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This cottage cheese alfredo is a lower fat, lower calorie version of the rich and creamy pasta favorite! One of the best cottage cheese recipes, it’s an easy dinner to make and the best part? You’d never even know it’s healthy.
Show of hands: who hates alfredo?
You.. there, in the back. GET OUT. You are but a robot amongst us sent to destroy the empire.
The alfredo empire of deliciousness, that is. Uh… I digress. Another show of hands: who loves the fat and calories in a bowl of creamy, rich fettuccine alfredo?
You.. there, in the back. GET OUT. I hate you for your metabolism.
Alfredo has always been one of my favorite pasta sauces, but I tend to reserve it for a special occasion treat, due to the high amounts of butter, cream, and cheese. And then… I found this. We typically associate cottage cheese with gummy bites at an assisted-living center or our tiny-ass dog Magnolia, whom we were instructed by the vet to feed cottage cheese mixed into her dry food so she’d put on some pounds (11, going on 12! But we still tell everyone she’s a week-old lab, for the sake of O’s masculinity). But think again, people! Blended with some other ingredients, it transforms into a luxurious, creamy sauce, at a fraction of the guilt and hippyness.
Why This Recipe Is So. Dang. Good.
- It’s wonderfully rich and creamy, thanks to the cottage cheese, but lower in fat and calories. Also thanks to the cottage cheese!
- This cottage cheese recipe comes together really, really quickly, and you could make it almost entirely during the time your pasta is boiling.
- You can add all sorts of different spices or seasonings to this cottage cheese alfredo. It’s super versatile.
But be warned. You might have to fend off dozens of requests a day for this stuff. I’m not lying.
The first time I made this, O ate his bowl — and subsequently licked the bowl clean — in total silence.
“He hates it,” I told myself. “Oh well. It’s still so much better for us, and I think it’s pretty damn delicious.”
An hour later.
“That was the best thing I’ve ever had,” O spouts, unprovoked. “Can we have it again tomorrow?”
No. No, we can’t. But “tomorrow,” he repeated the question. I repeated the answer. I need variety, dammit! No matter how good something is. The day after “tomorrow,” he repeated the question, and I, the answer. And so on, until I caved and whipped it up the next week. And then the week after that as a sorry-I’m-going-to-St.-Louis-without-you-and-leaving-you-to-fend-for-yourself dish. I’m not exaggerating in claims of how insanely good this stuff is.
Update: Now that O and I have been married for what feels like a hundred years and have a kid, I have a new anecdote to verify the deliciousness of this cottage cheese recipe. My kid freaked out because somewhere along the line that day he was promised “mac and cheese,” and I kind of thought this would work for that particular request. He wailed a bit but finally tried it. My picky, picky toddler then claimed,
“I love it so much. I want to eat it on Wednesday. I want to eat it on Monday. I want to eat it a lot of times when we come home.“
So… if that doesn’t tell you something about this cottage cheese alfredo, I don’t know what would.
Tips for Success
- Make sure you blend the cottage cheese alfredo mixture until it’s very smooth.
- This cottage cheese recipe is best with about half a pound of pasta. If you don’t mind a less saucy pasta, upping your pasta poundage is fine!
- Simmer your sauce just until it’s thickened – you don’t want to reduce it too much!
Variations
- Instead of basil and oregano, sprinkle in a bit of Cajun seasoning and serve with blackened chicken, tomatoes, and green onions for a Creole pasta.
- Use cultured cottage cheese to make this cottage cheese recipe even healthier.
- Try arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch if you have to or want to avoid corn.
If You Love This Recipe, You’ll Also Love…
- Whole30 Tuna Zoodle Casserole
- Creamy Pumpkin Sage Alfredo with Ronzoni Gluten Free Penne
- Fried Zucchini Basil Gluten-Free Pasta with Fresh Mozzarella
- Baked Feta Pasta
- Healthy Chicken Alfredo with Spaghetti Squash (Whole30, Paleo, Dairy Free)
- Keto Alfredo Sauce
And if you’re looking for a wonderful version of classic Fettuccine Alfredo, this recipe from Erren’s Kitchen is fantastic!
Cottage Cheese Alfredo
Equipment
- standard blender or food processor
- Silicone spatula
- Small saucepan
Ingredients
For the Cottage Cheese Alfredo Sauce
- 1 cup milk of choice see Notes
- ½ cup cottage cheese see Notes
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder plus more to taste
- ½ cup grated fresh parmesan or fresh romano
- dried basil to taste
- dried oregano to taste
Serving Suggestions (All Optional)
- prepared pasta any type, any amount
- prepared meat of choice
- prepared vegetables of choice
- chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
For the Cottage Cheese Alfredo Sauce
- Add 1 cup milk of choice, ½ cup cottage cheese, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon salt, ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, and ½ cup grated fresh parmesan to blender. Blend ingredients together until mixture is completely smooth, pausing to scrape down sides of blender as needed.
- When mixture is smooth, transfer mixture to small saucepan. Stir in desired amounts of dried basil and dried oregano, then place saucepan on stovetop over medium-low heat. Simmer mixture, stirring frequently, until sauce is heated through completely.
- Once sauce is heated through, taste sauce and add additional salt, pepper, basil, and/or oregano as desired.
- Reduce heat under saucepan to low. Simmer sauce approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture has thickened slightly.
To Serve
- Add desired amount of prepared pasta to sauce and use tongs to toss pasta, ensuring pasta is coated in sauce. Let pasta simmer in sauce approximately 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer pasta to serving plates or bowls.
- Top pasta with prepared meat of choice or prepared vegetables of choice as desired. Spoon any remaining alfredo sauce from saucepan over pasta, then garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.
Video
- Make it Low Fat: Use skim milk, low-fat cottage cheese, and reduced-fat parmesan cheese.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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Deeelicious!!!
Yay! So happy you enjoyed it, Marny!
Sounds wonderful and will try. But — what are your thoughts on using fat free cottage cheese?
You can totally use fat free or low fat cottage cheese! Be sure to let us know if you try it!
Easy, creamy and delicious sauce!! I will be using this recipe again and again!!
So glad you loved it, Mary! 😊
The sauce is fantastic. I did switch it up a little bit and put red pepper flakes in it along with the other spices you recommended!
So glad you enjoyed it, Trish!
I have always been skeptical about cottage cheese Alfredo recipes. Mostly because I didn’t know how a delicious snack could be turned into another delicious thing. I’m on a diet but was craving Alfredo with my chickpea pasta, and holy moly did this hit the spot. Better than any Alfredo I’ve made before.
So happy you loved it, Alexandra! Thanks for sharing! 😊
This was awful. The sauce separated and ended up watery in spite of adding the recommended cornflour. Also, the taste was lacklustre. I will stick to the full fat version
I’m so sorry you had a less-than-pleasant outcome, Polly! You mention cornflour – did you use cornflour, corn flour, or cornstarch? Our recipe calls for cornstarch, and in the UK cornstarch and cornflour are the same, but in the US cornstarch is different from corn flour.
The separation was most likely caused by heating the cold dairy products too quickly, though if your cooked pasta was still wet when it was added to the sauce, that could definitely cause it to separate and become watery.
I do hope you’ll give this one another try at some point!
Does this meal prep well?
You could definitely make and store the sauce and pasta separately, then mix it together once you’re ready to eat! This sauce will last up to 3 days if stored in an airtight container. 😊
The Alfredo sauce was easy and delicious 😋
Thank you, Claudette!
The numbers after adding whole wheat pasta and peas and shrimp were quite high, thoughts on halfing the cheese?
You can definitely adjust the recipe however you need or want to in order to meet your needs! We can’t guarantee the outcome when changes are made, though. Reducing the ingredient amounts may change the consistency or flavor of the alfredo sauce, especially with this recipe having so few ingredients besides the cheeses. Depending on the numbers you’re wanting to bring down, you could try looking for lower fat cheeses or milk, or maybe a different brand of cottage cheese and/or parmesan would fit your numbers better. You could also try a different brand of pasta with lower numbers.
Does this freeze well in a glass container if I made a lot of extra sauce?!
You can freeze it, yes! But the results may not be the best. The sauce can separate during defrosting so it may not be as creamy and smooth the second time around.