This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure and privacy policy.
Cottage Cheese Ice Cream is a high-protein dessert made with three simple ingredients. Even if you’re not the biggest cottage cheese fan, you might be surprised by how delicious this is!
If you haven’t tried viral cottage cheese ice cream, you’re in for a treat. (Literally!) Compared to traditional ice cream, it has 4 times more protein per half cup, with fewer overall calories. (According to the USDA database.)
You can make this high-protein ice cream quickly with an ice cream maker or pour it into a loaf pan to set in the freezer. It’s an easy dessert you can whip up in minutes!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This healthy ice cream is naturally sweetened with maple syrup and tastes like frozen cheesecake filling. The flavor is easy to customize with any extra toppings you love, like peanut butter, chocolate chips, strawberries, sliced bananas, and more.
If you’d rather use honey as the sweetener, that will work, too!
cottage cheese note
Full-fat cottage cheese will give you a creamier ice cream with 12 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving. If you prefer low-fat cottage cheese, you’ll save about 30 calories per serving, but the ice cream will likely be icier in texture.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
Combine the full-fat cottage cheese, vanilla extract, and maple syrup in a high-speed blender or food processor. Full measurements can be found in the printable recipe card below.
Secure the lid and blend until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides of the blender if needed. When you’re done blending, you should see no chunks of cottage cheese.
Taste the mixture and adjust the flavoring if needed. You can add more sweetener for a sweeter flavor or stir in some chopped nuts for crunch. (Like pecans or peanuts.)
For the fastest, creamiest ice cream, pour this mixture into an ice cream maker. You’ll need to make sure the bowl has been in the freezer for at least 24 hours prior to making this.
Turn on the ice cream machine and process until the cottage cheese ice cream has a creamy texture and soft-serve consistency.
As soon as the ice cream reaches a consistency you love, it’s ready to serve.
Top with fresh strawberries for a strawberry cheesecake flavor. You can also top it with mango, blueberries, or any other fresh fruit you have on hand.
Flavor Variations
Customize your cottage cheese ice cream by adding Oreos, fresh fruit, graham crackers, cookies, peanut butter cups, or whatever you love. These are best added after 15 minutes of processing in your ice cream maker. Once the ice cream looks like soft-serve, add these mix-ins and process for five more minutes.
Cottage Cheese Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Maker
If you don’t have an ice cream maker, pour the blended cottage cheese mixture into a loaf pan and freeze it until firm, about 6 to 8 hours.
It’s important you adjust your expectations with this method, though.
In this case, the ice cream becomes more like a block of ice that needs to be “shaved” to serve. It’s delicious this way but not very scoopable.
Even if you leave it out on the counter to thaw for up to 30 minutes, it still isn’t as easy to work with as when you make it in an ice cream machine. So, just keep that in mind. The photo above shows the texture when skipping the ice cream maker.
My kids love this creamy “shaved ice” dessert!
storage tip
Store cottage cheese ice cream in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you freeze it overnight, it will become quite icy, so expect it to be more like shaved ice rather than scoopable ice cream.
Looking for more frozen healthy desserts? Try Coconut Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, Banana Ice Cream, or Almond Milk Ice Cream.
Megan’s Recommendation
Ingredients
- 2 cups full-fat cottage cheese
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- To use an ice cream maker, ensure the bowl has been frozen for at least 24 hours. Combine the cottage cheese, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in a high-speed blender. Secure the lid and blend for at least 60 seconds, or until it's very smooth with no chunks of cottage cheese remaining.
- Pour the mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and process for 20 to 25 minutes, or until it has a soft-serve consistency. Serve right away, or transfer the mixture to a loaf pan and freeze for one more hour. (This will make it slightly firmer and more scoopable; if you freeze it overnight, the ice cream will become icy and hard.)
- Leftover ice cream can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months, but it will not be as easy to scoop as it is when you first make it. (See the photos in the post.) Its icy texture turns into more of a "creamy shaved ice," which is also delicious, but it will need to be scraped out of the pan, rather than scooped.
Notes
Nutrition
If you try this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below, letting me know how you like it.
Could this be made with a ninja creami? Wondering how that would work bc you normally need some of your ingredients to be frozen…
Yes, you can but when I tested it you’ll need to make a slightly smaller batch to fit into the Ninja Creami pint. (I did 1.5 cups cottage cheese, 1/4 cup maple syrup, and a half teaspoon vanilla extract.) That will need to freeze for 24 hours, then you can run it in the Ninja Creami machine. It will require 2 re-spins for the creamiest results after the initial ice cream cycle.
Wow! This was AMAZING and could not have been simpler. It tasted exactly like those Sarah Lee cheesecake bites from back in the day. I made the recipe with my toddler and it was easy and fun. I cut the maple syrup down to 1/4 cup and it was plenty sweet. May cut it down to 3 Tbs next time. We already added cottage cheese to the list to make it again ASAP!
Easy to make and very creamy! Add your favorite fruit or topping and its cheesecake in a bowl!
Any update on using the Ninja?!? I would LOVE to try this!!
It’s in the freezer right now… I’ll test it tomorrow!
Yay!!! I cannot wait to hear how it goes!!
Update on the Ninja Creami: I made the batch smaller, so it would fit under the “max fill” line. So I used 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese, 1/4 cup maple, and a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. I also blended in a 1/2 cup of fresh strawberries, but I think next time I would use more or leave them out. (Not enough strawberry flavor from that amount.) After freezing for 24 hours, I ran it on the “ice cream” setting first and the texture was chalky and fluffy. Then I ran it on the “re-spin” setting two more times. That created a very creamy, scoopable ice cream. So, feel free to use that if you prefer!
Yay!! Thank you so much!! I am trying it tonight!! 🩵