Vegan Cottage Cheese

Creamy, tasty, and easy to make, this Vegan Cottage Cheese is protein-packed super versatile. Enjoy with fruit, stuffed in tomatoes, or as part of another dish for a low fat and protein-rich meal.

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Hey Internet, am I uncool or am I just one of those people who actually liked cottage cheese? Haha, probably both.

But it’s funny, in some cultures, cottage cheese was the ultimate uncool thing--something your parents ate or made you eat. And in some areas, cottage cheese was always pretty good.

In my house, the only person who ate it was my mom. My mom has a major sweet tooth, so she used to eat cottage cheese with cinnamon and fruit.

I thought I hated cottage cheese for the longest time because I don’t have a super big sweet tooth (of course, I’ve found out I love my own desserts a little TOO much).

Until I tried cottage cheese savory. I tried it a few different ways before I went vegan--mixing it with tuna or chicken, stuffing it into mini bell peppers or eating it with a salad.

Now I can do the same with my veganized cottage cheese, and it’s healthy and delicious. I’m so excited to share this with you all.

So whether you want to eat your vegan cottage cheese sweet with fruit (Mr. Zardyplants LOVED this stuffed into some cantaloupe with blueberries and a drizzle of vegan honey -- he ate both halves)…

Or you like it savory like me stuffed into some tomatoes with dill and pepper or in a salad with chopped veggies and other goodies, you have an easy to make yet versatile base for breakfast, lunch, dessert--or whenever.

This vegan cottage cheese recipe is actually tofu based--as you’ll need two different kinds of tofu to make it. More on that in a second.

I am currently thinking of ways to make this without tofu if you are allergic to soy. If you’re worried soy is unhealthy, I urge you to check out this nutrition article on soy --spoiler alert: it’s totally safe unless you have an actual allergy.

But for those with allergies, I think I’ve come up with an idea on how to make it from corn? It’ll be yellow, but still delicious, I think. I’ll update this post when I figure it out!

There are also other tofu products out there not made with soy, specifically I’ve seen chickpea tofu though I’ve never made it myself.

Anyway, let’s move on and talk about at least this tofu cottage cheese.

What You’ll Need

• Silken tofu: Silken tofu is made from non-curdled soy milk (whereas non-silken is curdled and firmer) with a silky appearance and texture. It’s the perfect base for creamy sauces like my tofu sour cream or vegan mayo. You can find it both refrigerated and unrefrigerated. Keep in mind that the unrefrigerated packs are generally smaller than the refrigerated ones, so you may need two. The silken tofu will make the base of the sauce for the cottage cheese.
• Lemon juice: You’ll need the juice of a few fresh lemons for this recipe. Fresh lemon juice is super important to making this really taste like cottage cheese, in my opinion. I used 3 small lemons overall. You can start with less and taste as you go if you’d like.
• Agave or other sweetener, optional: So the first time I tested this I didn’t use any sweetener. While the recipe was good, my husband and I tried it at the same time and looked at each other and both said “it needs a little sweetness.” We were on the same page that it needed just a touch of something sweet to resemble dairy cottage cheese. So the next time I made it I added just a teaspoon of agave and it worked very well. So use or leave out, your choice. If substituting a sweeter substance like cane sugar or stevia, I’d go with half the amount, then taste it.
• Nutritional yeast, optional: To give this just a bit of a cheesy flavor, I used a tiny amount of non-fortified nutritional yeast but you can omit it if you hate nutritional yeast or don’t own any.
• Sea salt: Salt is what makes it taste like cheese so it’s pretty necessary. Otherwise it’s going to taste like lemony mush. Table salt is always finer and therefore saltier tasting than sea salt or himalayan sea salt (which is what I personally use because I like the flavor), so if you’re using table salt, start with half the amount and go with more if you need to. Sea salt is what most food writers and bloggers use because it’s common yet flavorful.
• Firm tofu: So firm tofu is the second type of tofu I use here. This becomes the actual curd in the vegan cottage cheese. Medium firm tofu or extra firm tofu will both work, but I liked the texture best of the firm tofu.

How To Make Vegan Cottage Cheese

• First let’s make the base “sauce” for the cottage cheese. Blend silken tofu, the juice of 1 lemon, the agave, the nutritional yeast, and 1 teaspoon of the sea salt until smooth. Taste, and adjust as needed. I ended up adding another ½ teaspoon of salt and the juice of another small lemon to mine because I thought it needed it.
• Now drain the package (don’t press, just empty out the excess water) of firm tofu and crumble it into a bowl. Larger crumbles = large curd cottage cheese while smaller crumbles = small curd. Note that it will get a little finer crumbled in the next step, so don’t overdo it.
• Sprinkle on the remaining teaspoon of salt and squeeze the remaining lemon over the crumbled tofu. Mix well with a fork or spoon.
• Now add the blended silken tofu mixture to a large container and mix the crumbled firm tofu into it until combined. It’s going to look kind of liquidy--don’t worry, it firms up in the fridge.
• Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, then serve as you wish and enjoy! It keeps in the fridge for about 4 days.

More Vegan Cheese Recipes

I don’t blame you. Vegan cheese is awesome! Did you know I have a whole section on vegan cheese on my site?!

And here’s my FAVORITE nut-free vegan cheese recipes

• Vegan Brie
• Vegan Goat Cheese Crumbles
• Nut-Free Vegan Cheddar Cheese - This one’s a fan favorite as well!
• Vegan Feta
• Stretchy, Melty Mozzarella
• Vegan Camembert
• Stretchy, Melty Cheddar Sauce
• Vegan Ricotta
• Vegan Cotija

Teaser: I have a thing for vegan cheese and I come out with new recipes all the time. If you’d like to sign up for my free newsletter so you don’t miss any cheese recipes, please fill out the below form!

Anything Else?

As always, I hope you love this recipe--I know I do, and Mr. Zardyplants does too.

This vegan cottage cheese is:

Fresh
Tangy
Salty
Light
Satisfying
Protein-packed
And super versatile--great in sweet or savory dishes, or served with fruit or vegetables.

Let me know in the comments below if you make this recipe or tag me @Zardyplants on Instagram so I can see your beautiful recreations! If you tag me on IG, I will share your post in my stories :)

Also, one quick request: if you love how this recipe looks or tastes, please leave me a 5-star rating and a nice comment–ratings help more people find my recipes which helps me keep providing them! Thank you!

<3 Liz

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