Recipe: Strawberry Cottage Cheese Ice Cream (High Protein Dessert)

All you need to make this strawberry cottage cheese ice cream is 4 simple ingredients and a food processor. It’s a creamy, high protein dessert that you’ll be making on repeat.

Cottage cheese may be the new cauliflower! This overlooked but versatile ingredient is been used for all sorts of viral recipes on social media.

When I saw the viral cottage cheese ice cream recipe on Tiktok and Instagram I remembered I used to make something similar, and delicious ; ). So I ran to the kitchen to share this recipe with you!

This healthier alternative to ice cream doesn’t taste exactly like the real thing, but it’s a delicious frozen treat.

You’ll find a delicious strawberry version in this post – but I share suggestions for making it your own with different mix-ins. My top tip – use frozen fruit so you can enjoy right away! (It’s like creamy and delicious soft serve ice cream.)

Even if you’re not a fan of cottage cheese, give this easy ice cream a try! The chunky texture of cottage cheese is often its biggest turn off – but you avoid that by using blended cottage cheese for this ice cream recipe.

What is Cottage Cheese Ice Cream?

Although it’s not technically ice cream, cottage cheese ice cream is a trendy treat made by freezing pureed cottage cheese until firm.

The creamy texture is similar to regular ice cream – but higher in protein with less fat and less sugar. Women especially need more protein as they age, and this is a totally fun way to add to your daily intake!

A serving of this cottage cheese ice cream has 10 grams of protein vs ½ cup traditional vanilla ice cream which has about 3 grams.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll be shocked at the simple and healthy ingredients used for my healthy ice cream recipe:

• Cottage Cheese: use a plain, good quality cottage cheese for this delicious cottage cheese ice cream recipe. Both nonfat and regular cottage cheese work well, but you’ll get a richer and creamier texture ice cream when using full-fat cottage cheese. 
• Frozen Strawberries: use frozen strawberries so that your cottage cheese ice cream is like soft serve after pureeing. (No need to wait for it to freeze, you can enjoy it right away!) However, if you need to use fresh strawberries, you should let the cottage cheese ice cream freeze for 2-4 hours before serving. Either way it makes a delicious healthy ice cream!
• Vanilla Extract: adds lovely flavor to complement the strawberries.
• Stevia: this is our sugar-free/calorie-free sweetener of choice, but you can use whichever one that you prefer. You can also sweeten this with honey, agave, or maple syrup – I suggest using 2-4 tablespoons, depending on how sweet you would like this high protein dessert recipe to be.

Variations

There are endless different variations you can make with this recipe, but here are a few of my favorite flavor combinations for this high-protein dessert. 

Strawberry “Cheesecake”: stir ½ cup of chopped fresh strawberries and 3-4 sheets of crumbled graham crackers into the ice cream or crumble them on top after dishing it out. You could also try it with a handful of crushed vanilla wafers or teddy grahams. 

Use a Different Berry: strawberries are a classic, but you can use frozen cherries, blueberries, or raspberries instead. Berries are a great anti-inflammatory food to add to your diet!

Strawberry Swirl: after transferring the pureed cottage cheese mixture to a container add a few spoonfuls of strawberry jam and use a spoon to stir in a swirl pattern through the high protein ice cream.

How to Make Cottage Cheese Ice Cream

Puree: add all the ingredients to a food processor or high-powered blender and puree until creamy. Enjoy right away (it will be like soft serve ice cream) or transfer the ice cream mixture to a freezer safe container and freeze for 2-3 hours until firm. Allow to thaw on the counter for 5-10 minutes until it is scoopable.

Add Mix-Ins (optional): if you want to add any of your favorite mix-ins, you’ll want to stir them into the protein ice cream after transferring to a container. We suggest chopped fresh strawberries, crumbled graham crackers, chocolate chips, or strawberry jam.

Recommended Tools

• Food Processor (or High-Speed Blender)
• Ice Cream Scoop
• Measuring Cups

Why Is My Cottage Cheese Ice Cream So Hard?

This “ice cream” has a much higher water content and is lower in sugar than traditional ice cream so it can become hard and icy when frozen. Just let your ice cream sit out on the counter for a few minutes after pulling it out of the freezer and it will become creamy and scoopable again.

Have a sweet tooth you just can’t kick? Check out more of my healthy low-calorie dessert recipes!