7 hours Ago
Protein plays a key role in our overall health, supporting muscle repair and immune function, and helping to keep you feeling full longer after meals. It’s not enough to include protein at breakfast or lunch alone; protein needs to be consumed consistently throughout the day for the most benefit. Protein may also help you out with late-night snacking.
A wide body of suggests a high-protein meal is more filling and can help reduce food cravings. However, it’s worth noting that balance is essential. Consistently overloading on protein at the expense of other foods and nutrients, such as fiber-rich veggies and whole grains or healthy fats, could mean missing out on important vitamins and minerals.
Plus, certain high-protein foods, like processed meats, can have health risks if consumed in excess. For most people, though, incorporating high-protein dinners as part of a balanced diet can be both healthy and satisfying. Below are 20 meals with at least 10 grams of protein per serving — enough to meet the .
And, as a dietitian, I've also included ideas to balance out your protein intake. This deconstructed stuffed cabbage recipe is a lower-carb take on a classic dish. Made with fiber-rich cabbage and a flavorful tomato sauce, it’s a satisfying meal that’s easy to prepare.
Swapping out the ground pork for ground turkey and using olive oil in place of butter will make it even healthier. Serve it over brown rice or quinoa if you want a heartier meal and don’t mind the carbs. It’s officially soup season, and this version is a fun and flavorful take on tacos that’s also filled with protein.
Plus, it’s packed with nourishing ingredients like bell peppers, corn and black beans, but you’ll want to eat it because it tastes so good. To make it leaner, use ground turkey instead of ground beef, and stick to heart-healthy toppings, like avocado instead of cheese and sour cream. Feel free to boost the taco vibes by adding broken whole grain corn tortillas on top.
This is a slow cooker meal, so you can prep it before work and have a high-protein dinner ready when you wrap up your last Zoom call. For a lighter garnish, use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Serve it with an easy side salad and dinner is done.
Cod is the flaky white fish that makes this meal a high-protein dinner, but you can sub in any flaky white fish of your choice. The fish is topped with a mixture of seasonings, chopped cashews, and unsweetened coconut flakes, making it extra flavorful. Since the meal is light on veggies, balance it out with a roasted vegetable of your choice.
It would also be delicious with roasted sweet potato wedges as your starchy carb. Here’s another high-protein meal that’s packed with greens. It’s a warming, all-in-one meal that’s perfect for cold nights.
If you want extra veggies, start off with an easy salad. Marinating your chicken in yogurt yields moist, tender chicken breasts, and the seasonings in the yogurt make them extra flavorful. The recipe calls for garlic and sumac, but you can use whatever seasonings you like.
To balance out this meal, have some veggies and a starchy carb, such as roasted potatoes, on the side. Order this meal from a restaurant, and you might get 16 grams of sugar, about 4 teaspoons. This version is just as tasty but lower in sodium and sugar.
It still packs protein and fiber-rich broccoli, and would be delicious on its own or over brown rice. You can also mix brown rice with riced cauliflower for more veggie goodness. This is one of those recipes that makes a great impression but is easy to pull off.
While it already has tomatoes and olives, you might want to add another veggie on the side. I think this would be delicious with a piece of crusty bread to scoop up the juicy tomatoes. This high-protein dinner salad is a riff on the typical tuna niçoise, using salmon instead.
All of the cooked ingredients are prepared on a sheet pan for easy clean-up. It’s an all-in-one meal that you’ll come back to on repeat. Flaky fish is an excellent choice for high-protein dinners because it’s low in saturated fat, easy to season to your liking and cooks quickly.
This meal is low in veggies, so serve it with some on the side to complement your fish tacos. A simple cucumber and tomato salad would work well. Chicken fajitas are served in the peppers instead of alongside them in this low-prep, high-protein dinner.
Rotisserie chicken is the secret time-saver, and since the peppers are stuffed, there’s minimal chopping. You can make these lighter by garnishing them with Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Serve them with tortillas if you’d like more carbs.
This creamy curry is prepped in 10 minutes, making it perfectly suited for cozy weeknights. Serve it over brown rice or with a side of naan and some veggies to balance out your meal. Cooking your salmon in the air fryer not only speeds up the cooking time but also delivers a perfectly seared-like crust without drying out the salmon.
Balance out this high-protein entree with some green beans and brown rice or quinoa on the side. The ground chicken in these meatballs makes them a lighter choice than the classic version, but they’re every bit as tasty. Once they’re cooked, you could add them to your favorite sauce and serve them with a side salad or toss them into broth with a hearty serving of greens mixed in.
Either way, you can’t go wrong. It’s a myth that you can’t get enough protein from plants, so if you’re looking for a plant-based, high-protein dinner, don’t sleep on these burgers. You can serve them with frozen fries, but if you want more nutritional bang for your buck, have them with these instead.
Salads can be both hearty and high in protein, like this one. It checks plenty of other boxes, too, like being nutritious and easy to get on the table on busy weeknights. If you want to switch up the protein, shrimp is another healthy option.
A high-protein pasta meal? Yes, please! While this meal calls for an ear of corn, frozen corn would work just as well when fresh isn’t available or if you don’t want to fuss with it. With just one zucchini for the whole recipe, this dinner doesn’t have quite enough veggies, so I’d either add more to the pasta or serve it with a salad on the side. A frittata works just as well at dinner as it does at breakfast.
While this version gets a boost of nutrition from butternut squash and spinach, it would still be nutritionally sound to have some veggies on the side. You can also have it with a slice of whole-grain toast or a small dinner roll. You can get takeout vibes in a healthier way with this protein- and veggie-rich meal.
It uses flank steak, which is a lean red meat, and gets fiber and other nutrients from carrots, broccoli and onion. It’s another noodle dish that doesn’t skimp on protein or veggies, which gets this RD’s stamp of approval. This recipe takes about 10 minutes to prep and will reward you with tender, rich chicken thighs served with a velvety yogurt sauce.
A and roasted potatoes would go well with this chicken and make it a more nutritionally sound meal. , MS, RD, is a nutrition and wellness expert, author and columnist. Her latest book is " .
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