Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon
Low-Carb Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon have egg, Parmesan, almond flour, and a tiny bit of white whole wheat flour. See suggestions to replace the flour for a version that’s Keto and gluten-free.
PIN the Breakfast Muffins with Bacon to try them later!
When I spotted an idea for cottage cheese egg muffins online years ago, I loved the idea of a high-protein muffin with cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan, and almond meal, and just the tiniest bit of flour. I decided to make them as a breakfast muffin. And when I did I discovered that the almond flour and tiny bit of flour gave these breakfast muffins a nice texture that was different than the Keto Egg Muffins I’d been making for years.
And these Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon were definitely a success! And even with the small amount of flour, there are only 7 net carbs per muffin, and 15 grams of protein!
Since I first posted this recipe I’ve made these delicious breakfast muffins over and over to keep in the fridge for a grab-and-go breakfast. And these tasty high protein breakfast muffins have been a hit with everyone who tries them!
If you don’t want flour or want a muffin that’s stricter on carbs for Keto or Gluten-Free, this post has some suggestions for adapting the recipe for that as well!
What ingredients do you need for this recipe?
(This is ONLY a list of ingredients for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- cottage cheese
- grated Parmesan cheese
- White Whole Wheat Flour (affiliate link), or see Keto and Gluten-Free options below
- Almond Flour (affiliate link)
- baking powder
- salt
- water
- eggs
- bacon
- green onion
What if you want a breakfast muffin that’s gluten-free or Keto?
If you check the nutritional information you’ll see that the small amount of white whole wheat flour doesn’t add many carbs, and the flour does give a nice texture to the egg muffins with cottage cheese. But if you need a version that’s gluten-free or Keto I’d recommend replacing the flour with Flaxseed Meal (affiliate link) or Hemp Seeds (affiliate link), or maybe a combination of both those. There are also a number of brands of Keto Flour (affiliate link) on the market which I am guessing would work fine in this recipe. And there’s also a delicious flourless gluten-free breakfast muffin on the blog that was partly inspired by this recipe.
Want more ideas for muffins like these?
I love these cottage cheese and egg muffins so much that I’ve made a variation with ham and cheddar and a meatless version with mushrooms and Feta! Try the recipe yourself and see if these are going to become a repeater for you too!
Want lots more Ideas for Egg Muffins and Breakfast Muffins?
Check out my post with Low-Carb Muffins and Breakfast Muffins for lots more tasty muffin ideas to make for breakfast!
How to Make Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon:
(This is ONLY a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
- Spray silicone baking cups (affiliate link) lightly with olive oil or non-stick spray.
- Mix together the cottage cheese, Parmesan, white whole wheat flour, almond meal, baking powder, salt, water, and beaten egg.
- Then fold in the crumbled pre-cooked bacon and thinly sliced green onion.
- Fill large muffin cups 3/4 full.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, or until muffins are light browned and enjoy!
- One of these muffins is enough for me for a tasty breakfast!
More Low-Carb High Protein Muffin Recipes:
- Low-Carb and Keto Egg Muffins
- Flourless Savory Breakfast Muffins
- Green Chile and Cheese Egg Muffins
- Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Ham and Cheddar
- Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Mushrooms and Feta
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon
Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon have cottage cheese, egg, almond flour, and and just a little white whole wheat flour for a tasty low-carb breakfast muffin! See suggestions in the recipe if you need a version that's gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup cottage cheese (see notes)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour (see notes for gluten-free option)
- 2/3 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 3 T water
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 3 strips cooked bacon
- 3 T thinly sliced green onion
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Spray silicone baking cups (affiliate link) lightly with olive oil or non-stick spray.
- Microwave bacon until crisp and then crumble it. (I use Costco pre-cooked bacon which made this quick.)
- Thinly slice green onions.
- In mixing bowl, combine cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, white whole wheat flour, Almond Flour (affiliate link), baking powder, salt, water, and beaten egg. Mix well.
- Gently mix in crumbled bacon and green onion, until well distributed in batter.
- Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with cottage cheese and egg mixture.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, or until muffins are firm and lightly browned.
- Serve hot or room temperature.
Notes
To make a version that's gluten-free I would replace the white whole wheat flour with Flaxseed Meal (affiliate link) or Hemp Seeds (affiliate link), or use a combination of both. Some people have also reported using quinoa flakes, and I think a gluten-free flour mix would also work.
Use regular or low-fat cottage cheese, whichever you prefer.
Muffins can be refrigerated and reheated in the microwave. (I cut in half crosswise before heating. Be very careful not to microwave too long, or they will become tough.)
I haven’t tried freezing them, but I would imagine they will freeze well.
Recipe adapted from Sundried Tomato Cottage Cheese Muffins by Rose Elliot, featured on 101 Cookbooks.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 224Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 141mgSodium: 659mgCarbohydrates: 9gFiber: 2gSugar: 1gProtein: 15g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
These Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon are low in net carbs, even with the small amount of white whole wheat flour. See suggestions in the recipe for Keto and Gluten-Free options to replace the flour if you prefer. These muffins would be phase 2 or 3 for the original South Beach Diet due to the flour. I wouldn’t worry about the small amount of bacon here for South Beach, but you could use turkey bacon if you prefer.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Breakfast Recipes to find more recipes like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this recipe
Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon were first posted October 2007 and updated with better photos, September 2015. The recipe was last updated with more information in 2022.
55 Comments on “Cottage Cheese Breakfast Muffins with Bacon”
I've never had anything like it. Looks great
Thanks, hope you enjoy.
I made these last week using soy flour. They were delicious both warm and cold, I really didn't bother warming them up the following 2 days. I had 14 of them, made in smaller silicon moulds.
Thanks for sharing that Adina; I am glad to have confirmation that soy flour will work well.
I also would like to know what to use in place of Almond flour, almonds etc. The specialty flours and such are really expensive for small bags where I live. I have oats, chia, couscous, and things like that as well as other (regular) flours. Thank you!!
Linda, I haven't made them with anything but almond flour and I'm afraid I'm not a good enough baker to know what else might substitute. One commenter has recommended soy flour, but I haven’t done that myself. If you make them sucessfully with something else, I'd love to know about it.
Mmmmmm I really want to make those tonight! I have no almond meal, what can I substitute them for? Oat flour, more whole wheat flour? Those are the stuff I have around…
I'm afraid I can't offer any suggestions about what to substitute for almond meal; I”m not that good of a baker. One commenter has recommended soy flour, but I haven’t done that myself. If you make them sucessfully with something else, I'd love to know about it.
These look so great – hearty enough to fill you up, but still really healthy. I need to use cottage cheese more often, it's not something I ever really buy.
Becca, it's so loaded with protein! I am trying to use it more.
If you use the silicone baking cups (I now prefer the individual ones) that will keep them from sticking. I don't think paper would work for this, even with flour (and personally I would not use flour; that defeats the purpose of a relatively low-carb breakfast like this.) Even a well-sprayed metal muffin pan would be better than paper muffin liners.
Great taste, but even with the well oiled muffin cups, they still terribly stuck and when paper cup was pealed off, a 1/4 of the muffin went with to :(. I wonder if flour or maybe even corn flour would prevent it from sticking?
Cyndi I would guess it might be partly because I'm at high altitude? And those silicone muffin pans I used in the photo are a bit on the large side. Glad you enjoyed them.
I made these for the first time today; followed the directions exactly except for the oven temperature (mine runs hot), which I set at 350Ëš. Two big differences from yours: The recipe filled up 12 regular-sized muffin tins, and they came out almost over-done after 25 minutes. I'm thinking that's because of the oven temp – I need to do a temperature test. But I'm wondering why it made so many. Verdict: wonderful. I used a little salsa and am nice and full.
I've been experimenting with hemp hearts, and I'm going to try those in these muffins to replace the flour!
I used to follow the recipe as written, with the exception of the flour, I used soy flour instead. But this time I was looking to lighten it up, so I eliminated the egg yolks and just used the whites instead, along with the soy flour. I also had to grind up my own almonds to make the almond meal/flour. They were just as delicious with a little less color. I think next time I will use a different bean flour instead of soy flour to see how it turns out.
Jan, good to know it will work with garbanzo flour! Did you use any wheat flour at all, or all garbanzo flour?
These muffins are fantastic! I had all the ingredients on hand,except almond flour. I had almonds on hand and could have made almond flour, but looking around I had some Bob's Mill Garbonzo Bean Flour in the fridge and decided to experiment. SUCCESS! The muffins baked up perfectly and the texture was slightly dense. Hubby and I loved the taste and have decided this recipe is a keeper. I also have pictures.
In case you are looking for yet another variation for these muffins (love, love, love them- so glad I found them on your site), I sometimes use soy chorizo, jalapeños (fresh, but I'm sure the canned ones would be fine too), and cotija cheese instead of the parmesan. ¡Qué rico!
These are absolutely delectable. I made them with soy flour instead of the white wheat flour. I did not have Parmesan cheese so I opted for sliced swiss cheese I shredded myself. I also omitted the meat. I love bacon, but when made with certain dishes, it has a tendency to become almost raw in texture–this is gross for me. Thank you so much for the recipe.
They will definitely last for quite a few days in the fridge. I would just refrigerate instead of freezing. (I used to freeze egg dishes like this, but now I prefer them when they haven't been frozen.)
This looks fantastic! I'm going to a friends house for the weekend. Do you think these would last for a few days if I made them ahead of time? (make them on Fri, eat on Sun?) Do you think they would freeze ok? Would be great to make these up for the week.
Mandy, so glad you like the recipe. I used to eat these in the car on the way to work!
Yeah! This is EXACTLY the breakfast muffin recipe I was looking for! Thanks for the trial and error to find the perfect combo.
Ooh this looks yummy. I must try it. Thanks for the recipe!!