Cottage Cheese Is The Protein-Packed Base Your Salads Need

Cottage cheese is a household staple with lots of uses. It can be combined with fruits or pastas, or it can be eaten on its own. It's also an enormous source of protein; a 1-cup serving contains about 26 grams of protein. For reference, the same amount of greek yogurt contains roughly 20 grams. Though it may sound strange, this milk-based side item can be the perfect base for a salad. The creaminess complements the airiness, similar to adding sour cream to a taco salad, though you'll get many more nutritional benefits from the cottage cheese. 

If you want to try this twist on salad, simply smooth a layer of cottage cheese on the bottom of your serving dish (it makes for a pretty meal). A lot of us like to aggressively mix our salad before eating, so putting the cottage cheese on top is equally acceptable. As well, salad is extremely customizable. If you're making a salad with what you have available in the kitchen, you can absolutely add cottage cheese to that mix instead of following a recipe. Be aware though: You may want to add less cheese or dressing when adding cottage cheese to salad. If you like lots of cheese, you can add both, it'll just be extra dairy-heavy. Dressing can still be added for flavor, but the cottage cheese will add a bit of liquid to the salad, perhaps creating a bit of a soupy salad, so plan accordingly.

Cottage cheese would make a great addition to some already established salad recipes. Fruits and cottage cheese are a great pairing, so why not add a creamy element to this grilled nectarine salad? This one includes mozzarella balls and balsamic vinaigrette, so consider that when adding the cottage cheese. For another fruity salad, add cottage cheese to this grapefruit salmon salad; the creamy element will be perfect to cut the bitterness of the grapefruit. If fruits aren't your thing, try this almond-crusted chicken kale salad. This one has an apple cider dressing, though the flavors in the dressing are acidic enough that the cottage cheese could be a good complement, so you could certainly keep the dressing. 

There are a few salads you may want to keep cottage cheese away from. A wedge salad is delicious with its unique presentation and flavors, but doesn't really seem conducive with a creamy element. The dressing of a Caesar salad is the key element, so adding cottage cheese may dilute and ruin one. Finally, you may want to avoid adding an extra creamy component to a pasta salad. It may seem tempting, and perhaps cottage cheese could be a substitute item for something else, but this dairy product should stay out to avoid an overly creamy/liquid-y pasta salad.