Cottage cheese is definitely having a moment right now. It’s everywhere and in everything! I have seen so many viral videos touting protein-packed recipes featuring cottage cheese, and I couldn’t be less happy about it. Anyone who knows me and even if you are new here, let me tell you that I can’t stand cottage cheese. I wouldn’t be caught dead just eating a spoonful for breakfast or mixing in fruit or spices or whatever else normal people do as a snack. Give me cream cheese or yogurt anytime over that any day!
The funny thing is - I don’t know why I don’t like it. The taste isn’t that far off from a sour cream or yogurt or feta of sorts and the curds are like cream cheese that didn’t get fully incorporated enough so it isn’t the texture necessarily - I truly don’t get it. I like all those other cheeses like burrata and mozzarella, ricotta and goat cheese, so why not this?!
I am truly interested in learning everyone’s least favorite food. I ask every Culinary Boot Camp student on the very first day as our getting to know each other icebreaker. I genuinely find it so fascinating that I wrote two blogs on the topic of least popular foods. It amazes me that I love everyone else’s despised food but everyone else I know loves cottage cheese! So, here I am trying out three different recipes to try and change my mind! The first two recipes go together perfectly, and I was inspired by our Bagel Brunch class that we have coming up at The Chopping Block.
Cottage Cheese Bagels
Yield: 4 bagels
Prep time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 25-30 minutes
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup full-fat cottage cheese
1 large egg beaten, for egg wash
Toppings: sesame seeds, everything bagel seasoning, shredded asiago cheese, or poppy seeds
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and position the rack to the top position. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place the cottage cheese in the food processor or blender and pulse or blend on high until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
3. Transfer it to a medium bowl and add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until completely combined and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Transfer the dough to a generously floured work surface and knead the dough 8-10 times, until smooth. Add more flour to the work surface as needed until the dough is no longer sticky.
5. Roll the dough into a ball and divide it into 4 equal balls. If you want them to be the exact same size you can weigh out each piece of dough to approximately 80g.
6. Roll each ball out into a 6-7-inch rope, about 1-inch thick. Join the ends to make a circle and pinch the seam tightly to seal.
7. Brush the tops with a beaten egg and top with your seasonings of choice.
8. Bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden brown, 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving. Bagels stay fresh in an airtight container at room temp for up to 4 days.
- Alternatively, you can preheat the air fryer to 350 for 5 minutes. Spray the air fryer basket with nonstick spray and air fry for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown and no longer doughy in the center.
The thing about this recipe is I would never know that there was cottage cheese in it because it was blended in and so therefore, I love it. When cottage cheese is blended, I don’t have an issue and when it’s hidden in a recipe, it’s even better. This is a quick recipe that works well with yogurt too! Smoked salmon and bagels are a match made in heaven and truly one of my favorites. In our class, you will learn how to make traditional bagels from scratch and smoke fresh salmon but for the next recipe I used store bought lox. Normally when I make a dip or spread like this, I would just blend all of the ingredients together to make a smooth homogonous concoction. I didn’t want to mask the curd or texture with this recipe as a true test of whether or not I would like the cottage cheese as a swap for 100% cream cheese or sour cream blend that I usually make this recipe with. So, I just chopped up everything by hand to keep the coarse consistency and mixed it all together gently. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like this dip spread on my bagels and with cucumbers! I’m getting there…
Smoked Salmon Dip
Yield: 1 cup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
4 ounces smoked salmon
8 ounces cottage cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons horseradish
1 lemon, juiced/zested
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Capers, drained and minced
- Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth. Or chop everything very finely and mix together in a bowl.
- Season to taste and refrigerate overnight or until ready to serve.
This last recipe, cottage cheese stuffed chicken breast, combines a lot of techniques from various classes we offer at The Chopping Block. Stuffing, rolling, cooking grains, sautéing, we can teach you all of these skills in our classes! To me, this was going to be the real test on if the texture would hold up in an application that I have made before with other stuffings, so how would I like it with the cheese? For all of these recipes, I used the same full fat cottage cheese and the large curd. I am sure the curd size would not matter if smaller is your preference.
Cottage Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Yield: 4 chicken breasts/portions
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 25 minutes for chicken or 40 minutes with rice
1/2 yellow onion, small diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach, rough chopped
1 cup cottage cheese
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, butterflied
2-3 tablespoons oil
Favorite seasonings
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Lightly coat chicken breasts with high smoke point oil and favorite seasoning and let them marinate while preparing the filling.
3. Sauté diced onion until translucent and season with salt and pepper.
4. Add minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
5. Add the spinach and cook until it is just wilted. Put this mixture in a large bowl to cool.
6. Mix the cottage cheese into the sauteed spinach and onion mixture.
7. Place 1/4 of cheese/spinach mixture in the center of each breast and roll it up to secure the filling. Secure with toothpicks if necessary.
8. In a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish place each roulade and bake for about 25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and thermometer reads 155.
Note: I decided I wanted to try baking the rolls in with rice to be an all-in-one meal. This is optional. The chicken would be great with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, pasta or other side dishes as well.
For my version; I measured 1 1/2 cups basmati rice into my baking dish along with 1 whole can of petite diced canned tomatoes, 2 scallions, 3 Tablespoon of butter, and lastly poured 2 1/4 cups of boiling hot chicken stock over the rice of it before nestling my roulades on top.
I baked covered with foil for 40 minutes and when it came out of the oven I sprinkled some cheese on top!
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this dinner, and I admit I have never made anything like this and will definitely make it again in the future! It makes for great leftovers which I can turn into other dishes throughout the week just like in our Weeknight Wins class. I think tonight I will make chicken burritos with the extra servings.
While I may not be ready to stock cottage cheese in my fridge at all times after these experiments, I do have a higher respect for what cottage cheese brings to recipes. Dare I say I might be changing my tune and sort of like it now? With it having more protein than yogurt I may be more inclined to make those swaps more frequently. I am even inspired to have some cottage cheese recipes coming to a TCB class in the near future! For now, I will stick with other cheeses I love like the ones we pair with wine in our Culinary Heaven class this Friday night.
