Creamy Cottage Cheese Basil Pasta

• servings: 6 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Salt

1 lemon

8 ounces whole-milk cottage cheese (1 cup), at room temperature

3½ ounces grated Parmesan (1 cup), plus more for serving (see Tip)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving

1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled

3 ounces baby spinach (3 big handfuls)

2½ ounces torn basil leaves (2 packed cups)

1 pound spaghetti or other long pasta

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, zest and juice the lemon into a high-powered blender or food processor. Add the cottage cheese, Parmesan, oil, garlic, spinach and basil. Blend until very smooth. (in a food processor, this can take up to five minutes.)

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente according to package directions. Scoop out 1 ½ cups of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and return to the pot. With the blender running, pour ¾ cup of the pasta water into the cottage cheese mixture and blend until smooth.

Off the heat, add the cottage cheese mixture to the pasta. Toss vigorously until the pasta is coated in sauce, adding more pasta water as needed until glossy. Season to taste with salt. Serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil and more Parmesan.

Notes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/774974792-creamy-cottage-cheese-basil-pasta

2026-06-01 — tried this but subbed ricotta instead. Try it with cottage cheese next time as directed. The sauce was too watery, and the blender was too small. So try it in the food processor next time and add more veggies. Maybe take some inspiration from SK: https://smittenkitchen.com/2022/11/green-angel-hair-with-garlic-butter-smitten-kitchen-keepers-is-here/

Nutrition

• Calories: 464.1 kcals
• Total Fat: 13.6 g
• Saturated Fat: 5.2 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 1.2 g
• Cholesterol: 23.2 mg
• Sodium: 427.1 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 60.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Total Sugars: 3.5 g
• Protein: 23.7 g