High Protein Desserts With the Protein Counted

I call a dessert high protein at 10 g or more in a serving, and the five below have 12–36 g for 137–267 kcal. A half cup of vanilla ice cream has 2.3 g. The gap comes from the base: Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, silken tofu or milk with whey protein powder instead of cream. I weighed every ingredient from USDA records. You can see where each gram comes from.

What counts as a high protein dessert?

One that clears two lines of my own, one for protein in the serving and one for protein per calorie. Here is what three usual desserts score.

Dessert (state)	Serving	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal	Sugars
Ice cream, vanilla	66 g (half a cup)	2.3 g	137 kcal	1.7 g	14.0 g
Pudding, chocolate, ready-to-eat	108 g (1 container)	2.3 g	153 kcal	1.5 g	18.5 g
Cheesecake, commercially prepared	125 g (1 piece)	6.9 g	401 kcal	1.7 g	27.2 g

My lines are 10 g of protein in the serving and at least 9 g per 100 kcal. All three usual desserts miss both. Nothing official sets those lines, and how much protein you should eat a day shows the daily total they feed into. The cheesecake slice looks best at 6.9 g, but it also carries 401 kcal and 27.2 g of sugars. Per 100 kcal the three sit between 1.5 g and 1.7 g, while the desserts below run at 9.1–13.6 g, roughly five to nine times more. I set the second line at 9 g because the weakest of the five recipes, the mousse at 9.1 g, still clears it.

Here is the same gap in calories. To get 20 g of protein from the cheesecake you’d eat about 364 g, or 1,167 kcal. From the ice cream it’s 571 g and 1,183 kcal. The pudding cup needs 957 g and 1,359 kcal. The yogurt mousse below reaches 20 g at about 147 kcal, roughly a tenth of what the pudding cup costs.

How do I make a high protein chocolate mousse?

Whip plain nonfat Greek yogurt with cocoa and a little honey. It gives 22.6 g of protein for 166 kcal, and I keep the honey to one teaspoon, which is 5.7 g of sugars.

Ingredient (state)	Weight	Protein	Energy
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat	200 g	20.6 g	122 kcal
Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened	10 g (about 2 tbsp)	2.0 g	23 kcal
Honey	7 g (1 tsp)	0.0 g	21 kcal
Total		22.6 g	166 kcal

Cocoa is bitter. You may want more sweetener, but the Dietary Guidelines for Americans say one meal should hold no more than 10 g of added sugars. One teaspoon of honey fits. Two do not, since two is 11.5 g. The Guidelines also cap yogurt snacks at 2.5 g of added sugar per two thirds of a cup. Count the mousse as a yogurt snack and that one teaspoon already goes over. I treat it as dessert.

For a dairy-free version, swap the yogurt for 150 g of silken tofu. The protein falls to 12.4 g, which is 10.2 g less, and the energy to 137 kcal. That still clears my 10 g line. The tofu record is a branded firm silken tofu, so check your own package.

How do I make a high protein pudding?

Stir a third of a cup of whey protein powder and half an ounce of chia seeds into a cup of cold nonfat milk and let it set. That makes 35.7 g of protein and 267 kcal, with no added sugar in the recipe.

Ingredient (state)	Weight	Protein	Energy
Milk, nonfat	247 g (1 cup)	8.4 g	86 kcal
Whey protein powder	32 g (a third of a cup)	25.0 g	113 kcal
Chia seeds	14 g (half an ounce)	2.3 g	68 kcal
Total		35.7 g	267 kcal

Powders differ. The record is a generic whey-based powder with 78.13 g of protein per 100 g. A flavored product can carry sweeteners, so read your label and use its numbers. Leave the powder out and the pudding is milk and chia alone, at 10.7 g of protein and 154 kcal. That’s just over my line. The longer version, with Greek yogurt and whey options, is in high protein chia pudding.

What are easy high protein desserts without powder?

Cottage cheese with fruit, and a yogurt parfait. Neither needs a blender or a spoon of powder. The cottage cheese bowl has 17.2 g of protein for 179 kcal, and the parfait has 21.1 g for 229 kcal.

Ingredient (state)	Weight	Protein	Energy
Cottage cheese, lowfat 2%	150 g (about 2/3 cup)	16.5 g	126 kcal
Strawberries, raw	100 g (about 2/3 cup, sliced)	0.7 g	32 kcal
Honey	7 g (1 tsp)	0.0 g	21 kcal
Total		17.2 g	179 kcal

Cottage cheese supplies 16.5 g of the 17.2 g. Strawberries add 0.7 g.

Ingredient (state)	Weight	Protein	Energy
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat	170 g	17.5 g	104 kcal
Blueberries, raw	75 g (half a cup)	0.6 g	43 kcal
Almonds, raw	14 g (half an ounce)	3.0 g	82 kcal
Total		21.1 g	229 kcal

No honey goes into the parfait. The sweetness comes from the blueberries, whose sugars are the fruit’s own, and the crunch comes from the almonds. The almonds bring 3.0 g of protein and 82 kcal, about a third of the parfait’s energy. For something baked, high protein banana bread uses yogurt and whey in a loaf, and high protein pancakes do the same on a griddle.

Which high protein desserts have the most protein per calorie?

The mousse and the pudding, at about 13.5 g per 100 kcal. For comparison, vanilla ice cream scores 1.7 g. This table ranks all five by that number, which I worked out from the totals above.

Dessert	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal	Added sugar (honey)
Chocolate Greek yogurt mousse	22.6 g	166 kcal	13.6 g	5.7 g
Whey and chia pudding	35.7 g	267 kcal	13.4 g	0.0 g
Cottage cheese and strawberries	17.2 g	179 kcal	9.6 g	5.7 g
Blueberry yogurt parfait	21.1 g	229 kcal	9.2 g	0.0 g
Silken tofu chocolate mousse	12.4 g	137 kcal	9.1 g	5.7 g

Pudding gives the most protein in total, 35.7 g, and takes no honey. The yogurt mousse wins per calorie, though only by 0.2 g per 100 kcal.

To see how a dessert fits your day, work out your own daily protein from your height and weight with the protein calculator.

If you have kidney disease, check any protein target with your doctor first. Pregnancy and being under 18 change the figures as well. This guide is for adults.

Pick the dessert that looks easiest this week and weigh each ingredient as it goes in. In Calsa, you can save it as a recipe built from those ingredients, so the next batch is one entry.