This Creamy Cottage Cheese Pasta is gluten free, high protein, and low sugar. Compared to most pasta dishes, this one has a great balance of protein, high fiber carbs, and healthy fats that will help keep you fuller for longer and satisfy cravings! This pasta is deliciously creamy, cheesy, and savory making it the perfect pasta dish to add to your weekly dinner rotation.
Pasta is one of my all-time favorite foods and I love that it’s so versatile and can be enjoyed all year long, not matter what the weather is – it’s not a seasonal dish! In the Spring and Summer, I crave a cold pasta salad loaded with fresh vegetables and light flavors. In the Fall and Winter, I crave more traditional, hearty, warm pasta dishes. You can customize the flavors to fit any craving and right now, this Creamy Cottage Cheese Pasta has been a real obsession 🤩 It takes less than twenty minutes to make, has less than five ingredients, and packs in SO much protein compared to your traditional pasta meal.
It’s no secret that I’ve become such a fan of using cottage cheese in both sweet and savory recipes to increase the protein without sacrificing texture or flavor. If anything, it only makes both of these even better! The flavor goes mostly undetected so it’s really easy to sneak into any meals for an effortless protein boost. This creamy pasta has become my current favorite but some of my other savory recipes with cottage cheese snuck in are my High Protein Cottage Cheese Queso, Cottage Cheese Lasagna Bowl, and Cottage Cheese Pizza Crust. All are a MUST try if you haven’t already! I promise that even the pickiest of eaters will love and devour these recipes. They don’t even have to know the main ingredient 😉
If you’re looking for an easy, low effort, nourishing weeknight lunch or dinner then give this pasta dish a try! It makes multiple servings so you can share or pack up the leftovers and store in the fridge to enjoy the next day. Just reheat over the stovetop when you’re ready to eat or enjoy cold (I do both)!
See the full tutorial HERE.
Why You’ll Love This
- Sneaky high protein – Because this sauce is so creamy and the cottage cheese adds a nice cheesy flavor, you can trick any picky eater into not only eating this, but LOVING it. It’s a great way to get extra protein in without even thinking about it too.
- Quick and satisfying –This takes no time to make! Just prepare the pasta according to the box, blend the sauce, combine, and enjoy.
- Balanced meal – Most pasta dishes are heavier in carbs and are not always the most filling, even if you’re full after a plate or bowl, you’re still craving something more or something sweet. That’s usually because of a blood sugar spike from too many carbs without the balance of fiber, fat, and protein! In this pasta dish, we have high fiber carbs from the pasta and marinara, healthy fats and protein from the cottage cheese. You can always increase the protein by adding chicken meatballs, ground turkey, or using a lentil pasta!
- Dietary friendly – This is gluten free, high protein, low sugar, and can be made with regular pasta too.
What You’ll Need:
- Pasta of choice – You can use gluten free or regular pasta. I love using lentil pasta for extra protein and fiber in this meal! Other great gluten free options are brown rice pasta and cassava pasta.
- Cottage cheese – I use the full-fat one from Good Culture or Kalona Super Natural. I would say full-fat will have the best results!
- Marinara – I used regular marinara sauce but if you want this to be a little spicy, you can use a spicy marinara.
- Garlic – A whole clove or minced. You can also add any additional spices you’d like.
- Toppings of choice – Some tasty options I’ve tried are parmesan, red pepper flakes, spinach, chicken meatballs, hot honey, and grilled chicken!
How To Make
- Cook your pasta of choice according to the package and reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and set aside while you make the sauce.
- In a high-speed blender or food processor, add cottage cheese, marinara, garlic, and any additional spices you’d like (fresh basil, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, etc.) and blend until smooth.
- After blending, add the pasta water to the sauce and mix well.
- Pour the sauce over the cooked and drained pasta and stir until fully covered.
- Top with parmesan and red pepper flakes, enjoy! (Tip: Other times I’ve made this I’ve added in some spinach, Organic chicken meatballs, and a drizzle of hot honey! You can change up the toppings depending on what you have on hand and what sounds good.)