On paper, it doesn’t sound like much. A mild-flavoured mix of cheese curds and milk, slightly gloopy in texture and full of lumps. The type of thing you might discard as ‘off’ if you overthink it. Yet nothing has caused a supermarket frenzy in the same way as the current cottage cheese revival, with the ingredient properly re-entering the public lexicon for the first time since the 1980s. It’s popping up in recipes all over our timelines and people take great care in finding which brand tastes best (Longley Farm, FYI). It’s even causing shelf shortages and creating havoc with dairy supply chains. But why?
We all know the internet loves a food craze. In the depths of lockdown, it was dalgona coffee; instant granules whipped up to the soundtrack of Doja Cat’s Say So and poured over a cup of milk. Then it was Dubai chocolate, the once-upon- a-time delicacy of toasted kataifi pastry, pistachio cream and thick chocolate that people scrambled to get their hands on. But neither have quite had the real-world impact of the cottage cheese obsession.
It’s hard to pinpoint when it all started. TikTok data suggests cottage cheese recipes had already garnered half a billion views by 2024, while the ingredient was included in one of Google’s top food- related search terms of 2025. Meanwhile, Tesco reported in January that demand had rocketed an ‘unprecedented’ 200% in the past two years, causing what it’s calling a ‘fully fledged culinary phenomenon’.
As its cottage cheese buyer (yes, it’s apparently a thing – dream job?) Elizabeth Tomkins says, ‘Cottage cheese became massively popular in the 1970s and 1980s as a tasty but low-fat filling for baked potatoes or avocados. Demand has been steady since then… but now, because it’s become so popular with a younger audience, we’re ordering in as much as we can because we are seeing all-time record demand.’
And it’s the same across the board. Ocado.com reported sales soaring 209% year on year, while Graham’s The Family Dairy says it now makes more cottage cheese than milk. Chef and content creator Thomas Straker even expanded his product range to include All Things Cottage Cheese. Emily English, known as @EmTheNutritionist to her 2.2 million Instagram followers, frequently uses the ingredient in her recipes, such as her high-protein tuna melt, and puts the craze down to its nutritional value.
‘It’s one of the easiest ways to add protein and a lighter creamy richness to meals, while still keeping dishes balanced and filling,’ she says. ‘If you don’t like the texture, blending makes it completely smooth. It adds richness without needing lots of extra ingredients and the protein helps with fullness. I always say to build your meals around protein and fibre to make them more satisfying.’
Its versatility is also part of the appeal. Cottage cheese can be made savoury or sweet – whether you want pancakes or pasta; a pie or a pudding. Use it to bulk out yogurt bowls or creamy sauces, or to add a punch of protein to your everyday recipes. Healthy and delicious – surely a food trend we can all get behind (if you can find it in stock).
Dusty Baxter-Wright is an award-winning journalist and the Entertainment and Lifestyle Director at Cosmopolitan, having previously worked at Sugarscape. She was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 for her work covering pop culture, careers, interiors and travel, and oversees the site’s Entertainment and Lifestyle strategy across print, digital and video. As a journalist for the best part of a decade, she has interviewed everyone from Louis Theroux and Channing Tatum to Margot Robbie and Ncuti Gatwa, while she has also spoken on Times Radio and BBC Radio. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram here.
