Creamy Pesto Cottage Cheese Pasta

Protein pasta with a simple blended cottage cheese pesto sauce, crispy baked chicken breast, parmesan, and optional chopped pistachios all come together to make this healthy spin on pesto chicken pasta. Every serving has 30 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber, and gets two thumbs up from the picky eater in my house.

How to Make Creamy Cottage Cheese Pasta

Step 1: Bake or Air Fry Frozen Chicken Breast

There are so many lightly breaded chicken breast options in stores now. What a time to be alive!

Costco is my go-to, between their Kirkland Signature brand and Just Bare chicken bites options. But there are plenty of options at Kroger, Walmart, Target, and other grocery stores from brands like Perdue, Tyson, and store brands. See the photo below for a few examples.

While I prefer keeping frozen chicken bites on hand for things like easy snacking or making things like chicken caesar wraps or sweet n sour chicken, filets and strips work fine (maybe even better) for this recipe.

You can also swap the lightly breaded for grilled chicken or something like garlic parm air fried chicken tenderloins.

Step 2: Cook Your Choice of Pasta

Don’t forget to salt your water before cooking the pasta and reserve some of the finished pasta water to bring the sauce together!

I used fusilli Brami protein pasta for this recipe, which is a wheat and lupini bean pasta that’s one of the better high protein pasta replacements I’ve tried. That said, I compared protein pasta to traditional pasta in my protein mac n cheese and found the protein content to be closer than you might think.

Step 3: Blend Cottage Cheese and Basil Pesto Together

Pesto can be a bit difficult to work into a low calorie diet considering two of its primary ingredients, olive oil and pine nuts, are high in healthy fats and calories. I was surprised to find Trader Joe’s basil pesto to have just 220 calories per 1/4 cup. That’s about 100 fewer calories than most pesto options.

If you don’t have access to Trader Joe’s or a pesto with similar nutrition facts, you can make something like this skinny pesto and blend everything directly with the cottage cheese. A few more ingredients but hardly any extra work.

Step 4: Combine Cooked Pasta with the Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce and Pasta Water

Reserve the pasta water (more than you need) before draining the pasta and adding it back to the pot with the sauce. Stir everything together, gradually adding the pasta water, until a smooth and creamy sauce coats all the pasta.

Be sure to slowly add the hot pasta water to the cold sauce to prevent the cottage cheese from curdling. If your sauce splits, just keep stirring and add a bit more pasta water if needed. The starch in the pasta water will bring everything together.

And that’s it for the cottage cheese pasta. All that’s left is to chop the chicken, plate the pasta, and garnish before serving.

Garnishing and Serving

If I can add crunch to a dish, it’s a no-brainer. That’s why you see chopped pistachios sprinkled over the top. The green also adds a little something extra to the pesto chicken pasta. You eat with your eyes first, after all.

Finish with a few cranks of black pepper and a little freshly grated parmesan and you’re done. If you’re a spice lover like me, a pinch of fried shallots and chiles or a dollop of Calabrian chiles are nice touches.

Storing and Reheating

Pasta is never my first choice for bulk meal prep, as it typically loses a little something during reheating. That said, I stored a few test batches in the refrigerator and freezer and have been working my way through the leftovers. If you’re accustomed to pasta for meal prep, I would give the green light for this recipe.

I like to store the food in recyclable paper containers and microwave for 3-4 minutes, stirring halfway through, until heated through. If I’m reheating from the freezer, I’ll thaw overnight if possible.

All righty then, I doubt you have any questions about ingredient swaps or recipe modifications after that flawless explanation. But just in case, you can ask about anything else in the comments at the bottom of this post. Feel free to print or save the full recipe card below and get your shopping list together. Hope to see you again soon.