Healthy Cottage Cheese Caesar Pasta Salad
This healthy cottage cheese caesar pasta salad is made with protein pasta, chicken, and a creamy cottage cheese dressing to give each serving over 40 grams of protein. Make it ahead for meal prep with the lettuce stored separately and stir it in just before serving to keep everything fresh. ♡
I love a healthy cottage cheese caesar salad, but was craving something a little heartier. This salad makes a balanced meal on its own, complete with protein, carbs, healthy fats, and fiber.
The key to this salad is finely chopping the lettuce – #1 because you can eat it with a spoon and #2 because everything gets coated that much more evenly in the sauce. Nothing’s worse than digging in to a yummy cold pasta salad only to get a big chunk of dry romaine so chop chop chop everything super small!
What You’ll Need
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Pot to boil the pasta
- Food processor for the dressing
Ingredients
- Protein pasta: My current favorites are the Goodles and Barilla protein pastas. I love the Goodles curveballs in this.
- Cooked chicken: Rotisserie chicken, canned chicken, or other pre-cooked chicken works great.
- Romaine lettuce
- Parmesan cheese: Fresh grated is best!
- 2% low fat cottage cheese
- Fat free milk or milk of choice
- Fresh lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Worcestershire sauce
- Dijon mustard
- Fine sea salt
- Black pepper
- Garlic powder
How To Make It
- Boil the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Prep the rest: Meanwhile, chop up the chicken and lettuce and grate the parm. As mentioned above, the key to this salad is chopping everything small – helps everything get evenly coated in the sauce and is easier to eat!
- Blend the dressing: Add the cottage cheese, milk, parmesan, lemon juice, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to a food processor and blend until smooth.
- Mix: Add the cooked pasta, chicken, lettuce, parmesan, and dressing to a large bowl and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let it chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours before serving if you’ve got time!
Tips
- The dressing should be a thick, yogurt-like consistency. Add more milk only if needed to help blend, but you don’t want it to be too thin for the best texture of the salad.
- For meal prep, store the lettuce separately and add to your salad right before serving to keep everything fresh.
- What chicken you use will change the flavor, so always taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.
To Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container or meal prep containers in the fridge up to 4 days for the best flavor and texture.
You’ll Also Love
- Caesar salad with cottage cheese dressing
- Homemade croutons
- High protein chicken bacon ranch pasta salad
- High protein elote pasta salad
- Italian pasta salad
As always, be sure to leave a rating and review down below if you make this healthy cottage cheese Caesar pasta salad! I always love to hear from you guys and so grateful for any and all feedback. ♡ Enjoy!
Cottage Cheese Caesar Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- 8 oz protein pasta dry
- 1 lb cooked chicken breast (16 oz) chopped or shredded
- 4 cups romaine lettuce (190 g) chopped small
- 3 oz parmesan cheese (84 g) fresh grated, ~1 cup
- fine sea salt and black pepper to taste
Cottage cheese dressing
- 1 cup 2% low fat cottage cheese (226 g)
- 1 oz parmesan cheese (28 g) fresh grated, ~1/3 cup
- 1/3 cup fat free milk (80 ml) or milk of choice
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (30 ml)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (15 ml)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (15 ml)
- 2 tsp dijon mustard (10 g)
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water.
- Meanwhile, add all the cottage cheese dressing ingredients to a food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Stir the cooked pasta, chicken, lettuce, parmesan, and dressing in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I typically add ~1 tsp fine sea salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, but tend to like things on the saltier side).
Notes
- For meal prep, store the lettuce separately and add just before serving to keep everything fresh.
- What kind of chicken you use (rotisserie, canned, etc.) will change how much salt and pepper you need – always taste and adjust to your preferences.
- The dressing should be a thick, yogurt-like consistency. Add more milk only if needed to help blend, but you don’t want it to be too thin for the best texture of the salad.
Nutrition
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