Spinach and cottage cheese sauce is an easy, 5-minute, no-cook sauce made with just 3 ingredients. It's a high-protein, low-calorie alternative to pesto which is healthy but creamy and cheesy. It's ideal to serve with pasta, meat and fish dishes.
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What you'll love about the recipe
- Spinach and cottage cheese sauce is a healthy high-protein sauce. It has more than twice as much protein as pesto with half the calories
- This quick and easy sauce takes just 5 minutes to make with 3 ingredients. There's no cooking required!
- A versatile healthy-but-creamy sauce. It is ideal for making spinach and cottage cheese pasta, but it can also be served with chicken and fish. It's also easy to adapt the recipe with your favourite herbs and seasonings
- This easy sauce recipe can be scaled up or down, and leftovers can be stored in the fridge
- Spinach and cottage cheese sauce is low carb, vegetarian and gluten free
Ingredients
Cottage cheese. I used plain fat-free cottage cheese, but you could also use full-fat. Or try making the sauce with a flavoured variety of cottage cheese such as chive and onion.
Spinach. I used fresh spinach leaves to make the spinach and cottage cheese sauce. You can also use frozen spinach, but it needs to be defrosted and very well drained. I think the flavour is slightly nicer with fresh spinach.
If you are looking for more easy ways to incorporate spinach into your diet, you might also like this spinach and apple smoothie.
Mature cheddar or parmesan. This adds a real cheesy tang to the sauce.
Ground pepper. The 2 types of cheese provide plenty of salt in the recipe, so you'll just need pepper for seasoning
You'll also need about 50ml of water to thin the sauce. If you are making spinach and cottage sauce to go with pasta, you can use a little of the pasta water which adds extra creaminess from the starch.
How to make spinach cottage cheese sauce
This simple easy sauce is ready to eat in minutes.
Add the cottage cheese, spinach, grated cheese and ground pepper to a blender.
Blitz until smooth. Add 40- 50ml of water and blitz again until the sauce is the desired consistency.
Variations
Add a handful of fresh herbs if you want to vary the flavour of your spinach and cottage cheese sauce. Basil goes well with spinach, and will give you a slightly pesto-y flavour. Chives are also a good option for a mild onion flavour.
You can also vary the seasonings slightly with a squeeze of lemon juice or a little grated nutmeg, which goes very well with spinach. You could also add garlic or onion powder.
Serving and storage
Spinach and cottage cheese sauce can be stored in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days. The sauce will thicken slightly, so you can stir in a little more liquid if needed.
If you want to serve the sauce warm, heat it gently in a pan. If you try to heat it too quickly on a high heat it could split and curdle.
The sauce is ideal for making spinach and cottage cheese pasta. It's a quick and easy pasta sauce which you can use as a high-protein alternative to pesto. I usually just stir it directly into the pasta which warms it through sufficiently.
A standard pasta served with this sauce will provide 20g of protein, or you could use a lentil based pasta which would give over 30g of protein per serving.
You can also use it as a quick high-protein cottage cheese dip or an alternative to mayonnaise in sandwiches and wraps.
Or use it as a sauce for fish (such as these baked basa fillets) and chicken - it adds a lovely colour as well as being nutritious.
Frequently asked questions
No, I find that spinach and cottage cheese sauce does not freeze well. Freezing can change the texture of the sauce, making it split and turn watery.
Yes, you can make the sauce with frozen spinach. However, you'll need to defrost the spinach first and make sure that it is thoroughly drained.
Yes, cottage cheese is a great way to make a low fat, healthy but creamy pasta sauce. There's no cooking required, and it's a good source of protein.
Other healthy cottage cheese recipes
Cottage cheese is high in protein and low in fat, so it's great for your health. It blends easily into sweet and savoury recipes, giving them a creamy texture and disguising the distinctive lumps!
This cottage cheese mousse and cottage cheese smoothie are both ready to eat in minutes, so they are great when you are in a rush but want something nutritious with plenty of protein.
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Recipe
Spinach Cottage Cheese Sauce
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 100 g cottage cheese
- 80 g spinach
- 30 g mature cheddar or parmesan grated
- pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the cottage cheese, spinach, grated cheese and a pinch of pepper to a blender.100 g cottage cheese, 80 g spinach, 30 g mature cheddar or parmesan, pepper to taste
- Blitz until smooth. Thin to taste with 40-50ml of water.
Notes
- If you are making spinach and cottage cheese sauce to go with pasta, you can use the pasta water to thin the sauce which adds extra creaminess. Leave the water to cool for a few seconds so that it is not boiling hot when you add it to the cottage cheese.
- Add fresh herbs to vary the flavour of the sauce. Basil and chives are both good options.
- Vary the seasonings to suit with a squeeze of lemon juice or a little grated nutmeg, which complements the flavour of spinach. You could also add garlic or onion powder.
Nutrition
Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.
Linda says
I made this today's was very easy and tasty. I added a few leaves of basil and a dessertspoon of nutritional yeast. I had it with gluten free gnocchi.
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you:) That sounds a lovely combination.
H says
Absolutely love this! Great to have the protein and veg sorted for a quick pasta meal. I added nutmeg, salt & a dash of chilli oil.
Wendy Faulkner says
Thank you, your additions sound delicious, the chilli oil is a great idea.