Creamy Cottage Cheese Alfredo
Protein packed comfort food
If I can make the entire sauce before the pasta finishes cooking, it already has my attention.
This Creamy Cottage Cheese Alfredo is a quick, protein-packed spin on classic Alfredo made with cottage cheese, Parmesan, garlic, and milk. Blend everything together, warm it until silky, toss with hot pasta, and dinner is basically done.
It’s vegetarian, easily made gluten-free with your favorite gluten-free pasta, and exactly the kind of dinner I keep in my back pocket for nights when everyone is hungry and I haven’t exactly planned ahead.
Cottage Cheese Is Doing the Heavy Lifting
Yes, cottage cheese.
Once blended, it becomes incredibly smooth and creamy without making the sauce feel overly heavy. Parmesan brings the salty, cheesy Alfredo flavor, while garlic keeps things from getting boring.
And if you want even more cheesy flavor, add a little nutritional yeast. It’s optional, but very good.
Six Ingredients + One Blender
This is not a sauce that requires standing over the stove whisking for 20 minutes.
Add cottage cheese, Parmesan, garlic, milk, and tapioca starch or cornstarch to a blender. Blend until completely smooth, then gently warm the sauce while your pasta cooks.
That’s it.
We’re making dinner, not applying for a Michelin star.
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Do Not Dump That Pasta Water
Before draining your pasta, SAVE THE WATER.
I know. You’ve heard this before. But pasta water really is liquid gold when you’re making a creamy sauce.
Add a splash at a time as you toss the pasta with the Alfredo. It loosens the sauce, helps everything cling to the noodles, and gives you that silky consistency we’re after.
Especially with gluten-free pasta, don’t skip this step.
Make It Dinner
This Cottage Cheese Alfredo is delicious on its own, but it’s also a great blank canvas when you want more protein.
Add grilled chicken or shrimp, toss in a few meatballs, or serve it alongside roasted broccoli and a simple salad.
And because the sauce comes together while the pasta cooks, you can have the whole thing on the table in about 20 minutes.
That’s my kind of weeknight math.
Chef's Note
Keep the heat low once you add the cottage cheese sauce. You want to gently warm it, not aggressively boil it. And always save more pasta water than you think you’ll need. You can add it, but you can’t exactly fish it back out of the sink.
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Creamy Cottage Cheese Alfredo
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 4+ 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Creamy Cottage Cheese Alfredo is an easy vegetarian pasta made with 6 simple ingredients. A protein-packed dinner that’s ready in about 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 cup milk
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 teaspoon tapioca or cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper
- 1 lb. pasta of your choice (I used linguine)
- 1/2 cup pasta water
- 1 1/2 parmesan cheese, grated
- optional: 1 heaping tablespoon nurtional yeast
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil (add a pinch of salt to the pot). Cook the pasta according to package instructions – only cook until al dente (maybe 1 minute less than the usual time – the pasta will cook a bit more once you add it to the sauce).
- While the pasta is cooking, blend the cottage cheese, milk, garlic cloves, salt, pepper and tapioca powder in a blender. Blend until very smooth and you don’t see any cottage cheese lumps or bumps.
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. When the butter is melted, pour in the cottage cheese mixture. Stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until the mixture is warm but not bubbling over – turn the heat down if you start to see bubbles. Stir in 1/2 of the cheese – around 3/4 cup and nutrional yeast, if using.
- When the pasta is done, remove 1/2 cup of the pasta water and set aside. Strain the pasta and add it to the cheese mixture in the saucepan. Use tongs to toss around and coat the pasta with the sauce. Top with additional cheese. Use the pasta water if you need to make the sauce less thick. As the pasta sits in the sauce, it will thicken.
- I like to garnish it will more cheese, salt and pepper.
Notes
Use tapioca flour/powder, if you would like to keep it gluten free. And then of course use gluten free flour.
Nurtional yeast is totally optional. It gives the sauce a cheesier flavor but is to needed to complete the recipe. If you use high quality parmesan cheese you can achieve the flavor of alfredo.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 12
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American, Italian
Hi, I'm Kat.
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Hi, I’m Kat, a Colorado-based personal chef, soccer mom, and the heart behind White Sparrow Food Company. I share easy, wholesome, gluten-free recipes inspired by the meals I cook for my clients and made simple for real life at home.
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