I first began playing around with this recipe when we were out of lasagna noodles and I wanted to make a batch of the high protein cottage cheese lasagna recipe we love so much. I figured that if we liked a lasagna recipe with cottage cheese so much we would likely love a baked pasta recipe with cottage cheese as well so I played around a bit and the end result was a pasta lover’s delight… and a protein lover’s dream. This recipe boasts 42 grams of protein per serving (and 8 grams of fiber!) and is just as wonderfully satisfying as it is delicious.
Cottage Cheese Baked Pasta
While the flavor and high protein content of this pasta are obvious highlights of this recipe, the ease of this dish is another one. It comes together quickly — especially if you take the time to prep a few things ahead — and your entire house will smell like marinara heaven as it bakes and bubbles up in the oven. It uses ingredients we often already have on hand in our house, including pasta, jarred marinara sauce (shout out to Rao’s, forever the best!), ground beef and cottage cheese.
What Is Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is a dairy product made from milk curds, which form when an acid curdles milk and cream. Cottage cheese begins as milk and then enzymes or live, active cultures are added in order to convert the milk into sugars, or lactic acid. The lactic acid separates the curds from the whey. The solid curds are then sliced into bite-sized pieces and packaged, which is why you can find large and small curd cottage cheese. (If the curds bother you from a texture standpoint, I recommend blending them up, as the result is a thick almost ricotta-like cheese!) The flavor of cottage cheese is relatively mild and it melts beautifully in recipes, giving a dish creamy cheesiness with the added benefit of a big ol’ boost of protein, too!
Is Cottage Cheese Good In Pasta
Absolutely! I’ve been a fan of cottage cheese for years and years and love the way its popularity has absolutely skyrocketed as people find new and creative ways to incorporate cottage cheese into a myriad of recipes. (If you’re looking for some cottage cheese inspo, check out this post: Best Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese.) One of my favorite ways to use cottage cheese is to incorporate it into pasta recipes, as the creamy, cheesy flavor is fantastic but it also has some additional benefits as well!
Cottage Cheese Adds A Significant Protein Boost
Cottage cheese became crazy popular in recent years largely for its stellar protein content. Incorporating cottage cheese into pasta sauce or baked pasta recipes is such an easy way to not only make your sauce cheesy and delicious but also help make your meal more satisfying.
Cottage Cheese Can Help Give a Dish a Creamier Texture
Blending cottage cheese is a great way to give it new life as the curds are eliminated (an issue some people have with it!) and the result is a thick, cheesy base that combines well with additional ingredients in many pasta sauces, including Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese and even homemade or jarred marinara sauce! It’s also a great alternative to some richer ingredients for those looking to achieve a creamy consistency in traditionally heavier sauces like alfredo or vodka sauce.
Cottage Cheese Adds Calcium to Your Recipe
Though most commonly praised for its protein content, cottage cheese provides essential vitamins and minerals to a recipe as well, including calcium for bone health and vitamin B12 for energy production. Some varieties also contain probiotics, which support gut health, though beware these varieties can also have a sightly different tangier flavor profile I personally do not enjoy as much.
How To Make Cottage Cheese Baked Pasta
Making a pasta bake with cottage cheese is simple and only requires a few ingredients.
Ingredients
- Cottage Cheese: You saw that one coming, didn’t you?
- Pasta: What kind of pasta you use in this recipe is totally up to you! If you love baked ziti, use ziti! If you flip for penne, use penne! If you’re looking for a higher protein pasta recipe, use a high protein pasta like chickpea pasta or this pasta I buy on Amazon, which is my personal favorite as I cannot taste ANY difference between it and regular pasta but the protein content is stellar! I love the rigatoni pasta in this recipe most.
- Marinara Sauce: Use your favorite! I LOVE Rao’s vodka sauce.
- Ground Beef: Ground turkey also works well if you prefer to use turkey, though I prefer the flavor of ground beef.
- Zucchini: This one is sneaky because you won’t taste it but who doesn’t love a sneaky boost of veggies in their meals!?
- Onion: Diced nice and small.
- Italian Seasoning + Garlic Salt: For flav-ahhh! You may also add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes and fresh basil if you like.
- Egg Whites: You’ll mix this up with your cottage cheese.
- Olive Oil: Of course.
- Mozzarella Cheese: To sprinkle on top!
Instructions
And here’s how to make our favorite cottage cheese baked pasta:
Step 1
Cook pasta according to package directions, but reduce the cooking time a little bit so pasta is al dente/very slightly firm and not too soft. Drain and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add zucchini and cook until it begins to soften and onion is translucent.
Step 3
Add ground beef and cook until beef is no longer pink, stirring regularly. Sprinkle with garlic salt and stir. Pour marinara sauce into the pot and allow to simmer while you create the cottage cheese mixture.
Step 4
In a VERY large bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg whites and Italian seasoning.
Step 5
Add marinara ground beef mixture to the large bowl of cottage cheese and stir. Gently stir in the cooked pasta.
Step 6
Pour pasta mixture into a 9×13 baking dish. Top with the shredded mozzarella.
Step 7
Bake uncovered for approximately 30 minutes and enjoy!
This recipe is also fantastic as leftovers. Simply store in an air-tight container (these glass containers are my favorite), reheat when you’re ready to eat it and enjoy. Sometimes I’ll add in another scoop of cottage cheese when I’m reheating leftovers for added cheesiness. It melts right in, tastes great and adds another little boost of protein, though this recipe is already protein packed!
Cottage Cheese Baked Pasta
Cottage Cheese Baked Pasta
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: oven, stovetop
Description
A high protein cottage cheese baked pasta recipe! This protein packed recipe (42g!) is warm, comforting and deliciously cheesy.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pasta (for an added boost of protein, I love this pasta I order on Amazon — the rigatoni is my fav — or you may also use a chickpea pasta! Any kind of pasta works in this recipe though.)
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 zucchini, shredded (I use my rotary grater to shred them and it works well)
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 24 ounces lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 24-ounce jar marinara sauce (use your favorite! I love Rao’s vodka sauce in this recipe)
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
- 1/2 cup egg whites
- 2 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions, but reduce the cooking time a little bit so pasta is al dente/very slightly firm and not too soft. Drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for a couple of minutes. Add zucchini and cook until it begins to soften and onion is translucent.
- Add ground beef and cook until beef is no longer pink, stirring regularly. Sprinkle with garlic salt and stir.
- Pour marinara sauce into the pot and allow to simmer while you create the cottage cheese mixture.
- In a VERY large bowl, combine cottage cheese, egg whites and Italian seasoning.
- To the large bowl with your cottage cheese mixture, add marinara ground beef mixture and stir. Gently stir in the cooked pasta.
- Pour pasta mixture into a 9×13 baking dish. Top with the shredded mozzarella.
- Bake uncovered for approximately 30 minutes and enjoy!
Notes
You may omit the zucchini if you don’t have any. I’ve also added additional zucchini because we had one that was about to go bad and the recipe turned out great.
You may also add an additional cup of cottage cheese if you like a super cheesy pasta. Again, this is a hard recipe to mess up, so do your thang!
The nutritional facts of this recipe were calculated with lean ground beef (93/7), low fat cottage cheese, Rao’s vodka sauce and this high-protein pasta.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 408
- Sugar: 6g
- Sodium: 673mg
- Fat: 14g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Carbohydrates: 34g
- Fiber: 8g
- Protein: 42g
- Cholesterol: 74mg
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