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This delicious high protein mac and cheese has everything you love about traditional mac and cheese and packs an impressive 32 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber per serving. It’s made with a creamy cottage cheese sauce and baked with buttery breadcrumbs.
Creamy Protein-Packed Comfort Food
Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, and this lightened up high-protein mac and cheese recipe is made even better with a protein boost to keep you full and happy! Here’s why you’re going to love this one:
- Creamy and delicious. First things first, this mac and cheese is delicious! It’s creamy, cheesy and has everything you’d expect from your favorite comfort food. When you blend cottage cheese it turns into the perfect silky smooth high protein base.
- High protein. There’s nothing wrong with the “real thing” and a classic recipe, but the extra protein in this cottage cheese mac and cheese helps keep you fuller and more satisfied! Win, win!
- High fiber. It’s high fiber, another nutrient that helps to keep you full and supports your gut health. I love using chickpea pasta because you can barely tell the difference when it’s tossed in the creamy sauce.
- Quick and easy. This one’s done in less than 30 minutes, making it perfect for busy weeknights or even meal prep.
I love a good creamy, cheesy pasta recipe. You’ll love my Hidden Veggie Mac and Cheese and High Protein Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese too.
And PS if you haven’t experienced the shockingly delicious versatility of cottage cheese, make my Cottage Cheese Chocolate Mousse for dessert!
Ingredients You’ll Need
For full recipe instructions and complete list of ingredients, scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of this page.
- Chickpea pasta: I love Barilla chickpea pasta, Banza chickpea pasta, or Barilla Protein Plus elbows. You can use regular pasta or whole wheat elbows too.
- Sharp cheddar cheese: Pre-shredded cheese is fine, but shredded cheddar from a block is best because it blends more smoothly. I love this easy hand grater because it’s not too big and super easy to use.
- Cottage cheese: You can use whichever brand you like, but I recommend using full-fat or 2% at the very least. My favorite brand is Good Culture but also love Daisy 4% cottage cheese.
- Milk: Whole milk, skim milk, it all works. I recommend regular cow’s milk for best creaminess and flavor, but you can also use plant-based milk, just make sure it’s unflavored.
- Panko breadcrumbs and butter. A simple breadcrumb topping takes this mac and cheese to the next level.
- Spices: You’ll need garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and salt and black pepper.
Variations
- Stove-top version. Once you’ve mixed the noodles with sauce, heat on low-medium until heated through. Toast the breadcrumbs and butter in a separate small frying pan on medium heat, and sprinkle on top to finish.
- Broccoli mac and cheese. Add shredded or cubed chicken breast and chopped broccoli for a broccoli chicken mac and cheese.
- Buffalo mac. Add a 1/2 cup of buffalo sauce right into the blender for a buffalo version.
- Alfredo version: Use this Cottage Cheese Alfredo pasta sauce that uses a cottage cheese sauce made with parmesan instead of cheddar.
- Skip the breadcrumbs. If you don’t love a breadcrumb topping, sprinkle with extra cheddar cheese instead.
- Swap in Greek yogurt. Use plain Greek yogurt instead of cottage cheese.
How to Make High Protein Mac and Cheese
- Cook pasta. Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and set aside.
- Add ingredients to blender. While the pasta cooks, add all cheese sauce ingredients to a high speed blender.
- Blend. Blend cheese sauce in blender until completely smooth.
- Mix. Mix cooked pasta with cheese sauce until all noodles are evenly coated with sauce.
- Top with breadcrumbs. Add macaroni mixture to a 9×9″ baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together breadcrumbs with melted butter. Top mac and cheese with breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake. Bake macaroni and cheese at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes until topping is golden brown and noodles are slightly bubbly.
How To Store
Store leftover mac and cheese in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave in 30 second increments, in the oven at 400 degrees or on a stovetop until heated through.
Jamie’s tips
Tips For Success
- Use full-fat cottage cheese. Full-fat cottage cheese blends the creamiest, tastes the best, and I also find that it separates the least when heated up. I’ve experimented with different brands and Good Culture wins every time, but Daisy 4% works great too.
- Don’t over bake. Cottage cheese can separate when it gets too hot, so don’t overtake and take it out as soon as its heated throughout.
- Blend totally smooth. For the best creamy texture, make sure to blend your cheese sauce as smooth as possible in a blender or food processor.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes
If you’ve made and loved this High Protein Mac and Cheese or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and comments below!
High Protein Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 12 oz. chickpea pasta or protein pasta, I like Barilla chickpea pasta or Protein Plus pasta
- 16 oz. cottage cheese, full fat recommended, or at least 2%
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack, shredded
- 1/4 cup milk, 2% or whole
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper, more to taste
Breadcrumb topping
- 1 tbsp butter or oil, melted
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and return to pot.
- While the pasta cooks, add all remaining ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor. Blend on high until completely smooth (1-2 minutes). Scrape down sides as needed.
- Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and stir gently until fully combined. Note: If not adding topping, gently heat over low until hot and ready to serve.
- In a small bowl, mix butter with breadcrumbs and stir until fully coated.
- Transfer mac and cheese mixture to a 9×9” baking dish and top with breadcrumbs. Bake for 15 minutes until topping is golden brown and mac and cheese is slightly bubbling.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an estimate.
No sacrifice to flavor and 35 gm of protein! Kachow!! I served this with ground turkey, broccoli salad and watermelon! Yummo!! Thanks for sharing!!
So glad it was a hit! Thank you for leaving a review!
I used regular pasta because that’s what I had on hand. The cheese sauce was awesome and made an excellent mac. Thank you!
Thanks so much for trying it and leaving a review!! 🙂
Whole family loved it! No need to even tell them about the protein upgrades. I used Barilla’s Protein pasta because that was what I had on hand. Thanks for a fabulous recipe!
So happy everyone loved it!!
This is amazing! I’m wondering if I can put this Mac n cheese in the oven or if the heat will separate the sauce? We love all of your recipes we’ve tried so far!
It should work as long as you don’t bake it for too long!
How much mac and cheese is in 1 serving? How many servings does this recipe make? Thank you.
It makes 4 servings, so one serving is just 1/4 of the recipe.
This was AMAZING. Subbed the chickpea pasta for whole grain and subbed the cottage cheese for plain Greek yogurt since we had that on hand. This was fairly quick and easy too – definitely putting this recipe on rotation!
Yum! Thank you for sharing your swaps!
tastes exactly like whole food’s mac n cheese in my opinion, which is my favorite! not “healthy” at all for those who haven’t had it. i followed the recipe, but didn’t do the topping. i used soy milk (i don’t think it matters too much but if i had fairlife that’s what i’d use instead), pre-shredded cheese which is absolutely a no-no but it did work. i added 1/2 tsp of mustard powder and 1/8 tsp nutmeg, both of which are very important in my opinion. i saved some of the pasta water to loosen it once it was added to the pasta. i undercooked my pasta by 2 min, and stirred pretty aggressively once i added the sauce to get a good consistency, sitting for a couple minutes helped the consistency. if i were shredding cheese anyway, i might use half something like gruyère to avoid the stringyness completely.
Thanks Sophia, I’m glad you enjoyed it!