How to Eat More Protein Throughout the Day | America's Test Kitchen (2024)

In the quest for a balanced and fulfilling diet, the role of protein cannot be overstated.

While protein bars and shakes have their time and place to give you a protein boost in your day, sometimes you might just want to get more protein from the meals you’re already eating.

Our techniques and recipes can help you effortlessly boost your protein intake in hearty breakfasts, satisfying dinners, and protein-rich snacks, leaving you feeling nourished and energized. We’ll teach you how to up your protein game without sacrificing flavor or food enjoyment.

Try any of our suggested recipes or you can apply these protein preparation tips in the recipes already in your weekly rotation.

Beyond its muscle-building reputation, protein provides the building blocks for the body’s cells and plays a crucial role in numerous functions that can help you achieve personal health goals and experience better satiety.

Whether you're an athlete striving for peak performance or just a person looking to feel more energized throughout the day, incorporating ample protein into your meals is key.

But protein intake does not stand alone, it goes hand in hand with carbohydrates and that’s why we have numerous suggestions for how to add protein to your favorite meals so you don’t have to change your daily diet, just enhance it.

For more information on why this matters and how your body processes food, check out our book The Everyday Athlete, written in conjunction with clinical dietitian and nutritionist, Alicia Romano.

Whatever your reason for wanting to include more protein in your daily diet, we have you covered with recipes, ideas, techniques, tricks, and more.

Whether using dried or canned, chickpeas and white beans are chock-full of protein and have a relatively neutral taste that can either be seasoned to add more great flavor to a dish, or left alone to simply blend into the background.

CRUNCHY CHICKPEAS

Tips for crunchy chickpeas: Crunchy chickpeas can be made in a traditional oven, air-fryer, or on the stove. Drain (do not rinse) and thoroughly dry your chickpeas before cooking. Whichever method you choose, season your chickpeas after cooking with whatever flavors you like. (We love barbeque and herby garlic.)

MASHED CHICKPEAS

With zero cooking required, canned chickpeas can be mashed into a delicious, spreadable consistency. Try mixing processed chickpeas into your chicken or egg salad sandwich mixtures. Spread chickpeas into burritos or gyros before wrapping them, or on the inside of quesadillas before griddling.

Tips for mashing chickpeas: Rinse your chickpeas before starting. To make a chickpea spread, take a potato masher and mash the chickpeas by hand into a coarse consistency before seasoning with salt and any other spices. To make a smooth paste, process chickpeas with mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt, and any other desired seasonings.

WHOLE OR BLENDED CHICKPEAS OR WHITE BEANS

Beans straight from the can require no additional cooking and are the easiest way to add neutral flavor and desirable texture to any soups, stews, simmered dishes, pastas, or curries. When adding beans to your favorite dishes that already have the desired consistency, drain them, then stir the beans into your liquid towards the end of cooking. If you want additional body in your dish, add the beans with their liquid.

Alternatively, gently cooked chickpeas or white beans can be blended into a silky, thick, and sippable consistency to help bump up the protein content of sauces and broths. We like to use a chickpea or white bean soup base to enhance the protein of any simple broth soup, or even in simple pasta sauces.

Tips for blending beans: To a saucepan with any aromatics or seasonings you have cooking, add 1 can of beans (and their liquid) and a one and a quarter cups of broth. Bring these to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the beans begin to break down at about 7 minutes. Process in a blender until smooth. Return mixture to now-empty saucepan and adjust consistency with extra hot broth as needed.

While using eggs to get more protein in your diet may seem like an obvious answer, their use goes far beyond breakfast. Eggs can be a hearty topping, a creamy addition, or even a barely-noticed supporting player.

PUT AN EGG ON TOP

Tips for making eggs: For fried eggs, we cook them over medium-high heat for one minute before moving them off heat to finish cooking through. For perfectly cooked hard-boiled, soft-boiled, or jammy eggs, we steam the eggs over an inch of water rather than submerging them completely. Hard-boiled eggs can be made ahead of time and stored in their shells in the fridge for up to one week. When poaching eggs, salted water with vinegar helps the egg whites set up quickly, ensuring the faster-cooking yolks are still liquidy when the whites are cooked.

ADD EGG RIBBONS TO SOUP

Eggs can be added to soup in a myriad of easy ways (think: cured yolks, whole braised eggs, or jammy eggs on top of a well-stocked ramen) but they can also be added into soup either with a silky egg liaison or egg drop soup-style. Those ribbons of egg can be added to any soup that already has protein as long as it has a thinner broth.

Tips for egg ribbons: When adding eggs to soup, whisk the stock so that it is moving in a ­circle. Keep whisking as you pour the eggs into the stock in a slow, steady stream so that ribbons of ­coagulated egg form. Let the eggs stand without mixing until they are set. Once they have set (in about 1 minute), break up the egg ribbons with a fork.

Tofu is commonly used as a vegetarian protein option, but it can also be used in unexpected ways alone or alongside other proteins. Its neutral flavor and flexible texture make tofu a great addition to salads, smoothies, and much more.

BLENDED TOFU

Tofu needn’t always serve as a standalone vegetarian protein in main courses. One of tofu’s most useful yet underutilized preparations is by blending it into smoothies and soups. By doing this you can give almost any soup or smoothie added body, creaminess, and of course, protein.

Tips for blending tofu: Any kind of tofu from silken to extra-firm can be added straight to the blender with whatever other ingredients you are using. For smoothies, process on low until mixture is combined but still coarse in texture, about 10 seconds, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed. Gradually increase speed to high and process until completely smooth, about 90 seconds. For soups, process until smooth. The time will vary depending on your other ingredients.

Whether enjoyed on its own or as an ingredient, yogurt offers a convenient and helpful way to boost your protein intake due to its versatility as it can be incorporated into a variety of dishes such as smoothies, parfaits, sides, sauces, and more. We also love taking our favorite roasted vegetables, sprinkling them with some nuts, seasonings, or both, and placing them on a base of hearty, greek yogurt.

USE YOGURT INSTEAD OF MAYO OR SOUR CREAM

Swap yogurt in for some or all of the mayonnaise or sour cream that can be called for in chicken or egg salad sandwiches, and dips.

Tips to use yogurt: We like to flavor yogurt with ingredients such as tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and fresh minced herbs when using it as a sauce or base.

In addition to adding protein into your main meals, there are many easy-to-make, protein-rich snacks and sides that you can eat throughout the day. Try. . .