High-Protein Vegan Meal Plan: 138g Protein in 50 Minutes

Getting adequate protein on a vegan diet is not hard, but hitting optimal levels above 100g per day requires intentional planning across every meal.

It's the most common concern people have when going plant-based: "Where do you get your protein?"

Adequate vs. optimal

The truth is, getting adequate protein on a vegan diet isn't hard - but getting optimal protein (100g+) requires planning. (Use our free macro calculator to find your personal protein target based on your age, weight, and goals.) Most vegan foods have protein, but in smaller amounts per serving than animal sources:

• A cup of lentils has 18g
• A block of firm tofu has 56g
• A cup of edamame has 17g

You need to combine multiple sources across every meal to hit high targets. Without a plan, most vegans end up around 60-80g of protein per day, which is below optimal for muscle maintenance.

Top vegan protein sources by density

The highest-protein vegan staples per calorie are:

• Seitan - 25g per 100g
• Tempeh - 20g per 100g
• Lentils - 9g per 100g cooked
• Tofu (firm) - 17g per 100g
• Edamame - 11g per 100g
• Chickpeas - 9g per 100g cooked
• Black beans - 9g per 100g cooked
• Nutritional yeast - 5-8g per 2 tbsp
• Hemp seeds - 10g per 3 tbsp
• Peanut butter - 7g per 2 tbsp

The strategy is to include 2-3 of these in every meal rather than relying on one source. Variety also ensures you get a complete amino acid profile throughout the day. These are also some of the cheapest protein sources per gram if you're building muscle on a budget.

MealThinker's advantage for vegan meal planning is that it can balance multiple constraints simultaneously. It's not just hitting a protein target - it's also ensuring adequate iron, B12, calcium, omega-3s, and zinc, which are the nutrients vegans most commonly run low on.

Smart nutrient pairing

A typical AI-generated day might:

• Pair iron-rich lentils with vitamin C-rich peppers (to boost absorption)
• Include fortified nutritional yeast for B12
• Suggest chia pudding for omega-3s

Doing this manually requires nutrition knowledge most people don't have. Learn how MealThinker tracks all of this automatically. For the full breakdown of why AI is better suited for vegan nutrition than any other approach, see vegan meal planning with AI.

Here's a real plan MealThinker generated:

• Breakfast - Tofu scramble with spinach, nutritional yeast, and whole wheat toast (32g protein, 15 min)
• Lunch - Lentil and chickpea curry over quinoa (38g protein, 20 min)
• Snack - Edamame with hemp seed trail mix (22g protein, 2 min)
• Dinner - Seitan stir-fry with broccoli and brown rice (46g protein, 15 min)

Total: 138g protein, 2,100 calories, about 50 minutes of total cooking time. Every ingredient is a common grocery store item. No specialty products or supplements required (though a B12 supplement is always recommended for vegans).

Most vegan meal plans you find online have the same problem: they assume you're starting from scratch and they don't adapt.

The three breakdowns

• They list ingredients you don't have
• They don't account for what's already in your fridge
• They can't adjust when you're short on time or missing an ingredient

MealThinker solves this by working backwards from your pantry. If you already have tofu, rice, and frozen vegetables, it builds meals around those before suggesting anything new. This means fewer grocery runs, less food waste, and plans you'll actually follow because the ingredients are already in your kitchen.