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.
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Ice Cream Maker
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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.
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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.)
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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.
No ice cream maker? Pour the mixture into a loaf pan and freeze (covered) for 6 to 8 hours. In this case, it will have a hard, icy texture and will likely be served more as a creamy shaved ice consistency. My kids love this but prepare for an icy result rather than a scoopable one. Let it rest on the counter for up to 30 minutes if you find it difficult to remove from the pan.
Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 333mg | Potassium: 171mg | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 147IU | Calcium: 117mg | Iron: 0.1mg
If you try this Cottage Cheese Ice Cream recipe, please leave a comment and star rating below, letting me know how you like it.
