Cottage cheese keeps showing up in places you wouldn’t expect. Smoothies, brownie batter, pasta sauce. And now, on top of Hailey Bieber’s viral chicken meatballs.
“I’m sorry, but my chicken meatballs with tomato sauce, cottage cheese, and parmesan is seriously to die for and one of my favorite things I make,” she wrote in an Instagram Story, according to Vogue. The recipe is loose by design. Bieber said she likes to “eyeball everything” with no measurements, according to a fan-made TikTok video that compiled her instructions.
Ingredients: ground chicken, Italian seasoning, ricotta cheese, garlic powder, salt, pepper, gluten-free Italian breadcrumbs and one egg.
The method is just as simple:
- Mix the ingredients together.
- Form into meatballs.
- Cook in a pan until crispy on the outside.
- Cover with your tomato sauce of choice.
- Finish with a scoop of cottage cheese and grated Parmesan on top.
Bieber also mentioned she often skips the sauce entirely and eats just the meatballs with cottage cheese and Parmesan. Either way, the cottage cheese on top is what makes this chicken meatballs recipe stand out from most.
Why Cottage Cheese Is the Secret to Hailey Bieber’s Chicken Meatball Recipes
The topping isn’t just a quirky addition. Cottage cheese brings real nutritional weight to the plate.
A half-cup serving of low-fat cottage cheese delivers about 12 grams of protein along with vitamin B12, phosphorus, potassium and calcium, according to the Food Network. It’s also a complete protein, meaning it provides all nine essential amino acids.
That profile is part of why cottage cheese has gone from a food people tolerated to one they’re actively building meals around. Registered dietitian Kristin Kirkpatrick told the Cleveland Clinic that it works in everything from smoothies and pancakes to pasta sauce and desserts.
“We know that it has a lot of healthy bacteria that help with our microbiome. We know it’s a great source of protein. It’s also something that many of my patients consider clean in the sense that it’s not ultra processed,” she said.
Cleveland Clinic also notes that cottage cheese is rich in casein, a slowly digested dairy protein. One thing to keep in mind: sodium can be relatively high, so it’s worth comparing labels across brands.
You Can Swap the Ricotta for Cottage Cheese Too
Bieber uses ricotta inside her meatballs and cottage cheese on top, but cottage cheese can fill both roles. It works as a ricotta substitute in many recipes, though its chunkier, wetter texture means draining excess liquid helps when consistency matters.
If the curds are what put you off, blending takes care of that. Registered dietitian Abbey Sharp described blending cottage cheese as a “game changer” in an interview with Yahoo Health.
“Once it’s blended, cottage cheese becomes incredibly smooth and creamy, making it an easy addition to pasta sauces, dips, smoothies, pancake batter or even desserts like mousse and cheesecake,” Sharp explained.
That texture trick is a big part of why cottage cheese has become such a versatile ingredient. People who can’t stand eating the curds straight can still use it once they disappear.
Other Easy Ways to Add Cottage Cheese to Recipes
Bieber’s meatballs are one entry point, but cottage cheese fits into far more than a single chicken meatballs recipe. Here are a few more ways to use it:
- Pasta sauce: blend it into tomato or cream-based sauces for extra protein and a creamier texture.
- Scrambled eggs: stir a spoonful in before cooking.
- Pancakes or waffles: add it to the batter for more protein and moisture.
- Dips and spreads: blend with herbs, seasonings or roasted vegetables.
- Smoothies: blending removes the curd texture almost entirely.
- Desserts: use it in mousse, cheesecake-style fillings, bark or frozen treats.
- Lasagna or stuffed shells: use blended cottage cheese in place of some or all of the ricotta.
Whether it’s sitting on top of Hailey Bieber’s meatballs or disappearing into a dessert, cottage cheese is becoming less of a standalone food and more of a flexible ingredient people can work into almost anything.
