This New York-style cheesecake is made lighter with cottage cheese and cream cheese, blended together for a creamy, delicious low-calorie dessert! Higher in protein and lower in fat and so good!
Cottage Cheese Cheesecake
Since cottage cheese is having a moment, why not make a cottage cheese cheesecake?! I played around with this recipe, and my husband Tommy, who loves cheesecake, gave it two thumbs up! It’s delicious with a velvety smooth texture and is great on its own or with fresh fruit. You can see more cottage cheese recipes here if you need breakfast, lunch or dinner ideas. And, if you’re not on board with cottage cheese, don’t worry, I have plenty of recipes without out like this No-Bake Cheesecake, Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake Squares, and Lemon Cheesecake Yogurt Cups.
Why You’ll Love Cheesecake with Cotttage Cheese!
I had the idea to use cottage cheese in my cheesecake – one of tommy’s favorite desserts and he loved it! I tested this a few times, the first round I skipped the cream cheese but I didn’t care for it, it tasted like an Italian cheesecake. We love NY-style cheesecake, so with a few changes I was really happy with the results!
- Healthier: The low-fat cottage cheese combined with cream cheese gives this cheesecake more protein than most other recipes. One slice has only 159 calories and 15 grams of carbs.
- Easy: While you’ll need to pull out your food processor and blender to make this cheesecake recipe, it’s a really easy one to whip up. Pulse the crust ingredients and blend the batter, then pop it in the oven!
- Perfect for Entertaining: Since cheesecakes must chill in the fridge, this dessert is excellent for making the day before a party, so you can check one more thing off your to-do list.
Cheesecake Ingredients
Here’s everything you’ll need to make this healthier cottage cheese cheesecake. See recipe card below for exact measurements.
- Cheesecake Crust: Graham crackers, monk fruit or sugar, and cold whipped butter create a buttery, sweet base.
- Cheese: I used cream cheese and 2% cottage cheese for a velvety cheesecake with lots of protein. Good Culture is my favorite brand.
- Lemon Zest: You’ll need one medium-sized lemon to get one teaspoon of zest.
- Eggs: Use two large eggs.
- Sweetener: Monk fruit or granulated sugar will work.
- Flour: You only need two teaspoons of all-purpose flour.
- Vanilla Extract enhances the cake’s flavor.
- Topping: Top your cheesecake with fresh fruit, like berries or figs.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Cheesecake
Make the Graham Cracker Crust: I pulsed the graham crackers, sugar, and butter in a food processor. Add a tablespoon of water and pulse a few more times until it has a coarse meal texture. Then I pressed the crust into a parchment-lined spring form pan.
Make the Cheesecake Batter: Blend the cream cheese, cottage cheese, and lemon zest in a blender until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla, sugar, and flour.
Bake: Pour the batter into the pan and bake it for 45 minutes at 350°F until the cake is set.
Let the cheesecake cool on a wire rack and then refrigerate it for at least four hours or as long as overnight before cutting.
Variations
- Crust: You can swap graham crackers for chocolate graham crackers or vanilla wafer cookies.
- Gluten-free graham crackers if you can’t have gluten.
- Fruit: Substitute a blueberry compote for fresh fruit.
- Cheesecake Toppings: Instead of fruit, drizzle chocolate or caramel over the cake.
- If you make this let me know how you modify it!
Storage
Refrigerate cottage cheese cheesecake in an airtight container for up to five days.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes You’ll Love
- Pineapple Chia with Cottage Cheese
- Berry Cottage Cheese Breakfast Bowl
- Cottage Cheese Egg and Sausage Frittata
- Greek Cottage Cheese Bowl
- Roasted Strawberry Protein Cheese
Cottage Cheese Cheesecake Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 6 sheets graham crackers, 3.5 oz total*
- 2 tablespoons monk fruit sweetener, or use granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cold whipped butter
For the cheesecake:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, I like Philadelphia
- 2 1/3 cups 2 % cottage cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, not packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup monk fruit , or sugar
- 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- optional fruit, for topping
Instructions
- Line a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper on the bottom. Spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray.
- Preheat oven to 350°F
To make the crust:
- Place graham crackers, sugar and butter into a food processor and pulse a few times. Add 1 tbsp water and pulse a few more times until it has a texture of coarse meal.
- Gently press the crust into the lined pan. Set aside.
To make the cheesecake filling:
- In a blender add the cream cheese, cottage cheese and lemon zest and blend together until it is really smooth.
- Add the eggs one at a time and mix.
- Add the vanilla extract, sugar and flour into the cottage cheese mixture and pulse until blended.
- Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, until the cheesecake is set.
- Let it cool on a rack, then place in fridge for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight.
- Top with fresh berries if using (or topping of your choice) and cut into 12 slices.
I am going to make this without the crust and put it on top of your carrot cake for my husband’s birthday! I might do 2/3 of the recipe.
Came out perfect. Used Splenda Magic Baker for crust and filling. Prebaked the crust for 10 min. Baked pie in smart oven for prescribed time. Only thing I would change is to use a smaller springform, so the slices are a little taller. I did wrap the bottom of the springform pan in foil, in case of leaks, but it wasn’t necessary.
Delicious! Easy to follow instructions & delightful results!
Very good. Thankyou
Quite nice. I used stevia instead, but I think I should have used a little bit more. In general I prefer non baked cheesecakes.
Delicious and so easy!
I halved the sugar in the crust and added an additional g cracker. Also was out of lemon so just squeezed a little lime juice in instead of zest.
This looks delicious- but do you think it would work well with a lactose free cottage cheese and cream cheese?
I have not tried
While I haven’t yet made this recipe, I have substituted lactose-free products in baking and haven’t had any issues.
Here’s how I made it for Thanksgiving dessert, for the crust I used 3 tablespoons of Aldi brand lite butter melted then mixed in a bowl with the graham cracker crumbs and pre-baked the crust at 400 for 10 minutes, lowered the temp as per the recipe and added the cream cheese mixture, I used lite Philadelphia cream cheese and Lidl 1% cottage cheese drained very well, and Splenda which lowered the points to 7.5 for 1/4 of a pie which is a perfect serving because we had no other desserts, it was delicious, my only issue was that it was very tart which I do not like and I’m 100% positive that it is the cheaper brand of cottage cheese that I used, next time I will use a better brand. Overall with my modifications it lowered the points, it was perfect maybe I will add a little extra sweetener.
Made this today. Baked additional 10 minutes as it looked like it needed the extra time and it turned out just fine. Easy to put together and very good!
this is delicious but would like to know if you can freeze it? only 2 of us and we can’t eat it all
I haven’t tried, freezing can change the texture of cottage cheese. Let me know if you try!
Is it 2 tablespoons or 2 teaspoons of flour? Recipe and directions above differ. Thanks!
Same question…and wish I would have seen the discrepancy before I put it in the oven. I used 2 tsp as the ingredient list stated, and my batter was very runny. I had to switch it to a non springform pan b/c it was leaking. (I didn’t use a crust).
I used the tablespoons and my springform still leaked. My house is filled with smoke. 🤣 good thing I have a mat in the oven otherwise I would be cleaning for days and much more irritated. Haven’t tried it though. Will see
Mine was too wet and just fell apart. The baking soda measurement mistake must have been my problem too.
So it’s supposed to be tablespoons? Ugh I just put mine in the oven
Quite good. And I love the calorie count. My cake was a little soft. Perhaps in the future I would drain my cottage cheese just a bit.
yes that would help!
I have a question for all the bakers out there. Do you blind bake the crust before cooking the cheesecake if you are using a water bath?
I did bake my crust at 400° for 10 minutes as I always do with all my cheesecakes also drained the cottage cheese very well to get out all that excess liquid, some were saying that the cheesecake was soft so I drained the cheese, came out perfect, I also used light Philadelphia cream cheese and one percent cottage cheese just to try and see how it comes out and it’s actually the same points, I can’t wait to unmold and taste it on Thanksgiving, once again Gina thanks all your time and hard work creating these delicious healthy recipes without sacrificing taste! I Will report back on the taste with the lighter ingredients on Thanksgiving day.
Could you substitute a protein powder for the monk fruit sweetener & the flour for added protein? If so, how much do you think 1-2 scoops?
Can this be made with FF cottage cheese?
Yes and fat free cream cheese. I always do this with my recipes.
Tried this last night. The flavor is super good but I think next time I’ll try a water bath for it. It was creamy but not as much as I think it could be and I blended really well before pouring. Otherwise so good! Thanks Gina. Always worth it.
So glad you liked it!
Made this is a 9 by 13 glass dish and it turned out wonderful!
Great!
Is the nutrition information calculated using monk fruit or sugar? Thanks!
monk fruit
I changed a little. No crust. I used fat free cream cheese and 2 cups 2% cottage cheese and half cup fat free greek yogurt. Really good.less calories
This cheesecake is incredibly delicious! It’s dense, creamy and has perfect balanced flavor. It’s not too sweet and was loved by all!
If I make it without a crust do I need to change the filling ingredients at all ?
No should be fine
Could I make this without the crust ?
Sure
Do I need to adjust anything ?
Do I need to adjust anything ?
Can your freeze this?
Gina, love this cottage cheese cheesecake! Its just my husband and I. Can I freeze individual slices?
Why don’t you Bake the crust before pouring in the filling? When I poured the filling in some of the graham cracker floated into the filling.
Excited to try. I’d like to do cupcake size. Should I just follow baking instructions of the lemon chesecake cups? Not sure if the cottage cheese makes a difference.
Yes should be the same
Can this crust be put into a 9 inch pie plate rather than the spring form pan?
I want to know as well. I don’t have one! I suppose I will just try it. If it sticks to the sides a bit, that’s what spoons are for! 🤣
My mom used to make this type of cheese cake 50 years ago. It was delicious and you couldn’t tell it had cottage cheese. Thank you for your recipes.
This cheesecake looks delicious!! I’m new to your site and am wondering if you discuss sugar substitutes anywhere on your site. I looked up monk fruit sweetener and found variations—with/without Erythritol, liquid/powder form. I also read that monk fruit is 10x sweeter than sugar……if so, do we need to adjust how much we use if we choose monk fruit over sugar? Sorry for so many questions but would love to learn as we continue trying to eat healthier than we did last year!
I buy the one with Erythritol which is 1 to 1 replacement for sugar.
Can just egg whites be used?
No; the yolk is needed for the texture of the cheesecake.
Could I use a premade graham cracker crust in a pie shell instead of the homemade in a springform? If so would I need to adjust the time or temp?
Can’t wait to make this cheesecake. Just one question. Full fat or reduced fat cream cheese.
Barbara, I’m on weight watchers and I clicked on the ww link to see how many ww points it is for me. It shows the points and the ingredients, and on that it shows she used original full fat Philadelphia cream cheese.
I am wondering if the cottage cheese with pineapple would work?
Having never made a cheese cake in my life, I need to know when to remove the final product from the springform pan. Before I put it in the frig to chill or when I want to serve it?
Just before serving.
Kathe – as a general rule-of-thumb for cheesecakes: when you remove it from the oven, run a knife around the edge of the springform pan to lightly loosen the cake from the edge. The cheesecake may shrink as it cools, and loosening it should prevent cracking. Once the cheesecake has cooled to room temperature, place it in the fridge. Later, run the knife again against the edge to make sure it’s loosened and remove the pan ring. Hope that helps – enjoy!
Two questions: (1) Can you make this in a regular or deep dish pie plate? I don’t have a springform pan, and (2) the picture shows a pretty generous slice of cheesecake, but the recipe says 12 servings which seems like it would be a much smaller slice?
Sure, and I am not sure how the photographer shot it she usually matches my serving size.