Cottage Cheese Toast With Avocado — 17 g of Protein in 10 Minutes
Description
Toasted sourdough under a thin layer of mashed avocado, a generous spoonful of drained cottage cheese and a tangle of cucumber ribbons. No cooking, ten minutes, 17 g of protein a slice — and no added salt, because the cottage cheese and the bread bring plenty on their own.
Ingredients
For the base
For the topping
To finish
Instructions
Prep (this is where the recipe is won)
-
Drain the cottage cheese
Tip the cottage cheese into a fine sieve set over a bowl and leave it for 5 minutes while you do everything else. You will be surprised how much liquid comes out. That liquid is the single biggest cause of soggy cottage cheese toast.
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Ribbon and dry the cucumber
Run a vegetable peeler down the length of the cucumber to make long, thin ribbons, stopping when you reach the seeds. Scatter them with a pinch of salt, leave for 5 minutes, then pat them dry with kitchen paper. Cucumber is about 95% water — this step keeps most of it off your bread.
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Toast the bread properly
Toast the bread until it is genuinely firm and dry, not just warm and pale. Then stand the slices upright or lay them on a rack for a minute so the steam escapes instead of soaking back in.
Build
-
Mash and season the avocado
Mash the avocado in a small bowl with the lemon juice and a good grind of black pepper. Spread it in a thin, even layer over each slice, right to the edges — it is a moisture barrier as much as a flavour layer, so do not pile it in the middle.
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Spoon over the cottage cheese
Divide the drained cottage cheese between the two slices, spooning it on in soft mounds rather than spreading it flat. You want the curds to stay visible and intact.
Finish
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Drape the cucumber ribbons
Lay the cucumber ribbons over the cottage cheese in loose folds rather than flat sheets — the folds are what give the toast its height and the crisp bite that plays against the soft curds.
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Finish and serve immediately
Drizzle with the olive oil, scatter over the chili flakes if using, then the dill or chives and a final grind of black pepper. Serve straight away with a wedge of lemon. This is not a toast that waits.
Nutrition Facts
Servings 2
Serving Size 1 slice of 2
- Amount Per Serving
- Calories 295kcal
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat 14g18%
- Saturated Fat 3g15%
- Trans Fat 0.1g
- Cholesterol 12mg4%
- Sodium 494mg22%
- Potassium 527mg12%
- Total Carbohydrate 28g11%
- Dietary Fiber 5g18%
- Sugars 7g
- Protein 17g34%
- Vitamin A 74 mcg RAE
- Vitamin C 9 mg
- Calcium 192 mg
- Iron 1.6 mg
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Note
- Why there is no salt in the topping. One slice already carries about 494 mg of sodium — 308 mg from the cottage cheese and 182 mg from the bread — which is more than a fifth of the daily value before anyone reaches for a grinder. The only salt in the method is the pinch used to draw water out of the cucumber, and most of that gets patted off. Taste before you add more.
- Swap for Greek yogurt if you are watching sodium. Protein is effectively the same (10.0 g vs 10.4 g per 100 g) but sodium drops from 308 mg to 34 mg per 100 g. You lose the curds and gain tang.
- Dairy-free version: mash a 400 g (14 oz) can of drained white beans or chickpeas with lemon and olive oil instead of the cottage cheese — about 9 g of protein per slice. Rinse them well or buy no-salt-added: canned beans carry roughly 340 mg of sodium per 100 g themselves.
- Prep ahead, don't build ahead. Drained cottage cheese keeps 2 days in an airtight container and cucumber ribbons keep 1 day between sheets of kitchen paper. Assembled, this toast is past its best within the hour.
- For a smoother topping, blitz the drained cottage cheese for 20 seconds in a small food processor — it turns into something closer to a thick cream cheese. Good if the curd texture is not for you, though you lose the contrast with the cucumber.
- This recipe is vegetarian, not vegan — cottage cheese is dairy. For gluten-free, any sturdy gluten-free loaf works, but toast it a shade darker than you think, since it softens faster under the topping.
- How the nutrition was calculated: from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient in the list, divided by 2. Nothing is cooked, so no retention factors apply. The optional chili flakes and herbs are not included.
