How to Make a Better High Protein Cottage Cheese Queso

After my recent introduction to the viral TikTok cottage cheese queso, I wanted to make an upgraded version. My take on this high protein queso includes fresh veggies, extra protein, a bit of jack cheese, and a lot more flavor than the original.

Is cottage cheese the new cauliflower?

If you’re new to the cottage cheese craze, there’s a growing trend of using blended low fat cottage cheese as a high protein cheese sauce. I’ve never been a cottage cheese fan, but I have to admit this application is pretty great.

My first experience with it was in a protein mac and cheese cook off. I liked the sauce so much I ended up using it to make my “ultimate” protein mac and cheese recipe and a spicy jalapeño ranch dip.

How to Make High Protein Queso with Cottage Cheese

The cheese portion of this queso is about as easy as it gets. Add a quart of 2% cottage cheese to a blender with a cup of milk and eight ounces of pepper jack, monterey jack, or colby jack cheese. To avoid incorporating too much air into the sauce, use a low to medium speed for a few minutes to blend the sauce until it’s completely smooth.

That last bit is important. Make sure all the curds from the cottage cheese are blended, because they won’t melt into the sauce. And you want a silky smooth queso, right?

I’ve experimented with adding other ingredients to the cheese sauce like diced green chiles or pickled jalapeño peppers, cheddar powder, and spice blends. If you’re looking for a minimal sauce, without the veggies and beef, these are all great options for making a flavorful queso. But in my version, they got lost in the sauce a bit and didn’t add much.

Cook Method and Additional Ingredients

As for the remaining ingredients in my protein queso, I modeled this recipe after my ultimate smoked queso (not at all Kinda Healthy). In that recipe, cooked hot breakfast sausage, fresh veggies, beer, and a beaucoup of cheese and Velveeta are smoked low and slow for a few hours to make what I think is the best smoked queso out there.

I wanted this version to be a bit more approachable (and Kinda Healthy) so I skipped the smoker and cooked the beef and veggies down in a braising pan with chicken broth and taco seasoning before adding the blended cottage cheese sauce.

Since this recipe makes a huge batch, I mention in the recipe card that you could cook the beef and veggies in a skillet and add everything to a slow cooker to finish the job. That would also be a great option for keeping your protein queso warm for a hootenanny or game day.

And if you do have a smoker, I’m betting this recipe would work perfectly at 250ºF for 2-3 hours stirring every 30-45 minutes.

Optional Pico de Gallo

The recipe also includes an optional pico de gallo that you can easily make while you’re preparing the onion and peppers. Just add a couple of roma tomatoes, lime juice, and cilantro to make a perfect salsa fresca for garnishing the finished queso.

What to Serve with Cottage Cheese Queso

Ignore the cucumbers in my photos. Those were for guacamole.

A lower calorie veggie “chip” worth talking about, however, is jicama. This Mexican turnip is the perfect veggie dipping apparatus for something like queso. And the best thing about jicama chips is that there’s no baking or frying required!

Side note: If you’re into lower calorie substitutes like jicama, you’ll want to bookmark my potato substitution guide.

There are plenty of macro friendly chips like lentil chips or baked corn tortilla chip options these days (you can even make your own). But another less talked about “chip” option for something like queso are humble chicharrones or pork rinds. Epic Provisions out of Austin, Texas makes a great baked pork rind in multiple seasonings that I regularly buy from Whole Foods.

Whatever you end up serving your cottage cheese queso with, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the recipe. Let me know about it in the comments or a recipe review. Those are always appreciated!

And if you have any questions about the recipe or ingredients, you can leave those in the comments as well.