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Why prioritize protein at lunch? Because it will keep you fuller longer, steady your energy, and support muscle maintenance—all of which are great for helping you get through that afternoon lull. These high-protein lunch ideas will keep you going strong all day.
Depending on your lifestyle, most people need about 15-30 grams of protein per meal. Dinner usually checks that box without much effort; however, breakfast recipes and lunch recipes can be trickier—but they don’t have to be! And these high-protein lunch ideas prove it. They will keep you fuller longer (goodbye, 3 p.m. snack attack), steady your energy by keeping blood sugar in check, and support muscle maintenance and growth (cheers to my fellow lifting ladies out there).
Looking for more easy lunch ideas? This cottage cheese toast with salmon is delish, and we love a good and healthy burrito bowl!
Table of Contents
High-Protein Bowl Meals
Because nothing beats piling tasty ingredients on top of even tastier ingredients.
Healthy Buffalo Chicken Bowls
When the Buffalo wing craving hits but you’re trying to keep things healthy, these Buffalo chicken bowls step in. Spicy, saucy ground chicken, a respectable heap of vegetables, and rice to catch every last bit. Ready in under 30 minutes and undeniably a dinnertime win.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajita Bowl
With 48 grams of protein, this sheet-pan chicken fajita bowl combines two of my favorite dinner formats: the sheet-pan meal and the bowl meal. Easy prep, fast cleanup, and all the flavors piled together in the best possible way.
Healthy Rice Bowl With Salmon
This healthy rice bowl with salmon is a super satisfying lunch, clocking in at 41 grams of protein. Fresh, flavorful, and full of omega-3s and all the good-for-you things, it’s basically the easiest (and most delicious) way to get more fish into your week.
Healthy Southwest Tuna Bowl with Lime Herb Dressing
This healthy, filling Southwest tuna bowl gets a bright, tangy hit from a lime–herb dressing, making it a refreshingly easy lunch to take anywhere. And with 42 grams of protein, it definitely pulls its weight.
High-Protein Canned Tuna Bowl
Clocking in at 40 grams of protein, this canned tuna bowl manages to be filling, heart-healthy, and genuinely flavorful—fish, good fats, plenty of fiber, the whole thing.
Asian Chicken Crunch Salad
This Thai peanut chicken crunch salad is meal prep gold. With 35 grams of protein, it’s loaded with crisp veggies, crunchy sesame chicken, and a peanut dressing you’ll want to drizzle on, well… everything.
High-Protein Sandwiches & Wraps
These are perfect on-the-go solutions to keep you energized and seizing the day.
Green Goddess Chicken Wrap
Looking for a feel-good lunch with 27 grams of protein? This green goddess chicken wrap is light, refreshing, and genuinely nourishing, thanks to a lineup of smart, vibrant ingredients.
Healthy Chicken Caesar Lavash Wrap
This hefty low-carb chicken Caesar lavash wrap sneaks extra nutrients into a beloved classic—and delivers a solid 34 grams of protein while it’s at it.
Spicy Sardine Salad Sandwich
This bright, spicy sardine salad sandwich brings the heat thanks to Spanish-style sardines—and delivers a hefty dose of omega-3s plus 30 grams of protein.
Egg White Smoked Salmon Wrap with Goat Cheese and Spinach
With 32 grams of protein, this Egg White Smoked Salmon Wrap with goat cheese and spinach is a heart-healthy, genuinely filling option you can eat pretty much anytime.
The Best Tuna Sandwich
The best tuna sandwich doesn’t need to be boring—and it definitely doesn’t need to be complicated. With 26 grams of protein, plus crisp celery, punchy scallions, lemon, and a swipe of Dijon, this one basically makes itself.
Caesar BLT Sandwich with Peppered Bacon
This Caesar BLT is loaded with peppered bacon and gives a fresh twist to a classic. You’re going to love it—and it packs 29 grams of protein.
Healthy Tuna Wrap Recipe
With 22 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber, this tuna wrap is doing all the right things. Flaky tuna gets piled up with crisp veggies and a generous smear of my hummus. It’s the kind of lunch that somehow manages to feel both virtuous and really satisfying.
Brunch Bagel with Sardines
This sardine bagel starts with a generous swipe of whipped cream cheese, then gets piled with crisp vegetables and tender brisling sardines—29 grams of protein without even trying.
Buffalo Chicken Wrap
When it comes to wraps, a classic Buffalo chicken wrap is always the move. This one is quick, nutritious, and unapologetically high in protein (52 grams, if you’re counting).
Pesto Chicken Salad
This pesto chicken salad is about as easy as chicken salad gets—39 grams of protein, simple ingredients, and packed with fresh pesto flavor. Ready in under 5 minutes, it’s a quick, healthy win for lunch or meal prep.
High-Protein Soups & Chilis
You can pack a lot of protein into a bowl of soup, and these recipes will show you how.
Spring Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup with Dill
This bright, hearty spring lemon chicken orzo soup with Dill is loaded with seasonal vegetables, plenty of fresh flavor, and a very respectable 28 grams of protein.
Healthy Ground Turkey Chili
This easy, nourishing ground turkey chili is loaded with hearty beans, plenty of veggies, and big flavor. It’s a protein-packed staple, delivering 23 grams per cozy bowl.
High Protein Soup
A soup so protein-packed, the name practically writes itself. This hearty mix of barley, legumes, and tender veggies simmers away in an aromatic broth—and clocks in at over 35 grams of protein. Perfect for meal prep, and even better the next day.
Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken tortilla soup: all the warming spices, tender shredded chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes, and hearty black beans you could ask for—plus 21 grams of protein.
Healing Chicken Soup With Turmeric & Ginger
This golden chicken soup—bright with turmeric, ginger, and all the soothing, anti-inflammatory things you want when you’re feeling a little off—warms you right up and brings 26 grams of protein to the party.
Cozy Chicken Florentine Soup
This cozy, slightly dramatic chicken Florentine soup gives the classic French dish a very welcome glow-up—rich, brothy, a little indulgent, and absolutely worth swooning over. Oh, and it quietly delivers 38 grams of protein, no big deal.
Cozy Chicken Curry Ramen Soup
This cozy chicken curry Ramen is basically a big bowl of feel-good, with 40 grams of protein to back it up. Think yellow curry, coconut milk, plenty of vegetables, tender chicken, and slurp-worthy noodles.
Easy Italian Wedding Soup With Chicken Meatballs
You’re going to love this Italian wedding soup—soothing, flavorful, and loaded with little homemade chicken meatballs. Oh, and it packs 23 grams of protein.
Creamy White Chicken Chili
Creamy white chicken chili is so simple that it works on the stovetop, in the slow cooker, or in the Instant Pot. You can use leftover chicken, making it a speedy lunch—with 20 grams of protein to boot.
Storage, Freezing, & Reheating
- Leftovers: Bowl meals make excellent meal prep—they’ll keep in the fridge for 3-4 days in airtight containers. If you’ve got half a sandwich or wrap left, wrap it tightly in plastic and tuck it into an airtight container. Most soups and chilis will keep for up to 4 days as well.
- To freeze: Soups and chilis freeze beautifully, with one exception: creamy soups. They tend to separate and turn grainy, so I don’t recommend freezing those. For everything else, stash portions in freezer-safe containers (silicone soup molds or gallon freezer bags work great) for 4-6 months.
- Reheating: Warm leftovers in the microwave in 25-second bursts until heated through. Soups and chilis can also be reheated straight in a pot on the stovetop for a quick reheat.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as “high protein” at lunchtime? Think the usual heroes—chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, eggs—but don’t sleep on Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, tempeh, lentils, quinoa, and beans—all solid, satisfying things to build a very good lunch around.
Combining high-protein foods into a whole meal—like quinoa and salmon or cottage cheese and eggs—is a great way to hit a number as high as 30 grams when it comes to protein.
If you try any of these high-protein lunch ideas, please pop back in and let us know in the 📝 comments below!
Buffalo Chicken Wrap + 24 More High Protein Lunch Ideas
Ingredients
- 2 large wraps or tortillas (about 12"), I personally love using Joseph's Lavash bread for my wraps.
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 3/4 cup Frank's® RedHot®
- 2 cups mixed greens
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup finely diced celery
- 2 TBSP diced tomato
- 1 TBSP blue cheese dressing
- Crumbled blue cheese
Instructions
- With two forks, shred your cooked chicken (or roughly chop it with a knife), and place it into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the shredded carrots, diced celery, and hot sauce to the chicken, then mix it thoroughly to distribute the veggies and coat everything evenly. Add more hot sauce if you'd like it to be a bit saucier and more intense; set the bowl aside.
- Place the wrap down onto a flat surface and spoon about a tablespoon of blue cheese dressing onto the wrap, spreading it out evenly up to the middle of the wrap. Leave some room around the edges of the wrap for folding so that you don't have dressing leaking out of the wrap once its folded.
- Lay down a handful of greens over the dressing, closer to the bottom half of the wrap (not quite centered), and top the greens with tomatoes and about a cup's worth of the Buffalo chicken mixture; a bit more if you think your wrap can handle it. Some wraps are flimsy, so be careful.
- Sprinkle the blue cheese crumbles on top of the chicken.
- To fold the wrap, fold the left and right sides halfway toward the middle. Fold the bottom part of the wrap up and over the contents of your wrap. Roll the wrap up and tuck your filling in as you roll. It's normal for things to slide around, and it may get messy, but that's ok.
- Once wrapped, cut it in half and serve it with fries or a salad.
