You don’t eat any animal products, but you still need to get plenty of protein. No worries! You can get the nutrients you need by fitting in high protein vegan snacks during the day.
Read on for some snacky high quality protein ideas made with real, nutritious foods.
Table of Contents
What is a high quality protein?
Proteins are made up of long chains of amino acids. These amino acids can be combined in countless ways to create all of the hormones, enzymes and tissues that make up you.
Altogether there are 20 or so amino acids to choose from, and your body can already make about half of them. Nine amino acids are considered essential, because you have to get them from food.
A high quality protein is a food that supplies enough of all the essential amino acids.
Animal products such as meat, milk or eggs, contain all the essential amino acids. This is because the animal has already created proteins from those amino acids. When you eat animal products you are getting the benefit of the proteins the animal has already put together.
Very few plants contain all the essential amino acids in the quantities that your body needs. When you eat only plant-based foods, it’s important to mix and match different types of food to make sure you are getting enough essential amino acids (1).
How can you get high quality protein from plants?
It isn’t as hard as it sounds to get high quality protein from plants. In fact, I’ve helped many people get their protein from a plant-based diet over the years.
The key is to eat a variety of different types of plants every day. This way you will combine foods in such a way that they complement each other’s amino acid profile.
Here are some food combinations that give you the full range of essential amino acids to make a high quality protein meal:
| Food Combo | Examples |
|---|---|
| nuts or seeds + grains | peanut butter sandwich oatmeal with walnuts |
| beans + grains | bean taco or enchilada chili with crackers rice and beans |
| beans + nuts or seeds | hummus made from tahini and chickpeas salad with cannellini beans and sunflower seeds |
Do you need to eat these food combinations all at once in the same meal? No! Just try to get the the combination sometime during your day (1). For instance you can eat buckwheat pancakes for breakfast, and then have a glass of milk made from pea protein a few hours later.
Which plants have high quality protein?
Here are some higher quality protein plants:
| Plant | Protein Profile |
|---|---|
| Soybeans and soy products like edamame or tofu | -highest quality of plant-based protein sources -contains all of the essential amino acids. -methionine present only in smaller amounts (2). |
| Quinoa | -contains all nine essential amino acids -not enough leucine to meet requirements for some age groups (3) |
| Buckwheat | -contains all nine essential amino acids -cysteine, methionine, and histidine are present only in smaller amounts (4) |
| Chia seeds | -contain all nine essential amino acids -threonine and methionine are only present in smaller amounts (5). |
| Hemp seeds | -contain all nine essential amino acids -not enough tryptophan to supply protein needs (6) |
| Potato | -rich in branched chain amino acids like leucine -contains sufficient amino acids to cover basic protein requirements for life -high in lysine, which many other plants lack (1)(8) |
12 Tantalizing Vegan Snacks – With Protein
These 12 delicious ideas are healthy, high protein and vegan. They are made with real, whole foods. Each of these vegan snacks has at least 10 grams of protein.
- Halve an apple and remove the core. Spread each half with ¼ cup coconut yogurt, 1 tablespoon nut butter and ½ tablespoon hemp seed. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
- Slice an unpeeled banana lengthwise down the center. In the middle, spread ¼ cup peanut butter and sprinkle with vegan dark chocolate chips. Place under the broiler to melt peanut butter and chocolate. Eat right out of banana peel.
- Make chia pudding with a high protein plant-based milk such as Ripple. Add a tablespoon of chopped walnuts, pecans or other nuts just before eating.
- Keep a supply of baked potatoes on hand. Stuff with spicy refried beans and top with hummus.
- Spread a piece of sprouted grain toast with ½ mashed avocado and top with ¼ cup edamame. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sesame seeds.
- Enjoy ¼ cup of pumpkin seeds, for nearly 10 grams of protein!
- Cut ¼ pound of extra-firm tofu into cubes. Stir fry or crisp it up in your air fryer.
- Wrap up ¼ cup hummus, romaine lettuce, avocado, cucumber and red pepper slices in a whole grain tortilla.
- Roast your own chickpeas or buy a roasted chickpea snack. One cup of chickpeas has about 14 grams of protein.
- Smash together ¼ cup cooked green peas and ½ avocado. Add some garlic and lemon juice, and enjoy it with whole grain crackers.
- Make a leftover-buckwheat-pancake peanut butter sandwich.
- Mix cooked 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, 1/2 cup chickpeas, and fresh, chopped herbs with your favorite lemon vinaigrette dressing.
Final Thoughts
Being vegan does not mean you have to sacrifice protein. I hope this post has given you some ideas for healthy, high protein vegan snacks.
What is your go-to vegan snack? Let me know in the comments.
It’s refreshing to see delicious, plant-based options that cater to health and taste. I can’t wait to try these creative recipes. Keep up the great work!
Thanks so much Ophelia!