How to Increase Your Protein Intake Without Overthinking It: A Dietitian's Guide

One of the easiest, most cost-effective meals you can make is pasta: a meal that comes together quickly, often with minimal ingredients and effort. While traditional wheat-based pastas do provide some protein, Barilla Protein+ bumps the protein content by including a blend of wheat, whole-grain, and legume-based flours in addition to the usual wheat flour. Not only does this boost the protein content to 10 g per serving, but it also provides a substantial 5 g of fiber.

For any skeptics of bean-based pastas in the flavor and texture department, I personally swear on my Italian passport that it has all the yummy chew you want from a pasta and doesn’t fall apart on you. My favorite uses for it are making an easy pasta salad for a work lunch or a quick dinner with a good thwack of pesto, some shredded rotisserie chicken, and whatever veggies we have on hand.

For those more into plant-based protein options, or for anyone who enjoys a snack that pumps up the protein, crispy chickpeas are where it’s at. These ones from Biena are fantastic. The classic sea-salt flavor is great, but so many other flavors are available to choose from. These crispy chickpeas are fun to eat on their own or to use as a topping for salads and soups to add a bit more crunch and texture (as well as help you get protein and fiber).

With 6 g of protein (and 6 g of fiber) per ounce (oz), Biena chickpea snacks are a well-rounded option. They’re great for those who want more protein without sacrificing on the big picture of nutrition, or those who prefer to eat fewer animal-based protein products.

If it’s fresh, prepared meals you’re after, and nothing short of gourmet will do, then CookUnity is the place to turn. Designed as a chef collective to bring more variety and restaurant-quality meals into your home, CookUnity puts the eating experience at the top of its priority list. Meals arrive fresh, with reheating instructions as needed (and sometimes in parts).

“I like the idea of different chefs preparing the meals, and the meals look ‘different’ in that they have a wide variety of flavors and ingredients,” says writer Mary Sauer. “I also like the convenience of it.”

If meal prep could link up with takeout, CookUnity is there at the meeting point. From a protein perspective, the meals do vary. But searching for them is easy, and you can set specific targets for nutrients you want more or less of. You can purchase as few as 4 and up to 16 meals per week with your subscription and dial up or down the volume as needed week to week.

If you want the added convenience of a meal delivery service but you prefer to keep cooking and food prep minimal, Hungryroot is definitely worth a shot. This service combines better-for-you grocery staples from both in-house and familiar brands. And it offers low-effort, high-reward recipes to utilize them.

You can buy more groceries one week and then more recipe ingredients the next, but you’ll get the same high-quality items either way. Meals look like quick stir fries, pastas, bowls, and mains and sides in a wide range of flavor profiles. And if you want to narrow the enormous menu down to only higher-protein options, you can take advantage of easy-to-use filters and preferences.

Hungryroot’s high-variety, low-lift approach makes it perfect for busy professionals or singles who want to keep things health-focused but don’t have a ton of time to dedicate to meal planning, shopping, and cooking. Health education specialist Ashley Brafman, MPH, RD, sampled the service. She found the variety of foods and cuisines extensive, and “it was nice to have meals ready so quickly in the evening, with most meals [taking] around 15 minutes to prepare,” she says.

When you think of buying prepared meals, you might conjure up images of the frozen aisle at the grocery store or the minuscule servings that come with some delivery options. Territory Foods is neither of those. In fact, the fresh, microwaveable meals from Territory are quite the opposite: generous portions of flavorful dishes like a beef barbacoa bowl with pinto beans, corn, rice, and salsa verde, or BBQ pulled pork with sweet potatoes and slaw.

You can filter the menu by protein source — choose your animal protein, or if you prefer, vegan or vegetarian options — or simply by protein quantity, which you can set yourself.

If you’re at a loss for high-protein recipes or you’re just tired of deciding what’s for dinner, we humbly suggest trying out a meal delivery service — and Green Chef is a great place to get started. This service specializes in delivering fresh ingredients, complete with recipes (which you choose from a weekly rotating menu), so you can ditch the decision fatigue and just get a high-protein dinner on the table.

Green Chef offers a high-protein meal plan, as well as options for quick and easy, carb-smart, and Mediterranean meals. That said, you can choose from all the meals each week, even if you have a plan preference. And all meals have a full nutrition label available to review if you’re interested in a plant-based option and want to ensure it meets your nutrition needs.

I’ve tried the service myself. I really liked that the recipes had more produce and whole grains than others I’ve seen, without asking you to sacrifice protein.

Our favorite whey protein supplement comes from Thorne, and we recommend both the chocolate and vanilla flavors equally. Thorne’s whey protein provides 21 g of protein per serving and is NSF Certified for Sport. That means it’s been tested for substances that are banned by major athletic organizations, it has no unsafe levels of contaminants, and its contents match up with its label.

Writer Caitlin Beale, RDN, tested the chocolate flavor. It reminded her of a chocolate milkshake, and she found it “sweet but not overpowering.” She felt similarly about the vanilla flavor, saying: “I liked both flavors, and I think this is my new favorite protein powder. It blends well into my smoothie without tasting fake, chalky, or gritty.”

Protein supplements that are entirely plant-based can be, to put it politely, not delicious. I’ve tested more than 15 of them myself. While some taste much too earthy and gritty, the Organic Plant Protein from Quince is a far cry from those putting function over flavor.

Writer Raki Swanson tested Quince’s vanilla protein and found it to have “a good vanilla flavor, almost classic vanilla ice cream,” she says. “[It’s] so good that I felt it would be a good base for a smoothie.”

Swanson did note a slight chalkiness that’s common to protein powders, but it wasn’t too off-putting.

Whether you have a hard time getting protein in at breakfast or you simply want to add some protein to your afternoon jolt of caffeine, Javvy Protein Iced Coffee is one of our favorite options for this. Our testers sampled the original coffee flavor, and according to Swanson: “Hands down, straight up, no boloney: It is iced coffee. This is pure coffee flavor, like if you were to brew some dark roast at home and throw it on some ice.”

While we haven’t tasted other flavors, we’re sure they’re as dreamy as the original. (The white chocolate mocha and iced cinnamon roll flavors both call to me.) And all of them have the same 20 g boost of protein per serving from whey protein concentrate.

Protein is an especially important nutrient for seniors. While the Ensure Max Protein Shake is a solid premixed protein-shake option for anyone, it makes a lot of sense for older people in particular to use.

Ensure has crafted this drink to have a whopping 30 g of protein, plus a bevy of added nutrients like calcium. It even has 4 g of fiber in one carton. Flavors include the classic vanilla and chocolate options, which taste sweet and mild, “like a less-sweet version of melted ice cream,” says writer El Wilson. Other flavors include cafe mocha, cherry cheesecake, and creamy peach.