20 Tasty Bodybuilding Recipes That You’ll Never Get Sick Of

Protein Flax Waffles

You don’t need to eat a bowl of cottage cheese in order to fit it into your meal plan. Not everyone finds cottage cheese to be enjoyable by the spoonful, and you don’t have to.

In this protein waffle recipe, it’s the secret ingredient to make the final result rich and moist. Even though cottage cheese is nutritious too, it helps make the blend of protein powder, oats, and egg whites taste indulgent.

Ingredients

Maple Roasted Red Lentil Granola

Granola can be a great go-to for a nutritious breakfast or lunch with yogurt, but it tends to have only a few grams of protein per serving. To boost it a little more, use lentils as the base instead of oats.

Once they’re par-cooked in boiling water, red lentils can be baked like granola to get a crispy, flaky texture. They have a naturally nutty flavor that goes well with almonds and coconut.

Ingredients

Sausage, Apple & Thyme Breakfast Pizza

When it comes with a ton of grease and is overloaded with cheese, pizza isn’t the best for a bodybuilding meal plan. Make it at home, and you can still enjoy this guilty pleasure without feeling bad about every bite – or regretting it later when you see slowed-down fitness performance.

This hearty pizza has chicken sausage, eggs, and even an apple as toppings to make it a well-balanced recipe. To really nail the nutrition, use a whole-wheat pizza dough to get complex carbs.

Ingredients

Slow Cooker Mango Chicken & Sweet Potato Bowls

If you love chicken and sweet potatoes, luckily you can build countless bodybuilding meals from this simple superfood combo. They’re great when roasted, or take it to the next level by using a Crock Pot to infuse tropical flavors.

This recipe couldn’t be easier to make. Whisk together the sauce inside the slow cooker, put in the sweet potato wedges, and add the chicken after seasoning.

When it’s almost done and the sauce has thickened, dice up fresh mango to serve, and even toast coconut flakes if you want a special garnish.

Ingredients

Protein-Packed Chili Dogs

Hot dogs might seem like junk food, but if you top them with a lean chili, you can add a ton of protein. Eat just two of these turkey dogs, and that’s over 50 grams of protein per serving.

Remember these chili dogs when you’re almost out of patience counting down the days to your next cheat meal. When you start learning how to build nutrient-dense recipes like this, you can develop a meal plan that doesn’t cut out your favorite foods.

Ingredients

Maple-Glazed Vanilla Protein Donuts

Need a break from smoothies? Try these protein donuts, which can be enjoyed with fresh fruit. And for even more protein, make a glaze out of whey protein powder too.

Mix together a couple tablespoons of cream cheese with vanilla whey – about a quarter of a scoop – and add milk until it reaches the right consistency. Sweeten with maple syrup or stevia.

Ingredients

Farro Bowl with Turmeric Chickpeas

Whole grains and legumes are a great combo for nutrition any time of day, and this vegan breakfast bowl is a delicious way to fill up on them.

Not only does it have over 20 grams of plant-based protein from the chickpeas and farro, but there’s a lot of complex carbs and fiber too. And if you want to lower the fat, just leave out the avocado and add a handful of slivered almonds instead.

Ingredients

Mini Spinach & Mushroom Quiche

Quiche can be a tasty way to enjoy eggs, but often there’s more fat than protein because of cream or another high-fat dairy product.

These mini quiches have an equal amount, even with a standard pie crust. To make it even leaner, make a base from shredded sweet potatoes instead, or forget it altogether to make crustless quiche.

Ingredients

Pancake Sausage Muffins

Skip the usual morning muffin, and make these for breakfast instead. There’s still eggs, butter, and whole-wheat flour – but with an upgrade of turkey sausage.

When your morning protein shake isn’t enough to fill you up, grab one of these pancake muffins from the freezer, reheat in the toaster oven, and serve with maple syrup.

Ingredients

Shredded Chicken Salad with Asian Ginger Sauce

Cooked shredded chicken breast is one of the best bodybuilding foods you can keep on hand for quick meals. It’s easy to prepare in a slow cooker with chicken broth or water, as well as seasonings like salt and pepper or your favorite spice blend.

From there, the sky’s the limit on how you use the lean protein. Shredded chicken breast can be stored in the freezer for at least three months.

Ingredients

Cheesy Beef Pasta

Paying attention to nutrition doesn’t mean giving up the foods you crave. When you want some beef and cheddar pasta, think outside the box.

Make it from whole food ingredients, and you can decide exactly what stays in it and what’s left out, including preservatives and salt. Get flavor instead from real onions, garlic, and zucchini – plus enough cheese to satisfy everyone at the table, kids included.

Ingredients

Pressure Cooker Whole Roast Chicken

If there’s one staple bodybuilding recipe to nail for meal prep, this is it. Roasting a whole chicken will work with any seasoning, like adobo, Moroccan, or spicy Cajun. And you can do it in a number of ways too, including in the oven, a Crock Pot, or even a pressure cooker.

Since the pressure cooker speeds up the process, it takes under an hour. Then serve with an easy side like roasted vegetables or brown rice and beans. Leftover meat can be used for a whole other meal, like chicken burritos or casserole.

Ingredients

Blackened Chicken Quinoa Salad

Salads don’t have to be light. Add sliced chicken breast and quinoa to all those fresh farmers’ market ingredients, and you’ll have a filling meal that’s loaded with nutrition.

Quinoa is awesome for a muscle-fueling meal plan no matter how you eat it: in a salad, as a side dish, or even mixed into veggie burgers. It’s awesome because, unlike most plant-based proteins, quinoa is a complete source of the amino acids your body needs, and it supports muscle repair with iron too.

Ingredients

Spicy Salmon Sushi Bowl

Deconstruct sushi, and you won’t have to worry about learning the intricate process of rolling it by hand. So you can enjoy the flavors without stressing out in the kitchen, or paying a lot at the local sushi place, simply put everything you like in a bowl.

This can be made with short-grain brown rice, or go for quinoa since it doesn’t have to stick together. Once your grain of choice has been cooked, all you need to do is slice up the salmon and an avocado, and layer it on top of the grains before grabbing some chopsticks or a fork.

Ingredients

Cajun Chickpea Fritters

Making a bodybuilding menu that’s vegan is challenging, but not impossible. This side dish or light entrée is full of flavor, like falafel meets Cajun fritters.

And there’s no shortage of nutrients either with zucchini, tahini, and a side of spinach. Serve with creamy cashew sauce or lemon parsley vinaigrette, and for a larger meal, add a side of dirty rice and beans.

Ingredients

Skillet Fish Fillet with Tomatoes, White Wine & Capers

Making a date-worthy dinner doesn’t have to be unhealthy or time-consuming. This fish for two is impressive and nutritious, yet takes just 10 minutes to prepare in a hot skillet. And this method can work with a wide variety of fish, so pick up whatever is on sale, and enjoy it with marinara, white wine, and capers.

Ingredients

Sloppy Joe Lettuce Wraps

This easy bodybuilding recipe plays off an old favorite. But instead of heating up the contents of a can and spooning them between a bun or soon-to-be-soggy sandwich bread, these sloppy joes use ground turkey and lettuce.

What makes it satisfying is the hearty turkey filling which has tons of flavor from apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and dry mustard.

Ingredients

Shrimp Burger

Sometimes you know you need a lean protein, but what you’re really craving is a bite of a juicy burger. Rather than going for a ground meat like chicken or turkey, make your own burger patties from whole shrimp.

You just need a food processor to blitz everything together, including onion, bell pepper, and a seasoning blend like Old Bay. You’ll end up with a burger that’s all protein and a trace of fat.

Ingredients

Tuna Stuffed Tomatoes

These creative stuffed tomatoes are a tasty way to enjoy tuna salad. And they’re great to serve when there’s a crowd because it’s easy to double or triple the recipe, quick to assemble, and already divided into individual portions to ensure everyone gets a taste.

You can also keep the tuna salad ready in the fridge for a few days and stuff it into tomatoes as needed for a light lunch or post-workout snack.

Ingredients

Oatmeal Pancakes with Tuna

Think you’ve seen every kind of protein pancakes before? These aren’t sweet with bananas and maple syrup. You won’t even need a scoop of whey protein powder.

Instead, open a can of tuna to make savory protein pancakes. You’ll still need oats and eggs, but instead of cinnamon and sugar there’s diced onion and mustard powder. Try topping them with Greek yogurt and tomatoes, or sour cream and fresh herbs.

Ingredients