The Creamy Cheese Your Enchiladas Have Been Missing

There are many unexpected ways to use cottage cheese in your day-to-day meals and recipes, but there's a Mexican-inspired dish that can benefit from the creamy ingredient: Your next batch of homemade enchiladas. Yes, cottage cheese in enchiladas isn't necessarily authentic to the dish's Mexican roots — and it might sound a little odd — but trust us that it works to benefit the food in more ways than one.

Cottage cheese is creamy, and that texture lends itself to your enchilada filling no matter if it's got other cheeses, shredded chicken, or ground beef. You can even completely replace the shredded pepper Jack or cream cheese with cottage cheese. When it comes to the flavor factor, expect the same flavors you find in the creamy food from tangy to salty. The taste shouldn't be overwhelming since it's milder and should enhance the flavor of the spices and other ingredients. Another benefit to cottage cheese in enchiladas is that it's packed with things like calcium and protein, giving it more nutrients and making the dish more filling.

It's easy to adjust any enchilada recipe with cottage cheese, and there are a plethora of recipes online that use the ingredient already. Here at Tasting Table, we have some recipes you can try with cottage cheese, too. To skip the meat, try this roasted vegetable and black bean enchilada recipe that features veggies like mushrooms and zucchini plus an easy-to-pull-off homemade enchilada sauce. Or to fuse cottage cheese and meat in your tortillas, try our cheesy salsa verde chicken enchiladas recipe that replaces a traditional sauce with a homemade salsa verde. Or keep it classic with our loaded beef enchiladas recipe.

For any recipe, you can swap the cream cheese with the cottage cheese or reduce the amount of shredded cheese to ensure the proper amount of filling. A basic outline is to start with 2 cups of cottage for every six servings of meat-filled enchiladas. For this guidance, you can still add sour cream and shredded cheese to the filling. Meatless enchilada recipes with six servings can benefit from about a cup of cottage cheese, depending on what else is included. It's always best to start with less and add more to reach your desired consistency and flavor. And since you're cheffing it up, here are more of the best additions to upgrade enchiladas at home.