The 30+ BEST Low Calorie High Protein Meals (2024)

Are you looking to cook up some delicious, nutritious meals that won’t break your calorie budget?

There are so many health benefits of eating high protein and low-calorie foods – they keep us feeling fuller longer, provide essential vitamins and minerals, and can help us make better choices for our overall well-being.

The good news is that with a few simple ingredients, you can have restaurant-quality dishes at home every day without blowing your calorie bank.

Here is our hand-picked list of the best low calorie high protein meals to add to your kitchen repertoire – perfect for those nights when you want something comforting yet healthy!

It’s slow cooker season, and we’re starting it off with a bang! This Crockpot Greek Chicken is going to be your new weeknight best friend, bursting with bright flavors.

With only 15 minutes of hand-on time, it’s easy, versatile and super delicious!

Get the Recipe: Crockpot Greek Chicken

These Italian-inspired Pork Steaks are the best! Braised in a tomato sauce along with an array of veggies, they’re super flavorful and super tender.

At 375 calories per serving, they’re a great addition to this list.

Get the Recipe: Italian Braised Pork Steaks

Moo Goo Gai Pan is a restaurant favorite, where thinly sliced chicken stir frys with mushrooms and other veggies in a simple, yet flavorful sauce.

The next time those Chinese cravings hit, skip the takeout and try this easy 30 minute dish in your own kitchen!

Get the Recipe: Moo Goo Gai Pan

This easy Baked Sockeye Salmon recipe is perfect for a quick and easy dinner, or company meal!

It’s brushed with a honey mustard glaze that perfectly compliments the natural flavor of the fish, then baked in foil to keep the flesh moist, and for easy cleanup.

It’s one of our favorite low calorie high protein meals

Get the Recipe: Baked Sockeye Salmon

Cuban Pollo al la Plancha is citrus marinated thin chicken breast grilled or seared to golden tender perfection, then topped with sautéed onions.

A staple in Cuban cuisine, it’s a 20-minute quick weeknight dinner full of flavors.

Get the Recipe: Pollo a la Plancha

Sheet Pan dinners, the perfect answer to fuss free weeknight meals! This Sheet Pan Chicken with colorful veggies not only looks very inviting, but every single bite is bursting with flavor.

Here, chicken bites and veggies are seasoned well with a zesty, herby marinade and cook on a sheet pan in about 30 minutes.

Get the Recipe: Sheet Pan Chicken and Veggies

This Fish en Papillote recipe may sound fancy, but it may be the easiest dinner ever!

Loaded with fresh veggies and herbs, this Mediterranean inspired fish recipe may be the perfect light summertime meal.

Get the Recipe: Fish en Papillote

Caldo de Pollo, simply Chicken Soup in Spanish, is an ode to Homestyle Cooking.

A big pot of Caldo simmering for hours, loaded with tons of veggies and chicken, literally creates magic.

Get the Recipe: Caldo de Pollo

Peri Peri Chicken – the bird that dared to be bold!

Born from a love affair between Portuguese adventurers and African chilies, Peri Peri Chicken (also known as “Pepper-Pepper” Chicken) has become the life of the global food party.

Get the Recipe: Peri Peri Chicken

These easy Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers are a hit! Brimming with Mediterranean flavors, even your picky eaters won’t mind their veggies.

With hearty wild rice, sweet cherry tomatoes, briny olives, nutty pine nuts, and plenty of great seasonings, they’re a meal that you’ll want to make again and again.

Get the Recipe: Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Have you ever thought how roast chicken will look in a Mediterranean avatar? Here it is… One skillet Mediterranean Chicken Roast. Fresh, healthy and jam packed with amazing flavors!

This is a one skillet meal from stovetop-to oven-to table. You can’t beat the ease and convenience of this one pot meal, as you literally throw everything in a skillet and let the oven do the work for most of the cook time.

Get the Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Skillet

Here’s a stir fry for my fellow spicy food lovers! Hunan Beef features thinly sliced, marinated flank steak along with bell peppers and chilis in a tasty stir fry sauce.

Ready in under 30 minutes, it’s an easy weeknight dinner that tastes so much better than takeout.

Get the Recipe: Hunan Beef

We’re giving you a great summer dinner idea that is quick to prepare, with easy clean up later. Plus, it’s fun to eat with your friends and family.

These Shrimp Foil Packets are a delicious healthy-ish meal with all your favorite summer veggies. Ready in just 12 minutes on your grill, campfire or even in the oven, this is great meal prep for all your future camp outs, Sunday cookouts, or simply great weeknight dinners.

Get the Recipe: Shrimp Foil Packets

Albondigas Soup – This one is legit Delicious. This is the soup for your soul. Plump meatballs floating in a hearty tomato infused flavorful broth, loaded with tons of veggies. That’s sopa de albondigas for you.

Try this Mexican soup, aka comfort food, and get amazed how such a light and refreshing thing in a bowl is jam packed with flavors.

Get the Recipe: Albondigas Soup

Lettuce wrap this up and stuff our mouths… I bet ya you will not feel even an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, bit guilty… even when you are going for that fifth one.

These chicken lettuce wraps are so low carb and weight watcher friendly that I feel like I am losing weight just looking at them.

Get the Recipe: Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce

Stuffed and roasted pork loin with spinach and mushrooms… with plenty of feta cheese.

How can it not turn into one of the most gourmet, sophisticated and elegant looking thing on your platter? These pork pinwheels will impress your family and guests this coming holiday season.

And if you think it’s too complicated to pull off, THINK AGAIN. It’s so easy you are in for a big surprise!

Get the Recipe: Pork Pinwheels

How can Soy Sauce Chicken be so phenomenal, and one of the most beloved dishes out of Hawaii? But it is… A simple chicken dish but ultimate Umami Bomb!

This Shoyu Chicken, simply meaning “Soy Sauce Chicken”, is one of the island favorites that you can spot in many laid-back luaus and local restaurants.

It’s one of the easiest low calorie high protein recipes out there!

Get the Recipe: Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken

Look at this Curry Bowl!! Bold and insanely inviting! My ultimate comfort food, Jamaican Curry Shrimp, is a vibrant, spicy, and incredibly flavorful dish that perfectly captures the essence of Caribbean cuisine.

Imagine plump, juicy shrimp coated in a luscious sauce that’s both fiery and comforting. Whether you’re a fan of Caribbean cuisine or simply looking to spice up your dinner routine, this Jamaican Curry Shrimp is your passport to a tropical flavor paradise.

Get the Recipe: Jamaican Curry Shrimp

Does dinner in 20 minutes sound good? Then this Ground Beef Stir Fry recipe is a jackpot for you!

Packed with hearty ground beef, an assortment of colorful veggies, and a stir fry sauce that’s an umami lover’s dream, this may be the easiest dinner you’ve ever cooked.

Get the Recipe: Ground Beef Stir Fry

Ready for a culinary curveball? Meet Pollo a la Coca-Cola, where your favorite fizzy go-to soda gets a new gig as a gourmet ingredient!

In this quirky and delightful recipe, Coca-Cola isn’t just for sipping anymore – it’s the secret ingredient that turns chicken from blah to ta-da!

Get the Recipe: Coca-Cola Chicken

Get ready for a cracking new flavor with thisAuthenticThai Larb Gai Recipe!In Laos and Thailand, Larb is more than just a dish, it’s a social experience.

Meet Larb Gai, a Thai chicken salad that’s packed with flavor.

Get the Recipe: Larb Gai

Discover the vibrant flavors of West Africa with this Kedjenou Chicken recipe, a traditional Ivorian delight known for its tantalizing blend of spices and tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken.

Cooked slowly in a sealed pot to lock in all the savory goodness, this dish is a celebration of simple ingredients transforming into a rich, flavorful stew.

Get the Recipe: Kedjenou Chicken

Ground Turkey Stir Fry Recipe – So, who is ready for the easiest weeknight dinner ever? It’s easy, super fast, sneaks in loads of veggies, and is made with leanest protein out there… You guessed it right.

This is one of the healthiest and tastiest ground turkey recipes!!

Get the Recipe: Ground Turkey Stir Fry

Let me introduce the classic Caldo cooked in many Latin countries… Caldo de Res, AKA Beef & Vegetable Soup.

Melt in your mouth beef simmered for hours in a beautifully flavored, yet delicately tasty, bone broth with loads of varied colorful vegetables cooked to perfection… served in your biggest available bowl to accommodate all the goodies.

Get the Recipe: Caldo de Res

Give your classic comfort food a new twist, and make this Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup. It has all the flavors you love, but is somehow more fun!

Perfect for when the temperatures start to dip, the whole family is going to love slurping this tasty soup down.

Get the Recipe: Chicken Meatball Noodle Soup

Are you ready to get woking? This easy Pork Stir Fry will have dinner on the table in a flash! It’s loaded with fresh veggies and has a great homemade stir fry sauce.

This one is also customizable. You can use any cut of pork you have handy, plus any veggies you fancy that day.

Get the Recipe: Pork Stir Fry

Chicken Cacciatore is a classic Italian dish, where chicken is braised to tender perfection in a well seasoned tomato based sauce.

It is a rustic dish with plenty of fresh herbs, veggies, and usually a good splash of wine. The next time those Italian cravings hit, make this restaurant quality dish in your own kitchen…

Get the Recipe: Chicken Cacciatore

Shrimp Saganaki – Now we are talking some serious flavors in this Greek favorite. Some incredible flavor combo happens when you cook plump shrimp in a garlicky savory tomato sauce and finish it off with salty feta.

Saganaki is something you will see in every little Greek taverna, and it brings joy to everyone’s faces when it comes to the table.

Get the Recipe: Shrimp Saganaki

Embark on a culinary journey to the heart of India with this Chicken Masala recipe, a quintessential dish beloved for its rich, aromatic blend of spices and tender, juicy chicken.

This dish is a staple in Indian cuisine, renowned for its depth of flavor and the way it beautifully marries heat with subtle sweetness.

Get the Recipe: Indian Chicken Masala

Savor the essence of the Caribbean with this Bahamian Fish Soup, a delightful dish that embodies the simple yet rich flavors of the islands.

Made with fresh, firm fish and infused with the tanginess of lime juice and the heat of scotch bonnet peppers, this soup is a celebration of vibrant tastes.

Get the Recipe: Bahamian Fish Soup

You’re going to love these Shrimp Fajitas. Just a brief marinade, a quick toss in the skillet, and you’ve got a restaurant-quality meal the whole family will love.

Served with your choice of corn or flour tortillas, they can be your easy weeknight dinner or special Sunday meal.

Get the Recipe: Shrimp Fajitas

So there you go, plenty of healthy low calorie high protein recipes to choose from. Who says healthy can’t be tasty? The only question now is, which to try first?

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