For years, cottage cheese was a product in the dairy case that drew limited attention from shoppers. Today, it is one of the few dairy categories posting back-to-back gains in both sales and consumption. What started as a social media moment in 2023 has turned into something more sustained.
At the time, cottage cheese was showing up in TikTok recipes and high protein diets, riding a wave of renewed interest in protein forward eating. It would have been easy to dismiss it as another short-lived food trend that would fade as quickly as it appeared. But this has not been the case.
Retail sales data from Circana shows steady growth has continued. After bottoming out in 2022 at 534.6 million pints, cottage cheese volumes rose 9.4% in 2023, followed by a 12.5% increase in 2024 and another 14.3% gain in 2025. That puts total volume at 746.6 million pints.
USDA per capita consumption data shows a similar direction. After dropping to 1.91 lbs. per person in 2022, use rebounded to 2.37 lbs. in 2024. It is still well below historical highs, but the trend line has clearly shifted upward.
For dairy processors, it is less about a single spike and more about sustained demand holding in place.
Industry observers have pointed out just how unusual the turnaround has been, with U.S. production essentially returning to levels last seen in 1980. It is a notable shift for a category that had spent decades trending in the opposite direction.
A Shift in Perception
Inside the dairy case, cottage cheese itself has not changed much. What has changed is how consumers view it.
Chris Ross, senior vice president of marketing and R and D at HP Hood, says the product has long had strong fundamentals.
“I think cottage cheese has always been an amazing product. It’s got so much going for it. It’s nutritionally complete, it’s delicious, it’s flexible and versatile,” Ross said during a recent “The Dairy Download Podcast.”
But for many consumers, it carried the weight of being labeled a “diet food,” a perception that dulled its appeal.
“Its momentum got interrupted when people started just to refer to it as a diet food,” Ross says. “It started to become a little bit less dynamic, less vibrant, and it sort of took on a bit of a drag. I mean, who wants a diet food, right?”
That perception helped slow momentum even as the underlying product stayed consistent.
A New Generation of Buyers
More recently, growth has come from consumers who do not have those older associations with the product. They are not seeing it as a legacy diet food. Instead, they are discovering a high protein, versatile ingredient.
“A whole new generation of consumers came along and discovered it on its own and they were like, ‘Whoa, this is not some diet food that needed to be retired. This was something that was pretty fantastic,’” Ross says.
Social media helped bring attention back to the category, but Ross is clear that it worked because the product itself could stand up to that exposure.
“We can all say at times that social media is both a blessing and a burden, but the blessing side of it really led to people being able to put out the good word about cottage cheese,” Ross says. “It really tied in nicely to the fact that people love to create, and they love to create with food, and cottage cheese fit into that perfectly.”
And at the core, he says, the product had to deliver on its own.
“If cottage cheese were a bust, meaning if the product weren’t as good as it really is, nobody would care. It wouldn’t have the sticking power. But the influencers came along and took a message and amplified it. The product itself really allowed the influencers to stick the landing, so to speak,” he adds.
Changes in Packaging and Use
Most of the recent changes in cottage cheese have been around packaging and use, not the basic product.
Ross argues there is still significant headroom.
“The surface has really just been barely scratched with where cottage innovation can go,” Ross says
So far, development has centered on convenience and usage occasions, including single serve cups, mix ins and dip style products.
“Some of the low hanging fruit, no pun intended, is some of the fruits and some of the savory options. You’re really giving consumers there a benefit around convenience,” he adds.
That early innovation is showing up in fairly straightforward ways aimed at convenience and everyday use.
“You’ve got a variety of single serve options, just some straight in the cup, some with side compartments where you can maybe scoop in some fruit or some savory items or something crunchy, and then you also begin to see some dip extension with cottage cheese dips,” he says.
As interest has grown, brands have had to reintroduce basic product use cases to new consumers in a simple, straightforward way. Even as companies lean into grab and go formats, there is still a balance between convenience and customization.
“One of the things that consumers like about cottage cheese is the fact that they can create anything on their own,” Ross says. “So, while they like the notion of grab and go, the idea of convenience sort of rubs up against the idea of, ‘Hey, I like to make things on my own with cottage cheese.’”
Strong Retail Demand, But Tight Supply
Within HP Hood’s portfolio, cottage cheese has become a core growth category rather than a niche, according to Ross.
“It is one of our core product areas, and really it’s fundamental to really the Hood brand itself,” he says.
At retail, it plays a central role in how the brand positions itself in the dairy case.
“We very much look at cottage cheese as our star with retailers,” he says. “It really has become a bit of an anchor, and really that foundational jumping off point for the Hood brand itself.”
That strength, however, has created a more immediate operational challenge.
“Like everybody else, it’s a good problem to have,” Ross says. “We just can’t keep up with demand.”
Behind the numbers, the category looks less like a one-off viral spike and more like a rebuilt demand curve, shaped by shifting perception, amplified by social media and reinforced by steady product performance.
