Foods high in protein are essential to have in your diet. If you want to live a healthy life, lose weight or maintain weight, your diet should include these types of foods. This is why you should have a list of high-protein foods for your diet around.
Protein is excellent for losing weight because they fill you up very quickly, even in small amounts.
Also, low quantities of these foods provide you with a lot of energy to keep you going throughout the entire day.
High-protein foods that should be in your diet
I have assembled a 22 high-protein food list essential for you to have in your daily diet. With the foods on this list, you can build muscle, lose weight and feel better generally. Note that the amount of protein I say that you can get from each food is based on a serving of 100 grams.
1. Tuna
Tuna is a very versatile food; you can prepare it in many different ways.
I love grilling tuna steaks. They are delicious, easy to make, and contain a lot of protein, of course. You can also add tuna to your salad. It is a great dish because it is healthy and fills you up a lot more than eating only vegetables.
When I am in a rush, my favourite lunch is a tuna sandwich. It is effortless to make, tasty and very nutritious.
2. Beef Jerky
Beef jerky is a perfect snack for in between meals. Normally, beef jerky has over 50% of protein.
This snack fills you up with little quantity. But, take that with the very high-protein amounts, and this is a winner snack.
3. Turkey Breasts
Turkey contains high amounts of protein. You can add turkey to your diet in many different ways.
For example, I like making turkey sandwiches or the occasional turkey steak. Just like chicken, you can be very creative as to your usage of turkey. It’s you’re choice!
4. Shrimp
Shrimps are one of my favourite foods. Not only are they tasty, but they are also a very high-protein food. Typically, shrimps have around 24% protein of their weight in grams.
Shrimps are great as starters or appetizers. They are also fantastic to make risottos or add in salads.
5. Pork
Pork is a type of meat that also has high levels of protein. Pork is very popular. For example, you can find pork in sausages.
There are many ways to include pork in your diet. Although not very healthy, there is no problem in feasting on this tasty food from time to time. I love eating pork out of the bones as starters or just eating them for the meal. Be creative!
6. Chicken Breast
Chicken breast is one of my favourite sources of daily proteins. I eat this food almost every day as it is very high in protein and relatively low in fat.
There are many ways to eat chicken breasts. You can grill it, cook it or even boil it. What I usually end up doing is preparing a chicken breast dish, usually with whole grain rice, and whatever is leftover, I store and add it to a salad later on.
7. Ricotta Cheese (Low-fat)
This food is not as high in protein as others, but the good thing about it is that it is low fat and healthy. It is also very easy for adding to your daily diet.
I love adding this cheese to a tuna sandwich or turkey breast sandwich. It makes for a great protein sandwich. You can also use it with crackers or eat it by itself.
8. Skim Milk
Concerning drinks, skim milk is one of the best sources of protein.
I love using it in cereal in the morning for a healthy fibre and protein breakfast. Or you can also drink it directly. There are many ways to have this food. For example, you can put a bunch of fruit into a blender, add skim milk and create your healthy juice.
9. Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is another dairy product that is rich in protein. Although ricotta cheese is lower in fat, cottage cheese is a great source as well.
You can use this in the same ways you would use any cheese. Add it to a sandwich or eat put it in a salad—your choice.
10. Eggs
Eggs are possibly the most popular food for bodybuilders. They are widely used in breakfast meals as they are complete in nutrients. You can eat them hard-boiled, scrambled (my personal favourite), fried or poached.
There are many ways you can add eggs into your daily diet, such as adding them to salads or sandwiches.
11. Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is the yogurt with the highest amounts of protein. Typically, a 100-gram serving of this type of yogurt contains around 10 grams of protein.
Of course, you should go for the non-fat type. You can use it to make a lot of different dishes. You can even put it in your salad to make some kinds of toppings.
12. Mozzarella (Low-fat)
Low-fat mozzarella is a terrific tasty way to eat protein. A 100-gram serving contains around 28 grams of protein, which means this type of cheese probably has the highest amount of protein.
There are so many different ways to eat this that you can go crazy. They can be found in pizzas, sandwiches, salads, pasta; you name it!
13. Cheddar cheese
Cheddar cheese is another cheese that has high amounts of protein. Usually, a 100-gram serving will have around 25 grams of protein.
Cheddar is delicious and can be included in a lot of different dishes. It is mainly added to sandwiches, but I sometimes add this cheese to my salads as well. One of my favourites is doing a grilled cheese sandwich out of cheddar.
14. Lentils
Lentils should be included in everybody’s daily diet. This is because they are very high in fibre. A 100-gram serving contains around 26 grams of protein.
You can try making lentil soup. It is very filling and very low fat. I also like adding lentils to whole grain rice for a very nutritious meal.
15. Pumpkin seed
Pumpkin seeds have high amounts of protein as well. For every 100 gram serving, you can get around 19 grams of protein.
In some countries, pumpkin seeds are popular snacks and are sold everywhere. If you have access to these, they would be a great addition to your daily diet.
16. Quinoa
Quinoa is a seed that has high amounts of protein. For every 100 grams, you get about 14 grams of protein.You can use this ingredient to make many different dishes.
As for me, I have quinoa soup regularly. It is delicious and nutritious. Use your imagination and create high-protein meals for yourself.
17. Seitan (Wheat Meat)
Seitan is present in many types of bread. Therefore, you can search for bread that contains high amounts of this food and have yourself a great high protein meal. Seitan is also known as wheat gluten. As you read above, it has a very high amount of protein. For every 100 grams serving, you get around 75 grams of protein.
18. Edamame
Edamame is a type of bean, and for every 100 grams, you get about 11 grams of protein.
They are usually boiled before serving. This type of bean is prevalent in the regional cuisines of Mexico and Hawaii.
19. Soy Milk
Soy milk comes from soybeans, and for every 100 grams, you can get around 3.5 grams of protein. As you can tell, the amount of protein in this food is not as high as the others on this list for your high protein diet.
However, it is a liquid, and it is very healthy. Therefore it can be a great addition to your daily diet. It certainly is very easy to drink, and there are some tasty beverages out there.
20. Almonds
Almonds are seeds that are very nutritious and quite popular worldwide. Many sweet foods use almonds as their main ingredient, as many cookies, for example.
However, roasted almonds are great snacks for when you are hungry.
21. Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is fantastic food, one of my favourites. I love having this for breakfast as it is an excellent source of protein and energy. For every 100 grams, you can get around 25 grams of protein.
You can get whole-grain toast and spread peanut butter on it in breakfast for a great morning. You can also eat this with certain fruits for a tasty meal.
22. Beans
Beans are one of my favourite everyday foods. For every 100 grams, you can get around 22 grams of protein. When you eat this with whole grain rice, you get one of the best dishes you can have, with high protein and high fibre.
Beans are great because you can have them with almost any food so that you can combine the protein and fibre of beans with nearly anything else. Just be creative!
