I Tried 7 Cottage Cheese Brands & There's One Clear Winner
Cottage cheese mania is sweeping the nation. But as new organic and probiotic brands emerge to join the ranks with grandma’s throwback favorites, we have to ask: which ones actually live up to the hype. Are the new fancy labels worth it?
I blindly sampled seven different brands of cottage cheese. To ensure a fair basis for comparison, each brand was the 4%, small curd variety. I ranked each cottage cheese on a scale of 1-10, then used those rankings to determine my favorite in a few different categories as well as my favorite overall. Here are the results:
Best for Blending: 365 Organic
If you’re looking for the cottage cheese that will easily blend into everything from alfredo to egg bites, look no further than Whole Foods. With small, irregular curds that almost melted as I ate them, 365 Organic’s offering promises to disappear into whatever frozen bark or pasta you like.
I have to be honest: I wouldn’t necessarily eat it on its own. Those smaller curds almost disappear into the creamy stratus, making the texture a little too monotonous to enjoy by itself. But if you want something that will blend well with minimal graininess, this is the cottage cheese for you.
Best for Cooking: Breakstone’s
Swapping cottage cheese for ricotta in your favorite stuffed shells or folding it into scrambled eggs? You’ll want something that will mingle with everything else without disappearing completely, and Breakstone's delivers just that. Featuring smaller curds in a creamy (but not too creamy) stratus, this cottage cheese is perfect for folding into everything from gnocchi to kugel.
Again, I wouldn’t recommend eating it plain. It has a slightly drier texture which makes it less optimal for snacking (at least in my opinion!). But it’s definitely a plus when you’re making cottage cheese gnocchi and you don’t want the dough to be too wet.
Runner-Up Best Overall: Organic Valley
A great snackable cottage cheese offers evenly sized curds surrounded by just the right amount of creaminess, and Organic Valley is bringing all that and then some. Featuring firm, slightly bouncy curds, this cottage cheese will boost any bowl it touches. It fell short of the top spot because I felt that the curds were just a little too bouncy for me– especially when I compared them to the texture of the ultimate best overall—but I’d still be happy to eat it any day.
Best Overall: Daisy
Daisy was a staple in my grandma’s fridge when I was little, and now I definitely see why. Distinct pillowy curds swim in a creamy stratus for a cottage cheese that outshone every other brand, hands down. Its x-factor? The remarkable consistency and texture of the curd size and shape: every single one was distinct and evenly formed, and they were soft without immediately dissolving when I ate them. The creaminess surrounding the curds was also somehow richer and more luscious than all the other brands... which, given that they were all 4%, was surprising and delightful to me.
Interestingly, Daisy’s had the shortest ingredient list of all the brands I sampled. While every other brand includes stabilizers and thickeners such as guar gum, tapioca starch, and locust bean gum, Daisy only contains strictly skim milk, cultured cream, and salt. Typically these additives are meant to enhance texture—but in my experience they’re not doing cottage cheese any favors. Maybe everyone just needs to get back to the basics on this one.
Even if you think you’re not a cottage cheese lover, or you can only eat it when it’s hidden in pasta sauce, I challenge you to try Daisy. With its creamy luscious texture and those pillowy curds, it might just make you a believer.
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