A vegetable and protein-packed breakfast dish, this recipe for cottage cheese zucchini breakfast casserole is a cheesy, fluffy and mouth-watering way to jump-start your day the healthy way!
I debated what to call this recipe for Cottage Cheese Zucchini Breakfast Casserole because putting cottage cheese in the recipe title is going to have a large number of people turning their heads saying, “Immediately no.” Then there’s a collection of cottage cheese die-hards out there who will be psyched. They’re living their glory days with the onslaught of cottage cheese-related content exploding on the internet right now. (Cottage cheese is certainly having a moment online.) And then there’s another group of people, whom I expect would be the majority, who are apathetic toward cottage cheese but happy to make a recipe that tastes good and especially interested in one that tastes extra cheesy with a nice little boost of protein from cottage cheese.
As long as you don’t fall in the “immediately no” category toward cottage cheese (and maybe even if you do because if it’s the texture that bothers you, it melts perfectly into an eggy casserole in this recipe), I think this is a recipe you will love!
Two things inspired this recipe. First, our garden. Who knew the girl with a black thumb who kills just about any indoor plant that crosses the threshold into her home could have a thriving garden!? Our first attempt at a garden this summer was a huge success with our zucchini plants taking top prize and producing the most fruit. The number of zucchini recipes I’ve made over the course of the past two months easy stretches into the double digits.
The second thing I was inspired by when creating this recipe was cottage cheese. My sister and her husband have been incorporating cottage cheese into recipes that often use shredded cheese for years… and with great success! (Their cottage cheese lasagna is incredible.) I took a page out of their book over the past few months and started using cottage cheese in more and more dishes and very quickly realized breakfast casseroles are the perfect place for creamy, protein-packed cottage cheese. It adds a wonderful cheesy flavor to the casserole and boosts the protein, something I’m always happy about since I often don’t naturally gravitate toward protein-rich foods (unless it’s seafood and then heck yes all day every day).
This cottage cheese zucchini casserole is fluffy, cheesy and makes the whole house smell fantastic. If you struggle with incorporating vegetables into your diet, especially in the morning, I love that this casserole feels like a delicious way to jump-start the day on a healthy note. It’s also very much a crowd pleaser (I made it for my family when they stayed with us earlier this summer) and even better when served with sliced avocado on top and fresh strawberries on the side.
Sign me up again and again for this one!
Cottage Cheese Zucchini Breakfast Casserole
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Cottage Cheese Zucchini Breakfast Casserole
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 6 large slices 1x
- Category: breakfast, vegetarian, casserole
- Method: bake
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A vegetable and protein-packed breakfast dish, this recipe for cottage cheese zucchini breakfast casserole is a cheesy, fluffy and mouth-watering way to jump-start your day the healthy way!
Ingredients
- 3 small zucchinis, grated and squeezed a few times in paper towels to remove extra water
- 1 small onion, grated or finely diced
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 7 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Olive oil or cooking spray (for bottom of baking dish)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine zucchini and onion in a large bowl. Stir in cottage cheese and eggs, taking care to break up the yolks and stir vigorously until everything is combined.
- In a separate bowl, Stir together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Slowly pour flour mixture into the egg mixture and stir until the flour mixture is completely incorporated.
- Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×11 pan or casserole dish with olive oil or spray with cooking spray.
- Bake casserole for 50-60 minutes, until the center bounces back when touched lightly and the middle is cooked through. (Do not undercook or you risk a goopier dish!)
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes, slice and enjoy!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 slice
- Calories: 202
- Sugar: 3g
- Sodium: 833mg
- Fat: 7g
- Saturated Fat: 2g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 21g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 15g
- Cholesterol: 222mg
Questions of the Day
Cottage cheese: Yay or nay?
Any favorite cottage cheese recipes to share? Please let me know and/or drop a link below so others can try it out, too!
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Sounds good. There are so many recipes out there on TikTok with Cottage Cheese ~ pizza, taco bowls, Queso Dip, etc.
I’m one of the apathetic toward cottage cheese people. Never crave it but I’ll eat it. I’m very excited to try this recipe tho!
Can I use something else besides cottage cheese?
Yum – I bet this is really tasty. I have always been an “immediately no” person about cottage cheese. However, I made an egg casserole earlier this summer that included it and it was delicious. The no for me on cottage cheese is the texture. Now, I’ve been working on getting more protein in my diet, so I added some cottage cheese to an egg scramble this morning (1 egg, dash of egg whites, frozen diced potatoes, sauteed spinach & cherry tomatoes and some cottage cheese) and it was so good. It was creamy and cheesy, and a great way to start my morning with a big helping of protein and veggies.
I’m so impressed with your zucchini haul this summer!
Yum! I love it! Kroger has a whipped cottage cheese that is fantastic. Making this soon.
Any idea whether this reheats well? Sounds perfect for a make-ahead breakfast for work!
Phenomenal recipe!!! Ansley devoured her serving, and Matt & I loved it. I got up at 6:30 and loved making it for my family.
I made this last week and it is phenomenal! Was looking for a good protein breakfast that would be easy to serve several days and this is exactly what I got. And super super tasty, I was even a bit surprised. I made two small casserole dishes instead of one large one. Thank you so much and will make this many more times.
Delicious! I had some extra zucchini to use and found this recipe. I baked this in a 12-cup muffin pan and froze the extras for a quick breakfast. Top with a little hot sauce and it’s perfection!
I love the idea of making it into muffins and freezing!! I’ll have to try doing this next time — thanks for sharing and for taking the time to leave a comment/review, Carrie!!
Why use flour.? Any low carb option? Almond pshyllum ?