Healthy high protein recipes for a varied, delicious diet!

Do you worry that you’re not eating enough protein? Wonder how to increase your protein intake without resorting to processed foods, bars and powders? These delicious, healthy high-protein recipes are just what you need!

Protein is essential for good health. Your muscles, bones, immune system, hormones and more, all rely on a good supply of protein from your diet.

And while “high protein” foods are the latest health-food craze, with powders, shakes, bars and more, it’s perfectly possible – easy even! – to get more than enough protein from eating regular, unprocessed, healthy whole foods.

While some people may need slightly more protein than others – for instance rapidly growing teens, pregnant women, or people recovering from illness, injury or surgery – most of the time if we’re eating a balanced and diverse diet, we don’t need to worry that we’re not getting enough.

Protein comes in all shapes and sizes!

If like me, you grew up eating the standard British meat and two veg, it can sometimes be hard to remember that protein doesn’t have to come in a discrete lump on one side of the plate. Most foods are a combination of macro-nutrients – protein, fats and carbohydrates – and all the little bits of protein that you eat over the course of a day add up to give you enough overall. There’s no requirement to meet your daily protein needs in a single chunk at one meal!

This is particularly important if you eat a plant-based (vegan or vegetarian) diet, or if you’re flexitarian, like my family. For us, a flexitarian diet means reducing the amount of animal-derived products we consume, while not cutting them out entirely. We are usually vegan/vegetarian for most of the week, and have fish, or very occasionally meat, on Shabbat.

For most of our meals, protein comes from beans and pulses, seeds, nuts, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, eggs, and dairy products like yogurt and cheese. Over the course of a day, all those things together give us plenty of protein!

Benefits of eating ‘flexibly’

Having a flexible diet also enables us to respond more easily to health or nutrition challenges. When we discovered my daughter was anaemic, we increased the amount of red meat in our diet in the short term, while I researched and learned about plant-based sources of iron. (Pumpkin seeds are a great one, if you’re interested!)

Easy plant-based protein sources

Some plant-based proteins are more well-known than others. Soya, for instance, is famously high in protein, and products like tofu, TVP (soy chunks) and edamame beans are all popular vegan/vegetarian protein sources.

But there are plenty of other high protein foods that are entirely made from plants! So if you want to ring the changes, or introduce something new to your diet, there are many places to start.

I’ve created a free ebook with more details about your body’s protein requirements, as well as a ton of information on different plant-based proteins and how to use them. For each suggested protein source, you can see at a glance how much protein it contains, and how it shapes up compared to other similar foods.

Simply complete the form below and your free guide to easy plant based proteins will be winging its way to your inbox in seconds!

Healthy high-protein recipes

Below I’ve put together a list of some of my family’s favourite recipes that taste great and also deliver a good serving of protein. So if you’re worried about your protein intake, maybe give one (or more!) of these a try!

High protein snacks, bakes, desserts and treats

• Flourless chocolate brownie cake
  Made with almonds and hazelnuts, these delicious brownies contain 8g protein per slice!
• Cheese blintz crepe cake
  A glorious stack of golden crepes, layered with a sweetened cream cheese filling. Yum! And 5g of protein per serving.
• Seeded maple spice cookies
  Flavoursome vegan cookies with a coating of crunchy seeds and 3g of protein per cookie!
• Chocolate pecan cookies
  My favourite soft and chewy cookies! They’re only small, so I recommend having two at a time for a total of 8g of protein.
• 10 minute halva ice-cream pie
  This terrific make-ahead showstopper dessert also packs 6g protein per slice!

All in a day’s eating!

I hope these recipes have given you some ideas and shown how easy it can be to meet your protein requirements without having to resort to over-processed bars, shakes or supplements.

For instance, oatmeal for breakfast, a hearty bean-based salad for lunch, curry or a stir-fry for dinner, and a couple of cookies for a snack, and that’s 60-70g protein over the course of the day! More than enough for pretty much anyone’s needs.

For more information about protein requirements and healthy, natural high-protein plant-based foods, download the free ebook now!

More than just protein…

Of course healthy eating isn’t only about protein. A balanced diet contains appropriate amounts of macro-nutrients, plenty of dietary fibre, and all the vitamins and minerals that the body needs for healthy functioning.

If you’d like to see how you make small changes to your diet to gently make small improvements that definitely add up, grab your free copy of the Easy Swaps for Healthier (Jewish) Food ebook.

An if you’re struggling to create a nutritionally balanced plant-based menu for Pesach (Passover), check out the vegan Pesach survival guide! It contains tons of useful information plus over 40 delicious vegan Passover recipes.