Surprise yourself with a Healthy Cheesecake made with cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. It's much higher in protein than a classic cheesecake, but you'll never be able to taste the difference. Serve it with black currant jam for a beautiful sweet tang.
Sometimes people ask why I like to take something that's perfectly delicious (like a classic cheesecake) and change it (in this case, to a healthy cheesecake with cottage cheese). Often, I just like to see what I can get away with. Did I say this Beet Muffin was actually red velvet? Oops!
Surprise! A Healthy Cheesecake made with cottage cheese and Greek yogurt
I made this swap to cottage cheese though because I'm trying to find a way to add more cottage cheese into my diet. Cottage cheese is high in protein, vitamins and calcium, all of which are a good thing to include in a breakfast.
It's much higher in protein than a classic cheesecake, but you'll never be able to taste the difference
Prior to the 1980s, cottage cheese overshadowed yogurt sales and was tooted as a health food. But halfway through the 1980s, yogurt took off and left cottage cheese sales in the dust.
While yogurt consumption has increased 7 fold, cottage cheese consumption has halved (read more about the trend from NPR).
I remember eating cottage cheese as a kid every time I went to a self-serve salad bar. I'd always have it with melon and pineapple, and it was really tasty.
At some point, I started eating a lot more yogurt instead of cottage cheese. I seemed to have forgotten about cottage cheese, until I became pregnant and I started scouring the Internet about what health foods I should eat.
Cottage cheese appeared on almost every list of 'best foods for pregnant women' because it's high in protein!
After multiple tubs of cottage cheese with fruit and toast, I started craving something new and knew I needed to make a healthy cheesecake with cottage cheese.
When I shared this cheesecake, no one even noticed that instead of cream cheese in it, I made it with cottage cheese and greek yogurt.
It's much higher in protein than a classic cheesecake, and to me, that's a thumbs up because our baby is getting nutrients while I'm getting a slice of heavenly cheesecake.
Make this Healthy Cheesecake even healthier by using a spelt crust and topping it with fresh fruit and granola
If you want to make this even healthier, you can use the spelt crust from this Breakfast Greek Yogurt Cheesecake, and top it with granola and fresh fruit instead of jam. Good morning to cheesecake!
This healthy cottage cheese cheesecake is topped with black currant jam in the photos. But if you would like a healthier topping, try using this Easy Blueberry Jam with Chia Seeds (the jam is made with no refined sugar).
Healthy Cheesecake with Cottage Cheese
Print Recipe Save RecipeIngredients
For the crust
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs (140 grams) (also works with digestive crumbs)
- ¼ cup caster sugar (50 grams)
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (85 grams) melted
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the cheesecake filling
- 2 ⅓ cups cottage cheese (500 grams)
- 1 cup Greek yogurt (200 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup (75 grams)
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- ½ bourbon vanilla bean
For the blackcurrant jam
- ¾ cup blackcurrants (150 grams)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
- 3 tablespoons water (50 milliliters)
Instructions
- Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper on the bottom. Oil the sides of the pan if it is not non-stick.
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 176°C.
To make the crust
- In a large bowl, mix everything together.
- Gently press the crust into the lined pan. I find it easiest to use a small piece of parchment paper to cover my fingers, and press down on the crust. Set aside.
To make the cheesecake filling
- In a food processor or blender on low speed, blend the cottage cheese and Greek yogurt together until it is smooth.
- In a small bowl, beat the eggs together. Beat the eggs, maple syrup and flour into the cottage cheese mixture. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and mix into the cheesecake.
- Pour everything into the pan. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour, until the cheesecake is set.
To make the blackcurrant jam
- In a medium saucepan, mix everything together. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Allow to cool before topping on the cheesecake.
To serve
- The cheesecake is best chilled, or at room temperature.
heidi says
This is an awesome recipe as I usually have all the ingredients on hand and just perfect for when you want a little something something on the sweet side. I didn't actually make the full recipe as it was late-ish so I knocked up a single serve style affair, no biscuit base just the filling in a ramekin and nuked it in the microwave for a minute. I used egg white (wanted to keep it as close as possible to the recipe without having to divide whole eggs) a squirt of lemon and stevia powder for sweetness. Turned out swell so looking forward to making the real thing real soon. Yum yum
Celeste Van De Vyver says
Instead of Graham crackers, I used PRO-VITAs because I did'nt have Graham crackers & it tasted really nice & I didn't use Blackcurrants but I used Blueberries instead
Colette says
Hi,can I use stevia drops in place of the maple syrup?
Tina Jui says
Hi Colette, I haven't tried using stevia drops in the recipe before. I would suggest maybe adding a bit more water and Greek yogurt if you will be taking out the maple syrup completely. It might alter the texture of the cheesecake a bit though, but worth a try!
Moira says
This is an amazing recipe. I used plain yogurt (not greek) and it worked fine. I tasted the batter before cooking and decided to add 1 Tbsp honey. I made a really sweet topping (maple/pecan) and in the end I found it too sweet, although delicious. In future I will make a fruit topping as per the recipe - much healthier. Such an easy recipe with the food processor. I made this for Christmas day but we didn't use it and it stayed intact in the fridge until New Year's and it was just fine and delicious.
Platter Talk says
This cheesecake recipe is the BOMB! It turned out beautiful and of course cutting down the calories is always a plus. Thanks!
Tina Jui says
I'm so happy to hear! It's definitely a way to sneak in a dessert for breakfast and feel good about it :)
Shirley says
Oh my gosh this is so good . I changed it a little however
I used 3 eggs I also did not use any sugar in the crust at all I just added a little more cinnamon . I added enough raw unfiltered honey to the maple syrup to make half a cup . I added 1 tbls lemon juice to the cottage cheese mixture . I cooked it one hour 15 min perfect .
Cut well after cooking for 6 hours.
The top of mine I used a full jar of all fruit jam and 2 tbls water heated that a little let it cool poured on top
Not real sweet but I am determined to keep getting thinner lol . Maybe next time I will add raw sugar or coconut sugar to the crust but it was ok . It is yummy
Shirley says
That's cooling for 6 hours not cooking oh my sorry
Tina Jui says
Hi Shirley, thanks leaving your feedback and changes to the recipe! I'm really happy to hear that you enjoyed it!
Lu says
How might you change it for a 9-inch pan?
Tina Jui says
if you use a 9-inch pan, you'll end up with a thinner crust and a thinner layer of cheesecake filling. Because of that, reduce the baking time a bit, and just bake until the cheesecake is set.
Lu says
Thank you!
Lu says
I went with the original recipe and a 9-inch pan, and it worked! The consistency of this cheesecake is just spot-on (and hard to mess up, which suits me). Instead of the blackcurrent jam, I went with sweetened strawberries, and unfortunately, the cake was a bit tart, rather than sweet, all together. The graham cracker crust was wonderful, though! As someone else suggested, I will add sweetener - probably more maple syrup - to the cheesecake filling next time. Thank you for this one - it's a keeper!
Omair Shakil says
Tina, thank you for the recipe. However when I tasted my cheesecake prior to adding the jam on top my cheesecake was not as sweet as I was hoping. In fact when I tasted the batter prior to placing it in the oven I thought it wasn't sweet enough so I added another 1/4 cup of maple syrup on top of what the recipe asked for. I made the recipe exactly as suggested but I did use low fat cottage cheese and non-fat Greek yoghurt because I imagined I would be getting enough fat by way of almond meal and the butter. Could any of this have impacted the outcome? Is the cheesecake not supposed to be really much sweet without the jam? How can I change things? Also, I wanted to reduce the fat in the crust even further. Do you think I could substitute almond flour with coconut flour partially or completely and could I substitute the butter with applesauce which I have read works well as a substitute for butter. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Tina Jui says
Hi - You are right, the cheesecake filling is not suppose to be very sweet. You can always try to add some sugar into the recipe if you would like to make it sweeter. However, I kept the cheesecake filling recipe with just a touch of maple syrup, so it pairs nicely with the crust and blackcurrant jam. With regards to changing the crust recipe, it is probably best if you find a different pie crust recipe that suits your needs, rather than make all the substitutions. Hope you find something that works for you!
Amanda Morden says
I'm trying this but I halved the receipe and I'm making 6 minis... Can u venture a guess what the cooking time and or temp would be?
Tina Jui says
Hi Amanda, I haven't tried the recipe with minis, but that sounds like a great idea. I would use the same temperature (350°F / 176°C), and just reduce the baking time. The easiest way would be to check on it regularly to see if the cheesecake has set in the middle. You can make a slit in the middle with a knife and see if it is still wobbly inside. Enjoy!
Daisy says
Hi..I love Ur simple receipe..plannin to make it on fathers day..may I ask what cottage cheese u have used? Can I use 2percent small curd cottage cheese?Thank you..
Tina Jui says
Hi Daisy, I used full fat small curd cottage cheese, but I think 2% should also work. Enjoy the recipe!