This Cottage Cheese Salad is the best quick and easy low-carb side to your BBQ or simply a high-protein lunch that is also low-carb. Plus, this vegetarian salad is perfect for meat-free Mondays.
You can add more proteins and vegetables to your plate without compromising on taste. Cottage cheese is the best high-protein ingredient to add a tangy flavor to salad dressings or to fill omelettes like in my cottage cheese omelette recipe. Let’s see how you can make this easy cottage cheese salad recipe for your next family gathering.
Cottage cheese is fresh cheese also known as curdled cheese. It doesn’t have a strong cheese flavor, it’s fresh and liquid as yogurt but with lumps of curdled milk. It’s a high-protein dairy product that you can use in sweet or savory recipes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
All you need to make this delicious and refreshing salad with cottage cheese are:
- English Cucumber – Or any other fresh cucumber like Lebanese or Telegraph cucumber.
- Tomatoes – Any sort of tomato works, but I like Roma the best. Cherry tomatoes are also great.
- Hard-Boiled Eggs – Follow my recipe to make perfect hard-boiled eggs.
- Red Onions – While you can use regular onions, red onions bring the best taste to salads.
- Celery Stalks – Fresh celery stalks are very healthy vegetables. Discard the leaves if there are any.
- Dill Pickles – or classic pickles.
- Cottage Cheese – Feel free to use low-fat cottage cheese to decrease calories, it won’t change the amount of protein in the recipe.
- Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice
- Mayonnaise, sour cream, or Greek yogurt if preferred for more protein and less saturated fat.
- Yellow Mustard – The classic American mustard.
- Fresh Parsley – classic Italian parsley or curly parsley.
- Garlic Powder – or fresh crushed garlic.
- Paprika – to add more flavors.
How To Make Cottage Cheese Salad
- First, boil your eggs you can use my tutorial on how to boil eggs in an air fryer to make this step faster.
- Peel the cucumber and cut them into 0.4-inch cubes (1 cm). Do the same for the remaining vegetables: celery and tomatoes.
- Next, cut the hard-boiled eggs into quarters.
- Finally, finely chopped dill pickles and red onion.
- Place all the cut ingredients above in a large bowl. Set aside while preparing the dressing.
- In a bowl, stir cottage cheese, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, yellow mustard, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
- Pour the cottage cheese sauce over the previous bowl and stir to combine.
- Season to taste with more salt and pepper if desired.
Storage Instructions
You can store this salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The best way to keep it is without dressing. Only pour the dressing when ready to eat the salad.
Serving Suggestions
This cottage cheese salad is amazing on its own as a quick lunch but it can also be served as a side dish. I often serve it with:
Allery Swaps
Below I listed some options to make this recipe even if you have some food allergies.
- Low-Fat – Use low-fat cottage cheese and swap the mayonnaise for plain yogurt.
- Dairy-Free – There are tasty dairy-free cottage cheese options at the grocery store.
- Egg-Free – Use egg-free mayonnaise and skip the boiled eggs. You can replace boiled eggs with 1/2 cup of cooled, steamed cauliflower florets or 1/2 cup of olives or diced Emmental cheese.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, you can absolutely keep the cucumber skin for extra fiber. But, I find the cucumber skin hard to digest and thick. So I recommend peeling cucumbers for the best texture.
Absolutely, any cottage cheese variety works in this recipe.
Yes, skip the egg in the recipe, replace it with olives or bell pepper, and use vegan cottage cheese and vegan mayonnaise in the dressing.
Yes, cottage cheese is a healthy ingredient made naturally with skimmed milk. It has no added sugar or salt, and it’s high-protein, low-fat, and perfect for replacing high-fat or high-carb ingredients like Bechamel in lasagna.
Cottage cheese is a keto-friendly cheese which means you can have cottage cheese in small amounts like in a salad dressing or to top up an omelette and boost the protein. It contains 11 grams of net carbs per cup, but you will not eat one cup at once on a keto diet. One typical serving contains 1.9 grams of net carbs. It’s, therefore, definitely in the low-carb range and perfect for people with diabetes looking for more proteins.
More Healthy Salad Recipes
If you like healthy salads, you’ll love these other salad recipes:
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Cottage cheese salad dressing
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Cut the cucumber, tomatoes, and boiled eggs into 1-inch cubes. Set aside in a large bowl.
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Finely chop the red onion, celery, and gherkins. Add to the same bowl.
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In another bowl, combine all the salad dressing ingredients: apple cider vinegar, cottage cheese, mayonnaise, yellow mustard, salt, paprika, and garlic powder.
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To assemble the salad, place the salad dressing onto the bowl with the vegetables and top with fresh chopped parsley.
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Stir to combine evenly.
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Refrigerate the salad one hour before serving to enjoy its best flavors.
Storage: Store the salad for up to 3 days in the fridge in a sealed airtight container.
Serving: 1 ServingCalories: 150.7 kcal (8%)Carbohydrates: 7.2 g (2%)Fiber: 1.5 g (6%)Net Carbs: 5.7 gProtein: 7.3 g (15%)Fat: 10.6 g (16%)Saturated Fat: 2.3 g (14%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 4.6 gMonounsaturated Fat: 2.6 gTrans Fat: 0.02 gCholesterol: 72 mg (24%)Sodium: 391.5 mg (17%)Potassium: 342.8 mg (10%)Sugar: 4.2 g (5%)Vitamin A: 1007.6 IU (20%)Vitamin B12: 0.3 µg (5%)Vitamin C: 14 mg (17%)Vitamin D: 0.4 µg (3%)Calcium: 67.3 mg (7%)Iron: 0.8 mg (4%)Magnesium: 23 mg (6%)Zinc: 0.6 mg (4%)
About The Author
Carine Claudepierre
Hi, I’m Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I’m passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I’m also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
