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Cottage Cheese Pasta

5 from 5 votes

High Protein Cottage Cheese Pasta with a creamy cottage cheese pasta sauce that tastes like vodka sauce without the heavy cream. With 30+ grams of protein per serving and ready in under 30 minutes, it's an easy weeknight dinner.

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 35

Yield: 5 servings

Course: Dinner, main dish

Cuisine: American-Italian

Ingredients

1 pound 93% lean ground turkey (lean ground beef or chicken)
1½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
⅛ teaspoon black pepper

Cottage cheese pasta sauce

1 ½ teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
½ yellow onion (finely diced)
4 garlic cloves (smashed )
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
4.6 oz tomato paste tube
⅓ cup chicken bone broth
1 cup 2% cottage cheese (Good Culture!)
⅓ cup low fat milk
½ cup Parmesan cheese (grated plus more for topping)

Pasta

12 ounces rigatoni pasta (plain, whole wheat or gluten-free)
fresh basil (for garnish)

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the ground turkey, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, breaking up until cooked through. Remove from heat and transfer meat to a plate. Wipe the skillet.
While the turkey is cooking, cook the rigatoni according to package instructions to al dente reserving ½ cup of pasta water before draining for thinning out sauce later and set aside.
Heat the skillet over medium heat and add 1 ½ teaspoons of olive oil, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook 3 to 4 minutes until onions are translucent.
Add the tomato paste and cook 2 to 3 minutes and make sure onions and garlic are well coated in tomato paste. It will begin to turn a darker red, and that is what you want. De-glaze with bone broth, stir well, and remove from heat.
Add cottage cheese and milk to a large blender and blend for 15 to 30 seconds until smooth throughout. Add the tomato sauce to the blender and the parmesan cheese and blend until smooth.
Pour it back into the skillet adding some water to the blender and pouring it into the sauce to get it all out, and stir over low heat until cohesive. If needed, add some reserved pasta water 1-2 tablespoons at a time, to get the right texture.
Drain the pasta then add it to the sauce with the ground meat and stir. Top off with additional grated parmesan and fresh basil. Enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 2cups, Calories: 497kcal, Carbohydrates: 60g, Protein: 34.5g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 79mg, Sodium: 652mg, Fiber: 3.5g, Sugar: 7g

- WW Points: 11

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