12 High Protein Vegetarian Meals (With Grams Per Serving)

These high protein vegetarian meals are the dinners I lean on when someone at my table says meat free food never fills them up. All twelve are my own tested recipes, and for every one I have taken the protein per serving straight from its recipe card, so the numbers are honest rather than hopeful.

They run from 30 g a portion down to about 9 g, because not every comforting dinner is a protein bomb, and I would rather tell you that plainly. So where a dish sits lower, I have added a simple way to push it higher with Greek yogurt, beans, eggs or cottage cheese.

In short, all 12 are meat free dinners or staples built on cheese, pulses, tofu or tempeh, ready in 15 minutes to 6 hours 45 minutes, and five of them are vegan. The top three are baked mac and cheese (30 g a serving), baked ziti (26 g) and Instant Pot mac and cheese (22 g).

How Much Protein Do You Need?

The standard recommendation for adults is 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 g per pound, which works out at around 53 g a day for a 140 pound woman. Harvard Health explains it well in how much protein you need every day, including why active people and pregnant women need more. This is general information, so do speak to a dietitian if you have specific goals.

In practice, that means one of the high protein vegetarian meals below, at 20 to 30 g, covers a good chunk of the day, and breakfasts, lunches and snacks do the rest. Meanwhile, the easiest wins come from stacking two protein sources in one dish, such as beans with cheese, or lentils with yogurt.

High Protein Vegetarian Meals: Protein Chart

Here are all twelve high protein vegetarian meals, sorted from most to least protein per serving. Every figure comes from the recipe card and, like all nutrition on this site, it is an estimate.

High Protein Vegetarian Pasta Dinners

First, the heavy hitters. Cheese and pasta together are a surprisingly good protein team, and these five are the ones my family asks for most.

1. Baked Mac and Cheese

At 30 g a portion, this baked mac and cheese has the most protein on the list, and it never feels like health food. Three cups of whole milk make a simple roux sauce, then cheddar, mozzarella and Monterey Jack melt in before a buttered crumb lid goes on top. It is the dish I carry to potlucks, and it always comes home empty.

Get the Baked Mac and Cheese recipe →

2. Easy Baked Ziti

Ziti, marinara, ricotta and mozzarella bake into a bubbling dish that feeds six with no meat to brown. Because ricotta and mozzarella both carry plenty of protein, it lands at 26 g a serving. However, the card uses Parmesan, which is traditionally made with animal rennet, so use a vegetarian hard cheese on top.

Get the Easy Baked Ziti recipe →

Both of these bake beautifully in a 9×13 glass baking dish, and you can see the sauce bubbling up the sides, which is how I know they are ready.

3. Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

This Instant Pot mac and cheese is the weeknight version: four minutes at pressure, no draining and no roux. The macaroni cooks in just enough water to leave a starchy base, then milk, butter and two cups of cheddar are stirred straight in. As a result, you get 22 g of protein in about fifteen minutes, which is hard to beat on a busy evening.

Get the Instant Pot Mac and Cheese recipe →

A 6 quart pot gives the macaroni plenty of room, so if you are buying one for this, a 6 quart electric pressure cooker is the size I would go for.

4. Vegan Lasagna

Tempeh or smoked tofu and cremini mushrooms make a rich, meaty ragu, and a cashew and macadamia cream with nutritional yeast stands in for the cheese layer. It is fully plant based, yet it still brings 18 g of protein a portion. Better yet, you can assemble it the day before and keep it unbaked in the fridge.

Get the Vegan Lasagna recipe →

5. Creamy Pasta Primavera

Broccoli, peppers, squash, courgette and peas cook hard and fast, then cream and grated hard cheese turn into a silky sauce in the same skillet. It is lighter on protein at 14 g, but it is one of my favourite ways to eat a whole drawer of vegetables. Of course, use a vegetarian hard cheese in place of Parmesan.

Get the Creamy Pasta Primavera recipe →

High Protein Vegetarian Meals With Beans and Lentils

Next come the pulses. They are cheap, filling and full of fibre, and all three of these are vegan as written.

6. Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Brown or green lentils simmer with onion, carrot, celery, tomatoes, cumin and paprika in vegetable broth, then a splash of vinegar at the end wakes the whole pot up. It gives you 14 g of protein and 15 g of fibre a bowl, so it keeps me full all afternoon. In fact, it is the soup I make most often in winter.

Get the Vegetarian Lentil Soup recipe →

7. Coconut Chickpea Curry

Two tins of chickpeas, chopped tomatoes and coconut milk simmer with curry spices, while shiitake mushrooms and soy sauce bring a deep savoury flavour. At 11 g of protein a serving it sits mid table, but it is cheap, quick and nearly all from the cupboard. Just make sure your stock cube is a vegan one.

Get the Coconut Chickpea Curry recipe →

8. Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup

Two tins of cannellini beans, courgette, tomatoes, spinach and small pasta cook gently in vegetable stock all day. Because the beans release a little starch, the broth turns rich without any cheese. It is 10 g of protein a bowl, and the card says to freeze it before the pasta goes in.

Get the Slow Cooker Minestrone Soup recipe →

Curries, Salads and Protein Staples

Finally, four lighter dishes that still pull their weight, two of them cottage cheese recipes that help everything else on this list go further.

9. Homemade Cottage Cheese

Milk, lemon juice or vinegar and salt are all it takes, and because the curds are set with acid rather than rennet, it is completely vegetarian. It gives 14 g of protein a serving on its own. So I make a batch on Sunday and spoon it onto toast, into pasta sauces and over baked potatoes all week.

Get the Homemade Cottage Cheese recipe →

10. Cauliflower Mushroom Masala

Cauliflower and button mushrooms soak up a gravy of onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and warm spices, then grated coconut makes it thick and silky. It has 12 g of protein and 12 g of fibre a serving, and it is vegan because the spices are toasted in oil, not ghee.

Get the Cauliflower Mushroom Masala recipe →

11. Greek Pasta Salad

Rotini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onion, olives and feta are tossed in a sharp red wine vinegar dressing. It brings 10 g of protein a portion, and it is my go to packed lunch because it tastes better on day two. Check that the feta is made with vegetarian rennet.

Get the Greek Pasta Salad recipe →

12. Cottage Cheese Flatbread

Cottage cheese and self raising flour come together into a soft dough that blisters in a dry skillet in minutes. Each flatbread has 9 g of protein, which is a lot more than a shop bought wrap. Meanwhile, I use them to scoop up the lentil soup or the chickpea curry above.

Get the Cottage Cheese Flatbread recipe →

A Week of High Protein Vegetarian Meals

Here is how I would string these high protein vegetarian meals together for a Monday to Friday dinner plan. Leftovers from one night become lunch the next, which takes care of most of the week.

Want more ideas? My vegetarian meal prep ideas include a two hour Sunday plan, and my wider list of high protein recipes covers meat and fish dishes too.

Tips for More Protein Without Meat

The University of Tennessee Extension has a practical guide to protein foods for meals and snacks, and it matches what works in my kitchen:

• Stack two sources. Beans plus cheese, lentils plus yogurt, or pasta plus cottage cheese always beats one on its own.
• Keep cottage cheese and Greek yogurt in the fridge. They slip into sauces, dips and toppings without changing the dish much.
• Use the tin cupboard. A drained tin of chickpeas or cannellini beans lifts almost any soup, salad or pasta.
• Add an egg. A boiled or fried egg on top of a salad, soup or flatbread is the fastest protein upgrade there is.
• Do not forget breakfast and snacks. Spreading protein through the day is easier than cramming it all into dinner.

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