If there is one trend I’m holding on to into fall and winter, it’s cottage cheese. Not only do I eat it weekly, but I absolutely love cooking and baking with it! Whether I’m blending it up and replacing Greek yogurt or heavy creamy or adding a scoop into my mac and cheese to add creaminess and protein, I love it and I’m not afraid to show it!

Since I’ve been on this cottage cheese kick for quite some time, I thought I’d round up my favorite FFF cottage cheese recipes that speak fall flavors. Think pumpkin cheesecake and hot fall dips for game day.

Cottage Cheese Dinner Recipes

It has been so fun testing cottage cheese in more savory ways. I mean, blend it up and you can make a high-protein pizza crust for gosh sakes!

High-Protein Cottage Cheese Desserts

If you haven’t tried blending you cottage cheese to replace Greek yogurt or heavy cream, you’re missing out! We came up with a high-protein dough recipe that’s basically 1:1 blended cottage cheese and flour, and we’ve been making so many variations of cinnamon rolls!

Cottage Cheese Breakfast Ideas for Fall

Cottage Cheese Appetizers

While I’m not a huge football girlie, I do love to hose and you can’t go wrong with a dip to share. Have you tried a hot cottage cheese dip yet? SO GOOD.

Honeynut squash is a modern marvel, a vegetable that’s younger than the iPhone, YouTube, and Olivia Rodrigo. Now at farmers markets and grocery stores across the country, typically from September to December, the honeynut squash as we know it was released around 2009 as a collaboration between the Plant Breeding and Genetics department at Cornell University and chef Dan Barber’s team at the upstate New York restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Their dream was a shrunken, single-serve butternut squash that needs little more than a high-heat roast to become absurdly delicious. This recipe starts there—then adds some creamy, tangy, spicy toppings to gild the lily.

In 30 minutes, the squashes emerge from the oven tender and browned, with little cups (where the seeds used to be) waiting to be filled. The answer here—as it is with cantaloupe halves for some people, you know who you are—is cottage cheese. Now is the time to get the good stuff. Our test kitchen is devoted to Good Culture, but if you can’t find that brand or another high-quality, whole-milk version, swap in another dairy, like plain Greek yogurt.

The rest of the dish can likewise be treated as a template. If honeynut evades you, opt for any winter squash and adjust accordingly. Cottage cheese and chili crisp would be equally gleeful atop butternut quarters or delicata rings (no need to peel either; roast until tender). If seasoned rice vinegar is in your pantry, use that and skip the added salt and sugar in step 3. Whatever the specifics, it’s a special-enough side dish to also make as a vegetarian main course.

These easy sheet pan scrambled eggs take 5 minutes to prep, and your oven does the rest! They’re super fluffy, protein-rich thanks to the added cottage cheese, and perfect for busy mornings or brunch. I love using this recipe to make a bunch of breakfast sammies to serve the family

What makes this recipe so special? You’ll actually fill a sheet pan with sides with water before placing an 8×8 pan filled with eggs into the oven. It makes THE FLUFFIEST scrambled eggs ever, and all the work is done right in the oven.

Ingredient Spotlight: Cottage Cheese

Let’s hear it for cottage cheese! You all know I love cottage cheese egg cups, and now we’re adding these amazing sheet pan scrambies to the team. Not only does cottage amp up the protein in these eggs, it adds amazing creamy texture without using shredded cheese.

Even better? There’s no need to blend your cottage cheese for this recipe; the little cheese curds taste great in scrambled eggs! But if you’d prefer a smooth cottage cheese texture (aka no curds), feel free to blend your cottage cheese until smooth in a high-speed blender before whisking together with the eggs.

Find the list of full ingredients in the recipe card below.

Equipment You Need

These sheet pan scrambled eggs require two pans — one large sheet pan with sides to fill with water, and then one 8×8 pan for the scrambled eggs + be placed into the sheet pan.

Why? Placing the pan of eggs within the sheet pan filled with water not only helps the eggs cook more evenly, it adds necessary moisture (steam) to the oven, which helps to create super fluffy eggs that aren’t overcooked on the edges. Once you try this method, I promise you, you’ll never bake sheet pan eggs another way.

Tip! Ensure the Eggs Bake Evenly

While this is a super straightforward recipe, it is important that you follow a few simple tips to ensure even baking, including:

• Every oven is different; the bake time may vary slightly depending on the oven.
• Check the eggs at the halfway point. If one side appears to be cooking faster, I recommend turning the sheet pan around in the oven so the eggs can bake more evenly on both sides.

More Ways to Make Eggs

I’ve been publishing egg recipes on Fit Foodie Finds for more than a decade, and you bet the team and I have made you a tutorial for pretty much every style of eggs your heart could ever desire, including:

Serve Solo or With Sides

Because you can slice these eggs into squares, they are absolutely perfect for making delicious breakfast sammies that don’t fall apart when you eat them.

This is also a great recipe to make to serve your kiddos when they’re just learning how to eat solids — I slice these eggs into strips so little hands can easily grab it and bring to their mouth .

Round out an entire breakfast and make my homemade maple breakfast sausage and savory breakfast biscuits while the eggs are baking.

How to Store Leftovers

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, THE BEST thing to do with leftover sheet pan scrambled eggs is to make them into breakfast sammies and keep them on hand in the freezer.

More of My Favorite Breakfast Recipes

These blueberry cheesecake protein popsicles are like a frozen berry cheesecake but full of protein (5g of protein per popsicle with no protein powder!). They’re the perfect refreshing, sweet treat made with a short list of wholesome ingredients. My kiddos gobble these up every time I make them. I hope you and your family love them as much as I do .

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Cottage cheese: The base for these protein popsicles, cottage cheese is essential for that creamy, cheesecake taste. Make sure you use 4% or 5% cottage cheese for these popsicles. Why? Lower fat cottage cheese contains higher water content and will cause an icy texture when frozen — no one wants that.
• Maple syrup: My go-to natural sweetener! It adds the perfect amount of sweetness to the cottage cheese (aka helps it taste just like creamy cheesecake mmmm ). I’ve also tested this recipe with honey, and it works just great, too.
• Blueberries: I’ve tested this with fresh and frozen blueberries, and both work beautifully. So, feel free to use whatever you have on hand.
• Vanilla bean paste: I love the deep, rich flavor that vanilla bean paste provides (and those iconic little black specs). Vanilla extract will also work — just substitute 1:1.
• Graham crackers: Technically these are optional, but honestly, I wouldn’t skip ’em. They mimic a cheesecake crust, and look really cute, too!

Essential Popsicle-Making Equipment

• Popsicle molds: You’ll need some type of popsicle mold for these cheesecake popsicles.
• Small saucepan: This is used to reduce your blueberries with honey and lemon, which gives them an amazing rich texture and flavor (aka blueberry cheesecake) that gets incorporated into the popsicle molds.
• High-speed blender: You gotta blend that cottage cheese to a creamy, smoooooth texture before pouring into the popsicle molds.

Silicone

Popsicle Mold

Keep this silicone popsicle mold on hand to make easy, homemade popsicles at home.

Don’t let not having popsicle molds stop you from making these delicious protein popsicles. You can use small paper cups or even an ice cube tray to make mini popsicles! Just cover the top with foil and stick a popsicle stick in the middle before freezing.

A higher-fat cottage cheese will leave you with a richer cheesecake popsicle, so we recommend 4% or 5%. If you use a low fat or fat free cottage cheese, it will leave you with an icy textured popsicle, which is just not recommended.

Our Favorite

Beast Blender

The Beast Blender is our go-to blender for smoothies, dips, soups, and everything in between. It’s the perfect size and moderately priced. Oh, and oh-so powerful!

My Freezer Pop Assembly Tips

Freeze popsicles for at least 5 hours. This will ensure they are solid enough to easily remove from the mold. I like to freeze them overnight to avoid any disappointed toddlers in my house if they’re not fully frozen IYKYK .

Make sure the popsicle sticks are securely placed in the mold before freezing. If they move around, the sticks will be kiddywampus once they’re frozen.

Run warm water over the mold before removing. This helps to loosen the popsicles and make them easier to remove without breaking. You can also let them sit out at room temperature for a few minutes.

Freeze and Enjoy!

Store your cheesecake popsicles in an airtight container (or right in the popsicle mold) in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. When ready to serve, remove from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature for a few minutes or run the mold under hot water briefly before unmolding.

More Protein-Packed Treats

These strawberry cottage cheese bagels are so chewy and delicious! Make them super easily in the air fryer or oven with no kneading or rise time required. Packed with 10g of protein per bagel thanks to blended cottage cheese — I hope you love these as much as I do!

I love when social media trends actually SLAY — like the 2-ingredient bagels that I recreated into our air fryer protein bagels! I’ve been making them on repeat and the team even created more variations like these pumpkin bagel bites. But today, I’m so excited to share these strawberry bagels! My toddlers love ’em, and I love knowing they’re made with protein-packed simple ingredients and a yummy strawberry flavor (and pink color to boot!).

The gist of this recipe is just like my OG protein bagels — you only need a few ingredients to make yummy strawberry bagels with 10g protein per bagel. There is no rising or boiling involved, just kneading and air frying or baking!

Featured Ingredients

• Cottage cheese: my protein powerhouse! This recipe uses blended cottage cheese in the bagel dough. It’s creamy, delicious, and obviously, protein-rich.
• Freeze-dried strawberries: that’s what gives these bagels their gorgeous PINK color! I also added some fresh strawberry slices to the cream cheese which adds great color, too . You’ll buy sliced freeze-dried strawberries and then blend them into a powder in either a (clean) coffee grinder or small food processor.
• Brown sugar: the only sweetener used in these bagels is brown sugar! They are on the sweeter side (how strawberry bagels should be IMO), so if you want a less sweet bagel, feel free to reduce the brown sugar.

Find the list of full ingredients in the recipe card below.

try it!

Air Fryer Protein Bagels

These air fryer bagels are chewy, delicious and made in under 30 minutes! You’re going to love this high-protein recipe.

Want to Make These In the Oven?

Great! I tested these in the oven as well, and they turned out perfectly. This is definitely the move if you want to make a large batch of bagels at one time.

Oven instructions: preheat the oven to 400℉, follow steps 2 through 5 in the recipe card, and bake for 12 minutes. 

Don’t Have Freeze-Dried Strawberries?

No problem! I tested this recipe with both fresh and frozen strawberries, and both also worked well. Replace the freeze-dried strawberries with 1 cup or diced fresh or frozen strawberries.

How long do cottage cheese bagels last?

These bagels are best stored in the fridge, and will typically last for up to 2 days. Just make sure to let them cool completely before transferring them into an airtight container and refrigerating. Wait to cut them until right before you’re ready to enjoy.

These freeze and reheat REALLY well. Let them cool completely. Then, place in an airtight container or wrap tightly in aluminum foil freeze for up to 3 months.

It’s a great morning to make strawberry cheesecake for breakfast! My easy cottage cheese oatmeal bake is sweet, moist, and oven-baked to perfection. It truly is strawberry cheesecake in oatmeal form!

I have an amazing strawberry cheesecake overnight oats recipe, and this vanilla strawberry overnight oats, and omg how could I forget these protein strawberry cheesecake jars, but it was about dang time Fit Foodie Finds got a strawberry cheesecake baked oatmeal recipe. It’s everything you love about all the amazing baked oatmeal recipes on this site, but Linley and Rosie absolutely slayed it with the pink color (thanks to blended freeze dried strawberries!) and high-protein goodness (obviously thanks to my bestie, cottage cheese ).

Featured Ingredients

• Cottage cheese: my protein powerhouse! This recipe uses blended cottage cheese in the baked oatmeal batter. It’s creamy, delicious, and obviously, protein-rich.
• Quick-cooking oats: using quick-cooking oats in this recipe helps keep the texture rather fluffy and not at all dense. Rolled oats will also work, but it will change the texture somewhat.
• Freeze-dried strawberries: that’s what gives this baked oatmeal its gorgeous PINK color! I also added some to the cottage cheese drizzle to give that a little pink hue, too . You’ll buy sliced freeze-dried strawberries and then blend them into a powder in either a (clean) coffee grinder or small food processor.

Find the list of full ingredients in the recipe card below.

Top With Drizzle and Enjoy

Whatever you do, do NOT skip the cottage cheese drizzle for the top of this baked oatmeal! Not only does it add the perfect amount of cheesecake-y sweetness, it amps up the protein just a little bit more, too.

Regardless of when you enjoy this strawberry cheesecake baked oatmeal, it travels well, is delicious served hot or cold, and is just a dang good way to enjoy oats

More Topping Ideas

When I’m having this for breakfast multiple times in one week, I like to switch up the toppings a bit for some variety (obviously my toddler appreciates this too ). Here are some of my go-tos:

• Fresh strawberries
• Dollop of Greek yogurt or cream cheese
• Chocolate chips
• Peanut butter

Once your baked oatmeal has fully cooled, I like to slice it into single servings and place it into a glass, airtight container.

Store your baked oats in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. While you can leave it out overnight on the counter, they will last much longer in the fridge.

Other Oatmeal Bakes and Recipes to Try

FAQs

I haven’t tested this recipe with protein powder since it’s already protein rich thanks to the rolled oats and cottage cheese. But many of our other baked oatmeal recipes use protein powder, so feel free to choose from one of those if protein powder is a must-have for you!

You could definitely substitute the cottage cheese for a dairy free variety to eliminate dairy from this recipe. Choose something besides a nut milk if you want to keep things nut-free. And, lastly, this recipe hasn’t been tested with a flax egg, so I cannot say whether that would work.

Yes! You can use both rolled oats and quick cooking oats in most baked oatmeal recipes. Steel cut oats will not work as a substitution.

You might have caught the viral TikTok cottage cheese ice cream craze.

Unlike the human version, this dog-friendly version leaves out the chocolate (remember: it’s toxic to dogs!) and substitutes blackstrap molasses for honey, although you can opt for honey if you prefer. I love blackstrap molasses, though, for its extra nutrients.

Did you know a tablespoon of molasses contains the same amount of calcium as a glass of milk? Blackstrap molasses also supplies potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6, selenium, manganese, iron, sulfur, and copper, making it a good choice for treat sweetening.

All our dogs know, though, is that it produces a yummy ice cream!

I developed this recipe for our new Dog Ice Cream Coloring Book (which includes dog ice cream recipes).

You’ll need 1 cup of cottage cheese (small or large curd, it doesn’t matter), 1 tablespoon of blackstrap molasses and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy).

In choosing your peanut butter, be sure the peanut butter has NO xylitol, a sweetener that is extremely toxic for dogs. Only a few manufacturers include this sweetener but always check the ingredients list to make sure you’re just getting plain peanut butter!

Toss all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and mix until creamy. You can feed this as a soft-serve ice cream or do like I do and freeze to make a longer-lasting treat.

You can use ice cube trays but I like silicone molds since it’s easier to pop the frozen ice cream out when you’re done.

I also added a little “handle” to the treat, half of a Peanut Butter and Applesauce Dog Treat.

Our dogs loved it!

Paris Permenter is the award-winning co-author, with John Bigley, of over 30 pet and travel books including The Healthy Hound Cookbook and Texas with Dogs, both available through Simon and Schuster. Paris is also a member of the Dog Writers Association of America.

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