High Protein Strawberry Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
My daughter asked for ice cream four nights in a row last July and I needed something that would not make me feel like a failure by morning.
This took 10 minutes to blend and the freezer did the rest. We have made it every week since.
High Protein Strawberry Cottage Cheese Ice Cream
Blended cottage cheese and fresh strawberries freeze into a creamy, scoopable ice cream with 18 grams of protein per serving.
Ingredients
- 2 cups full-fat cottage cheese , 4% milkfat, drained of excess liquid if watery
- 2 cups fresh strawberries , hulled and halved, about 12 oz
- 3 tbsp honey , or pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 pinch fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice , brightens the strawberry flavor
Instructions
Tips & Notes
- Full-fat cottage cheese is not optional here. Low-fat versions contain more water and freeze into a grainy, icy texture that will not scoop cleanly.
- If your blender is not high-powered, blend for 2 full minutes and check for smoothness before pouring. Any remaining curd texture will show up in the final scoop.
- Frozen strawberries work in January when fresh are flavorless. Thaw them first and drain off the extra liquid so the base does not get too thin.
- For a swirled look, blend 1.5 cups of strawberries into the base and fold in the remaining half cup sliced by hand before freezing.
Nutrition per serving · estimated
Why Cottage Cheese Actually Works Here
Cottage cheese has a high protein content and enough fat to mimic the creaminess of a custard base when blended completely smooth. The key is the blending time. Forty-five seconds leaves curds. Ninety seconds gives you something that tastes like it has cream in it.
The lemon juice is doing more than flavor work. A small amount of acid keeps the strawberry color bright pink instead of fading to a dull mauve after freezing. Do not skip it.
Adjusting the Sweetness Before You Freeze
Cold temperatures suppress sweetness by about 20 percent, which is why the base needs to taste slightly too sweet before it goes in the freezer. If it tastes perfectly balanced in the blender, it will taste flat after four hours.
Honey blends more smoothly into the cold dairy base than granulated sugar does. If you want to cut sugar further, two tablespoons of honey plus a small ripe banana works and adds natural sweetness without changing the texture.
