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Vegan Protein Options for Delicious, Meat-Free Meals

April 15, 2019 by Vikki Feggulis

Vegan Protein Sources Meal Prep Recipes

Easy Vegan Protein Recipes for Beginners

Vegan Protein for Plant Based Recipes

“Okay, but how do you get protein???”

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, these are likely the only words anyone ever says to you once they find out your eating preferences.

A zinger (that hits a little too close to home) goes: no one cares how much protein you eat… until they find out that you’re vegetarian or vegan. TOO REAL. Contrary to popular belief (and sassy commentary), there are a vast number of vegan protein sources for that are healthy, accessible, and protein-packed.

Below, we’re breaking down the top sources of meat-free protein and ideas for how to use them. Let’s dive in!

By the way, if you want access to easy vegan and vegetarian meal prep recipes, join the WWL Meal Prep Program! Every recipe in our library (over 200) can be made vegan or vegetarian.

What's In This Post

  • Vegan Protein Options for Delicious, Meat-Free Meals
    • SOY: Tofu, Tempeh and Edamame
    • PULSES: beans and lentils
    • QUINOA, NUTS, & SEEDS
    • VEGGIE BURGERS, VEGGIE “MEATS,” & SEITAN

Vegan Protein Options for Delicious, Meat-Free Meals

SOY: Tofu, Tempeh and Edamame

Tofu, tempeh and edamame are all made from soy, but they’re far from the same thing.

What is tofu?

Tofu is made from white soybeans that are mashed together to create a spongy protein source that eagerly soaks up any marinade or sauce. Tofu comes in a variety of firmnesses, from extra firm all the way to silken (or very soft tofu).

Choosing the appropriate firmness typically comes down to how you’re planning to cook the tofu – firm and extra firm tofu are good for stir frys, baking, scrambling (in place of eggs), in curries, and in soups. Basically, any recipe where you want tofu to hold its shape. Soft tofu (usually referred to as regular tofu and silken tofu) is good for thickening dishes and to use in smoothies for an extra dose of protein.

You can find tofu in the dairy or produce aisle of most grocery stores (refrigerated, never frozen).

How do I meal prep with tofu?

Cooking with firm or extra firm tofu requires a touch of extra effort up-front, but it makes your finished product amazing. Because tofu is stored in water and is so absorbent, you’ll want to press that excess water out before attempting to marinate or cook with it. Check out Talia’s video below for her fool-proof, no-extra-kitchen-gadgets-needed method of pressing tofu:

Once you’ve pressed all the moisture out, proceed with your recipe! Your tofu is now ready for marinades, sauces, soups, stir frys, and scrambles.

Softer tofu doesn’t need to be pressed. In fact, if you try it press soft tofu, you’ll likely end up with a mess because it’s already pretty much liquid. Just open the package and throw into your soup or stew for thickening (a great sub for heavy cream or coconut milk) or into a smoothie.

One 14 oz package of tofu equals roughly 3-4 servings of protein, so you may need more than one package to get you through meal prep!

What is tempeh?

Tempeh is made from soybeans, which are soaked, fermented, and pressed together into a block. Tempeh comes in only one firmness, but there are many varieties available, including tempeh that’s pressed with flaxseeds, whole grains, and vegetables, in addition to plain tempeh. Flavored varieties are also available, which are pre-marinated.

Tempeh is typically found near the tofu in the dairy or produce sections, alongside other refrigerated meat alternatives (like tofu, tempeh should never be frozen).

How do I meal prep with tempeh?

Tempeh comes in only one firmness and is more firm than extra firm tofu, so it cannot be used for scrambling or in smoothies. Like tofu, tempeh is very receptive to marinades, like this BBQ tempeh marinade.

One 8 oz package of tempeh is around 2-3 servings of protein, so plan accordingly.

What is edamame?

Edamame are green soybeans, which are typically found still in their protective (and inedible) pod. Edamame can be found in the frozen vegetable section or in the produce section of Asian and specialty grocery stores.

How do I meal prep with edamame?

Cooking edamame entails steaming the beans until heated through. Frozen edamame often comes in a bag that can be microwaved for quick steaming. Fresh edamame can be boiled (with shells on) for 3-5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Once cooked and cooled, break open the tough shell to get to the small green soybeans inside and discard the shell, or use it for veggie stock.

Edamame is a great addition to stir frys, curries, soups, or just as a snack with lots of salt.

PULSES: beans and lentils

Pulses and legumes are packed with both carbs and protein, which make them very filling. They’re also very sturdy, making them a great option for a variety of dishes both hot and cold.

How do I meal prep with beans?

Beans come in two versions: dried and in a bag or pre-cooked and in a can. Dried beans take hours to soak and cook, so we opt for canned beans to keep things simple. Buying dried beans is cheaper, so weigh out the cost vs. time savings based on your own budget and lifestyle. If you have the time, go for it! Here’s everything you need to know about cooking beans.

There are many varieties of beans and legumes, including pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and white beans (great northern beans). Canned beans are already cooked, so they can be eaten cold in your meals or sauteed for a few minutes with spices and a little oil to add flavor.

A great introduction to beans? The classic Burrito Bowl! This Workweek Lunch staple works great with black beans, kidney beans, and pinto beans. Beans can also be mashed to make your own burgers too, like with these veggie burgers made from white beans or these Chipotle Black Bean Burgers.

How do I meal prep with lentils?

Vegan Shepherd’s pie

Similar to beans, you can buy lentils dry in a bag or cooked in the refrigerated or frozen section. The difference between the two is in their cook time: dry lentils cook quickly, in only 20 by boiling them. You’ll pay more for pre-cooked lentils, but the can save you some time. If you aren’t in a time crunch, opt for dry lentils to save a buck.

You’ll find lentils in five different colors: brown, green, black, red, and yellow. Brown, green, and black are firm when cooked and are great in stews, salads, burgers, “meat” balls, and in any dish where you want the lentil to hold its shape. Red and yellow lentils are much softer when cooked and are ideal in soups, stews, and curries, adding some thickening power in addition to fiber and protein.

Add lentils to a lunch bowl or give this Vegan Shepherd’s Pie a try for a new twist on lentil goodness.

QUINOA, NUTS, & SEEDS

How do I meal prep with quinoa?

Quinoa has been buzzy the last few years, with good reason: one cup of quinoa packs over 8 grams of plant-based protein!

Quinoa can be expensive if you buy brand names, but is available from most generic grocery store and bulk brands. It cooks quickly on the stove and can be used in pretty much any dish, including cold salads or bowls, in soups, as a base for a stir fry, as a yummy alternative to oatmeal, or as a binding agent for veggie burgers (in place of eggs).

Try out quinoa in this Vegan Mexican Quinoa – it combines beans and quinoa for protein power!

How do I meal prep with nuts and seeds?

Nuts and seeds are a beneficial source of protein, carbs, and fats, making them a filling addition to any meal.

There are many, many nuts and seeds to choose from and countless ways to incorporate them into your meal preps. Some of our favorite combos include cashews added to Asian stir frys, walnuts on banana pancakes, and pumpkin seeds sprinkled on a salad. Nuts and seeds are also delicious on their own as a filling snack.

Nuts and seeds also make a great base for homemade bars and energy bites. Cashews, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds are all good options for bases.

Want the lowdown on nuts and seeds? We gotchu! Check out our free guide to nut and seed butters (including watermelon seed butter – what?!) for more.

VEGGIE BURGERS, VEGGIE “MEATS,” & SEITAN

We all have those days where cooking is just not happening. Enter – pre-made veggies burgers! Pre-packaged veggie sausage and burgers are amazing to have on hand for quick vegan protein. We recommend trying different veggie “meats” until you find one that fits your dietary needs (and tastes good!).

How do I meal prep with seitan?

Seitan is made of gluten and is soy-free. You can find it near the tofu and tempeh in most grocery stores. Seitan has a hearty, earthy flavor and is easy to crumble, so it works well in anything that you’d use ground meat for such as chilis, burgers and “meat” sauces. We recommend adding some sauce to the seitan to flavor it. Try this recipe – seitan subs perfect for the chicken in the Chicken and Roasted Veggies dish!


Plant-based proteins are an easy, versatile option for everyone, whether or not you’re a meat-eater. Incorporating some vegan protein sources, or even entirely vegan meals, into your diet can help beat meal-prep boredom by forcing you to explore different recipes, styles of cooking, taste profiles, and more.

How to Meal Prep with Vegan Protein

Did we miss any of your favorite vegan protein sources? Let us know in the comments or over on Instagram!

Filed Under: Blog, Meal Prep Pro Tips Tagged With: tempeh, tofu, tofu scramble, vegan, vegan breakfast, vegan meal prep, vegan protein, vegetarian

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Workweek Lunch | Talia Koren
Before we dive in here, I just want to say this po Before we dive in here, I just want to say this post is not meant to shame people for resting on the weekend (or their TV choices). 🙏🏼 We all gotta do what we gotta do. But if you’re someone who believes meal prepping means giving up TV time, I’m here to prove otherwise.
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📺 I’m a huge TV fan in general, anyone else? I’m also a huge fan of reducing stress and saving money and time during the workweek, so that’s a big part of why I choose to do some TV watching from the kitchen on weekends - not just the couch. Again, no shame in that!!! You can find me on the couch almost every weeknight (my partner and I are between shows right now (recommendations a welcome)😅
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🤘🏼If you’re someone who knows doing some prepping ahead of time can make your workweek easier, but don’t want to give up binge watching your favorite shows, I hope this post inspires you to switch it up. If not, by all means, couch on.
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😅😅Btw I need new shows! What are you watching these days?
Not sure what to meal prep this weekend? Try findi Not sure what to meal prep this weekend? Try finding a recipe to replicate your fave takeout meal! My favorite takeout inspired meal to cook for weekly lunches is definitely teriyaki chicken.
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🥡Takeout inspired meals work so well for meal prep and they’re easier to make at home than you’d think!
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🌯We have sooo many take out inspired meals (like the ones you see pictured) in the WWL Meal Prep Program for members! Learn more and sign up on a FREE trial in my bio link and jump with with all our recipes, meal plans and grocery lists today!
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🥗Btw when I say “better” than takeout, I don’t mean healthier. I mean it’s often tastier, you have more control over the ingredients (and how they make you feel) and it’s cheaper! Good things all around.
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🍕Don’t forget to save this post for next time you’re not sure what to prep for the week!
Have you tried the Starbucks Spinach Feta Wrap? If Have you tried the Starbucks Spinach Feta Wrap? If yes, have you ever tried to make it at home? 👩🏻‍🍳I did and here are the results! Grab the FREE recipe on stories/story highlights! Btw we have a full how to video for this meal on YouTube - youtube.com/workweeklunch!
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💸So this wrap cost about $5 when I bought it over the weekend. And the groceries for THREE of the wraps cost me $5.56, which comes to $1.85 for each wrap. Note that I calculated this based on what I used up. For example I bought tortillas for about $3.50, but only used 3 out of 8 of them.
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✅ You only need 5 ingredients for this breakfast: egg whites, feta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and wraps.
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🤔Since I know you’re going to ask: how do I reheat these?
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👇🏼REHEATING TIPS:
-for microwaving, wrap the wrap in a dry paper towel. It soaks up extra moisture.
-for best results, use a toaster oven or oven.
-I do a microwave/toaster hybrid method.
-these last 4-5 days in the fridge and 6 months frozen.
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✔️The trick to making wraps NOT soggy: let your filling cool 100% before wrapping. Also use good wraps. My favorite wraps are from @missionfoodsus
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🙏🏼Hope you enjoy this recreation! This is a great way to save money too. Happy prepping!
HOLD UP! Don't toss those veggies yet. 🥦You can HOLD UP! Don't toss those veggies yet. 🥦You can transform them into a new meal by rolling them up - even better if it's with lavash bread from @josephspitabread. 🌯What’s lavash? It’s a thin flatbread you can use for pizza, burritos, rollups, cut up and toast for chips - it's really endless!
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😍This lavash is FREEZER FRIENDLY! So you can keep it stashed for months and use it whenever you need to repurpose your leftovers.
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🌯In these roll ups, I used leftover roasted veggies, a random bit of arugula (aka rocket) that I had leftover and the last of my tzatziki from another meal prep. Wrap it all up in delicious lavash bread and call it lunch.
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👉🏽Save this post for next time you have no idea what to do with leftover veggies and need some inspiration! And if you're all about lavash bread like me, you can transform leftover veg into a lavash pizza or lavash quesadilla too!
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🙌🏼Want to try this amazing Lavash bread? Get 20% off your online order with code WWL20 at checkout on the Joseph's Pita Bread site! Linked in stories, or head to https://shop.josephsbakery.com
A whole week of meals: planned! Swipe left to see A whole week of meals: planned! Swipe left to see the five featured meal prep friendly recipes in this week’s new WWL Plan 👈🏼👈🏽
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✅All meals can be made vegan, vegetarian, omnivore and gluten-free! And they’re all tested for meal prep (meaning they taste amazing as leftovers and reheat well).
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🥶Everything except the pasta on this week’s plan is freezer friendly!
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🌯And I’m so excited to finally share our Starbucks copycat wraps in the plan now that we have a good vegan version! Thanks to @lochjessmonster_ our new FT veggie-focused recipe developer!!!
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🥣The black bean soup and  savory waffles are brought to you by @pinkleme aka “The Soup Queen” (all of her soups are a huge hit).
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🙌🏼Can’t wait for you all to try these recipes! To get access, you must be a member of the WWL Program! As a member you get a new plan, new weekly recipes (and all our old ones), access to our planning tools and grocery list generator, private community and more! Sign up on a free trial then it’s just $9.99/mo to keep meal prepping with us. The membership will pay for itself in what you’ll save on groceries every month. Are you on or what?!
And that definition can change throughout your lif And that definition can change throughout your life. 🤸🏽‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️
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CW: weight gain discussion
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🤔I had a really hard but interesting conversation about this over the weekend with my partner. We both expressed to each other that we want to be more active in our highly sedentary lives (although I’m on my feet a lot in the kitchen). But didn’t see eye to eye completely on what health “looks” like in our bodies and in our lifestyle. That’s ok. No one truly knows what it feels like to be you. I think it’s hard for some to wrap their minds around the idea that you CAN be in a larger body AND feel amazing, eat a varied diet, eat enough, be strong and flexible and have stamina. My partner expressed concern that I’ve gained weight in the last year (hello, we’re in a pandemic) and we talked about how it’s ok. It’s normal. It’s expected. And it’s not something that’s self-contained and needs to be “fixed” or focused on. Aside from being less active than I was pre-pandemic, *I feel good*! Luckily he’s very open to learning about IE and HAES, and we are ok with not being totally on the same page in every aspect of this complex topic. Because he doesn’t get to define health for me. And I don’t get to define health for him. We can still care about and respect each other AND have boundaries.
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🙏🏼I hope this post is a good reminder if you have someone (or something, like social media) in your life trying to control what health should look like for you. Like I said, no one knows exactly how it feels to be in your body except you. Trust your body. Advocate for yourself.
Things I never thought I’d be: an expert on rehe Things I never thought I’d be: an expert on reheating burritos. Yet here we are! 🌯🌮🥙
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👈🏼👈🏽Swipe through for all my tips and tricks for acing meals like wraps, quesadillas, burritos and tacos for meal prep. At the end you’ll see two quick videos of me rolling up burritos and assembling quesadillas.
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🌮We have TONS of meals like this in the WWL Program! Recipes for all the meals pictured can be found in the program for members only - sign up today in my bio link to get recipes + time saving weekly meal plans + grocery lists and so much more.
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👩🏼‍🍳Hope this helps set you up for success in the kitchen! I got so many tortilla questions yesterday during my meal prep. Happy to answer more below!
Reminder: self care and preparation come in a lot Reminder: self care and preparation come in a lot of different forms. ✏️
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🌯Meal prep is one of them, but it’s not realistic or best for every person. If it’s not for you or you don’t have time, here are some other ways to set yourself up for enduring LESS STRESS every week. Don’t try to do them all - just pick one or two.
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❓What did I miss on this list? Share below!
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👉🏼And if you DO want to batch cook, but get overwhelmed with planning and finding good recipes, we got you! Sign up in my bio link to get pre-made meal plans, grocery lists and tons of meal prep tested recipes. You can customize everything (this is not about restriction or weight loss - it’s about being practical and eating yummy food!). We offer a free 7 day trial when you sign up!
Have you ever tried a produce box subscription? Sh Have you ever tried a produce box subscription? Share your experience with us in the comments! Here’s mine 👇🏼
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I started using @pacificcoastharvest a month ago after randomly seeing the boxes sitting in a local coffee shop!
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The cost is $30 per box (I know it doesn’t look like a lot) BUT you can control what’s in your box and how much you want to spend. That’s one thing I really like about this box. I can choose the produce I want every week and I’ve been using this to supplement weekend cooking and some meal prep. I’m able to stretch some of the ingredients for weeks (root veggies, apples).
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If I couldn’t choose what’s in the box, it would be pretty tough for me. But so far I’ve used and loved all the produce (and some other items like coffee, hot sauce and cheese) and am excited to keep branching out!
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Since using this box I’ve had purple Brussels, watermelon radish, gold beets, local apples, satsumas, purple yams, turnips and more. I can’t wait to try lemongrass from this week’s box. For me, someone who cooks a lot and can spend a little extra on this stuff, it’s worth it. With this weekly box, our regular grocery costs have decreased too. I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts below!
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This isn’t an ad btw! Just really enjoying Pacific Coast Harvest and happy I stumbled upon their boxes recently.
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