I’ve spent the last 11 years of my life as a vegetarian—trying every different level, from vegan to ovo-vegetarian, to pescatarian. At each level, I’ve had to think about where I’m getting my protein and even though I love vegetables, I cannot hit the protein numbers I need to recover from my workouts and function at my best by eating only vegetables (for reference, 1 cup of veggies usually has 2 to 5 grams of protein). And while there are plenty of conflicting protein opinions out there, my viewpoint is simple: if you have a protein goal, you should have healthy options to help you hit it, regardless of what that number is. So if you’re looking to increase your protein intake, or just looking for plant-based protein inspo, here are some tricks that have made hitting my numbers easy (without, of course, eating meat). If you’re a vegan, and not soy-sensitive, an organic tofu scramble with veggies is a solid option. If you are soy-sensitive, pea protein smoothies are the perfect go-to. As a currently ovo-vegetarian, I love making scrambled eggs and adding extra egg whites to up the protein count (two eggs alone have only 12 grams of protein, but each egg white adds ~3.6 grams). If you’re a pescatarian, you can add some smoked salmon to your eggs for another 11 grams. Regardless of my dietary preferences, I always fill out my plate with sauteed vegetables, like mushrooms, spinach, onion, and sweet potato—these add negligible protein, but they’re nutrient-dense and oh so delicious. So instead, I began adding smaller sources of protein like chia seeds (4 grams per tablespoon), hemp hearts (3 grams per tablespoon), almond butter (4 grams per tablespoon), and pumpkin seeds (10 grams per ¼ cup) to my meals. Of course, I thought that 4 grams wouldn’t make much of a difference, but if I add some chia seeds to my smoothie, a tablespoon of hemp hearts to a salad, and snack on some pumpkin seeds, I’ve now consumed 17 grams of plant-based protein without trying—and that definitely makes a difference. So instead of trying to throw back endless amounts of the same plant-based protein source, I try to mix and match. Chickpea pasta and chickpea rice are staples of mine, and they go with anything—I’ll make chickpea pasta with lemon, garlic, olive oil, and a veggie burger or make a tofu vegetable stir fry with chickpea rice. I also love a good lentil Bolognese, or using bean-based spaghetti to make spicy peanut noodles (to which you can add hemp seeds or edamame for more protein, if you’d like). In our increasingly plant-based world, there are endless ways to combine various protein sources, and adding more than one to each meal ensures that I’m full and satisfied, both with the meal and with my protein count. At night when I want something sweet, I’ll mix yogurt with some protein powder to make a sort of protein pudding, and I’ve had some success making vegan chickpea cookie dough from Pinterest. If neither sounds good, I’ll search the blogosphere for protein cookies or truffles and then add them to my meal-prep plan (because if there’s room for anything on the meal plan, it’s dessert). Now if you’ve read all of this and are still not psyched about plant-based protein, please scroll back to the top and start over. But if you are excited (fingers crossed it’s all of you), check out our guide on how to go plant-based, this one-day plant-based meal plan, or try out these lesser-known plant-based protein sources.
