Tomato Garlic Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce
This homemade pasta sauce is easy, delicious and has quickly replaced most of the pasta jars in my house. The addition of cottage cheese makes the sauce rich and creamy, while being healthy and low calorie.
I’m a big sucker for a creamy sauce over my pasta but not a big fan of using heavy cream or whole milk. The cottage cheese gives this sauce a little bit of cream but with less fat and more protein.
Complete your pasta night with whatever noodles you love and your favorite protein like air fryer chicken sausage or ground chicken meatballs. I love to add fresh spinach or broccoli for some color and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. My kids love it packed in their lunch with spaghetti noodles and ground beef. I pack it in a thermos and it stays hot all day.
This sauce is awesome in recipes like cottage cheese lasagna and lazy lasagna in place of store-bought sauce.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Great way to sneak in protein at 5 grams of protein per serving.
- Made with simple ingredients and ready in no time.
- Picky eater approved!
Ingredients and Substitutions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for this creamy cottage cheese pasta sauce. See the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and instructions.
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- Beef Broth: gives the sauce a deep rich flavor but you can also use chicken broth or bone broth, if preferred.
- Tomato Sauce: you can also use canned tomatoes if you’re out of tomato sauce. If using canned or crushed tomatoes instead, I recommend giving them a quick run through the blender so they’re smooth. If not, you’ll have chunky tomatoes in your sauce.
- Tomato Paste: adds depth to any pasta sauce. I always have some on hand! You can even freeze leftover tomato paste so you don’t have to waste any.
- Coconut Aminos: adds saltiness to the sauce to break up the sweetness of the tomatoes. You can also use soy sauce.
- Honey: can be replaced with syrup or agave.
- Low-Fat Cottage Cheese: this is where the richness comes from. For a more creamy pasta sauce, use full-fat cottage cheese. You can also omit the cottage cheese entirely for a more traditional red pasta sauce.
Variations
- Omit the honey for a less sweet variation.
- Add in red pepper flakes for some added heat.
- Add pumpkin puree for a pumpkin pasta cottage cheese sauce.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free, as is. Be sure to use a gluten-free pasta, such as chickpea pasta.
- For dairy-free, omit the cottage cheese. This sauce is amazing without cottage cheese and you can absolutely skip the blender step and just have a delicious red pasta sauce.
How to make this creamy tomato pasta sauce (a step-by-step visual guide):
Step 1: cook onion and garlic
Add the oil to a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring until fragrant and translucent (image 1). Add the basil, oregano, salt and pepper to the garlic and onions and stir to coat (image 2).
Step 2: simmer the sauce
Pour in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, beef broth, coconut aminos and honey and stir to combine (image 3). Bring to a boil and right when it starts popping, lower to a LOW simmer. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Step 3: add the creamy cottage cheese
When the sauce is done, add the cottage cheese and remaining broth to a high speed blender or single cup and blend until smooth. Add the blended cottage cheese to the pasta sauce. Stir to combine and let simmer another 5 minutes to heat through (image 4).
Expert Tip!
Good Culture cottage cheese is my favorite brand for both taste AND texture.
Recipe FAQs
I love to make extra of this to have on hand whenever a pasta craving hits. It’ll stay good in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or over the stovetop but do not over-heat it. Over-heating can cause the sauce to separate.
Serve this over your favorite pasta. Long noodles, short noodles, chickpea noodles, it’s all fabulous. For protein, add cast iron steak, shredded chicken, or breaded air fryer chicken cutlets.
Check out our other cottage cheese recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce
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Equipment
- High Speed Blender
Ingredients
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 4 Tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp. basil
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 30 oz. tomato sauce (two 15 oz. cans)
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 1/4 cup beef broth
- 3 Tbsp. coconut aminos or soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. honey
- 1 cup low fat cottage cheese 220g
- 2 Tbsp. beef broth
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring until fragrant and translucent.
- Add the basil, oregano, salt and pepper to the garlic and onions and stir to coat. Pour in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, beef broth, coconut aminos and honey and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and right when it starts popping, lower to a LOW simmer. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- When the sauce is done, add the cottage cheese and remaining broth to a high speed blender or single cup and blend until smooth.
- Add the blended cottage cheese to the pasta sauce. Stir to combine and let simmer another 5 minutes to heat through.
- Add desired garnish and serve over your favorite pasta noodle.
Notes
- Serving size is approximately 1/2 cup each.
- If using a nice thick cottage cheese, like Good Culture, you’ll need 2 Tbsp. of beef broth to blend with your cottage cheese. Other brands are far more watery so you might not need any broth or you may only need 1 Tbsp.
- The sauce is incredible without cottage cheese too. You can absolutely stop there for delicious red pasta sauce.
- Add to your favorite pasta noodles and any protein you like.
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
This sounds good and I am going to try to make it. But my question is, can I just add the cottage cheese into the sauce and blend it with immersion blender ? Thanks
Sure
This looks amazing! Do you think it would freeze well?
Definitely!