Dairy and eggs
Cottage cheese on a GLP-1: protein, portions and how to actually eat it
About 11 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), full fat, drained curd, for around 100 calories. A small bowl, about 150 g (5.3 oz), gives roughly 16 g of protein for 150 calories.
To reach 30 g of protein from cottage cheese alone you would need about 273 g (9.6 oz). On a small appetite that is often more than one sitting allows, which is why we pair it rather than chase the whole target from one food.
How cottage cheese sits on a GLP-1
Cottage cheese is about 11 g of protein per 100 g (3.5 oz), most of it slow digesting casein, in a food that is cold, mild, soft and salty. That combination is why it keeps turning up in the food diaries of the people we coach who are doing well on a GLP-1. The texture is the sticking point: the lumps put some people off and always have. The fix is a fork or a blender, not a different food.
When your appetite is small
Blend it. Thirty seconds with a stick blender turns cottage cheese into something like thick sour cream, and in that form it spreads on a cracker, folds into eggs, or goes under smoked salmon without anyone knowing it was cottage cheese. A 150 g (5.3 oz) bowl is about 16 g, and blended it goes down in a third of the time.
Three ways to prepare it
Blended smooth with salt and pepper
A stick blender and a pinch of salt. Use it as a dip, a spread or a sauce base. It keeps three days in the fridge.
Stirred through scrambled eggs at the end
Two eggs and 100 g (3.5 oz) of cottage cheese, stirred in as the eggs set. About 24 g, and the curds melt into the eggs rather than sitting in lumps.
On toast under tinned salmon or tomato
A thick layer on one slice of wholemeal toast with something salty on top. A small open sandwich that is about 15 g of protein with the salmon.
What to eat it with
Something salty or sharp: smoked salmon, tomato, chives, pickles, a little hot sauce. It also works sweet with pineapple or peaches, which is the version most people in the UK and US grew up with. Cottage cheese on its own from the tub is the format people say they cannot face.
How it compares
| Food | Protein per 100 g | Energy per 100 g | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage cheese | about 11 g | 100 kcal | this page |
| Ricotta | about 10 g | 160 kcal | See the page |
| Greek yoghurt | about 9 g | 95 kcal | See the page |
| Cottage cheese cups | about 11 g | 95 kcal | See the page |
All figures are typical values for the food as eaten, full fat, drained curd, not laboratory figures for a particular brand.
Australian, US and UK names
Cottage cheese in all three countries. The US labels it by fat as 4%, 2% or fat free and by curd size; the UK sells natural cottage cheese and a lot of flavoured versions; Australia usually offers plain and creamed. Protein sits between 10 and 13 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) across all of them, with the low fat versions slightly higher.
Questions people ask
Is cottage cheese or Greek yoghurt better for protein?
Cottage cheese, by a little: about 11 g per 100 g (3.5 oz) against about 9 g for Greek yoghurt, and the casein in it digests slowly, which suits the evening. Greek yoghurt is easier to eat with fruit and wins for most people at breakfast.
Your number comes first
Knowing what is in a food only helps once you know how much you are aiming for. The target is 1.2 to 1.6 g of protein per kg of your goal weight, not your current weight, which for most people is 90 to 140 g a day.
Work out your protein targetMore on eating well when your appetite is small: high protein foods for a small appetite, how much protein on a GLP-1, and every food we have written up. The whole system in five documents is the Keep Muscle Kit, A$47 / US$29 / £23.
EverStrong provides nutrition and strength coaching and education. It is not medical advice and does not replace your prescribing doctor.