Strawberry Cottage Cheese Smoothie

This cottage cheese smoothie is thick, creamy and tastes like a strawberry shortcake ice cream bar (but so much healthier!). It also comes packed with over 40 grams of protein, making it a perfect meal replacement to help support fat loss and wellness goals.

On any given week, you can take a peek into my fridge and see about 6-10 tubs of whole milk cottage cheese (that is, when it isn’t inexplicably sold out for weeks).

I love using cottage cheese as the base of a breakfast or lunch because it’s a no-cook way of adding in a ton of protein and nutrients. Just 1 1/4 cups of cottage cheese gives you about 30 grams of complete protein – that’s a lot!!

It also makes an excellent ingredient to smoothies for bumping up the protein while keeping the smoothie creamy and delicious.

I originally shared this Strawberry Cottage Cheese Smoothie on my YouTube channel and it received such positive feedback that I knew I had to share it on the blog, too.

In fact, just the other day in our private Facebook Group, one of the community members had this to say about the smoothie:

Reader’s Comments

I was curious about how Autumn’s Strawberry Cottage Cheese Smoothie would taste, since I’ve only had yogurt smoothies. The verdict: YUM!Reminded me of those strawberry shortcake ice cream bars I used to get as a kid (though not as sweet). I made it with whole milk so it had 52g of protein. And it was a very pretty light pink!

Recipe Highlights

Creamy and refreshing. It’s smooth, yet totally satisfying to keep you full for hours on end.
A complete meal replacement. This recipe was designed to have enough protein, fat and quality sources of carbohydrates to act as a meal replacement, not a snack.
Super high in protein. A whopping 41 grams of protein!! That’s about 2-3x the amount of protein you’ll find in most other online cottage cheese smoothie recipes.
5 simple ingredients. Nutrient-packed, easy and perfect for busy weekday mornings.

Key Ingredients

Cottage Cheese

Cottage Cheese is having a serious moment in the nutrition space right now, and for good reason. It’s one of the highest protein vegetarian foods you can eat. With protein playing an absolutely vital role in fat loss, satiety, bone health and muscle maintenance, this is a really big deal.

I always choose whole milk (full fat) cottage cheese because it’s significantly higher in vitamin K2. This vitamin is needed to get calcium out of the arteries and put it into the bones, making it crucial for both bone and heart health.

Plus, whole milk dairy products (like cottage cheese) have been found to be inversely associated with obesity. This means people who eat full fat dairy (instead of low fat) are less likely to be obese.

Autumn’s Vanilla Protein Powder

We made our protein powder to optimize for gut health by only using 100% whey protein isolate. This is the lowest lactose form of whey protein, making it the best whey for those who are lactose intolerant.

We further optimized for wellness and gut health by keeping it zero added sugar with monk fruit extract. This natural zero sugar sweetener provides a hint of sweetness without the common GI complaints that sugar alcohols have or the bitter after taste that stevia tends to have.

Our protein powder mixes well, is super creamy and makes the perfect addition to smoothies, protein waffles, chia pudding, protein yogurts and more!

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Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds contain some plant-based protein and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. It also adds a pleasant nutty flavor to the smoothie. Compared to other seeds, I’ve found that hemp seeds tend to be more satiating and helps prevent hunger for longer.

Equipment Needed

Blender. It doesn’t need to be high speed, but I’m obsessed with my Vitamix. I have a super basic model that has lasted me about 10 years. If you plan on making a lot of smoothies, then it’s well worth the investment because it lasts for a long time and the blend it provides is very smooth. Plus, the Vitamix warranties are spectacular. If possible, go for the extended warranty! This is the Vitamix that I use.

How to Make

This recipe is super easy to make for a quick breakfast or lunch.

strawberry cottage cheese smoothie ingredients in a blender before it's blended

Step 1: Throw all of the ingredients in your blender.

strawberry cottage cheese smoothie blended in a blender

Step 2: Blend until smooth. I like to start my blender on the low setting, then slowly increase the speed. This helps to prevent the occasional “blender blowout” that can happen if you start on too high of a speed.

Ingredient Swaps

Almond milk. You can use any nut or seed milk, as long as it’s unsweetened. I don’t recommend oat milk. From a wellness and fat loss perspective, it’s not great because it often contains inflammatory oils and adds a lot of simple carbohydrates. If you don’t have a problem digesting cows milk, you could swap out the almond milk for whole milk. This will bump up the protein by about 10 grams.
Hemp seeds. Chia seeds, edible basil seeds and flax seeds all work as swaps, but each will provide different health benefits. For example, chia seeds and edible basil seeds will really bump up the fiber, whereas flax seeds are great for plant-based omega-3.
Walnuts. Any other whole nuts will work, but it might change the flavor slightly. Some good options to test out would be almonds, hazelnuts or macadamia nuts.

Meal Prep

There are two ways to meal prep this smoothie for later:

Put all the ingredients into the mason jar and blend later. You can make a whole weeks worth of smoothies in individual mason jars! Just store them all in the fridge and pull one out to blend when you’re ready to drink it. This method helps to save you a few minutes of prep each day while still enjoying a freshly blended smoothie.

Make the smoothie and throw it in a mason jar. Just keep the smoothie in the fridge and give it a good shake before you’re ready to sip it. This is best done either the night before or the morning you intend on drinking the smoothie.

FAQ’s

Can you substitute cottage cheese for yogurt in smoothies?

Yes, although the taste will be quite different. Cottage cheese has more salt in it so smoothies using cottage cheese tend to have a little bit of a salty hint. This is why not every type of smoothie will taste good with cottage cheese. However, greek yogurt is pretty easy to use in all types of smoothies.

Does cottage cheese blend well?

Very easily! Whether you have a high speed blender or not, cottage cheese is soft and easy to blend into a smoothie.

Other Cottage Cheese Recipes You May Love

Chocolate Protein Pancake Bars (perfect for breakfast meal prep!)
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake (low sugar, high protein dessert)
My Viral Blueberry Cottage Cheese Bowl (my go-to lunch!)

Love this recipe? Let me know in the comments below!

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