Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: That’s right, cheesecake for breakfast. Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt take the place of cream cheese but you’ll hardly be able to tell the difference. You’ll love the swirl of cinnamon.
How long it takes: 10 minutes to prep, 45 minutes to bake
Equipment you’ll need: blender or food processor, square baking dish, parchment paper
Servings: 9
I get bored with breakfast. Actually, as I type this, I’m at a darling little cafe near my home. I told myself I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before I ran out the door with the kids, but the truth is that I probably just wanted to eat here and not at home.
Maybe it’s the bowl of mixed fruit and berries when all I have at home are bananas. Maybe it’s the fresh flowers on every table. Perhaps it’s the hot coffee, when mine is always cold at home. I also can’t get enough of their crispy toasted multigrain toast. And then there’s the bacon…
Even though I get bored with breakfast, it remains one of my favorite meals. I try to keep breakfast items stocked like egg white casserole, baked oatmeal, and chocolate protein pancakes (I keep those babies in the freezer!). These frittata muffins are popular at breakfast, too.
This breakfast cheesecake is another winner. I would say it tastes like eating dessert for breakfast but it depends on what kind of desserts you like. I don’t like super sweet treats and this cinnamon swirl cheesecake is not overly sweet. If I top my slice of cheesecake with fresh fruit, it is absolutely perfect for me.
About This Healthy Cheesecake Recipe
It isn’t made with cream cheese. Unlike classic cheesecake with lots of cream cheese, this breakfast cheesecake is made with a combination of cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. After a quick whirl in your blender, you won’t even be able to tell it’s not traditional cream cheese filling.
This cheesecake is healthy. This cottage cheese-based cheesecake only has 165 calories per serving with 10 grams of protein, which makes it a protein-packed breakfast choice that will keep you full all morning. There isn’t a lot of added sugar. The crust is a crunchy combination of good-for-you rolled oats and chia seeds, making a perfect contrast to the smooth filling.
Serve it for a healthy dessert. There’s absolutely no reason why this cheesecake couldn’t be served for dessert as a healthier alternative to classic cheesecake. You may want to increase the sugar a bit (see the tip below).
Easy to enhance. I like to jazz this healthy cheesecake up with a pretty cinnamon swirl which is both decorative and tasty. Feel free to add your own touches with other flavors.
Make It Your Own
Make it sweeter. If you’re not used to eating things that aren’t sweet, I’d recommend adding 2 to 4 tablespoons of coconut sugar or brown sugar to the filling.
Shortcut idea: If you don’t want to mess with the cinnamon swirl (we’re all about quick and easy here!), just add the swirl ingredients right to the cheesecake mixture. All the flavor and none of the fuss!
Add different enhancements. Try adding a dash of nutmeg or ginger. Apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice work well. Add a swirl of your favorite jam.
Experiment with toppings. I love fresh fruit or fruit sauces. A drizzle of chocolate syrup is amazing, too, and really appeals to kids.
Make individual cheesecakes. Try my mini mocha cheesecakes which are also made with cottage cheese.
This is the type of recipe that you definitely want to make ahead. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to a week and can be frozen, too. Simply thaw it overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
More Cottage Cheese Recipes
Breakfast Cheesecake – Cinnamon Swirl
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 ¼ cups rolled oats (see note)
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, or to taste (brown sugar can be substituted)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons milk
Filling:
- 1 container (16-ounce) reduced-fat cottage cheese (I use large curd)
- ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt (full fat or 2% is fine, too)
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
Swirl:
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 8- or 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a mixing bowl, combine crust ingredients: rolled oats, chia seeds, 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, melted butter, and milk. Press firmly into prepared baking dish.1 ¼ cups rolled oats, 2 tablespoons chia seeds, 2 teaspoons coconut sugar, or to taste, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons butter, melted, 2 tablespoons milk
- Bake crust for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Reduce oven heat to 325°F.
- In a blender or food processor, blend cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, vanilla, and eggs until smooth. Pour filling into the baked crust.1 container (16-ounce) reduced-fat cottage cheese, ⅓ cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 2 large eggs
- In a small bowl (or zip-top bag), mix swirl ingredients: 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Drizzle over filling and then run a knife or toothpick through it to create a swirl.2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Return cheesecake to oven and bake for 45 minutes or until it's no longer jiggly in center.
- Cool completely before slicing into 9 squares. Refrigerate in airtight container for up to a week. Serve as is, or with fresh fruit or a fruit sauce.
Notes
- Oats: Rolled oats may be labeled as old-fashioned oats. If you happen to have quick cooking oats in the house, they’ll work fine. Steel cut oats (Irish oats) or instant oatmeal will not work.
- Make it sweeter: If you’d like a sweeter cheesecake, especially if you’re serving this as a dessert, you may want to increase the sugar in the crust and add a few tablespoons of sugar to the filling.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
I made this and really enjoy the flavor, having a little trouble with the cheesecake texture. I made it with small curd cottage cheese (which is what I buy by default) and I couldn’t get it smooth like cream cheese— do you think large curd cottage cheese would help get a smoother texture? Or is there a brand you prefer? It’s just a little grainy the way I made it, but not enough to stop me from living my Golden Girls moment every morning hahah.
I usually use large curd but it could also depend on your blender/food processor? Try blending it a little more, maybe?
Update I did make one change. I put dry crust in a blender pulsed it a few times this made the pieces smaller and it was not as crumbly. When I added the butter once it cooled off the crust holds together nicely. Supper yummy
That’s a great idea, thanks for sharing!
I made this the other day. I did add the extra sugar to the filling it is slightly sweet but not overly so. It is filling and yummy I also made mine in a pie pan. I passed this recipie to two friends . I loved this recipes easy to make and yummy
So glad you liked it – thanks for leaving a review, it really means a lot to me!
This is SO GOOD!!! we didn’t let it cool completely and it was still delicious!! I couldn’t use the yogurt so I added a splash of milk and a brick of cream cheese, and added more cottage cheese, to fill out a 9X13 pan. I added a little stevia. I baked almost an hour. Thank you so much! I will make this again. My sons loved it!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
I made this as a dessert tonight. It was delicious! I don’t like things too sweet so I wouldn’t change a thing with the cheese part.
However my crust did not set well. Next time I will cook the crust longer and maybe at a higher temp and make sure its nice and crispy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The crust is on the crumbly side, but it should hold together pretty well still. I’m glad you liked it, though!
It sounds so yummy ñ. Still, is chia really necessary? Can it be substituted or eliminated?
I like the flavor and texture it adds, but you could probably leave it out.
Can you break down this recipe into a single serving for me please?
If you’re asking if I can adjust the ingredients so that it only makes one serving, unfortunately I can’t. This recipe wouldn’t really work well for that. If you’re asking for the estimated nutrition info, that’s at the bottom of the recipe.
Well, this is gonna get a try this weekend. My husband’s union se.t food boxes home and we got several tuns of cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. I am the only one who will eat them just plain. I think the rest of the family will love this recipe.
I hope it was a success! Let me know what you all thought of it!
RACHEL!!! I loved this recipe- so much so that I had to leave a comment (and I never do that!). Wonderful cheesecake! I did add the sugar to the cheesecake as suggested- and it was the perfect amount of sweetness. I also just used vanilla (no maple or cinnamon) and made an easy blueberry sauce (blueberries water cornstarch and a tbsp sugar). AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
Wow, thank you so much! Comments mean so much to me! Your adaptations sound absolutely delicious!
Very delicious! I added a bit of lemon juice to the filling and used cocoa powder instead of cinnamon for the swirl. I would reduce the cinnamon for the crust next time, since I find it too strong.
So glad you liked it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!