Boost your breakfast with a little extra protein with Cottage Cheese Baked Oats!
Using cottage cheese for a little extra protein, this gluten free breakfast option is a perfect way to prep for the week ahead.
Quick Look: Cottage Cheese Baked Oats
⏲️Ready In: 50 Minutes
🍽Servings: 6
🥗Nutrition: 414 Calories / 22g Protein
🥘Main Ingredients: Cottage cheese, Old fashioned oats, Eggs, Maple syrup
📋Dietary Notes: Nut free, Gluten free
⭐Why You'll Love It: My take on baked oatmeal uses cottage cheese for a protein boost! A simple way to prep higher protein breakfasts for the week.
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A huge part of meeting my protein goal for the day is starting my day with a hearty, high protein breakfast. For a long time, my go-to has been Cottage Cheese Overnight Oatmeal, but decided to see if baked oatmeal would work just as well with cottage cheese.
Turns out, I love it! Along with homemade turkey sausage, I can jumpstart my day with 40+g protein.
Feeling the cottage cheese love? Make Sweet & Savory Cottage Cheese Toast and Cottage Cheese Cookie Dough!
Jump to:
Key Ingredients
Cottage cheese: You can use 2% or 4% fat cottage cheese - obviously, 2% will have a little more fat and 4% will provide a creamier end product. I like Nancy's or Good Culture brands!
Gluten free rolled oats: Use rolled oats here, not quick oats! Quick oats will get mushy. Rolled (old fashioned) oats will keep their structure more after baking. Make sure you get gluten free oats if you are gluten sensitive or Celiac.
Eggs: A few eggs provide more protein and keep the baked oats together! If you want a better protein ratio, you can substitute egg whites.
Maple syrup: I used the least amount of maple syrup possible in this recipe to keep the protein relatively high. So the end result here is not overly sweet. You can top each serving with more maple syrup as desired. Or, feel free to substitute honey!
Chia seeds: While chia seeds aren't entirely necessary for baked oats, I like adding them for a little protein and fiber boost! You can safely omit these if you'd rather not use them.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Cottage Cheese Baked Oats
Step 1: Add the cottage cheese, eggs, maple syrup, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt to a blender and blend until smooth.
Step 2: Pour the cottage cheese mixture into a large mixing bowl with the oats and chia seeds and stir until no dry oats remain.
Step 3: Transfer to a greased baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula.
Step 4: Bake at 350 degrees F for 40-50 minutes or until set.
Variations and Substitutions
This cottage cheese baked oats recipe is a perfect base for all sorts of variations and flavors! I've been testing many different ideas, but in the meantime you can run with these:
- Add 2-3 scoops of protein powder to the blender to boost the protein even more.
- Swap cottage cheese for Greek yogurt.
- Banana bread baked oats: add 2 bananas when blending.
- Apple cinnamon baked oats: fold in 2-3 chopped apples + increase cinnamon to 1 tablespoon.
- Strawberry rhubarb baked oats: add 2 cups each strawberries and rhubarb before baking.
- Fruit and nut baked oats: Add ½ cup each chopped walnuts, pecans, chopped dried apricots, and chopped dried plums.
Look forward to more variations down the road!
Top Tips from Chelsea
- Add more sweetness after baking: This recipe is intentionally not sweet (to make it relatively macro friendly), but you can add more sweetness by drizzling with maple syrup or honey while serving, like you would with pancakes!
- Boost protein: I've tested this recipe with protein powder and the results were great! Add up to 3 scoops of protein powder to the blender when blending the cottage cheese mixture for ½ scoop of protein per serving.
- Cook time depends on your pan: This recipe calls for an 8x8 baking pan but you can use whatever casserole dish you've got. Personally, I often use a Pyrex 11 cup rectangular glass dish because it's easy to store as my breakfast meal prep, but it takes a little longer for the baked oats to set.
Cottage Cheese Baked Oats FAQs
Yes! I've tested this recipe with protein powder and it works great. Add up to 3 scoops of protein powder - my favorite is Equip Prime Protein - for an additional protein boost.
I would not recommend it. Quick oats will cook too quickly and end up extremely mushy. Not the intended texture for this baked oatmeal recipe.
Since this recipe uses milk and cottage cheese, I would not recommend leaving it out. Cover and refrigerate leftovers. You can reheat portions in the microwave or in the oven.
Did you try this Cottage Cheese Baked Oats recipe? I'd love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment and rating or tag me on Instagram - I appreciate your feedback.
Print📖 Recipe
Cottage Cheese Baked Oats
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
My take on baked oatmeal uses cottage cheese for a protein boost! A simple gluten free way to prep higher protein breakfasts for the week. Add fruit or nuts when baking or top with maple syrup, cream, or Greek yogurt to change up the flavor!
Ingredients
- 1 16-oz container cottage cheese (about 2 cups)
- 1 ½ cups milk or non-dairy milk
- 4 eggs
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups gluten free rolled oats
- 6 tablespoons chia seeds
Instructions
- Prep equipment. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish and set aside.
- Blend wet ingredients. Add the cottage cheese, eggs, maple syrup, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt to a blender and blend on high for about 1 minute, until smooth.
- Mix with oats. Add the oats and chia seeds to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Pour the cottage cheese mixture into the oat mixture and stir with a spatula until no dry oats remain.
- Bake and serve. Pour into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly with a spatula. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the oats are set and no longer jiggle in the middle when nudged. If the top is browning too fast, cover with aluminum foil. Let cool slightly before cutting into even squares. Serve warm with fruit, toasted nuts, maple syrup, honey, Greek yogurt or cream. Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week.
Notes
- Add more protein with up to 3 scoops of protein powder. Blend with the rest of the wet ingredients in Step 2.
- Make sure you use rolled oats and not quick oats for this recipe. Quick oats will end up overcooked and mushy, whereas rolled oats will retain some of their oatmeal texture!
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