What do you eat during pregnancy when you are absolutely famished? Why, you turn to a delicious protein-loaded pregnancy snack, of course! There’s no better way to fill you up and give you the energy you need to make it to the next meal.
It wasn’t until about half way through my second pregnancy that I really started to understand how important protein is in pregnancy. And I didn’t do much about it until this third pregnancy. While the average person only needs about 40-50 grams of protein a day, pregnant and breastfeeding women need at least 70 and ideally more like 80-100 grams IN ONE DAY! Talk about pretty much doubling what you’re used to!
I thought it would be incredibly helpful for you and me to get a good idea of what foods contain protein and their protein amounts, and then share some wonderful protein-loaded pregnancy snacks in case you need some great ideas.
Chicken breast, 4 oz. – 29 g
Salmon, 4 oz. – 25 g
Shrimp, 4 oz. – 24 g
Ground beef, 3 oz. – 21.5 g
Tuna, canned, 1/4 cup – 16 g
Cottage cheese, 1/2 cup – 14 g
Pinto beans, 1 cup – 12 g
Yogurt, 1 cup – 8-12 g
Lentils, 1/2 cup – 9 g
Edamame, 1/2 cup – 8.5 g
Black beans, 1/2 cup – 8 g
Green peas, 1 cup – 8 g
Milk, 1 cup – 8 g
Peanut butter, 2 T. – 8 g
Pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup – 8 g
Quinoa, 1 cup – 8 g
Almonds, 1 cup – 7 g
Cheddar cheese, 1 oz. – 7 g
Chickpeas, 1/2 cup – 6 g
Eggs, large – 6 g
Oatmeal, 1 cup – 6 g
Brown rice, 1 cup – 5 g
Chia seeds, 2 T. – 5 g
Spinach, 1 cup – 5 g
Artichokes, 1/2 cup – 4 g
Asparagus, 1 cup – 4 g
Avocado, 1 – 4 g
Broccoli, 1 cup – 4 g
Green beans, 1/2 cup – 4 g
Potato, 1 – 4 g
Sweet potato, 1 cup baked – 4 g
White rice, 1 cup – 4 g
Brussels sprouts, 1 cup – 3 g
Popcorn, 1 cup – 1 g
Flax seed, 1 tsp. ground – .5 g
Now that you have a basic idea of what foods to eat to get more protein, here are some excellent protein-loaded pregnancy snacks to get you through to the next meal!
For each recipe, I will list the ingredients you need as well as how many people it serves. I would love to take a stab at how much protein you can get by eating one serving, but I’ll let you figure that out, since it could take me several hours for all these recipes!
I was given permission to use the pictures below, so please, please, please do NOT pin these pictures from this post. If you want to pin a specific picture, click on the link and go to that specific post and pin it from there. I (and the owners of the pictures) appreciate it! You can also obviously pin the main image from this post to reference all the recipes.
And, I added popcorn snacks in here even though they don’t give you that much protein. Because popcorn is da bomb. And every small amount counts. See More At
It wasn’t until about half way through my second pregnancy that I really started to understand how important protein is in pregnancy. And I didn’t do much about it until this third pregnancy. While the average person only needs about 40-50 grams of protein a day, pregnant and breastfeeding women need at least 70 and ideally more like 80-100 grams IN ONE DAY! Talk about pretty much doubling what you’re used to!
I thought it would be incredibly helpful for you and me to get a good idea of what foods contain protein and their protein amounts, and then share some wonderful protein-loaded pregnancy snacks in case you need some great ideas.
FOODS WITH PROTEIN
Let’s go down a list of foods that have protein. I’ll list these foods by the most abundant to the least abundant (although, each food has different serving sizes to get that amount of protein).Chicken breast, 4 oz. – 29 g
Salmon, 4 oz. – 25 g
Shrimp, 4 oz. – 24 g
Ground beef, 3 oz. – 21.5 g
Tuna, canned, 1/4 cup – 16 g
Cottage cheese, 1/2 cup – 14 g
Pinto beans, 1 cup – 12 g
Yogurt, 1 cup – 8-12 g
Lentils, 1/2 cup – 9 g
Edamame, 1/2 cup – 8.5 g
Black beans, 1/2 cup – 8 g
Green peas, 1 cup – 8 g
Milk, 1 cup – 8 g
Peanut butter, 2 T. – 8 g
Pumpkin seeds, 1/4 cup – 8 g
Quinoa, 1 cup – 8 g
Almonds, 1 cup – 7 g
Cheddar cheese, 1 oz. – 7 g
Chickpeas, 1/2 cup – 6 g
Eggs, large – 6 g
Oatmeal, 1 cup – 6 g
Brown rice, 1 cup – 5 g
Chia seeds, 2 T. – 5 g
Spinach, 1 cup – 5 g
Artichokes, 1/2 cup – 4 g
Asparagus, 1 cup – 4 g
Avocado, 1 – 4 g
Broccoli, 1 cup – 4 g
Green beans, 1/2 cup – 4 g
Potato, 1 – 4 g
Sweet potato, 1 cup baked – 4 g
White rice, 1 cup – 4 g
Brussels sprouts, 1 cup – 3 g
Popcorn, 1 cup – 1 g
Flax seed, 1 tsp. ground – .5 g
Now that you have a basic idea of what foods to eat to get more protein, here are some excellent protein-loaded pregnancy snacks to get you through to the next meal!
For each recipe, I will list the ingredients you need as well as how many people it serves. I would love to take a stab at how much protein you can get by eating one serving, but I’ll let you figure that out, since it could take me several hours for all these recipes!
I was given permission to use the pictures below, so please, please, please do NOT pin these pictures from this post. If you want to pin a specific picture, click on the link and go to that specific post and pin it from there. I (and the owners of the pictures) appreciate it! You can also obviously pin the main image from this post to reference all the recipes.
And, I added popcorn snacks in here even though they don’t give you that much protein. Because popcorn is da bomb. And every small amount counts. See More At
