Protein Rich Food For Muscle Recovery

These protein-rich foods are essential for building muscle and aiding recovery

Protein has never been more popular. It’s so popular every food producer’s cramming the stuff into their grub. Should you so desire, you can start your day with a bowl of Weetabix Protein, dine on high-protein bread or pasta, and snack on a protein-packed Bounty bar in between, washing it all down with protein-enriched water.

The reason for this popularity is protein’s vital role in building muscle. When you work out you cause small, microscopic tears in your muscles so you need protein – which is made up of amino acids, also known as the building blocks of muscle – to repair this damage and rebuild your muscles bigger and stronger.

Even if you’re not working out regularly, protein is a vital nutrient for building and maintaining body tissues, and the NHS recommends that men eat 55.5g a day. If you are very active you will want to increase that significantly, even if you focus on endurance sports rather than strength training. Endurance athletes should look to eat 1.2-1.4g per kg of bodyweight every day, while strength athletes should aim for 1.2-1.7g per kg of bodyweight daily.

Before turning to supplements or protein-enriched food to meet your protein quota, take a spin through our list of high-protein foods – there’s a good chance you can get more than enough protein through your diet. We’ve broken up the list into food groups – meat, seafood, meat replacements, eggs and dairy, and nuts, seeds and legumes – and then ranked by their protein content per 100g. Have at it.

Meat

Protein content per 100g

Beefjerky 30-40g
Turkey 30g
Chicken 24g
Beef 20-24g
Lamb 20g

Seafood

Protein content per 100g

Tuna steak 32g
Canned tuna 25g
Salmon 24g
Sardines 21g
Cod 20g
Mackerel 20g
Mussels18g

Meat Replacements

Protein content per 100g

Tempeh 20g
Quorn mince14.5g
Tofu12g

Eggs And Dairy

Protein content per 100g

Parmesan 32g
Edam 27g
Cheddar 25g
Eggs13g
Cottage cheese10g
Greek yogurt 10g

Nuts, Seeds And Legumes

Protein content per 100g

Peanuts 25-28g
Almonds 21g
Cashew nuts18g
Chia seeds17g
Brazil nuts14g
Edamame beans13g
Lentils 7-9g
Chickpeas 7g
Kidney beans 8g
Peas 6g

More Protein by Grams