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These bakery-style cottage cheese muffins are moist and fluffy in the middle with a gorgeous exterior. They bake in under 20 minutes and use pantry staples.
I’m still obsessed with cottage cheese and have been using it in everything from cottage cheese cookies to cottage cheese cheesecake. These cottage cheese muffins have become a new favorite.
I know it sounds odd to add cottage cheese to sweet muffins, but it gives them a fabulously moist and fluffy texture. It also doesn’t hurt that it adds a boost of protein.
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- Quick and easy. From mixing bowl to plate, these muffins take less than 20 minutes to make.
- No cottage cheese flavor. Yes, I know cottage cheese on its own can be a little bland, but no one can tell it’s the signature ingredient in these muffins (seriously, then try the cottage cheese brownies!).
- Easy to customize. I like to keep the muffin base as a blank canvas for all your favorite mix-ins. Blueberries, chopped nuts, and even flavor extracts are all fabulous additions.
Key Ingredients
- Cottage cheese. I like to use whipped cottage cheese as it mixes in seamlessly into the batter. If you don’t have any on hand, it’s easy to blend it up yourself.
- Olive oil. Or any neutral flavored oil, like vegetable oil, refined coconut oil, and safflower oil.
- Eggs. Room temperature eggs, please.
- Milk. I typically use unsweetened almond milk or whole milk, but any milk works.
- Vanilla. A must for any baked good.
- All-purpose flour. Sifted to ensure there are no clumps. If you prefer muffins that are little healthier, you can use wholewheat flour or white wholewheat flour.
- Sugar. I like to use white sugar, but brown sugar will work, too.
- Baking powder. The leavening agent gives the muffins that gorgeous dome shape and keeps the middles fluffy.
- Chocolate chips. Or any mix-ins of choice.
How to make cottage cheese muffins
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Whisk the wet. In a large bowl, whisk the wet ingredients until smooth.
Step 2- Make the batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold through the chocolate chips.
Step 3- Assemble. Evenly distribute the muffin batter amongst a 12-count muffin tin.
Step 4- Bake the muffins for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Do not overmix the batter. I find overmixing is the #1 way to make dense and rubbery muffins. You want the dry ingredients to be mostly incorporated into the wet.
- Bake until ‘just done.’ Remember, the muffins will continue to cook as they cool down. Once a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs, they are fine to be removed from the oven.
- Don’t open the oven until at least the 15-minute mark has passed. Any heat that escapes can result in the muffins deflating slightly and losing their gorgeous domes.
- Sift the dry ingredients. Because we’re only lightly mixing the batter, we don’t want any clumps of flour to be baked.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftover muffins can be kept at room temperature, covered, for up to three days. If you want them to keep longer, place them in the fridge for up to one week.
To freeze: Place the cooked and cooled muffins in a ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Frequently asked questions
I tested these muffins with full-fat, low-fat, and non-fat cottage cheese. As it’s blended down, they all turned out pretty much the same. Use whichever you prefer.
You can, but only with gluten-free all-purpose flour with added xanthan gum. Alternative flours like almond flour and coconut flour will not work.
More healthy muffin recipes
- Healthy blueberry muffins
- Healthy zucchini muffins
- Healthy oatmeal muffins
- Oat flour muffins
- Protein muffins
Cottage Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whipped cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup olive oil or any neutral-flavored oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a 12-count muffin tin with muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, add the whipped cottage cheese, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined. Fold through the chocolate chips.
- Evenly distribute the muffin batter amongst the muffin liners, about 2/3 full.
- Bake the muffins for 17-19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out mostly clean with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool for five minutes in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Cottage cheese blueberry muffins- Fold through 1/2 cup of fresh or blueberries.
- Banana cottage cheese muffins– Replace the oil with equal parts mashed banana.
- Cottage cheese pumpkin muffins– Replace the oil with equal parts pumpkin puree.
- Cottage cheese cinnamon roll muffins– Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and swirl through 1/2 cup of cream cheese frosting before baking.
How would I make it into chocolate muffins?
I like to fold through 1/4 cup of cocoa powder.
Can you in post recipe with almond or coconut flour ?
Nope, as I haven’t tried it using that, but feel free to experiment and see and let us know how it went!
Made these in my jumbo muffin tin (about 6 muffins) and they turned out so good. No one could tell there was cottage cheese in it.
Love these cottage cheese muffins. They puffed up beautifully and I also added some sliced strawberries.
I love all your recipes and I love it when you post new ones! I want to know if you think almond flour would work in this recipe.
Hi Muna! I tested these with almond flour and I didn’t like the texture- It was a little greasy on the outside. Saying that, it still worked. 🙂
That looks like cream cheese in your photos with eggs just before mixing. I’ve never heard of whipped cottage cheese. Whipped cream cheese, yes????
Nope, it’s whipped cottage cheese. You just blend the cottage cheese until thick and fluffy. You can also click the link provided for my method to do so.