4-Ingredient Cottage Cheese Mashed Potatoes
These cottage cheese mashed potatoes are a healthier twist on the classic side dish but still creamy, buttery, and delicious – without any heavy cream needed! Perfect as a Thanksgiving or Christmas side dish.
⏰ TIME: 50 mins
🤑TOTAL COST: $6.73
🥔 4 INGREDIENTS
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Mashed potatoes are hands down my favorite Thanksgiving side dish. I could probably eat a whole pot in one sitting!
But let’s be real, the classic mashed potato recipe isn’t exactly the healthiest. So this year I decided to experiment and make mashed potatoes using cottage cheese instead of heavy cream.
Spoiler alert: it turned out even more amazing than I imagined!
🥘 Looking for more easy Thanksgiving side dishes? Check out my list of 25 quick & easy holiday side dishes made with 5 ingredients or less!
Even though these mashed potatoes are made without heavy cream, they’re still creamy, smooth, and delicious.
Not to mention, they’re higher in protein and have a slight tangy flavor thanks to the cottage cheese.
There’s so many ways you can eat these mashed potatoes – by itself, with gravy, next to turkey, or even made into potato pancakes!
🎄 More 5-Ingredient Holiday Recipes
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
🥔 These cottage cheese mashed potatoes are:
- Made with just 4 ingredients
- Higher in protein
- Made without any heavy cream
- Perfect as leftovers
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Yukon Gold potatoes: I prefer using gold potatoes instead of Russet potatoes. I find that it makes the mashed potatoes a little more buttery and creamy!
- Low-fat cottage cheese: It’s a lighter, high-protein alternative to heavy cream. It also gives a tangy taste to the mashed potatoes, similar to sour cream!
- Butter: I recommend using unsalted butter for this recipe.
- Chives: Use this as a topping, or mix it into the potatoes for even more flavor.
📌 OPTIONAL INGREDIENTS: Adding shredded cheddar cheese at the end will make these mashed potatoes extra cheesy!
Equipment You’ll Need
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- Large saucepan or pot: I recommend using a large, deep pot to make the mashed potatoes.
- Immersion blender: I absolutely LOVE my immersion blender for making creamy soups and mashed potatoes. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a stand mixer to whip the cottage cheese and then use a potato masher to mash the potatoes.
- Potato peeler: To peel your potatoes!
- Other: Cutting board, knife, potato masher
How to Make Cottage Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Storage Instructions
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- Fridge: Store the potatoes in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.
- Freezer: Let the mashed potatoes cool completely, then portion into freezer-safe containers. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- Reheating: Add a splash of water, milk, or broth then reheat in 30-second intervals in the microwave.
The Printable Recipe Card
4-Ingredient Cottage Cheese Mashed Potatoes
Equipment
- Large saucepan or pot
- Immersion blender (or stand blender)
- Potato peeler
- Potato masher
Ingredients
- 3 lb Yukon Gold potatoes
- 1 ½ cups cottage cheese
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp chives chopped
Pantry staples
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Wash, peel, and dice the potatoes into large chunks or quarters.
- Add the diced potatoes to a large pot. Pour cold water over the potatoes until they are just covered. Add 1 teaspoon of salt.
- Place the pot on the stove on high heat. Let the water come to a boil (about 20 minutes).
- Reduce the heat to low-medium and let the potatoes gently simmer until they are fork-tender (about 15 minutes).
- While the potatoes are cooking, blend the cottage cheese in a stand blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender until it’s smooth and creamy.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander. Do NOT rinse the potatoes after draining. Return the potatoes to the pot. Place the pot back on the stovetop on low.
- Melt the butter in the microwave in 30-second intervals.
- Add warm melted butter and blended cottage cheese on top of the warm potatoes.
- Mash the potatoes, cottage cheese, and melted butter together using a wooden spoon, potato masher, or immersion blender. Don’t overmix the potatoes! Taste and add extra salt if desired.
- Top with chopped chives or mix the chives into the potatoes. Scoop the mashed potatoes into a bowl. Serve with gravy or a pat of butter.
Notes
- Blend the cottage cheese first: I highly recommend blending the cottage cheese separately first before adding it to the potatoes. During my first trial, I made the mistake of adding the cottage cheese straight from the container to the potatoes, but it just turned out a curdled mess.
- Add more flavor: You can customize these mashed potatoes so many different ways! Stir in roasted garlic or some shredded cheddar cheese to give it some extra flavor.
- Holiday party tip: Keep these potatoes warm in a slow cooker on “low” for up to 2 hours before serving.
- Serving suggestions: Top with gravy, butter, or some extra chopped chives. These potatoes go well with roasted turkey, meatloaf, meatballs, and greens.
🥘 More 5-Ingredient Dinner Recipes
- Creamy Soup Recipes
- Crockpot Dinners
- Fall Dinner Recipes
- Pasta Dinner Recipes
- Rotisserie Chicken Recipes
- Sheet Pan Dinners
- Spring Dinner Recipes
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