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Chicken Cottage Cheese Alfredo

A silky cottage cheese alfredo sauce with Parmesan and garlic, tossed with fettuccine, chicken and broccoli. 49 grams of protein per serving.

  • 49g protein
  • 530 calories
  • 30 minutes
  • 4 servings

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By The Protein First Kitchen Team. Published

Fettuccine with creamy cottage cheese alfredo sauce
Photo by @enginakyurt on Unsplash

Classic fettuccine alfredo is butter, cream and cheese. This cottage cheese alfredo keeps the silky, garlicky sauce and swaps most of the heavy parts for blended cottage cheese. Tossed with chicken and broccoli, each plate has 49 grams of protein.

Blend it smooth

Blending cottage cheese with milk and Parmesan creates a sauce base that looks and coats like cream. It needs only a gentle warm-up with butter and garlic.

Watch the heat

Dairy proteins tighten and turn grainy at a boil. Keep the pan on low and add pasta water to adjust the consistency instead of cooking it down.

Variations

  • Shrimp alfredo: swap the chicken for 1 lb shrimp, cooked 2 minutes per side.
  • Spinach and sun-dried tomato: stir them in with the pasta.
  • Lower-carb: serve the sauce and chicken over zucchini noodles.

You might also like

Serve it with baked turkey meatballs instead of chicken, or use the same cottage cheese trick in a make-ahead cottage cheese lasagna.

Chicken Cottage Cheese Alfredo

Prep 10 min. Cook 20 min. Makes 4 servings of about 2 cups.

Servings

Ingredients

Cottage cheese alfredo sauce

Instructions

  1. Cook the fettuccine in salted boiling water. Add the broccoli for the last 3 minutes. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, then drain.
  2. Meanwhile, season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook in the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until cooked through. Set aside.
  3. Blend the cottage cheese, milk and Parmesan until completely smooth.
  4. In the same skillet over low heat, melt the butter and cook the garlic for 30 seconds. Pour in the blended sauce and warm gently, stirring, for 2 minutes. Do not boil.
  5. Add the pasta, broccoli and chicken and toss, adding pasta water to loosen as needed. Season with nutmeg and pepper.

Notes

  • Low heat keeps the sauce silky. If it boils, it can turn grainy.
  • Use protein pasta to push each serving past 55 grams of protein.

Questions people ask

Does cottage cheese alfredo taste like real alfredo?

It is creamy, garlicky and cheesy like alfredo, slightly tangier and much lighter. Parmesan and butter give it the classic flavor.

Can I make the sauce ahead?

Yes. Blend and refrigerate it up to 3 days, then warm gently and toss with hot pasta.

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