While the main instructions you’ll find below are for a stovetop version of this recipe, this cottage cheese macaroni and cheese can also be prepped ahead of time to be baked later in a casserole dish if you’d like to add it to your holiday menu. Not to worry—the baked version of this recipe is also included below.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This homemade mac and cheese with cottage cheese has an impressive depth of flavor for a dish with just a few simple ingredients:
Pasta: For our version of macaroni and cheese with cottage cheese, we selected the fun & familiar macaroni noodle that we all grew up eating. However, all pasta shapes are welcome as long as they’ll hold the sauce. And, if you have specific dietary needs/preferences, feel free to substitute gluten-free pasta (GF), chickpea pasta, or whole wheat pasta—they all adapt well to this recipe. Cottage cheese: When adding cottage cheese to mac and cheese, I recommend that you go with the full 4% milkfat version. You can use a lower-fat version, but if you are like us and prefer a creamier dish, go for the 4% version. Milk: The same goes here with the milk—I recommend choosing full fat regular milk for a luscious finished pasta. However, an equal amount of alternative dairy-free milk, like almond milk, can also be used. Cheddar cheese: We used sharp cheddar cheese when testing this recipe. If you’d prefer a milder cheese flavor for your cottage mac and cheese, feel free to swap in gouda cheese in its place. Parmesan cheese: Take it from me—shredded parmesan cheese is essential to this cottage cheese mac and cheese recipe. Without it, the mac and cheese sauce with cottage cheese tasted a bit bland. The parmesan gives it the umami punch that will keep everyone reaching for second helpings. Cornstarch: This helps to thicken your cottage cheese sauce. If you prefer arrowroot powder, you can swap that in instead. Garlic: Garlic powder blends into the sauce evenly, which is what we used in our recipe trials. If you prefer the more intense flavor of fresh or roasted garlic, just be sure to mince or press it well before adding it to your blender. While it is not traditional, ½ teaspoon of onion powder can also be added if preferred. Spices: Our cottage cheese mac and cheese recipe gets its traditional flavor with these three classic mac and cheese spices—paprika, nutmeg, and a touch of cayenne pepper. Veggies (optional): If you’d like to elevate your cottage cheese mac and cheese, feel free to mix in some cooked vegetables once the dish is complete, such as steamed broccoli, peas, or a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves.
How to Bake it?
If you’re looking for a baked mac and cheese with cottage cheese recipe, then look no further. The baked version is a crowd-pleasing side dish for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or really any holiday potluck that you’re invited to. It can easily be adjusted as a baked version, and I’m going to show you how:
How To Make Ahead and Store and Reheat Leftovers?
Make Ahead: If you’re looking to make this recipe in advance of an event or holiday dinner, we recommend that you prepare the baked version that you see above. Just pour the pasta mixture into your baked dish, allow it to cool to room temperature, and then cover and refrigerate. On the day of, remove the covering and add the toppings before baking. Storage: If you made the stovetop version of this mac & cheese recipe with cottage cheese, you can store any leftovers in an airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheating: To reheat macaroni and cottage cheese leftovers, place the pasta in a saucepan and warm it on low heat on the stovetop. If the sauce is too thick, you may have to add some water to get it back to its creamy texture.
What to Serve This Recipe?
Our mac n cheese recipe with cottage cheese is adaptable and satisfying as either a side dish or vegetarian main dish:
To serve it as a side dish to a meat or chicken-based main dish, I recommend that you pair it with either the Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan, the Pressure Cooker Pot Roast, or, for the Thanksgiving holiday, try our Herb Roasted Turkey or Roasted Turkey Breast. To serve it as a vegetarian main dish, pair your creamy mac and cheese with cottage cheese with a simple side salad such as my Spring Mix Salad or Greek Cucumber Salad.
Don’t leave the cottage cheese mac and cheese sauce unattended while it’s cooking: The sauce comes together quickly—truly, within minutes. Once your pasta is cooked and you start to warm your sauce, it will thicken and be ready for the macaroni to be stirred in shortly. Use full-fat dairy products: For the ultimate creamy, dreamy, high-protein mac n cheese, you’ll need to use full-fat regular milk and 4% cottage cheese. Trust me on this one. Skim just doesn’t cut it in this recipe. Cooking the cottage cheese cheese sauce in the saucepan before adding the pasta is very important: Because the cottage cheese mixture contains cornstarch as a thickening agent, it needs a few minutes to cook so that it blends in, thickens, and becomes “invisible,” flavor-wise. You don’t want to be able to taste the cornstarch! Use water to adjust your sauce’s texture: If your blended cottage cheese mac and cheese is too thick, adding a small bit of the reserved pasta water to the mix will thin it out. Mind your salt: Because we are adding salt to our pasta water and using salty cheeses such as sharp cheddar and parmesan, you will notice that we did not include any additional salt in the recipe for our homemade protein mac and cheese. Please adjust and add salt according to your own taste. Broiling browns the top of the baked macaroni and cheese with cottage cheese: We noticed in our testing of the baked version of this recipe that simply baking didn’t brown the breadcrumbs sufficiently. If you’d like that crunchy, browned top, be sure to broil it for 1 minute once it has finished baking.
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