Creamy Pink Cottage Cheese Chicken

Chicken cooked in cottage cheese sauce with tomatoes.

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Creamy Pink Cottage Cheese Chicken

This creamy cottage cheese sauce is going to change your mind about cottage cheese! We're taking a few simple ingredients and concentrating those flavors into a delicious one pan garlic chicken with a high protein cottage cheese sauce. But don't worry - you can use this pink sauce with tofu or chickpeas or pasta instead!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings servings

Calories 210kcal

Author Caitlin Self, MS, CNS, LDN

Ingredients

1 roma tomato about 100g
1 cup 4% cottage cheese full fat is my preference here!
2 Tablespoons water
4 large cloves garlic
1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
½ Tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt as needed
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Fresh basil for garnish

Instructions

Finely mince the garlic and set aside. Roughly chop the roma tomato.
To make the sauce, blend the chopped tomato with the cottage cheese and about 2 Tablespoons of water until smooth. Set this aside.
Chop the chicken into small bite-sized cubes. Bring a skillet to medium heat. If using a cast iron skillet, be sure to let it heat up for 2-3 minutes so it is evenly heated. Then add the olive oil and swirl it around, and immediately add the chopped chicken in an even layer and sprinkle with some of the salt. Try not to move the chicken for about 2 minutes so it can develop some nice brown color.
After 2-3 minutes, stir the chicken well to brown on all sides, and make a space in the middle of the pan to add the garlic, along with the black pepper and the red pepper flakes. Give the garlic about 1 minute to have full contact with the pan before stirring it all together to incorporate. (Note: the chicken doesn’t have to be fully cooked here, we will keep cooking it!)
After another minute or so, pour in the sauce, scraping out the blender cup to make sure you get it all! Stir to combine and then simmer over low-medium heat for about 15 minutes or until it has reduced and thickened and lost most of the raw tomato flavor. Stir occasionally to prevent the chicken from sticking to the bottom.
We’re cooking this longer than you think in order to really concentrate the flavors. It’s going to be delicious! Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper and garnish with fresh herbs of choice - basil is great here. Serve as is or over your favorite starchy carb with a lightly dressed salad on the side. (I love it with this bright arugula salad or with a tangy vinaigrette.)

Notes

Feel free to skip the red pepper flakes if you don’t tolerate spice.
You’re going to cook this for so much longer than you think you need to - soldier on! We’re going for a deeper, richer flavor, which you get from that longer cook. If you want a looser sauce or more sauce to pour over pasta or rice, you can stop cooking this around 8-10 minutes.
Serve with a nice light green salad and your starch of choice on the side, such as rice, pasta, or quinoa.

Nutrition