Hard-Boiled Eggs Vs Cottage Cheese: Which One Packs More Protein?

Protein has clearly become a central focus in nutrition, with attention on this macronutrient remaining high throughout the 2020s thus far. And for good reason: Protein keeps you feeling fuller longer, makes it possible to build muscle, and can even help bolster your immune system. So if you want to get more of it in your daily diet, a good time and place to start for many people is breakfast. Hard-boiled eggs are particularly easy to grab for meals on the go, but you might have heard that cottage cheese is also full of protein. So which one has more? The answer might surprise you, because while eggs have long been the gold standard for protein, cottage cheese actually contains more.

A hard-boiled egg of about 50 grams contains roughly 6 grams of protein, while a similar amount of cottage cheese contains about 7 grams. However, when consuming the latter, most people do not limit themselves to 50 grams, which is about a fourth of a cup. Instead, a more realistic portion is closer to a half cup, which bumps the protein intake for cottage cheese all the way up to 14 grams.

Not only is cottage cheese higher in this essential macronutrient than a hard-boiled egg, but the majority type of protein it contains — casein — is a complete protein. This means it contains all nine essential amino acids your body needs to function properly.

Eggs and cottage cheese separately provide a good portion of the protein an adult needs per day, which can range anywhere from about 50 grams to upward of 100 grams, depending on how active their lifestyle might be. But combine the two, and you have an absolute breakfast protein bomb. The easiest way to do this is to simply top a serving of cottage cheese with wedges or chopped bits of hard-boiled eggs. It is quick, satisfying, and filling.

But if you are looking for more complex flavors (or the inconsistent texture of cottage cheese just isn't for you), you can instead incorporate the curds-and-whey product with raw eggs before cooking. From there, it is possible to use this combination in a variety of ways. First and easiest, make protein-packed scrambled eggs by whisking the two ingredients together. Or you could fork-mix cottage cheese and eggs to use in the TikTok-viral tortilla quiche bake, which can be dressed up with whatever you have on hand in the fridge and can surprisingly be eaten fairly neatly on the go (a wedge can be eaten like a piece of pizza). For the ultimate grab-and-go breakfast, though, you can blend the two ingredients, add mix-ins, and pour the mixture into a muffin pan for copycat Starbucks egg bites.