Cottage Cheese Brands, Ranked Worst To Best

Cottage cheese never went away, but it wasn't exactly sitting at the "cool foods'" table for the last few decades. Now it's found a resurgence in popularity thanks to the curds-and-whey-loving content creators on TikTok, who praise its versatility as a snack or ingredient swap, not to mention its high protein and low carb content.

If, like me, you've only recently come back to the ol' cottage after being reminded of this well-established dairy product's merits, you might not know your way around the different options yet; it's important that you do. For me, cottage cheese — depending on the brand — can taste either wildly delicious or mind-blowingly vile. (Before tackling this article, I was unaware of a middle ground. Spoiler: There is one.)

In the interests of saving you, good reader, from the awful experience of buying a cottage cheese whose flavor and texture excite your gag reflex, I have personally taste-tested eight of them and compiled my thoughts below. I've aimed to identify the key traits of eight cottage cheese brands available at Walmart, Harris Teeter, Target, Publix, and Aldi. Since the character of a cottage cheese is highly dependent on its milkfat percentage (with richer flavors associated with more fat) all brands I reviewed are the low-fat variety to keep things fair — I eat low-fat cottage cheese regularly and am accustomed to the flavor profile. But which were the good ones? There was only one whey to find out!

A Southern grocery store staple, Publix is best known for its acceptance of competitor coupons and its incredible grab-and-go sub sandwiches. But the store also provides its own brand of a wide variety of goods both edible and otherwise, and Publix cottage cheese happens to fall into that first category — in theory, that is.

Unfortunately, for me, the flavor of Publix cottage cheese was a major nope. It was tart in a bad way, the curds were mushy, and, though it wasn't extremely watery, it also wasn't creamy and thick the way I like it. If this had been the first cottage cheese I ever tried, the food would have gone on my Never Again list.

If you prefer your dairy products to contain very few and mostly simple ingredients, this one won't be a winner for you with its guar gum, locust bean gum (no relation to the bug), and carrageenan. This wasn't something that concerned me, but it didn't help that Publix cottage cheese also contains maltodextrin, an ingredient some consumers are advised to avoid, myself being one of them. That said, there's a silver lining: variety and cost. Publix sells fat-free, low-fat, and 4% milkfat cottage cheese at quite a good price. I picked up my 24-ounce container for $3.99, making the price per ounce about $0.17. For that alone, Publix cottage cheese could be worth a try in case your taste buds happen to be at odds with mine on this pick.

Like Publix, Walmart's store brand, Great Value, offers fat free, 1%, and 4% cottage cheese at a lower price than competitors — $2.24 for 16 ounces, in this case. Coming to $0.14 per ounce, it's the second cheapest cottage cheese I tested.

And I got what I paid for. Great Value's cottage cheese contains almost the exact same lineup of ingredients as Publix's version, including the components I wasn't enthused about. Whatever Walmart did differently with this cottage cheese, it's only marginally better than the Publix product. Texture-wise, Publix beats it; the Great Value was pretty watery. In terms of flavor, this one wasn't as strongly and badly flavored as that of Publix, but it still had a pervasive sour-milky flavor, and that watery texture didn't help the ick factor. Nor did the lingering aftertaste. In the interests of making it work (because that price really is nice), you might try mixing stronger-flavored add-ins with this cottage cheese, though that didn't work for me. I can also see the wateriness being exacerbated by wetter foods like pineapple.

Friendship Dairies has been producing dairy products for over a century according to its website, yet I'd never even heard of it before I sought out its low-fat cottage cheese for this review. The brand appears to be mostly sold in the northeast U.S. and a few select southern states, and Friendship Dairies offers to this pocket of America a whopping eight varieties of cottage cheese, including ones with pineapple and a 1% version with no salt added.

I didn't realize that the only cottage cheese from this brand in my town was the variety that had no added salt, so I had to prepare myself for something a bit different. With an average of 350 milligrams of sodium per ½ cup, cottage cheese tends to be high-ish in salt (though it typically contains less salt per serving than regular cheese). That salt content plays a key role in the flavor, and with only 45 milligrams of salt per serving, the Friendship Dairies contender was bound to be distinctive.

The texture was great: nice and thick and not watery at all — a surprise considering the short ingredients list's lack of thickeners like guar gum. The flavor was very muted, though, with not much there besides a little tartness. But it didn't taste terrible, and that was key. I wouldn't try it in recipes like cottage cheese alfredo sauce as it might lack the flavorsome swagger needed to carry a dish like that. However, it might be a great ingredient in a high protein egg salad, especially if you're interested in cutting back salt. And it's average-priced for a cottage cheese. I paid $3.49 for 16 ounces, about $0.21 per ounce.

Friendly Farms is owned by Aldi, which offers both 2% and 4% cottage cheese at around $2.69 per 24 ounces in my town, coming to $0.11 per ounce. The cheapest cottage cheese I tested, this one was a bit watery; it felt like I got mostly liquid without much curd on my spoon, even after stirring. Yet the ingredient lineup includes thickeners, not to mention some chem-class-sounding names like glucona delta lactone, a preservative. Whatever they're all doing in there, they're not making this cottage cheese any thicker — but they also aren't making it taste bad.

For me, the Friendly Farms cottage cheese was very middle-of-the-road. The milky notes were strong, which I liked, but it's just a tad on the sour side. It's perfectly enjoyable — not amazing — and if it were creamier, it'd be pretty dang good. That and the price make this a good buy, but if you're looking for a real treat, there are better cottage cheeses out there, though probably not much cheaper.

Another brand with a wide variety of cottage cheese offerings on its website, Breakstone's may be most recognizable for its four-packs of four-ounce cottage cheese servings. The only Breakstone's variety in store on the day I stocked up for this review was the one with 45% less sodium than competing brands, but I went for it since Friendship Dairies could do with a lower-sodium contender for comparison's sake.

This Breakstone's cottage cheese had a very mild flavor, nice milky notes, and not much tang or aftertaste. With more flavor than Friendly Farms, it'd be good for anyone who wants a soft-spoken cottage cheese, flavor-wise, rather than one that barely whispers. The texture was one of my favorite features; like Friendship Dairies' product, it was creamy and thick, not watery at all, and the curds were pleasantly al dente.

This one was only negligibly pricier than Friendship Dairies' at $3.16 per 16 ounces ($0.20 per ounce), and I'd personally opt for this one if I needed less sodium; the flavor is just better. Still, this may be comparing apples to apple pie since Breakstone's product provides 200 milligrams of sodium and Friendly Farms 55 milligrams. The key determiner between these two would be just how low-sodium you're looking to go and possibly how low-carb. Breakstone's short ingredient list features tapioca starch, which brings its total carbohydrate count to 7 grams compared to Friendship Dairies' 5 grams — negligible to some consumers but not necessarily to others.

Considering my bad experience with two other store-brand cottage cheeses, I'd be excused for feeling a bit leery of Target's Good & Gather Low Fat Cottage Cheese. Plus, while low-price doesn't always coincide with low-taste, 24 ounces of this product went for $3.39 at my local store. How tasty would I find a cottage cheese that goes for $0.14 per ounce?

Fairly tasty, as it turns out. This cottage cheese features a respectable milkiness and tanginess — nothing over-the-top, but enjoyable nonetheless. I'm not sure what makes the flavor so much better than others below it on this list; I wonder if it's the fact that cream and whey are the second and third listed ingredients.

There are three thickening gums in this product, but even though the texture wasn't all that robust — not exactly watery but also not what I'd call thick — I shrugged it off. For the flavor, this one is more than worth a try, especially if you snag it during one of Target's price drops.

The Daisy brand started back in 1917 in Chicago, and today it's one of the most recognizable brands for cottage cheese and sour cream you can find at the store. Daisy may not be the most exciting brand, but it's well-established and more or less ubiquitous for a very good reason, at least as far as its cottage cheese goes: It's dependably good.

My 16-ounce container of cultured skim milk, cream, and salt (that's all that's in it) was going for $3.24 at Walmart. At $0.20 per ounce, Daisy isn't the cheapest cottage cheese on this list, but the texture and flavor make it worth the few extra cents. The texture is creamy, and the curds have a good chew to them similar to Breakstone's. Overall, Daisy's presents a balanced flavor in terms of salty, sour, milky, and sweet. The tastes all integrate well, and this cottage cheese would work equally well as a standalone treat, mixed with apple butter for an Amish-style snack, or in a smoothie.

Founded in 2014, Good Culture is one of the newer brands in the cottage cheese game. It also produce sour cream, cream cheese, and a couple of lactose-free options, all of which contain live and active cultures and eschew the use of gums, preservatives, or artificial ingredients. The ingredients list on my 16-ounce tub of Good Cultures cottage cheese was certainly different from the rest, containing two types of organic milk and organic cream, plus sea salt in addition to those live active cultures. The price was distinctive, too. I paid $4.49 for my 16-ounce container ($0.28 per ounce). Was the most expensive cottage cheese worth it?

Yep. I could smell it before I ate it, an upbeat tang with a satisfying saltiness. "Wowza!" was what I said after the first bite. The curds were smaller than the other brands' and had a good chew to them — a bit less than Breakstone's, but still very nice. The tub is now long gone (another member of my household became a little obsessed with this cottage cheese after I said "Here, taste this"), but I'm still dreaming about the texture, which was thick and creamy and — hear me out — made a very unusual and extremely appetizing sound when stirred.

If you don't like strong, tangy milk products, head for the lower-ranked brands on this list. If it's high-powered cottage cheese you want for a protein-rich pick-me-up or for use in something like air fryer cottage cheese flatbread, this is for you. 

The brands I selected for this review were all the ones available at my local food stores: Walmart, Harris Teeter, Target, Publix, and Aldi. I opted for all low-fat over all full-fat since that's what I'm used to in cottage cheese.

Flavor and texture were the main features I evaluated. For me, the best cottage cheese has a slightly chewier curd, a rich, milky flavor with some good tanginess, and a thick, creamy — never watery — texture. I gave each cottage cheese a thorough stirring before testing to ensure each product had the best chance to show its charms. I then tasted each brand alone and gave my palate a good cleansing with lemon water before moving to the next. Several re-tastes took place whenever I needed to compare between similar cottage cheeses.

Price and ingredients figured less in my rankings but came into play when comparing between two or more very similar products. Ultimately, the top ranked contenders on my list were worth their price tag (whatever it read) and hit my taste and texture criteria (regardless of what was in it).