High-Protein Meal Plan: 7 Easy High-Protein Dinners
The short answer
This high-protein meal plan gives you seven dinners built around a generous portion of lean protein — salmon, flank steak, chicken breast, ground turkey, shrimp and white beans — with most on the table in about 30 minutes. Each dinner is a full plate with a vegetable and a starch, and the grocery list below covers the whole week.
- 7 dinners
- About 11 min of prep a night
- 50 items on one grocery list
Best for: Anyone eating for training or satiety who still wants normal family dinners.
Puts these dinners on next week's calendar and builds the grocery list. Free account, no credit card.
The week
- MondaySheet Pan Lemon Salmon and Green Beans
Salmon and green beans roast together in about 15 minutes with a lemon-garlic butter. Fast, high in protein, and minimal cleanup.
25 min - Tuesday20-Minute Beef and Broccoli
Takeout-style beef and broccoli with a glossy garlic-ginger sauce, on the table faster than delivery.
22 min - WednesdayGreek Chicken Meal Prep Bowls
Lemon-oregano chicken with rice, cucumber, tomatoes and tzatziki. Built to hold up in the fridge for four days of lunches or dinners.
40 min - ThursdayTurkey Taco Rice Bowls
Seasoned ground turkey over rice with all the taco toppings. A homemade spice blend keeps it gluten-free and less salty than packets.
30 min - FridaySlow Cooker White Chicken Chili
Chicken, white beans and green chiles in a creamy, mildly spiced broth — high in protein and easy to scale for a crowd.
5h 10m - SaturdayLemon Garlic Shrimp and Rice
Shrimp cooks in about four minutes, which makes this one of the fastest high-protein dinners there is.
20 min - SundayWeeknight Turkey Chili
A lean, hearty chili with two kinds of beans that comes together in under an hour and tastes even better the next day.
50 min
Grocery list for the week
Every ingredient from all seven recipes, combined and sorted by store aisle. Check your pantry for oils, salt and spices before you shop.
Produce
- 1avocado
- 3 cupbaby spinach
- 1bell pepper
- 1 lbbroccoli florets
- 2 cupcherry tomatoes
- 1cucumber
- 1/4 cupfresh cilantro
- 1 tbspfresh ginger
- 1/4 cupfresh parsley
- 19 clovesgarlic
- 1 lbgreen beans
- 3lemon
- 1lime
- 1/2red onion
- 2 cupromaine lettuce
- 3yellow onion
Dairy & Eggs
- 3/8 cupbutter
- 4 ozcream cheese
- 1/2 cupcrumbled feta cheese
- 2 cupshredded cheddar cheese
Meat & Poultry
- 3 1/2 lbboneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1 1/4 lbflank steak
- 2 lbground turkey
Seafood
- 1 1/2 lblarge shrimp
- 4salmon fillets
Grains & Pasta
- 1 1/2 cupjasmine rice
- 6 cupslong-grain white rice
Canned Goods
- 2 cansblack beans
- 2 canscannellini beans
- 4 cupschicken broth
- 1 cancrushed tomatoes
- 1 candiced green chiles
- 1 cankidney beans
- 1/2 cuptomato sauce
Condiments & Sauces
- 1/3 cuplow-sodium soy sauce
- about 3/4 cupolive oil
- 1 tbspoyster sauce
- 1/2 cupsalsa
- 2 tbspvegetable oil
Spices & Seasonings
- 1/2 tspblack pepper
- 3 tbspchili powder
- 1 1/2 tbspdried oregano
- 1/2 tspgarlic powder
- 1 2/3 tbspground cumin
- 5 1/2 tspkosher salt
- 1/4 tspred pepper flakes
Baking
- 2 tbspbrown sugar
- 2 tbspcornstarch
Frozen
- 1 cupfrozen corn
Other
- 1 cuptzatziki
Prep ahead
- Marinate the Greek chicken the night before; it improves overnight.
- Slice the flank steak for the beef and broccoli while partly frozen and refrigerate it.
- Make the turkey chili on Sunday afternoon — it is better the next day and covers Sunday dinner plus lunches.
- Thaw the shrimp in the fridge overnight before Saturday.
Questions
How much protein is in these dinners?
Each recipe is built around roughly 5 to 6 ounces of raw meat or seafood per serving, or a full can of beans per two servings, which typically lands in the 30 to 45 gram range per dinner portion. Exact numbers depend on brands and portions; add the recipes to The Meal Plan Vault to calculate nutrition from your actual ingredients.
Is this plan good for meal prep?
Yes. The Greek chicken bowls, turkey taco bowls and both chilis hold for four days in the fridge, so you can cook two of them on Sunday and eat them through the week.