9 Delicious High-Protein Meals That Are Filling & Easy To Make

The trick is to prioritize foods with high protein when crafting your grocery list. We've spoken to experts and done the work for you—here are nine of our favorite high-protein meals to make at home.

Protein experts along with the International Society of Sports Nutrition4 suggest a higher range than the RDA for active people looking to build or maintain muscle. Those individuals should aim for 1.4 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight4.

If you're struggling to meet your protein goals, a protein powder supplement can be an easy way to help meet your needs. Choose a high-quality protein powder that has 2 to 3 grams of leucine per serving.

"No matter what you are shopping for, you should always be reading food labels, but [this is even more crucial] if you are adventuring into prepackaged plant-based proteins. Remember, just because it comes from a plant does not make it healthy. (Anything with a bunch of additives and such probably isn't the best choice.)"

Home-cook-turned-chef Sabrina Ghayour recently shared her recipe for Chicken Shawarma Salad with mbg, and one serving packs roughly 30 grams of protein, thanks to its inclusion of chicken and Greek yogurt. The best part is that the only cooking required is 40-45 minutes of roasting the chicken. Once your meat has cooled, combine all your salad fixings (lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickled cucumbers, and either Ghayour's homemade dressing or one of your choice).

Ishay's recipe for her signature open-faced Dilly Chicken Salad sandwich makes a whopping 4-6 servings, and a single serving contains about 30 grams of protein from the skinless chicken breast. In addition to chicken, Ben-Ishay tells mbg you can mix chickpeas into the salad for even more protein.

mindbodygreen's editorial operations manager Emily Kelleher has dubbed salmon a "quintessential health food." The fish is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that are great for brain health, lower blood pressure7, and the risk of heart disease8, plus it's chock-full of protein. But seasoned salmon can get tired, so to mix up this high-protein meal, Kelleher previously shared her go-to recipe for Lemon Feta Salmon, which she says is "creamy, crunchy, bright," takes only 30 minutes to whip up, and contains a whopping 40 grams of protein per serving.

While there's nothing wrong with enjoying a beef burger occasionally, a popular alternative to the red meat patty is a turkey substitution. Turkey burgers are a high-protein food, with the bonus of being low in saturated fat. But turkey patties can also be bland, so to enhance their flavor profile, the chef, recipe developer, and digital creator behind Kat Can Cook, Kat Ashmore, got creative in the kitchen to create a Kale & Feta Turkey Burger that yields 33 grams of protein per serving, is peppered with puddles of creamy feta cheese, and boasts some leafy greens for a micronutrient boost.

Adding a whey or plant-based protein powder to a smoothie can help those who struggle to meet their daily protein intake. Just two scoops of mindbodygreen's grass-fed whey protein isolate+ yields 25 grams of animal protein, while a serving of the Vega Plant-Based Original Protein Powder contains 25 grams of plant protein. Add a serving of peanut butter (8 grams of protein) and you're already up to 32 grams of protein in a single meal.

If you don't associate high protein with salad, recipe developer and the founder of The Defined Dish Alex Snodgrass’ Curried Chicken & Kale Salad will change your mind. The bed of leafy greens is topped with warm chicken and garnished with goat cheese, crisp apple slices, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and a drizzle of creamy harissa dressing. Though this salad is more hands on than others (it calls for homemade dressing and cooking the chicken on the stove), its delicious taste and nutritious benefits are well worth the extra time and effort. Just one serving yields 54 grams of protein. 

*If fruity isn't your forte, try this Crispy Salmon recipe with coconut rice and a peanut-ginger crackle sauce.

Lentils can be cooked so that the legume mimics meat's taste and texture. Not only will your hunger pangs be satisfied, but you'll be nutritiously fulfilled too, as lentils are loaded with protein (1 tablespoon yields 1 gram), plus the dish is packed with micronutrient-rich veggies like carrots and mushrooms. You can also swap regular pasta for a plant-based alternative for extra protein.

Rumor has it that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so why not kill two birds with one stone and pack a ton of protein into your first meal? An easy high-protein meal you can make ahead and grab on your way out the door is egg bites—specifically, these Masala Egg Bites developed by cookbook author Vasudha Viswanath. The high-protein content comes from a few sources in this bite-sized breakfast dish: eggs, cottage cheese, and cheddar. Plus, red bell pepper, onion, green chile, and spices deliver a burst of flavor in every cup, which is only 25 calories each.

High-protein diets help the human body function optimally. When brainstorming what to eat in the week ahead, including high-protein foods that translate to high-protein meals and high-protein snacks on your grocery list is key.