Creamy Cottage Cheese Alfredo Pasta
Forget the heavy cream and butter, this healthy alfredo style sauce is made with just cottage cheese and garlic! It’s rich and comforting, yet far lighter than traditional alfredo. Best of all, the entire dinner comes together in the time it takes to boil a pot of water. You can either use plain cottage cheese or a chive flavored cottage cheese. Feel free to swap out the frozen peas for chopped broccoli or asparagus. Don’t forget to reserve ½ cup of the pasta cooking water before draining (I like to place a measuring cup in my colander so I don’t forget!).
Servings: 4 people
Equipment
- Food processor or high speed blender
Ingredients
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 small garlic clove, peeled
- 2 cups (1 16-oz) container cottage cheese (not low-fat)
- 1 pound spaghetti or linguini
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- Chopped chives, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and season it with salt.
- In a mini food processor (or high speed blender), process the garlic until finely chopped. Add the cottage cheese, and process until smooth (easiest sauce EVER!!). Scrape the sauce into a large heat-proof bowl.
- Cook the spaghetti in the boiling water according to the package directions. During the last 2 minutes of cooking, scoop out ½ cup of the cooking water (reserve it), and add the peas to the pot. Once the pasta is al dente, drain it (with the peas). Immediately transfer the hot pasta and peas to the bowl with the cottage cheese. Add the parmesan cheese, season well with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Add a few splashes of the pasta cooking water, tossing until the sauce is loose enough to evenly coat the spaghetti.
- Twirl the spaghetti into bowls and garnish with more parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of chives, if you’d like. Devour!
Notes
Tips:
- This cottage cheese alfredo pasta is best served right after it’s made, when the sauce is loose and creamy. However, leftovers are still delicious for lunch the next day.
- Be sure to use regular cottage cheese in this recipe, not low-fat, which could break when the hot pasta is added.
- You’ll need a food processor or high speed blender to blend the creamy sauce. However, you can skip this step if you prefer—the sauce will simply have curds.
- I love using gluten-free spaghetti, but you can use any long pasta shape you like.
- Use cottage cheese in these other wholesome recipes: Healthy Vegetable Breakfast Strata, High-protein Strawberry Waffles, a Creamy Strawberry Smoothie, Build-Your-Own Tartines, and Healthy Veggie Dip.