Research suggests that more than 70 percent of Americans enjoy cottage cheese. This creamy, fresh ingredient—made from cow’s milk—is incredibly versatile: it can be paired with salads, used as a dip, or even enjoyed with waffles, fruit, and baked goods. Likely a staple for centuries, cottage cheese has recently surged in popularity thanks to its high protein content and the #cottagecheese trend on TikTok. But can it be made with plant-based ingredients? Absolutely. In fact, Billie Eilish’s mom, Maggie Baird, has perfected it.
What is cottage cheese?
Cottage cheese is a type of fresh cheese, which means that, like ricotta, mascarpone, and mozzarella, it doesn’t need to go through an aging process. It’s a fermented product, made with the curds of cow’s milk and cream. It likely gets its name from old cottages, where it used to be made as a way of using up excess cow’s milk from local farms.
How Billie Eilish’s mom makes vegan cottage cheese
The key ingredient in traditional cottage cheese recipes is, of course, dairy, but that’s not to say it’s impossible to make a vegan version—far from it, in fact. A number of recipe developers have created dairy-free cottage cheese, which is just as creamy, tasty, and versatile as the original. In fact, in some cases, it’s even better.
Take Baird’s version, for example. Her recipe, shared on the site of her nonprofit Support + Feed, combines blended tofu with cubed tofu for texture, along with plant-based yogurt, lemon juice (for that signature tang), and a touch of salt and garlic. The result is a tasty vegan cottage cheese that works beautifully on toast, baked potatoes, with fruit, or however you like to enjoy your cottage cheese.
Support + Feed
Many other recipe developers also use tofu to make vegan cottage cheese, as it gives it that creamy taste and texture. Other common plant-based ingredients (for cheesy umami and tang) include nutritional yeast, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, and plant-based yogurt.
“Before going vegan in 2011, I enjoyed pretty much all dairy products, but cottage cheese was at the bottom of the list. I always found the sour flavor a bit off-putting,” Lori Rasmussen, of the blog My Quiet Kitchen, notes. “But this vegan version? It’s actually delicious,” she wrote, referring to her own vegan cottage cheese recipe (which you can find below!). “This tofu cottage cheese leans more toward tangy than sour, but still has the familiar creaminess and curd texture you expect from cottage cheese,” she added.
Vegan cottage cheese recipes to try at home
Want to learn more about how to whip up your own vegan cottage cheese? Check out the recipes below!
My Quiet Kitchen
1 5-Minute, Nut-Free Vegan Cottage Cheese
As outlined above, this recipe from My Quiet Kitchen relies on tofu to get that familiar, curd-like texture. In fact, according to Rasmussen, “it’s eerily similar to classic cottage cheese.” Another bonus? It’s quick to make (we’re talking a matter of minutes!) and comes together with just four ingredients. It’s also packed with protein, and it’s gluten-free.
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2 High-Protein Vegan Cottage Cheese
This delicious high-protein recipe comes from Bailey Ruskus (also known as Chef Bai), the author of Breaking Up With Dairy. It combines chopped firm tofu with salt, coconut yogurt, vegan milk, nutritional yeast, and lemon juice to make a creamy, probiotic-packed plant-based cottage cheese. It’s best served cold, so make sure to pop it in the fridge for an hour before you dig in.
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Rabbit and Wolves
3 Vegan Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowls
If you’re looking to liven up breakfast, we recommend giving one of these vegan breakfast bowls a try. The cottage cheese is made with silken tofu, and it works beautifully with savory or sweet ingredients, just like the real thing. For sweet, combine it with a matcha berry peach crumble, or for savory, add ingredients like spinach, olives, and cherry tomatoes.
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It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken
4 Silken Tofu Cottage Cheese
Again, this recipe calls for silken tofu, which is blended with ingredients like lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to get that perfect cottage cheesy texture and zesty flavor. It’s good for you, it’s quick to make, and it’s tasty. You can serve it however you like, but Sam Turnbull of It Doesn’t Taste Like Chicken recommends eating it straight out of a melon. “Did anyone else ever used to eat cottage cheese out of a cantaloupe, or was that just a me thing?” she asks.
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Ela Vegan
5 Firm Tofu Cottage Cheese
According to Ela Vegan, firm tofu is used in this recipe “to create the texture and mimic the bigger curds of cottage cheese.” For the “wetter” part of the cheese, yogurt is used, while onion powder, white vinegar, and nutritional yeast work together to add extra flavor and tang.
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The Cheeky Chickpea
6 Plant-Based Yogurt Cottage Cheese
This recipe from The Cheeky Chickpea opts for a combination of firm tofu and plant-based yogurt to mimic the texture of cottage cheese. After that, it just calls for lemon juice and lemon zest to get that desirable tangy, zesty flavor. “To customize the vegan cottage cheese base, add agave or salt, dried herbs, and garlic powder to create your desired sweet or savory flavor,” the blog notes.
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Charlotte is a VegNews editor and writer based in sunny Southsea on England’s southern coast.
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