15 High Protein Lunch Ideas (35g+ Per Serving)

Lunch is where most people quietly lose the protein game. Breakfast can be Greek yogurt, dinner can be chicken and rice, but lunch is where the sad desk salad shows up and the day drops to 12g when it should have been 40g. Here are 15 lunches that all clear 35g, sorted by how you'll actually make them.

The short version

• Target 35g+ at lunch. It's the meal that decides whether you coast to your daily total or scramble for it at dinner.
• Meal-prepper? Chicken-rice-broccoli or turkey chilli cook once and feed you 4–5 lunches at 38–45g each.
• Desk with no microwave? A tuna-and-cottage-cheese bowl hits 45g cold, no reheat required.
• Rotate, don't chase variety. Three lunches you genuinely like, on repeat, beats a new recipe every day you'll abandon by Thursday.

Meal prep classics (cook once, eat 4–5 lunches)

1. Chicken, rice, and broccoli: 45g

Six ounces of grilled chicken breast (42g) over a cup of rice and a generous portion of broccoli. The canonical bodybuilding lunch for a reason.

2. Turkey chilli: 38g per bowl

Ground turkey, kidney beans, black beans, tomatoes, chilli spices. A pound of turkey + two cans of beans = five lunches.

3. Steak and sweet potato bowls: 42g

Sliced flank steak (35g per 4oz portion) with roasted sweet potato and chimichurri. Reheats well.

4. Tuna pasta salad: 36g

Two cans of tuna mixed with whole-wheat pasta, peas, Greek yogurt dressing, and lemon.

5. Salmon and quinoa bowls: 40g

Baked salmon flaked over quinoa, cucumber, and avocado.

5–15 minute lunches (hot, made on the day)

6. Egg-fried rice with shrimp: 38g

Frozen shrimp, three eggs, leftover rice, soy sauce. Six minutes start to finish.

7. Chicken caesar wrap: 36g

Five ounces of grilled chicken, romaine, parmesan, caesar dressing in a wholemeal wrap.

8. Black bean and steak quesadilla: 35g

Leftover steak, black beans, cheese, salsa in a tortilla. Pan-toasted.

9. Cottage cheese bowl with sundried tomato and salami: 38g

A cup of cottage cheese topped with diced salami and sundried tomato. Salty and dense.

10. Open-faced turkey and avocado: 37g

Six slices of turkey breast on a slice of sourdough with smashed avocado and an egg on top.

No-cook desk lunches

11. Tuna and cottage cheese bowl: 45g

A pouch of tuna mixed with a cup of cottage cheese, cherry tomatoes, capers, and olive oil. Sounds odd, works.

12. Charcuterie-style protein box: 35g

Two boiled eggs, three ounces of deli turkey, a stick of string cheese, almonds, and grapes.

13. Protein bagel: 38g

A bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, and red onion.

14. Greek yogurt bowl with chicken: 40g

Yes: savoury Greek yogurt with shredded rotisserie chicken, dill, cucumber, and olive oil. Like deconstructed tzatziki chicken.

Quick if you have a microwave

15. Frozen edamame + frozen brown rice + a tin of sardines: 38g

Three minutes in the microwave. Hit with soy sauce and sesame oil. The most underrated lunch in this list.

The bottom line

The lunches that stick are the ones you can repeat without thinking. Pick three you genuinely enjoy, rotate them, and 35g+ a day at lunch puts 150g across the day within easy reach. Find your specific target first if you don't have one. And for the cobbled-together desk lunches that never match a single database entry cleanly (the tuna-cottage-cheese-caper situations), snapping a photo in Bento Bunny captures the macros without you searching for anything.