Cottage Cheese Muffins
Golden, puffy cottage cheese muffins are high in protein, filling, and endlessly adaptable. If you love a savory baked situation, these are for you.
I'm always on the lookout for cookbooks by Rose Elliot. They aren't always easy to find, particularly if you are like me, living in the United States. For those of you who haven't heard of her, Rose is an accomplished UK-based cookbook author who focuses on vegetarian recipes - three million copies of her books are in print (and probably many more now!). I loved the idea behind her golden, puffy, sun-dried tomato muffins which I came across in Vegetarian Supercook (2006). Not only does the cottage cheese and ground almond base make them a smart way to start the day, but you can adapt the accent flavorings based on whatever you fancy. 
Rose highlights the combination of tomatoes, cheese, and basil in her version of cottage cheese muffins. The ingredients come together to make your kitchen smell like a cozy pizzeria. In the years since I first highlighted this recipe I’ve baked a good number of variations beyond the original. You can see an herb-flecked version here. It's loaded with fresh thyme, fresh oregano and lots of chives. I’ll include some other variation ideas down below.
Backing up a bit, one of the great things about Rose's recipes (generally speaking) is that many of them strike a nice nutritional balance. They tend to combine proteins, complex carbohydrates, vegetables and good fats together in interesting (and delicious) ways. This is something that is actually harder to do than it sounds and I always appreciate her approach. You see that in a recipe like this one.
Cottage Cheese Muffins: The Ingredients
The ingredients called for here are fairly straight forward - eggs, cottage cheese, a bit of flour, some almond meal, etc. Plus whatever accent flavors you want to work in. I do have a couple preference I’ll share though.
- Cottage Cheese: I tend to grab the low-fat option here. And, the larger the curd the better here. The large curds leave nice pockets of oozy cottage cheese throughout the crumb and I love it. The smaller curd cottage cheese works great as well, you’ll just be missing out on some of those magic spots.
- Almond meal: You want to use a fine almond meal here. You can buy it, or grind your own in a blender. If purchasing, the skin-on almond meal option is fine, it’s just a bit darker and more rustic. I used the lighter almond meal for the muffins pictured here.
Other Things To Know
I encourage you to give these muffins a try (they’re *really* good), but keep a few things in mind. The texture here isn't attempting to emulate a traditional flour-based muffins. These are much moister, less bready, and more quiche-like. Maybe a better way to think of them is like a souffle's heartier, denser, more portable cousin. 
The muffins can be made gluten-free, use a GF flour or GF flour blend. If you make the muffins mini-sized they are perfect party fare, whether you go Rose’s sun-dried tomato route, the herb-fleck route (pictured) or I’m sure you can dream up countless other ways to flavor the cottage cheese and almond flour-based batter.
Cottage Cheese Muffins: Variations
A few variations, and people have been mentioning other ideas in the comments.
- chopped olives, lemon zest and chopped herbs
- roasted, chopped mushrooms and fresh thyme
- chopped chipotles and adobo sauce
- roasted garlic, pesto and toasted pine nuts
- sautéed chopped potatoes and rosemary
- No nuts version: Amanda noted in the comments, “ I used half cup flax meal and half cup ground pumpkin seeds. They turned out great.”
Let me know what you think of these, I really enjoyed them hot, as well as room temperature as a quick snack.
Here's where you can browse more baking recipes.
Premium Ad-Free membership includes:
-Ad-free content
-Print-friendly recipes
-Spice / Herb / Flower / Zest recipe collection PDF
-Weeknight Express recipe collection PDF
-Surprise bonuses throughout the year
Cottage Cheese Muffins
You can use the flour of your choice in this recipe. The original recipe calls for soy flour (great for people looking for a gluten-free option), I tend to use white whole wheat flour, unbleached all-purpose flour will work as well. To make almond meal, grind 1 cup almond in food processor or blender. You are looking for a flour-like consistency. Be sure to stop short of turning the almonds into an almond paste. Lastly, for Rose’s sun-dried tomato version, omit the below herbs and add 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), finely chopped and 1/4 cup basil, finely chopped.
- 1 cup / 8 oz / 227g plain cottage cheese (low-fat is fine)
- 3/4 cup / 1 oz / 28g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
- 1/4 cup / 1.25 oz / 35g flour (see headnotes)
- 1 cup / 3.5 oz / 95g almond meal or almond flour, finely ground
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup / 60 ml water
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup fresh herbs (I like: 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh oregano & 1/4 cup chopped chives)
-
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a muffin pan with medium-sized paper baking cups, you'll need eight of them.
-
Put the cottage cheese into a bowl with all but 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, most of the herbs, water, and eggs, and season with salt, then mix all together.
-
Spoon the mixture into the muffing cups 3/4 full (or a bit more). Scatter with the remaining Parmesan and herbs. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until set, risen, and golden brown. Serve as hot or at room temperature.
Makes 8 muffins.
Adapted & Inspired by the Sun-dried Tomato Cottage Cheese Muffins in Rose Elliot’s Vegetarian Supercook (2006).
Related Recipes
Favorite Egg Recipes
A quick list of favorite egg recipes from the past few years. It includes favorite omelette, frittata, egg salad, and crepe recipes.
One Bowl Banana Bread
The best, most simple, one-bowl banana bread I know. Perfect if you're craving classic banana bread flavor and texture, but want as little mess, drama, and equipment as possible.
Zucchini Bread
If you're looking for a go-to zucchini bread recipe, give this a shot. The recipe delivers a single beautiful loaf of walnut studded zucchini bread. Moist, just sweet enough and loaded with toasted walnuts inside and out, it has a sweet nut-crusted top, requires one pan and is a rustic stunner.
Post Your Comment
Comments
These sound amazing--planning to make for breakfasts next week! A few questions: Should the cooked muffins be stored in the fridge, or is room temp ok? If I omit the parmesan, do the muffins need another ingredient to act as a binder? Perhaps a bit more almond meal? Thank you!
Hi Connie - I refrigerate & then let them come back up to room temp. If you have a toaster oven, that's a great way to reheat. Re: the Parmesan question, I think I would just leave it out and go ahead with the rest of the recipe as written.
Well I don't even know what to say. These sound ridiculously amazing. I always thought cottage cheese pancakes were delicious and innovative....but cottage cheese muffins, well I'm just in awe.
Thank you for this wonderful gluten-free muffin Heidi! I adore your recipes and your love of whole grains and fresh vegetables and fruits! i love your passion! I can't wait to try these beautiful muffins!
I have been looking all over for some really good glutenfree recipe's to try for my son and this one seems great.
Do you think these would freeze?
I'm testing that right now!
I made these last night and they are delish! However, I used the paper baking cups and the muffins stick to them depriving me of all that yumminess! Is there a trick to getting them to not stick? I think next time I will just spray my muffin tin with cooking spray and see how it works, but I am thinking that if I made these to bring to work, etc., people might like the idea of the paper cups. I used 1 cup of pre-ground almond powder and I ended up with 12 muffins!?
these muffins look absolutely delicous
When I was a teenage vegetarian, my dad got me one of Rose Elliot's books, and to this day, I think it is one of my favorites. Thanks for this reminder to get it out again! These look incredible.
an answer to NO NUTS... I just made these for my ten month old. I used half cup flax meal and half cup ground pumpkin seeds. They turned out great.
Thanks for this Amanda! Updating to include this in the variation ideas.
wow, cottage cheese, or Paneer is a favourite for all Indians!! pair tht with sun-dried tomatoes, almonds and parmesan cheese...wow, that's total bliss!! great recipe pick Heidi!!
Holy moley! I went home last night and immediately whipped up a batch of these. SOOOO TASTY! Even the tomato-hating boyfriend enjoyed them.
Looks delicious! I am a big fan of Rose Elliot and have been for a long time. In the UK it's very easy to get hold of her books. Haven't tried this one. Must!
I have been a fan of Rose Elliot for a number of years now. Try her Hazelnut and creamcheese pate loaf from the Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. It is a great little starter when entertaining. Moira
To replace nut flour, try ground flax seed/flax meal. You get added benefits from the omegas in the flax and plenty of fiber.
I would also be interested in a nut free recipe - Am I correct in thinking that the nut base adds moisture to the recipe so whatever replaced it would need moisture like that or additional something or other? Help? I would love to try them out!
To Sheila, with the nut-allergic husband: I would take an equal amount of cooked drained chickpeas, and then dry them out in a low oven, until they're just dry, but not rock hard, and then wizz them in the food processor. Just a thought--I make no warranty as to its effectiveness. A lesser amount of dry toasted chickpea flour (1/2 - 3/4 cup?) might also do the trick. Just pour the flour in a skillet and stir it continuously on med. heat for a few minutes. Let cool and add to recipe. As for the eggs: I don't eat them. I use a quarter- to a half-teaspoon psyllium seed husk powder (believe it or not) as a substitute. You could add a tad more cottage cheese to sub for the yolks' richness.
I love Rose Elliot! Her book "Vegetarian Express" was one of the first books I bought when I went all veggie. One of the few benefits of living in the UK is finding her books easily!
What Melissa said! I would totally go with pistachio, myself, but you can use virtually any nut.
Thanks for this recipe! This sounds like a perfect post-weight lifting snack for vegetarian lifters like me. I think you could also sub in quinoa flour, matzo meal or (maybe) potato starch and make an awesome Passover muffin.
Related to the almond relacement question: My husband is allergic to all tree nuts - does anyone have a suggestion for replacing nut meals/flours in recipes to get a similar taste/texture?