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High Protein Pasta Sauce

This high protein pasta sauce has been my go to cozy meal lately. The creamy pink pasta sauce is made with whipped cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, spices, herbs, and crushed tomatoes. I also added some ground chicken sausage for extra flavor. This sauce has roughly 16 grams of protein per serving, and 33 grams per serving if you add in the optional chicken sausage.

High Protein Pasta sauce made with cottage cheese

Protein Pasta Sauce

This creamy high protein pasta sauce is secretly healthy and absolutely no one would guess there is cottage cheese in this. This cottage cheese pasta sauce blends the cottage cheese with tomato sauce to create a lovely pink color. I also added in parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, black pepper, and a little salt.

Whenever I make this high protein pasta sauce, I usually add in some crumbled Italian chicken sausage to my dish too! This doubles the amount of protein, while still keeping the calories low because it is chicken and not pork. If you do not eat meat, you can leave out the sausage as this sauce is delicious even without it.

High Protein Pasta sauce made with cottage cheese and chicken sausage

Cottage Cheese Pasta Sauce

This high protein pink pasta sauce is really similar to my blush sauce recipe. Blush sauce, also called Rose sauce, is a pasta sauce made with tomatoes, oil/butter, alcohol, cream, onion, garlic, and parmesan cheese. I swapped out the cream for cottage cheese to create this high protein pasta sauce. There are so many benefits to adding more cottage cheese to your diet. It is an excellent source of protein, high in vitamins, and much lower in fat and calories than cream. When you add cottage cheese to your blender, it becomes incredible smooth and feels similar in consistency to sour cream.

I have made this with and without a splash of white wine. I love the way it tastes with a little white wine, but to be honest, I usually make it without just because I don’t always have white wine in the house.

Whenever I make this cottage cheese pasta sauce, blush sauce, or even vodka sauce, I like to use canned tomatoes. I like that the skin is normally removed in canned tomatoes and I think there are a few brands out there that make really fresh tasting canned tomatoes.

High Protein Pasta sauce made with cottage cheese

High Protein Pasta Sauce Recipe

This creamy high protein pasta sauce has been a staple in our household for a few months. It tastes like a creamy blush sauce but it is also packed with protein. This creamy pasta sauce has roughly 16 grams of protein per serving, and 33 grams of protein if you include the chicken sausage. It is so tasty and I know you will enjoy it.

High Protein Pasta sauce made with cottage cheese

Ingredients For High Protein Pasta Sauce

  • Canned Crushed Tomatoes – There are some high quality canned tomatoes out there and I love using them when I make pasta sauce. Canned tomatoes are a great pantry item to have and since they stay fresh, you can have fresh pasta sauce any time of year.
  • Cottage Cheese – I use either fat free or low fat cottage cheese. Because I add so many other flavors, you don’t taste a difference if you use fat free. It only adds creaminess, saltiness, and protein.
  • Parmesan Cheese – I prefer fresh parmesan over the shaker can
  • Oregano – Such a classic spice that always enhances my Italian style sauces
  • Garlic Powder – You can use powder, fresh, frozen, or tubed!
  • Black Pepper – just a pinch
  • Sea Salt – just a pinch
  • Shredded Mozzarella Cheese – I add this after the dish is cooked to give it a cheesy flavor! It comes out so delicious. I prefer to buy mozzarella pre shredded because it is a soft che
  • Italian Chicken Sausage – I really like the ones sold at Trader Joes in the raw meat section. These are raw sausages in a casing. I remove the casing to create ground sausage and i crisp it up and then add it to my pasta sauce once the pasta sauce is done cooking.
  • Pasta – my current favorite shape is cavatappi! I love how the sauce sticks to all of the curves of this pasta.

INGREDIENTS  

  • 15 oz Canned Crushed Tomatoes
  • 16 oz Cottage Cheese fat free or low fat
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Sea Salt you are also using salty cheeses
  • 3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup is fine
  • Fresh Basil optional
  • 8 oz Pasta

INSTRUCTIONS 

  • Boil your pasta
  • Brown your sausage in a large pan. Once it is cooked through, turn off the heat.
  • Add all remaining ingredients except for the mozzarella and fresh basil to a high speed blender. Blend until the sauce is pink and creamy
  • Add your drained pasta to the pan with the sausage. Turn the heat on low heat.
  • Add your pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil and stir to combine.

What to serve with this High Protein Pasta Sauce

I always encourage people to make my stuffed garlic bread whenever they make pasta, but if you are looking for something a little lighter you can try my parmesan crusted brussels sprouts or this air fryer roasted cauliflower.

You can also use Italian sausage made from pork in this dish instead of chicken sausage.

High Protein Pasta sauce made with cottage cheese

High Protein Pasta Sauce

This high protein pasta sauce has been my go to cozy meal lately. The creamy pink pasta sauce is made with whipped cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, spices, herbs, and crushed tomatoes.
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

  • 15 oz Canned Crushed Tomatoes
  • 16 oz Cottage Cheese fat free or low fat
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
  • 1 tsp Oregano
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/8 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Sea Salt you are also using salty cheeses
  • 3/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 cup is fine
  • Fresh Basil optional
  • 8 oz Pasta

Instructions
 

  • Boil your pasta
  • Brown your sausage in a large pan. Once it is cooked through, turn off the heat.
  • Add all remaining ingredients except for the mozzarella and fresh basil to a high speed blender. Blend until the sauce is pink and creamy
  • Add your drained pasta to the pan with the sausage. Turn the heat on low heat.
  • Add your pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil and stir to combine.

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3 Comments

  1. Jay Aronowitz says:

    Very interesting dish!

  2. Mine came out a little gritty even after blending with my vitamix and using my immersion blender after cooking. The sauce broke/separated while cooking and now the texture isn’t smooth. Any tips or can you tell me where I went wrong?

  3. Hi Kat,

    Sorry to hear that! I posted a video on my instagram page showing how smooth my vitamix made the sauce. Perhaps different models achieve different results? I wouldn’t think so but I didn’t do anything fancy to achieve an ultra smooth texture. Also, I only gently heat the sauce on low heat once I add it to the pasta so it didn’t even have time to separate since it got warm very fast. Do you mind telling me what kind of cottage cheese you used? I also use my vitamix to make a green goddess dip with cottage cheese and it also makes it amazingly smooth so I am definitely wondering what may have happened.