19 Best High-Protein Snacks Of 2023 (Vegan, Keto & More)

Have you ever felt hungry right after a snack or felt that you needed to have multiple snacks per day in order to feel satisfied? If so, your snacks may need a protein upgrade.

Adding more protein to your meals and snacks is a smart way to maintain a healthy weight and support overall well-being.

Here are 19 delicious, nutritious, high-protein snacks to satisfy every craving. Whether you're looking for something homemade or store-bought, keto or vegan, we've got you covered.

For vegans, taking in enough protein can be challenging. However, if you know how to pair foods in the right way, it's easy to create high-protein, vegan-friendly snacks.  

Here are a few high-protein snack options for people on a vegan diet:

Ingredients: 1 scoop vegan protein powder, 1 cup frozen blueberries1, 1 tablespoon peanut butter2, and 1.5 cups unsweetened almond milk3

Protein per serving: 26.5 grams

Blend ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. 

Ingredients: 1 ounce roasted almonds4, 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds5, and ¼ cup raisins6

Protein per serving: 11.28 grams 

Combine ingredients in a bowl and enjoy. Add some dairy-free dark chocolate chunks if you're in the mood for something sweet!

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons chia seeds7, 1 tablespoon peanut butter2, ½ cup oat milk8, and ½ cup fresh blackberries9

Protein per serving: 11.18 grams

Follow this recipe and add peanut butter to bump up the protein. You can sweeten your chia pudding with a zero-calorie sweetener like monk fruit or a drizzle of maple syrup if you'd like. 

Ingredients: 1 cup frozen prepared edamame beans10, salt, pepper

Protein per serving: 18.5 grams 

Drizzle prepared edamame with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the edamame on a sheet pan at 375℉ for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

The following high-protein snacks are meat-free and vegetarian-friendly: 

Ingredients: ¾ cup unsweetened Greek yogurt11, ½ cup chopped Granny Smith apple12, and 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts13

Protein per serving: 17 grams

Top the Greek yogurt with the chopped apple and pecans, and sprinkle it with cinnamon to taste. Add a few tablespoons of low-sugar granola if you need some extra crunch.

Ingredients: 2 hard-boiled eggs14 and ½ of an avocado15 served with crackers and sliced veggies 

Protein per serving: 13.9 grams of protein plus a few grams of protein from the crackers and veggies. 

Mash the eggs and avocado together and season with salt, pepper, and spices of your choice. Serve the egg salad with vegetables like sliced cucumbers and carrot slices or high-fiber crackers. 

Ingredients: 1 Honeycrisp apple16, 2 tablespoons peanut butter2, and 1 tablespoon hemp seeds17

Protein per serving: 10.75 grams 

Make apple sandwiches by slicing apples into rounds, spreading them with peanut butter, making them into sandwiches, and rolling the sides in hemp seeds.

If you eat meat, it's easy to put together high-protein snacks. It's always best to balance out meat-based snacks with some fruit or vegetables to make sure you're covering your nutritional needs for fiber, vitamins, minerals, and more. 

Ingredient: 1 ounce Cheddar cheese18, 1 ounce salami19, and veggies of your choice like olives or roasted red peppers 

Protein per serving: 14 grams 

Layer your ingredients onto a skewer and enjoy.

Ingredients: 4 slices of turkey breast20, 2 slices Swiss cheese21, romaine, sliced tomatoes, and mustard. 

Protein per serving: 19.488 grams 

Layer the turkey slices with the rest of the ingredients, roll them up, and enjoy. 

Ingredients: 2 ounces of chicken breast22, sliced avocado, cherry tomatoes, and 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds5. 

Protein per serving: 20.96 grams 

Add chopped greens of your choice to a bowl and top with chicken, tomatoes, sliced avocados, and pumpkin seeds. Make your own Greek-yogurt-based dressing to increase the protein content even more. 

When you're following a low-carb diet, protein is usually in high demand. Protein-rich snacks can help keep your blood sugar stable and keep you feeling full and satisfied between meals.

People on low-carb diets should prioritize pairing foods high in protein with high-fiber ingredients to support digestive health. 

Here are a few options for low-carb, high-protein snacks. 

Ingredients: 1 can of tuna23, 1 tablespoon of mayo24, 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt24, chopped celery and red onion, served on top of cucumber slices 

Protein per serving: 42.8 grams 

Mix the tuna with the mayo and Greek yogurt and enjoy.  

Ingredients: 4 eggs, ½ cup full-fat cottage cheese, ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese, onion, bell pepper, chile

Protein per serving: 12.43 grams per bite

Find the recipe here.

Protein per serving: 15 grams per 2 balls

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until incorporated. Chill for 20 minutes before rolling into balls. Roll in crushed peanuts for extra crunch and even more protein. Store them in the refrigerator. 

Sometimes, you need a protein-rich snack that's premade. In order for a packaged food to carry a "high protein" label, it must contain 20% or more of the dietary reference value (DRV) for protein per serving, which is set at 50 grams25 for a 2,000-calorie diet.

Keep these high-protein snacks in your car, desk, or work fridge so you're always prepared with a filling snack when hunger hits.

Protein per serving: 10 grams per stick 

Look for turkey sticks that don't contain added sugar and are made with humanely raised turkey. Pair turkey sticks with a piece of fresh fruit for a protein- and fiber-rich snack.

Protein per serving: 10 to 15 grams per bar

Choose protein bars that provide at least 10 grams per bar and are made with whole, nutrient-dense ingredients, like nuts and fruit. Steer clear of bars that contain more than 4 grams of added sugar. 

Protein per serving:~10 grams per 2-ounce serving 

Peanuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, and seeds like pumpkin seeds can be mixed together to make a travel-friendly snack.

Protein per serving: ~12 grams per 2-ounce serving 

Look for roasted chickpea products that are made with healthy oils, like avocado oil. 

Protein per serving: ~12 grams per 4-ounce serving 

Cottage cheese is a high-protein snack that can be enjoyed with sweet ingredients like berries and nut butter, or savory ingredients like vegetables and avocado. Don't be afraid to experiment with different flavor combinations!

Protein per serving: ~20 grams per scoop 

Protein powder is a convenient high-protein ingredient to keep on hand. You can add it to water or your milk of choice to make a protein shake on the road and can add it to low-protein foods, like plant-based yogurt, in order to give your snack some staying power. 

Protein is a macronutrient, which is a nutrient that your body needs in large amounts. Protein is known for its role in muscle protein synthesis and maintenance, but it's also necessary for hormone and neurotransmitter production, immune function, and many other essential processes. 

Taking in optimal protein on a daily basis helps keep your body healthy and is important for maintaining lean muscle mass and bone strength. Following a higher-protein diet is also effective for promoting weight loss26 and can make it easier to reach your body composition goals.

Fortunately, there are plenty of sources of protein to choose from, no matter what type of diet you choose to follow. Eating a combination of plant- and animal-based proteins is the best way to cover your daily protein needs, but some people follow diets that restrict or cut out animal-based products. 

Even though it's entirely possible to meet your protein needs following a plant-based diet, animal-based proteins are considered27 to be of higher nutritional quality compared to plant-based protein.

This is because plant-based proteins lack some essential amino acids, like lysine, and have lower digestibility compared with animal proteins.

"Two scoring systems—the protein-digestibility corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) and the digestible indispensable amino score (DIAAS)—would say that animal-source proteins have higher scores. In other words, they are more digestible and have a higher content of essential (indispensable) amino acids, the amino acids we need to get from our food" Stuart Phillips, Ph.D., a protein researcher and professor at McMaster University, tells mindbodygreen.

So, if you're following a strict plant-based diet, you'll need to pay extra attention to your protein choices to make sure you're getting enough of this essential macronutrient on a daily basis. Phillips encourages those following a plant-based diet to think about adding protein to every meal and snack to ensure they're taking in a variety of amino acids and hitting their protein goals. 

Even though the current recommended dietary allowance (RDA)28 for protein is set at 0.8 gram per kg (g/kg) of body weight [0.36 gram of protein per pound (g/lb)], research suggests that the optimal protein intake28 for active people is closer to 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg per day (0.54 to 0.9 g/lb). For a 150-pound person, this would equate to 81 to 135 grams of protein per day. 

This is because the RDA is the minimum amount of protein your body needs to meet amino acid requirements, prevent muscle loss, and maintain nitrogen balance, not the optimal amount of protein needed to support overall health. 

In order to meet your protein needs, it's important to add sources of protein to every meal and snack.

Most experts suggest taking in 25 to 30 grams29 of protein at meals, but what about snacks? Say you're a 150-pound person aiming for a protein intake of 0.8 gram per pound per day or 120 grams of protein per day. If you take in 100 grams of protein over three meals, that means you'll need to fit in a snack that contains 20 grams of protein to fulfill your protein requirements.

If you're not paying that much attention to your macro intake and just want to make sure you're eating enough protein, choosing snacks that contain at least 10 grams of protein is usually enough to help keep you satisfied until your next meal. 

For people looking to make the most out of their workouts, like athletes, study findings suggest that, as long as you're consuming protein around your workout, it doesn't matter if you prefer to have a high-protein snack or protein shake before or after training. Experts agree that focusing on consuming enough total protein throughout your day is much more important for muscle building and strength than pre- or post-workout protein supplementation. 

Upping your protein intake can be an effective way to lose body fat, as long as you're following an overall healthy diet, doing resistance training, and maintaining a calorie deficit.

Because protein is the most filling macronutrient and is important for muscle maintenance, following a high-protein diet can reduce hunger levels and help you maintain your muscle mass during weight loss. Usually, your basal metabolic rate (BMR) or the calories you burn while you're at rest, drops when you lose weight. However, studies show26 that high-protein diets help people losing weight maintain their BMR over time, which can help them sustain their weight loss. 

A 2020 review26 published in the Journal of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome reported that not only have high-protein diets been shown to be effective for promoting fat loss, but they also seem to be helpful for preventing weight regain over time.

If you're looking for a way to stay satiated throughout your day, adding a protein-rich snack or two could help. And no matter if you're following a vegan diet or have recently transitioned to a low-carb way of eating, there are plenty of tasty high-protein snacks to choose from.