Easy Cottage Cheese Loaf (Protein Rich, Gluten-Free, Low Fat)
This easy cottage cheese loaf recipe is a simple, wholesome savoury bake made with oats, pea flour, flaxseeds, eggs and cottage cheese. Naturally gluten-free, low in fat and high in protein and fibre, it’s a nourishing choice for breakfast, snacks or light meals. Moist, tender and endlessly versatile, it’s a great recipe to make ahead and enjoy throughout the week.
Recently, I’ve been making quite a lot of nettle soup. It’s super nutritious and cleansing, and foraging for nettles is so easy. I make it slightly differently each time and usually ditch the potato and add celery instead. This high protein loaf is my favourite type of healthy bake to eat alongside it.
Dive Right In
- Why You’ll Want To Make This Cottage Cheese Loaf
- Healthy and Nutritious Cottage Cheese Loaf
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make a Cottage Cheese Loaf
- Other Low Fat Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why You’ll Want To Make This Cottage Cheese Loaf
- Easy to Make – The ingredients are simple and the method straightforward. It takes about ten minutes to prepare.
- Fibre-Rich – Oats, flaxseeds and pea flour bring plenty of dietary fibre to support digestion and gut health.
- Gluten-Free – Made with oat flour (from ground rolled oats) and pea flour, so it’s naturally gluten-free without needing specialty blends.
- High in Protein – Packed with cottage cheese, pea flour, flaxseeds and eggs this loaf makes a satisfying and nourishing meal or snack.
- Keeps Well – The cottage cheese keeps the loaf beautifully moist and tender without needing lots of oil or butter.
- Meal Prep Friendly – Make this cottage cheese loaf ahead of time if needed. It keeps well and is easy to slice for quick meals or snacks throughout the week.
- Versatile – Delicious just as it is or served alongside simple soups and salads. Add wild garlic, herbs, spices seeds or grated veg for endless variations.
- Wholesome Ingredients – Full of nutritious, minimally processed foods that you can feel good about eating.
Healthy And Nutritious Cottage Cheese Loaf
My healthy loaf recipe is particularly high in protein as there is more to it than just cottage cheese. The bread is made with oats, which contain more protein than you’d imagine. But more crucially it contains, eggs, pea flour and flaxseeds (linseeds), all of which are excellent sources of protein.
I like this homemade protein bread best as an accompaniment to a simple soup or salad. But it’s also great for snacking on just as it is. There’s no need to spread anything on it at all. This is especially true if you’ve added extra flavouring such as herbs or spices.
The loaf you can see in the images here is a wild garlic cottage cheese loaf. I chop up a handful of wild garlic leaves and add them at the end of the mixing stage. It works a treat and makes for a deliciously herby garlicky gluten-free bake.
This oat loaf will keep for about five days. If it seems a bit stale, you can toast it. Alternatively, slice it as soon as it’s cooled, then freeze any slices you’re not going to eat immediately.
Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions
The ingredients in this high protein loaf are pretty simple and don’t require much explanation. However, there are a few things worth noting. There’s also a few suggestions for flavouring additions you might want to make.
Cottage Cheese
It’s best to use ordinary plain cottage cheese, rather than any flavoured or low fat varieties. Cottage cheese is already low in fat, so it’s not really necessary to go for an even lower fat option. Low fat options will make the loaf drier, less tender and less tasty.
For more info on cottage cheese, take a look at my cottage cheese salad post
Flaxseeds (Linseeds)
Call them flaxseeds or linseeds, either way use the golden form rather than the brown one. They bring a brighter colour to the loaf.
You’ll need ground linseeds for the recipe, but although you can buy them ready ground, it’s far better to grind your own. They’ll be fresher and more nutritious that way. I use a coffee grinder, but a good blender or mini food processor should do the trick.
Oats
You need oat flour for this recipe, but you don’t need to buy it. As long as you have a food processor, blender or similar it’s easy to make your own. It’s also cheaper and the oat flour will be a lot fresher.
Just blitz rolled oats for a couple of seconds and you’ll have oat flour. I prefer to use jumbo oats as they don’t all break down to a fine flour, which means there’s a bit more texture in the finished loaf. But porridge oats are good too.
Pea Flour
You can use either green or yellow pea flour to make this gluten-free, high protein bread. Green flour will give a greenish tinge to the bake whereas yellow flower will make it brighter. I used green pea flour in the bake you can see here.
I’ve not yet seen pea flour in our UK supermarkets, but any good health or whole food shop should stock it. It’s also easy to find online. I get mine from Hodmedod’s. However, if you find it hard to source, use chickpea (gram) flour for a similar protein-rich addition.
Additions
This cottage cheese loaf is great just as it is in the recipe card below. However, I’ve been adding wild garlic to my recent loaves as now is the season and I love the stuff. If you like this idea, but don’t have access to wild garlic, snip in a bunch of onion chives or garlic chives instead.
Other flavourings that work include, a teaspoon of turmeric, mustard powder, paprika, dried mixed herbs or chilli flakes. Or just add a teaspoon of ready-made mustard.
Or why not add some grated veg? A carrot will give flecks of gold and courgette (zucchini) flecks of green. If using courgette, it’s a good idea to squeeze out any excess moisture before adding.
Olives or sundried tomatoes will give pops of flavour and a Mediterranean vibe. Just chop them finely before adding.
You could also scatter a few seeds such as sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds over the top prior to baking.
How To Make A Cottage Cheese Loaf
You’ll need something to grind the oats and flaxseeds in, but there’s no need for a machine to mix this cottage cheese loaf. It’s pretty much a question of piling everything into a bowl and stirring with a spoon. It takes virtually no time at all.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Grind
Grind the oats into flour in a food processor, blender or coffee grinder. Don’t worry if the result is not completely flour-like, a few bits are nice for texture.
Then do the same with the flaxseeds (linseeds).
Step 2. Mix
Put the ground oats into a large mixing bowl along with the ground flaxseeds, pea flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk or stir until everything is well combined.
Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Add the cheese, oil and water.
Using a sturdy metal or wooden spoon, stir from the inside out. Keep going until everything is well mixed.
Top Tip
If you want to jazz things up a bit, fresh herbs make a lovely addition to the loaf. See ingredients section for other possible additions.
I’ve added wild garlic to the loaf you can see here. Just because it’s in season right now and it gives such a lovely flavour. I chopped a large handful and mixed them in right at the end.
Step 3. Bake
Lightly grease your baking tin then line it with greaseproof paper or parchment paper.
Scrape the mix into the lined tin and level the top with the back of a spoon.
Bake until golden and an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean. If the top starts to look too brown, cover it with a piece of foil or baking paper to stop it browning further. I always use an old butter paper for this.
Leave in the tin to cool for ten minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.
Other Low Fat Recipes You Might Like
- chia seed muffins
- cottage cheese salad
- how to make fat-free mincemeat
- lettuce & pea soup with new potatoes
- simple tea bread
- triple apple cake
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this cottage cheese loaf, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or tips for baking with cottage cheese?
Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I love to see your take on my recipes.
For more delicious and nutritious recipes follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard or Pinterest. And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to my weekly newsletter. Or why not join the conversation in our Healthy Vegetarian Whole Food Recipes Facebook Group?
If you’d like more wild garlic recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Cottage Cheese Loaf. PIN IT.
Cottage Cheese Loaf: Protein Rich and Gluten-Free
Equipment
Ingredients
- 200 g jumbo oats swap for porridge oats if needed
- 50 g pea flour green or yellow are good (can swap for gram flour or just more oats if necessary)
- 1 tbsp linseeds (flaxseeds) golden work best in this loaf – ground
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp fine sea or rock salt
- 300 g cottage cheese use full fat
- 4 medium eggs
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp water
Instructions
- Grind the oats into flour in a food processor, blender or coffee grinder. Don’t worry if it’s not completely flour-like, a few bits are nice for texture.200 g jumbo oats
- Set the oven to 200℃ (180℃ fan, 400℉, Gas 6).
- Put the ground oats into a large mixing bowl along with the other dry ingredients. Give everything a good mix.50 g pea flour, 1 tbsp linseeds (flaxseeds), 1½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp fine sea or rock salt
- Make a well in the centre and break in the eggs. Add the cheese, oil and water.300 g cottage cheese, 4 medium eggs, 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp water
- Working from the inside out, give everything a good stir with a sturdy metal or wooden spoon until it's well mixed.
- Add any fresh herbs at this point and give another stir. (see note below)
- Scrape the mix into a 900g (2lb) lined loaf tin and level the top. Bake for 40 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out more or less clean. If the top starts to look too brown, cover it with a piece of foil or baking paper to stop it browning further.
- Leave in the tin to cool for ten minutes or so, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.