Cottage cheese is one of those foods that mixes well with a large variety of other foods. In its purest form, the ingredients of cottage cheese are simply milk, cream, and salt. It is hard to go wrong with your mix-in choices based on these ingredients since it is sort of a neutral flavor. What to mix with cottage cheese really depends on personal preference. However, we will give you a few ideas that hopefully you haven’t heard of and some that may be commonplace.
- Fruit – Fruit is the staple mix-in for cottage cheese. In fact, cottage cheese brands like Breakstone’s and Knudsen already products that have the fruit pre-packaged into the product. Common fruit additions include pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, mangos, bananas, melons, raspberries, blackberries, and apples. Although these are some common mix-ins, just about any fruit accompanies cottage cheese well.
- Vegetables – Veggies are another common cottage cheese addition. Like fruits, almost all vegetables pair well with cottage cheese. A classic combination, however, is cottage cheese with slices or chunks of tomato. This is a summertime favorite of ours and one that is hard to beat. Other solid vegetable mix-ins include cucumbers, chives, radishes, bell peppers, carrots, celery, scallions, and olives. Additionally, you can essentially top a salad with cottage cheese, which can eliminate the need for high-calorie dressings.
- Nuts or Seeds– A wide variety of nuts or seeds make a good combination with cottage cheese. Try chopped almonds, walnuts, cashews, pistachios, sunflower or pumpkin seeds. While we are not a fan of peanut butter and cottage cheese, some people enjoy a tablespoon or so of nut butter mixed into a serving of cottage cheese. This is a good way to add a little extra protein to an already high protein food in cottage cheese.
- Jams or Jellies – Jams or jellies are some of the best mix-ins for cottage cheese because they add the sweetness of fruit without having to actually cut up the fruit. This makes it easy as a morning snack that takes less than a minute to prepare. There seem to be endless flavors of jams/jellies so just pick your favorite and enjoy.
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- Spices or Seasonings – Pepper or cinnamon seem to be two popular seasonings added to cottage cheese. Two of our favorites are tomato, salt, pepper and cottage cheese or apple/raisins, cinnamon, and cottage cheese. However, feel free to get creative. Try everything bagel seasoning, greek seasoning, or whatever other spices you enjoy.
- Hot Sauces – If you enjoy things a bit spicy, add a little Sriracha or Tabasco to your cottage cheese and give it a good mix. This will give a little excitement to your plain cottage cheese. We have never tried it, but some people stir in salsa to their cottage cheese. That sounds interesting!
- Honey – Honey and cottage cheese are also an excellent pairing. A really good combination is to mix honey into cottage cheese and top it with your favorite fruit. The mixture almost becomes dessert-like because of the sweetness.
- Granola – Granola is good by itself but it also works well with yogurt or cottage cheese. The crunchiness of the granola plays well off the milkiness of the cottage cheese.
- Ketchup – Hey, it sounds weird, but Richard Nixon loved it.
- Whey Protein – People who strength train, lift weights, or are athletes may want to add significant amounts of protein to their diet for muscle growth, recovery, and strength gains. Some people will mix-in flavored whey protein to their cottage cheese for a highly protein packed snack or meal.
- Tuna or Salmon – Canned fish products tend to be dry and may need the help of some wetness (like cottage cheese) to become more palatable. Many people enjoy the combination of canned meats like tuna or salmon mixed with cottage cheese as a healthy meal option.
Although we have provided a decent list of cottage cheese mix-ins, we would like to hear what you like to mix into your cottage cheese. Comment below if you have an idea that was not mentioned above. What to mix with cottage cheese is clearly not limited to this list so feel free to experiment and let us know what combination taste amazing.