High protein meals under 500 calories are perfect when you want healthy, filling meals without going overboard on calories.
These easy high-protein recipes each have 30g+ protein, making them great for meal prep, weight loss meals, busy weeknights, and simple healthy dinners.
If you are looking for low calorie high protein meals, these meals are all built around lean proteins: chicken breast, ground chicken, shrimp, and sirloin.
No heavy cream sauces, no deep frying, and nothing that takes more than an hour. Just dinners that actually fill you up and hit the numbers.
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1. Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan
This delivers around 40–45g of protein per serving at roughly 400–450 calories.
The air fryer does the work that oil would normally do, so you get the crunch without the extra fat. It’s ready in under 20 minutes and reheats well the next day in the same air fryer.
→ Get the full recipe: Air Fryer Chicken Parmesan
2. High Protein Egg Roll In A Bowl
. It comes together in under 15 minutes and consistently hits 30–35g protein at around 300 calories per serving, which makes it one of the best protein-to-calorie ratios in this entire list.
→ Get the full recipe: High Protein Egg Roll In A Bowl
3. Air Fryer Spicy Garlic Chilli Shrimps
Shrimp is one of the most protein-dense, lowest-calorie proteins you can cook with — about 24g of protein per 4oz at under 100 calories before any sauce or sides.
Serve over rice or salad and you have a complete dinner around 350–400 calories with 30g+ protein.
→ Get the full recipe: Air Fryer Spicy Garlic Chilli Shrimps
4. Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken
It produces some of the leanest, highest-protein meals you can pull from a slow cooker. Pile it into warm tortillas, over rice, or into a bowl with black beans.
→ Get the full recipe: Crockpot Salsa Verde Chicken
5. Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls
This copycat version of the Chipotle bowl is labeled protein-packed and low-carb for good reason. With 4–5oz of chicken breast as the anchor, it clears 35–40g of protein.
Keep the rice portion moderate and skip the sour cream and you’re comfortably under 450 calories.
→ Get the full recipe: Copycat Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls
6. Air Fryer Garlic Butter Steak Bites
Sirloin cut into bite-sized pieces, seasoned, and air fried with a garlic butter finish.
Sirloin is lean enough that a 5oz serving lands around 30–35g protein at roughly 300–350 calories.
→ Get the full recipe: Air Fryer Garlic Butter Steak Bites
7. Air Fryer Chicken Kabobs
This is one of the leanest meals in this list — chicken breast + vegetables with a marinade is naturally very low in fat and high in protein.
A full serving delivers 30–35g protein at around 280–320 calories.
→ Get the full recipe: Air Fryer Chicken Kabobs
8. Easy Ground Chicken Meatballs
Ground chicken makes noticeably leaner meatballs than ground beef, which brings roughly 30–35g protein at around 300–350 calories, depending on whether you go breast-only or a breast-thigh mix.
→ Get the full recipe: Easy Ground Chicken Meatballs
9. Country Ranch Green Beans And Potatoes With Chicken
. A 4–5oz chicken breast serving gives you 35–40g of protein, and the potatoes and beans add volume and fiber without a major calorie hit. The whole meal lands around 400–450 calories.
→ Get the full recipe: Country Ranch Green Beans And Potatoes With Chicken
10. Carnivore Baked Chicken Nuggets
These skip the flour and breadcrumb coating entirely — the “carnivore” angle means the crust is built from parmesan and spices only, so there’s very little carb drag on the calorie count.
Baked instead of fried. A full serving of chicken nuggets this way lands around 35–40g protein at 300–350 calories.
