CC 001 · Main Meals
Creamy Cottage Cheese Chicken Pasta
The one that converts the skeptics.
- kcal
- 485
- protein
- 41g
- carbs
- 52g
- fat
- 12g
- total
- 30 min
- serves
- 2
Cottage cheese does not melt. That is the thing nobody tells you, and it is why most attempts at a high-protein pasta sauce end in a curdled mess. Heated in its natural state, it loosens into liquid and separates.
Blending changes that. Broken down completely and emulsified with starchy pasta water, it behaves like a cream sauce right up to about 80°C — above that it splits no matter what you do. So the sauce goes in off the heat, and the pan does the rest.
Ingredients
- Rigatoni160 g
- Chicken breast250 g
- Cottage cheese, 4%250 g
- Parmesan, finely grated30 g
- Garlic2 cloves
- Olive oil1 tbsp
- Chilli flakes1/2 tsp
- Salt and black pepperto taste
Method
- Blend the curds
Blend cottage cheese, garlic, parmesan and 60 ml water until completely smooth. No texture left at all — this is the whole recipe. Stop and scrape down the sides once.
- Boil the pasta
Salt the water properly and cook the rigatoni one minute short of the packet time. Reserve 200 ml of pasta water before draining.
- Sear the chicken
Season, then sear in olive oil over high heat, undisturbed, until the crust releases on its own. Roughly 5 minutes a side. Rest 5 minutes, then slice.
- Bring it together off the heat
Kill the burner. Add the drained pasta back to the pan, pour over the blended sauce and loosen with pasta water until it coats. The sauce splits above 80°C, so residual heat only.
- Serve
Fold through the chilli flakes, top with sliced chicken and more parmesan. Eat immediately — it thickens as it cools.
Recipe lab notes
What it took to get here
- v1 — added sauce over direct heat. Split within 40 seconds. Discarded.
- v3 — split at 82°C measured with a probe. Confirmed the ceiling.
- v5 — low-fat cottage cheese, grainy even after two minutes of blending.
- v7 — added pasta water in 50ml increments off heat. Stable, glossy. Final.
Free
The 7-Day High-Protein Meal Plan
Seven tested cottage cheese dinners, a shopping list, and the macros worked out. No spam, unsubscribe any time.