset the slightly squeaky nature of the cottage cheese curds, and when they're crumbled small enough the two will meld together seamlessly. The best thing about this cottage cheese upgrade is that the cheese itself goes with pretty much any chip flavor you like.
If you want something a little more smoky and sweet, BBQ chips are the perfect choice. On the other hand, if you want to lean into that cheesy note even more, opt for cheese-flavored chips or a sour cream and onion option. If you don't have the energy to crush up your chips (hey, we feel you, we've had long days too), just use your cottage cheese as a dip and dunk them right in.
Heaven. 5. Transform it into another cheese We're honored to be the ones to break this to you: Cottage cheese doesn't have to keep its original consistency.
Some people just can't get down with the lumpy texture of this cheese, and you know what, we get it. So next time you have a tub of cottage cheese that you want to use, but don't know how, simply turn it into another cheese. All you have to do is tip your tub of cottage cheese into a food processor and pulse it until it's creamy and rich.
Voila! You have a ricotta or cream cheese replacement, which is pretty much imperceptible from the real thing. Turning cottage cheese into ricotta or cream cheese can be a great move for folks who are trying to reduce their overall fat intake. Cottage cheese is generally lower in fat and higher in protein than a lot of other cheeses, but it can still add creaminess to your dishes when processed.
Try adding it to a homemade Alfredo sauce or a lasagna, where it'll provide richness without feeling too heavy. Or, spread it onto some thickly-sliced sourdough toast and crown it with a few slices of tomato, a sprinkle of sea salt, and a scrunch of black pepper. 6.
Make chips out of your cottage cheese We're a big fan of chips whatever they've made out of — even cottage cheese. You can turn your cheese into chips without having to add any other ingredients to them, and with virtually no effort. All you need to do is take a tub of small-curd cottage cheese, pull out individual scoops, and pop them on a lined baking sheet.
Flatten the scoops down (lightly crushing the cottage cheese curds in the process), and then bake them for around 40 to 50 minutes, checking them halfway through. When they're done, you should be left with crunchy cottage cheese chips that have browned around their edges. Before they cool, make sure to season them well: You can use whatever seasoning blend you like here, but honestly, a little bit of salt and pepper is more than sufficient.
Then, enjoy them however you want. They're awesome on their own as a high-protein, low-carb snack, or you can plunge them into creamy homemade hummus or salsa. Bear in mind that they'll lose their crunch if you refrigerate them for later use, so we'd eat them as quickly as possible.
7. Mix in some chopped fresh herbs If your cottage cheese needs a quick lift, a hit of herbs is the speediest way to do it. The bright, verdant notes of fresh herbs work well to add some zip to creamy cottage cheese, and help to stop it tasting too cloying.
They also work very well with the ever-so-slight sourness that cottage cheese can have, with that tart note helping to brighten the herbal notes. You can add any herb you like to cottage cheese, but we think it's way more interesting to avoid the obvious options like chives and parsley, and go for something a little more exciting. Sage, for example, may not seem like the best choice, but its warmth and deep fragrance serve to make the cheese so much more well-rounded — and it's a natural fit with dairy, as anyone who's tried a sage and brown butter pasta sauce will attest to.
Try crisping up some leaves in some butter or oil and then pouring the combo into your cottage cheese. If you want something a bit more anise-tinged, try trimming some dill leaves and mixing them through. Dill will give your cheese a different type of warmth, and a licorice note that adds complexity.
8. Turn it into a dip for crudités and chips We love a dip with a difference — and that's exactly what cottage cheese gives you. This cheese is the perfect choice for folks who want a creamy texture, without having to resort to a dip that's overly fatty and lacking in any protein whatsoever.
The ace up cottage cheese's sleeve is that it can be processed down into a smooth, whipped consistency. Once you've done that, you can add loads of different flavors to customize it to your tastes. For a quick crowd pleaser, try making a garlic and herb whipped cottage cheese dip by blending your cheese with some fresh basil leaves, a small clove of raw garlic, and a spritz of lemon juice.
Or, throw some sundried tomatoes and jalapeños into your processor to give your cottage cheese dip a spicy umami kick. Plus, don't forget that you can cook your cottage cheese once it's whipped, to make a warm dip that's a perfect potluck dish. Pour whipped cottage cheese into a casserole dish, and then mix it with chopped spinach and bell pepper.
Top it with shredded cheese, and bake until it's browned and bubbling. 9. A drizzle of olive oil makes all the difference You wanna know the quickest way to make cottage cheese better? It just takes a bit of oil.
Olive oil has a peppery smoothness that makes cottage cheese taste luxurious, fancy, and layered. Many cottage cheeses out there have a good amount of fat, but the dairy notes of it don't provide any contrast, and instead can make the whole thing taste cloying. Conversely, olive oil gives cottage cheese a freshness you didn't know it needed.
If you want to keep things simple, drizzle a touch of olive oil over your bowl of cheese, and then add some sea salt and black pepper. Your mind will be blown by how effective the combo is. If, however, you want a little more excitement in your life (and who doesn't), reach for an infused olive oil.
Chili-infused olive oil can give a little heat to cottage cheese while also adding a smoothness, which stops the fiery flavors from getting too intense. Garlic-infused olive oil will add an intoxicating scent and a deeply fragrant taste that goes well with plain cracker. If you want to live like a millionaire, go all-out and dash some truffle oil over your cottage cheese.
Trust us: You'll never look back. 10. Add in your favorite hot sauce Cottage cheese is relentlessly creamy, and that might suit some people just fine — but for us, it can be just a bit too much.
You need something to cut through all this richness, and give it a contrast that comes not just from heat, but from sourness. Hot sauce can do just that. A few shakes of your favorite sauce can give cottage cheese a new lease of life, infusing it with an acidity that it desperately needs, and adding a punch of spice that lifts the whole thing up.
Crucially, the smooth notes of the cottage cheese will stop the hot sauce from overpowering things, mellowing it out nicely. As for what hot sauce to pick ..
. Well, you can't really go wrong here. Just go with your favorite.
If you want something a bit more garlic-heavy and sweet, drizzle some sriracha over your cottage cheese. For sourness, go for Cholula, with its vinegary notes cutting through the cheese well. Frank's, Tabasco, and Picamas are all great options too — but honestly, just pick the one you like the most, and you'll be rewarded.
11. Make it into some high-protein pancakes One of our favorite things about an ingredient like cottage cheese is that it can be turned into so many different things — like pancakes. Cottage cheese can form the base of traditional Ukranian pancakes called sirniki (also known as syrniki).
These pancakes are typically made from a farmer's curd cheese known as twaróg, but cottage cheese works just fine with them too. You begin by grinding or blending your cheese down into a paste, before combining it with egg, sugar, flour, vinegar, and baking soda. Once you form your pancakes into small discs, you then fry them in some oil until they're browned and bouncy.
Sirniki are kind of a cross between pancakes and bread, and they have a chewy, rich, creamy texture that's honestly exceptional. If you want something a little more pancake-like, though, you can make a simplified version with cottage cheese, oats, and eggs. Blend the three together, spoon the mixture into a hot frying pan, and cook on both sides until they look just like regular pancakes.
Then, pile them onto a plate, drizzle them with maple syrup, and enjoy a high-protein breakfast with a twist. 12. Add an unexpected combo of pineapple and black pepper Anything that combines sweetness and spice is a winner in our book, but this flavor duo can often be a little bit intense without something balancing it.
Well, that something can be cottage cheese, people — and two ingredients can turn it into something special. Next time you eat cottage cheese, mix in some chunked-up pineapple, and then add a pinch of freshly ground black pepper. If you want to amp things up even further, you can also throw in a few dashes of smoked paprika.
Sounds kinda weird, right? We'll explain. The pineapple here adds a bright, floral, tropical sweetness which cuts through the rich cottage cheese. The pepper, meanwhile, adds a layer to this duo which intensifies everything and infuses it with a piquancy that works well with the pineapple's sweeter notes and acidity.
If you opt to add some smoked paprika, that works as a kind of backing track for the whole experience, and creates (as you might expect) a smokiness that rounds out the flavor. Trust us on this one: Your cottage cheese will never be the same. 13.
Mix it with feta Sometimes, to make a cheese the best it can be, you need ...
Another cheese. The idea of creating a cheese blend isn't a new innovation, but when it comes to combining slightly wetter versions (like cottage cheese) it's a little less uncommon. However, cottage cheese has found its perfect partner in feta, and combining the two can make the former way more interesting and the latter way less intense.
Feta has a briny, salty intensity to it that works best either in small doses, or when it's contrasted by something else. Cottage cheese provides that exact contrast, helping to take the bite out of especially sharp fetas. Meanwhile, the powerful flavor of feta helps to slightly elevate the cottage cheese, bringing its tart underside to the fore and rounding out its smoothness.
Plus, one of the best things about combining feta and cottage cheese is how simple it is. Feta breaks down into small crumbles easily, and you can just mix it through the cottage cheese; their slightly squidgy textures work perfectly together. Or, if you want things to be a bit smoother, blend the two into a dip.
Top it with some sliced olives and a dash of olive oil, and you're good to go. 14. Blend it into a smoothie We're all about sneaking ingredients into a smoothie that add flavor, texture, and nutrition all at the same time, and cottage cheese is a particularly slept-on ingredient .
Cottage cheese adds a rich creaminess to smoothies that you don't quite get with regular milk, as well as an enviable thickness. Its neutral, dairy-forward flavor goes with basically any other ingredient, and when you blend it sufficiently there's virtually no lumpiness. Oh, and it can boost your smoothie's protein content enormously, and do so without raising its fat levels too much.
What's not to like? If you're worried about ending up with a chunky smoothie, you can always begin by pulsing your cottage cheese first, before adding in your other ingredients. Make sure you use small-curd cottage cheese, too, so that you don't have to blend it for hours. If you find that your cottage cheese smoothie ends up a bit too thick, just thin it out with a little milk or some water.
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