Description
Creamy, tasty, and easy to make, this Vegan Cottage Cheese is protein-packed super versatile. Enjoy with fruit and stuffed in tomatoes.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 16 ounces (454 grams) organic silken tofu (see note 1)
- Juice of 2-3 small lemons, divided
- 1 teaspoon agave, optional (see note 2)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast, optional (see note 3)
- 2-2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
- 14 ounces (396 grams) firm tofu (see note 4)
Instructions
- Make the base “sauce”: 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.
- Make the “curds”: 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.
- Season the “curds”: Sprinkle on the remaining teaspoon of salt and squeeze the remaining lemon over the crumbled tofu. Mix well with a fork or spoon.
- Combine: 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.
- Chill out: Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours, then serve as you wish and enjoy! It keeps in the fridge for about 4 days.
- Serve: This tofu cottage cheese would actually go really well with my homemade vegan tuna which you can find in my vegan tuna noodle casserole recipe, or also well with my vegan chicken salad--I’d even use it instead of the vegan mayo.
Notes
- Note 1: 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.
- Note 2: 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.
- Note 3: To give this just a bit of a cheesy flavor, I used a tiny amount of non-fortified nutritional yeast (either non-fortified or fortified work fine; one is pale and one is bright yellow) but you can omit it if you hate nutritional yeast or don’t own any.
- Note 4: 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.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free, Nut-Free, Refined Sugar-Free, Vegan Cottage Cheese