50 Healthy and Filling Cottage Cheese Recipes for Weight Loss (2024)

Cottage cheese is often a star ingredient in low calorie diets, and is popular among athletes and those trying to lose weight. High in protein, with a low calorie and low carb count, cottage cheese is working its way into delicious and filling recipes that are great for weight loss. If you’re wondering what healthy cottage cheese recipes look like, you’re in for a treat! Check out our favourite recipes, along with the health benefits and ways to cook cottage cheese.

4 Health Benefits of Cottage Cheese

1. Weight Loss
If you’re looking to lose weight, cottage cheese is a great food to add to your diet. High in protein and low in calories, it’s an ideal ingredient for your favourite meals. The protein helps increase feelings of fullness, which can lead to a reduced calorie intake and weight loss. Cottage cheese also contains a good amount of dietary calcium, which has been associated with metabolic processes that reduce fat accumulation and speed up fat loss.

2. High in Protein
Cottage cheese is rich in protein, with a low calorie count. Cottage cheese is made up mostly of casein protein, rather than whey protein, meaning it moves through your digestive system slowly, making you feel full for longer. This makes you less likely to overeat, and more likely to curb your cravings. It’s an excellent post-workout food as protein helps repair, recover and build more muscle, as well as prevent muscle breakdown.

3. Good for Your Digestive System
Cultured cottage cheese (either homemade or store-bought) is a good source of probiotics since it’s rich in good bacteria and chock full of active cultures like L.acidophilus and B.bifidum. These cultures are great for your gut health and digestive system. Cottage cheese also has a good amount of phosphorous, which helps with digestion, as well as magnesium, which can help prevent constipation.

4. Promotes Strong Bones
Cottage cheese contains phosphorus and calcium, which are both important for bone building. Calcium makes your bones dense and strong, and phosphorus helps the creation of hydroxyapatite, which is a structural component of bone tissue. Its high protein content also supports bone health by boosting bone mineral density.

5 Ways to Cook with Cottage Cheese

1. Add It Into Your Lasagna
Make a healthier lasagna by using cottage cheese in combination with ricotta cheese in your lasagna. While most lasagna recipes call for ricotta, using 50/50 split of cottage cheese and ricotta ensures less fat and calories. Note that it will add a bit more liquid, so slightly reduce the amount of sauce you use.

2. Add It To Dips
From guacamole to spinach dip, ranch dip, salsa, and more, there are plenty of ways to use cottage cheese in your favourite dips. It works great in rich, savoury dips, or any dips that typically use mayonnaise or sour cream. Cottage cheese is a low calorie way to enjoy dips without guilt!

3. Make Pancakes and Crepes
Cottage cheese is a great base for protein-packed pancakes. They’re ideal for both savoury and sweet palates, and you can easily add flavour with anything from fruits to herbs, spices, nut butters, or whatever you feel like! You can also use it to fill savoury or sweet crepes. It adds the perfect creaminess and will satisfy you throughout the morning.

4. Spread It On Toast
Cottage cheese is an amazing thing to spread on toast, in the place of avocados or peanut butter. High in protein and calcium, spread 1-2 tablespoons of cottage cheese on top of whole grain bread and top it with ingredients like fruit and honey.

5. Baked Goods
Cottage cheese is an excellent addition to baked goods, whether you’re making cheesecake, cookies, scones or rolls. Cottage cheese is ideal for baking as it creates more moisture and lightness, ensuring your baked goods are less dense than if you cooked with cream cheese. Many recipes will ask you to puree the cottage cheese and stir it into a dough or batter, replacing some or all of the dairy liquid content, such as milk, sour cream or yogurt.

50 Cottage Cheese Recipes Worth Trying

10 Cottage Cheese Breakfast Recipes

1. Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl | The Worktop
2. Egg and Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl | Eggs
3. Creamy Cottage Cheese Scrambled Eggs | All Recipes
4. Strawberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats | Skinny Fitalicious
5. High Protein Gluten Free Pancakes | A Mind Full Mom
6. Cottage Cheese and Tomato on Baguette | I Will Not Eat Oysters
7. Crustless Quiche with Cottage Cheese and Herbs | Simply Playful Fare
8. Avocado Toast with Cottage Cheese and Tomatoes | The Lemon Bowl
9. Cottage Cheese Oatmeal | Eating Bird Food
10. Cottage Cheese Omelet Muffins | Slender Kitchen

10 Cottage Cheese Lunch Recipes

1. Sweet Potato Fajita Cottage Cheese Bowls | One Sweet Mess
2. Green Power Protein Salad | Bound By Food
3. Guacamole Tostadas | The Weary Chef
4. California Cottage Cheese Bowl | The Skinny Fork
5. Waldorf Salad with Cottage Cheese | April Golightly
6. Cottage Cheese Egg Salad | This Unmillennial Life
7. Simple Cottage Cheese Sandwich | Foodie Crush
8. Cottage Cheese Salad | Eating Well
9. Herby Cottage Cheese and Smoked Salmon | Healthy Food Guide
10. Cottage Cheese Tuna Salad | Kim’s Cravings

10 Cottage Cheese Dinner Recipes

10 Cottage Cheese Snack Recipes

10 Cottage Cheese Dessert Recipes

1. Strawberry Cottage Cheese Cake | My Zucchini Recipes
2. Double Chocolate Cottage Cheese Cookies | Skinny Fitalicious
3. Healthy Cheesecake | The Pancake Princess
4. Strawberry Raspberry Cream Pops | A Cedar Spoon
5. Light Cheesecake Cupcakes | Maria Ushakova
6. Pecan Cheesecake Pudding | Self
7. Strawberry Cottage Cheese Mini Muffins | The Breakfast Drama Queen
8. Butter Crunch Lemon-Cheese Bars | My Recipes
9. Cottage Cheese Fluff | All Recipes
10. Chocolate Cottage Cheese | Food.com

Cottage cheese has plenty of health benefits from aiding weight loss to improving gut health. Add it to your diet and try these recipes today!

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50 Healthy and Filling Cottage Cheese Recipes for Weight Loss (2024)

FAQs

Is cottage cheese good for losing belly fat? ›

When talking of what foods help burn belly fat, cottage cheese is one that has weight loss properties. Cottage cheese is rich in protein which can improve metabolism and prevent weight gain. It is also low in calories while being packed with calcium, vitamins B, selenium, and phosphorus.

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How much cottage cheese should I eat a day to lose weight? ›

That said, up to 3 servings (equivalent to 300 grams) of cottage cheese is a good amount to support weight loss, along with other healthy foods in your diet.

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Is it okay to eat cottage cheese every day? ›

This fad diet provides quick weight loss by using cottage cheese as the basis for your meals. While it is safe for most people to eat cottage cheese every day, it should not be consumed to the extent that you exclude other food groups. Also, some types of cottage cheese contain high amounts of sodium and/or sugar.

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What is the best thing to mix with cottage cheese? ›

SWEET

Fresh fruit. Try chopped peaches, plums or pineapple (or add your favorites). Berries. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc!
Jam and toasted nuts.
Granola and honey. Or Granola and maple syrup.
Dried fruit. Try apricots or cranberries.
Chocolate. Chips, chunks or shavings!

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Which is better for weight loss cottage cheese or yogurt? ›

Both boast impressive numbers that make them an excellent choice for a low-calorie, high-protein, and low-sugar breakfast or snack. Cottage cheese does have a slight advantage in terms of a little less sugar while the yogurt has slightly more protein per cup (22 grams for the yogurt and 19 grams for the cottage cheese.

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What is the healthiest cottage cheese to eat? ›

Cornucopia's research findings show that the best choice is always USDA certified organic cottage cheese, which consists almost entirely of the wholesome, highly nutritious ingredient from which it was derived: organic milk.

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Is it better to eat cottage cheese in the morning or at night? ›

For this reason, consuming it before bed has been shown to increase metabolism and muscle synthesis overnight without affecting the breakdown of fats ( 17 ). Due to the slow absorption of casein, some bodybuilders like to eat cottage cheese before bed.

What is the mustard lady diet? ›

What is the Mustard Diet on TikTok? The mustard diet originated from “Mustard Girl”, Tiffany Magee, and involves eating a highly restricted diet of cottage cheese, chicken apple sausages, eggs, and raw vegetables – all with mustard included on the plate, or even mixed into the food itself.

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What is a Tiffany plate diet? ›

Further, she created the Tiffany's plate, consist of of eggs, cottage cheese, and mustard for breakfast; chicken sausage, brussels sprouts, pickled okra, radishes, heart of palm, broccoli, asparagus, dragon fruit, Japanese white sweet potato, mustard, and cottage cheese for lunch.

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When should you not eat cottage cheese? ›

Firstly, use your sense of smell — if your once-mild cottage cheese is now sporting a sour smell, you're better off not eating it. The same is true for the flavor. If you decide to take a bite and your taste buds are assaulted with a sour taste, instead of the fresh cheese's more mild tanginess, it's past its prime.

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What goes well with cottage cheese besides fruit? ›

2. Take it the savory route

Chopped roasted peppers, S&P, plus a drizzle of olive oil.
A sprinkle of za'atar and plenty of grated cucumber.
Chopped scallions, S&P, and a dash of hot sauce.
Chopped tomatoes and cucumber, S&P, and, yep, a drizzle of olive oil.
Crushed potato chips or tortilla chips.

Jun 19, 2017

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Does eating cottage cheese at night burn fat? ›

Here's where metabolic magic happens: The amount of muscle our body has is one of the primary drivers in determining how many calories we burn each day. "Other research supports that cottage cheese before bed actually does increase metabolism the next morning," Reaver says.

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What is a fat burning breakfast? ›

The best things to eat for breakfast include oatmeal, eggs, lean bacon or turkey, whole-grain toast, peanut butter, smoothies, and yogurt with muesli. If you decide to try high protein breakfasts, play around with food combinations on your calorie tracker.

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Is cottage cheese and fruit a good diet food? ›

Cottage cheese and fruit make a great snack or meal combination that is high in protein, loaded with fiber, and packed with antioxidants to keep you feeling your best.

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Is cottage cheese salad good for weight loss? ›

It's a great source of protein

A big reason why cottage cheese is beloved by those looking to lose weight is that it's really high in protein. In one cup (220g) of full-fat cottage cheese, for example, there's 25.5g of protein [1].