{"id":893064,"date":"2026-06-26T01:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893064\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T01:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:39:37","slug":"cottage-cheese-shortage-smart-protein-swaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/893064\/","title":{"rendered":"Cottage Cheese Shortage Smart Protein Swaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cottage cheese is having a moment, and grocery<\/a> shelves are feeling it.<\/p>\n

The often-overlooked soft cheese has had a major comeback. On TikTok, home cooks chasing what some call \u201cprotein-maxing\u201d are blending cottage cheese into ice cream, smoothies, flatbreads, bagels and pasta sauces. Its appeal is easy to see: the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<\/a> says a half-cup of 4 percent full-fat cottage cheese has about 120 calories and 14 grams of protein<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As demand outpaces supply, some shoppers are finding empty spaces where their favorite tubs used to be.<\/p>\n

Cottage cheese sales grew to more than $2 billion in 2025, an 82 percent increase from the end of 2022<\/a>, according to Circana data cited by The New York Times . The paper also reported that the average American ate about five pounds of cottage cheese a year when sales peaked in the 1970s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, before dairy manufacturers shifted more production capacity toward yogurt.<\/p>\n

What should shoppers buy if the cottage cheese shelf is bare?<\/b><\/p>\n

Greek yogurt may be the closest dairy swap. A Johns Hopkins clinical nutrition handout<\/a> lists 5 ounces of plain nonfat Greek yogurt at about 12 to 18 grams of protein, compared with about 14 grams for a half cup of cottage cheese or part-skim ricotta.<\/p>\n

High-protein ultra-filtered milk has about 13 grams per 8-ounce serving, while skim or 1 percent milk has about 8 grams.<\/p>\n

Ricotta is another easy substitute, especially in toast, pasta, dips or blended recipes. Johns Hopkins groups part-skim ricotta with cottage cheese at about 14 grams of protein per half cup.<\/p>\n

A few high-protein, nondairy options include dry beans, peas and lentils, says Kate Yerxa, a registered dietitian and statewide coordinator for the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program at University of Maine Cooperative Extension. And Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic, says eggs, tuna and tofu can also work as protein swaps, depending on the meal.<\/p>\n

Zumpano\u2019s broader advice: Do not chase one viral food.<\/p>\n

\u201c[You] should focus on whole food sources of protein: lean meats, fish, eggs\/egg whites, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, beans and lentils, [and] nuts and seeds. Choose protein-rich foods you enjoy and incorporate them daily. Vary your sources of protein, avoid processed meats and processed high-protein foods,\u201d Zumpano tells AARP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cottage cheese is having a moment, and grocery shelves are feeling it. The often-overlooked soft cheese has had…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":893065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[37],"tags":[119865,361993,361988,361989,361992,210,361990,361991,85922,1182,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-893064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-cottage-cheese","tag-cottage-cheese-alternatives","tag-cottage-cheese-shortage","tag-good-culture-cottage-cheese-shortage","tag-greek-yogurt-protein","tag-health","tag-high-protein-cottage-cheese-cottage-cheese-substitutes","tag-high-protein-diet-for-older-adults","tag-high-protein-snacks","tag-nutrition","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116813861199555483","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}