Buzz
TikTok has become the new Pinterest for younger audiences, where they seek out recipes, product recommendations, and life-changing tips. It's their go-to platform for trends, and cottage cheese ice cream has taken the place of banana ice cream.
If you were active on Pinterest during its prime, you probably encountered this 'ice cream.' It's simply a frozen banana blended with cocoa powder and, occasionally, peanut butter to create a soft-serve texture. If you're a fan of chocolate-covered frozen bananas, you'll likely enjoy it. I certainly do.
Rather than 'cutting calories,' the focus has shifted to 'adding protein,' and cottage cheese is being used to achieve this.
Naturally, it has the vibe of a diet food. It's a stand-in for ice cream, so you can avoid the 'bad' ice cream. Banana pancakes give me the same sort of impression—not because there's anything inherently restrictive or punishing about bananas, but because these substitutes are often framed as 'better' for you than the guilt-inducing 'real deal.'
The desire to be thin isn't as trendy as it was a decade ago when Pinterest was at its peak. In contrast, body acceptance is more mainstream now and is swiftly becoming commodified. Our approach to discussing food substitutions has also changed. Instead of focusing on 'cutting calories,' the focus has shifted to 'adding protein,' and cottage cheese is being used to achieve just that.
At first glance, this is fine. As someone who has been powerlifting for over a year, I’ve been adding protein frequently. I also love cottage cheese and am thrilled to see it gaining popularity. It's a joy to watch younger people discovering the simple pleasures of cottage cheese bowls and whipped cottage cheese—I even tried making cottage cheese pasta sauce and found it quite enjoyable. However, we are expecting too much from curds and whey. We want cottage cheese to do it all—from breakfast to dessert—and often, it simply doesn't work.
The challenge with certain cottage cheese recipes
Two recipes I frequently see on TikTok and Instagram are cottage cheese scrambled eggs and cottage cheese ice cream. I was excited about the eggs and intrigued by the ice cream, but both share the same issue: texture.
Before we dive into the texture, let's first tackle the idea that it's an easy way to 'add more protein.' An egg has 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fat; a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese—the amount most influencers suggest adding to your eggs—also contains 6 grams of protein, and 2 1/2 grams of fat. You could just as easily add another egg to get the same exact amount of protein with just a few extra grams of fat. It seems like this isn't really about 'getting more protein.' (By the way, it's not that complicated. The simplest way to add more protein to your scramble without the 'extra' fat is by using egg whites.)
Next comes the claim that these eggs turn out 'fluffy and light.' If you've ever had genuinely fluffy scrambled eggs, you'll know these aren't even close. The egg curds clash with the cheese curds, resulting in a lumpy scramble that feels grainy and spongy on the tongue. I tried using an immersion blender to blend the eggs and cheese together to smooth out the texture and aerate the mixture, but the graininess lingered. The extra moisture from the cottage cheese also posed problems; even after the eggs were fully cooked, the water from the cheese hadn’t evaporated completely. It kept leaking out of the scramble once plated, making my croissant soggy and disappointing. If you want 'more protein in your eggs,' just add another egg—or maybe even some steak.
Then, there's the ice cream.
I tried this recipe three different ways: once as shown in the video, once with 1/4 cup of strawberry jam as the sweetener (instead of maple syrup), and once with 1/4 cup of strawberry jam and a tablespoon of sweetened condensed milk. All three were terrible.
The issue wasn’t the flavor. I’m a big fan of cheese and ice cream, even the more unusual cheeses like blue cheese and chèvre, so the salty, slightly tangy flavor didn’t bother me, especially when paired with sweet strawberries. It even had a bit of a strawberry cheesecake vibe, and the blended batter tasted and felt creamy before I froze it. But everything changed once it was frozen.
Freezing is known to alter the texture of this particular dairy product, and in addition to the ice crystal issues that plague so many no-churn recipes, the ice cream felt squeaky and bouncy—almost rubbery on the teeth—similar to isolated cottage cheese curds. If you were craving ice cream and tried this, you'd be disappointed.
Criticizing these recipes might seem like an easy target, and I try to focus on things I enjoy (like the cottage cheese sauce, for example), but half of these recipes are essentially orthorexia disguised as 'getting more protein,' and they just don’t taste good. Cottage cheese, served in a bowl with a little salt and pepper, tastes amazing. It’s creamy, tangy, a little salty (even before you add the salt), and far easier to make than these 'high-protein recipes.'
If you need 'more protein,' just have a bowl of curds and whey. If you’re craving ice cream, eat some real ice cream. You’ll be much more satisfied in both cases, and you won’t need to drag out the immersion blender. (And if a thin white woman with dead eyes and brown hair tells you something is 'soooo good,' take it with a flake of Maldon salt.)
