Creamy Cottage Cheese Basil Pasta
Updated April 6, 2026
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Ready In
- 35 min
- Rating
- Comments
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Ingredients
Salt
1 lemon
8 ounces whole-milk cottage cheese (1 cup), at room temperature
3½ ounces grated Parmesan (1 cup), plus more for serving (see Tip)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1 garlic clove, smashed and peeled
3 ounces baby spinach (3 big handfuls)
2½ ounces torn basil leaves (2 packed cups)
1 pound spaghetti or other long pasta
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 to 6 servings)
61 grams carbs; 23 milligrams cholesterol; 464 calories; 6 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 14 grams fat; 3 grams fiber; 427 milligrams sodium; 24 grams protein; 3 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, zest and juice the lemon into a high-powered blender or food processor. Add the cottage cheese, Parmesan, oil, garlic, spinach and basil. Blend until very smooth. (in a food processor, this can take up to five minutes.)
- Step 2
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente according to package directions. Scoop out 1 ½ cups of the pasta water, then drain the pasta and return to the pot. With the blender running, pour ¾ cup of the pasta water into the cottage cheese mixture and blend until smooth.
- Step 3
Off the heat, add the cottage cheese mixture to the pasta. Toss vigorously until the pasta is coated in sauce, adding more pasta water as needed until glossy. Season to taste with salt. Serve topped with a drizzle of olive oil and more Parmesan.
Since you’re getting a blender or food processor dirty anyway, use it to grate the Parmesan, too: Chop the Parmesan into big chunks, then pulse in a blender until ground. Take some out for serving, then add the rest of the sauce ingredients and proceed.
Private Notes
Comments
Made this last night following the recipe to a T. It was delicious - and a really cool shade of green! We would not suggest making any changes or adjustments. Since it was just two of us, we halved the recipe and it was more than enough. We LOVE Ali Slagle’s pasta recipes!
@NHMAAZTXCA I’ve literally done this hundreds of times with my $100 cuisenart food processor. Just cut it into ~1in cubes first. Works like a charm.
Do Not try to grate Parmesan in a food processor or blender. I almost ruined my high powered cuisinart. I had to mail it to the repair center. I begged them to fix it because I have all of the disc blades. But they had to break the bowl to dislodge it. Just grate the cheese by hand. It’s not that hard.
Great recipe! Being unable to be faithful to any recipie, I did add double the olive oil and a bit more (1/3) of the greens, cottage cheese, and parm, plus 1/2 cup cream cheese. This is keeper.
I’ve used my cuisinart to grate Parmesan for years. Never had a problem. But you do have to cut it into smallish chunks first. I didn’t have any basil, so put in a couple of teaspoons left from some store bought pesto. It was good but needed to much salt to be really excellent
This was meh. I had to add a lot of pepper and more parmesan It also wasn't particularly filling, which was surprising for something with that much cottage cheese and parmesan. It was fine, but I wouldn't make it again.