5 Delicious Breakfast Ideas Featuring Cottage Cheese

As it turns out, the ubiquitous saying, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day," isn't just a bid to sell breakfast cereal; there's also quite a bit of truth to it. According to the Cleveland Clinic, breakfast helps jumpstart your day by providing your body with much-needed energy, which also helps reduce brain fog. Having a morning nosh is also heart healthy and may reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Of course, making the most of these health benefits depends largely on the types of foods with which you start your day. 

Medical experts suggest nixing the sugary cereals and pastries in favor of a more balanced, protein-rich morning meal. Cottage cheese not only packs in the protein at 14 grams per ½ cup, it's also full of other nutrients, like riboflavin and folate, that help regulate our energy levels and brain function. It's also delicious and pretty versatile. Whether you like it hot, cold, sweet, or savory, cottage cheese might just be the answer to all your breakfast needs.

Cottage cheese pancakes may sound like the latest brunch trend, but to those with Slavic heritage, they're nothing new. Called syrniki, these tender, dairy-based pancakes are a blend of familiar pancake batter ingredients — flour, sugar, salt, etc. — and farmer's cheese, aka, cottage cheese. The cottage cheese gives them their fluffy texture in addition to a nutrition boost and they taste incredible drizzled in warm fruit jam or the expected butter and maple syrup. However, traditional syrniki are a little labor intensive, so these may be best for a weekend brunch or a highbrow breakfast for dinner. 

Fortunately, if you're looking for something quick and filling for busy weekday mornings, there are simpler recipes out there that use fewer ingredients and can even be made ahead. Our favorite 3-ingredient cottage cheese pancakes are positively bursting with protein, since they combine eggs and rolled oats with the all-important cottage cheese. A great bonus with this recipe is that oats are a nervine that can help curb anxiety by soothing your nervous system. Since cottage cheese also supports brain health, you can start your day energized, focused, and calm. 

The best part is that you can take these pancakes on the go. Make them fresh in the morning or prep them over the weekend and pop them in the freezer. Toast to thaw and slather with nut butter and fruit preserves for a nutritious morning PB&J, or layer them with Greek yogurt and fresh fruit for a breakfast-style Napoleon.

Move over, avocado, there's a new tasty toast topping in town. Though cottage cheese may seem like an odd pairing for toast, we promise it's delicious if it's prepared properly. The biggest obstacle here is preventing your toast from soaking up the whey and getting soggy. There are two effective ways to do this. You can either drain your cottage cheese or whip it. Draining it will produce a soft, slightly crumbly cheese, while whipping it will create an airy, creamy texture. Both techniques help reduce excess moisture, so your toast retains its lightly charred crunch. 

Once you've prepped your cottage cheese, you can blend it with a wide range of sweet or savory flavors, since its earthy funk and lightly nutty undertones work well with either one. Chopped tropical fruits or delicately tangy marinated berries both easily bring out cottage cheese's light sweetness, especially when drizzled with local honey, vanilla-infused maple syrup, or even a little chocolate ganache. Add a sprinkle of candied walnuts for crunch, and you have a simple-yet-decadent breakfast to start your day. 

As for savory pairings, opt for flavors that compliment cottage cheese's salty and cheesy side. Briny olives, roasted tomatoes, and sliced almonds create a Mediterranean flavor profile chock full of mouthwatering richness. Also, if you simply need avocado on your toast, we get it; just cube it to differentiate the texture and add a shake or two of everything bagel seasoning to offset the creamy, earthy combination of healthy fats.

Did you know that if you put cottage cheese in a blender with a little sweetener and some vanilla extract, it turns into a nutrient-rich, no-bake cheesecake filling? The best part about this mix is that it's the perfect blank canvas for building a sweet and satisfying breakfast parfait. You can lean into the cheesecake theme by layering it with crumbled graham crackers and fruit preserves or swap them out for cinnamon granola and fresh fruit for a slightly lighter version.

It's also more than okay to get creative with the fruits you include. Tart berries are traditionally paired with cheesecake, but you can also use fresh peaches, chopped dried figs and dates, or even diced apples. Raw apples add crunch and freshness, but we recommend giving them a quick sauté with a little butter, maple syrup, and nutmeg. When layered with your creamy cottage cheesecake filling, these sweetly spiced apples invoke the flavors of apple pie a la mode (and who doesn't want pie for breakfast?). 

If fruit and granola aren't really your thing, try layers of toasted hazelnuts with Nutella, or crunchy peanut butter with chocolate chips and local honey. You can even get your veggies in if you choose carefully. Pumpkin puree or mashed carrots both add beautiful color as well as vitamin A, lycopene, and lots of fiber. Stir a few tablespoons of either one into your cottage cheesecake filling, then pair with traditional pumpkin pie or carrot cake flavors such as toasted pecans and shredded coconut.

For those in the "savory breakfast only" camp, a decadently cheesy morning scramble may be exactly what you need to properly start your day. When whisked together with eggs, cottage cheese provides a dash of saltiness along with additional moisture that makes your scramble fluffy and velvety all at once. It also provides an earthy, buttery flavor that adds complexity without overwhelming your palate. Even cottage cheese haters may enjoy this dish, as the eggs also hide the "funk" that some people find offensive.

This recipe works best with drier brands of cottage cheese, so we recommend draining it a little if it seems watery, as this will help prevent your eggs from becoming runny. As for ratios, a tablespoon or two of cheese per egg should be plenty, though you can experiment a bit to find a combination that produces your desired results. For instance, a little more cottage cheese will make loose, creamy eggs while less will produce a denser scramble.

In terms of flavorings, you really can't go wrong with traditional breakfast veggies. Bell peppers, onions, and spinach have enough astringency to enhance cottage cheese's umami flavor, while mushrooms add a meatiness that's always delicious with dairy. Fold them in after a quick sauté in olive oil, then garnish with fresh herbs like chives or parsley. You can also add a strip or two of crumbled bacon for an extra pop of salt and to provide a bit of crunch for an interesting texture.

Being in a hurry doesn't mean you have to settle for a disappointing breakfast. Using cottage cheese as a base, it's fairly easy to build a tasty and filling breakfast bowl in no time. Since the cottage cheese will stand on its own in this dish, it's best to start with the best cottage cheese brand you can find. This helps guarantee your breakfast bowl will be full of creamy texture and umami flavor that blends easily with whatever you choose to stack on top of it. And believe us when we say the combinations are endless. 

The quickest option is a classic no-cook smoked salmon bowl. After stirring some salt and pepper into your cottage cheese, add strips of brightly colored salmon lox, diced red onion, and thinly sliced cucumber. If you love crunch and carbs as much as we do, you can complete the bowl with bagel chips and a healthy sprinkling of black and white sesame seeds. You can also nix the bagel chips and replace them with roasted salted almonds, or your favorite tree nut.

If you have a little more time, you can load your cottage cheese base with rendered breakfast sausage and a sunny side-up egg. The warm, golden yolk will spill into the rest of the bowl, creating a beautifully creamy texture with the cottage cheese, while the sausage adds texture and a little spice. Swap in your favorite breakfast meat, or top with pico de gallo for freshness.