High Protein Zucchini Slice: 19 g a Piece

Cut into eight, a classic zucchini slice has about 13.7 g of protein and 303 kcal (1,268 kJ) a piece, going by USDA records. A high protein zucchini slice swaps most of the flour for eggs and cottage cheese. It has 18.2 g for 258 kcal (1,079 kJ), or 19.0 g for 217 kcal (908 kJ) with lean bacon.

How much protein is in a classic zucchini slice?

It depends on the cut, and I cut eight. My classic list: 400 g zucchini, 80 g onion, 100 g cooked bacon, 100 g cheddar, 150 g self-raising flour, 5 large eggs and 54 g of oil (4 tablespoons). The table below links every record. The whole tray adds up to 109.2 g of protein and 2,422 kcal.

Four ingredients carry most of the calories: the bacon at 548 kcal, the flour at 531, the oil at 477 and the cheddar at 403. The 400 g of zucchini adds only 64. The bacon also has the most protein, 35.7 g, with the five eggs next at 31.2 g for 370 kcal.

My bar for a high protein piece is 18 g. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans give 1.2–1.6 g per kg of body weight a day, or 84–112 g at 70 kg (154 lb). The 18 g is a bar I’ve set myself, about a fifth of the low end. Your own range comes from the protein calculator, which uses the same numbers. The reasoning behind them is in how much protein you should eat a day.

How do I make a high protein zucchini slice?

Swap flour for egg and cottage cheese.

Flour holds the slice together and brings little protein for its calories. The 150 g of self-rising flour in the classic list has 14.8 g of protein and 531 kcal. Eggs and cottage cheese carry more protein per calorie, and I kept 40 g of flour in the mix.

I built three versions on paper and added up the USDA records myself. Zucchini and onion are the same in all three, and the bacon is weighed after cooking.

Ingredient	Classic	High protein	High protein, lean bacon
Zucchini	400 g	400 g	400 g
Onion	80 g	80 g	80 g
Bacon, cooked	100 g	100 g	none
Canadian bacon, cooked	none	none	150 g
Cheddar	100 g	80 g	80 g
Self-rising flour	150 g	40 g	40 g
Eggs	251.5 g (5)	402.4 g (8)	402.4 g (8)
Cottage cheese, lowfat	none	300 g	300 g
Olive oil	54 g	13.5 g	13.5 g
Whole tray	109.2 g protein, 2,422 kcal	145.5 g protein, 2,068 kcal	152.2 g protein, 1,739 kcal
One piece (an eighth)	13.7 g, 303 kcal / 1,268 kJ	18.2 g, 258 kcal / 1,079 kJ	19.0 g, 217 kcal / 908 kJ

The middle column just clears my 18 g bar and takes 45 kcal off a piece. Lean bacon adds another 0.8 g and removes 41 kcal. It’s a different cut with a different taste, so that swap is a taste call. The bacon record is US cooked bacon, and the lean one is Canadian bacon standing in for lean back bacon. Bacon varies by country, so read your own pack.

Bacon drives the sodium. The records give about 620 mg a piece for the classic, 584 mg for the high protein version and 497 mg with lean bacon. The Dietary Guidelines say people aged 14 and over should consume less than 2,300 mg a day, so one piece uses roughly a quarter of that. Cooked bacon has 2,193 mg per 100 g in its record and self-rising flour 1,193 mg, so cutting the flour trims sodium as well as calories. If a doctor has given you a lower limit, use theirs.

With less flour, expect a softer, more custardy slice. Bake until the middle is set.

How do I log a piece of zucchini slice?

Divide the tray.

Add up the raw ingredients, call that the tray total, and divide by the number of pieces. Baking mostly drives off water. The baked tray weighs less than the raw mix, and a gram of slice has more protein than a gram of batter. That’s why I count the raw weights and cut by number of pieces, not by grams. The egg-and-cottage-cheese tray in high protein breakfast casserole is cut into eighths the same way.

Cut size matters more than any swap. Cut into twelve, the classic tray gives 9.1 g and 202 kcal a piece and the high protein tray 12.1 g and 172 kcal, from the same USDA records. I’d treat eight pieces as a meal and twelve as a snack, so I’d decide the count before cutting. Dessert trays behave the same way, and high protein cheesecake counts per slice of eight.

Weigh the flour and the oil. A cup of self-raising flour is 125 g in the record, but a scooped cup doesn’t stay the same from one scoop to the next. A tablespoon of olive oil is 13.5 g and 119 kcal.

What changes on an Australian label?

Energy is in kilojoules, and kilocalories may sit beside it. Food Standards Australia New Zealand says the nutrition information panel shows energy in kilojoules, or in kilojoules and kilocalories, with quantities per serving and per 100 g (page updated October 2025). To compare with the USDA numbers here, divide kJ by 4.184. For packaged bacon, cheese and cottage cheese, use your pack’s panel and not my records.

What should I make first?

If you have kidney disease, check the protein per piece against the limit your doctor gave you before you bake a tray of these. Pregnancy and being under 18 change what you need, too.

Pick the high protein version, build it once with the grams from the table, and cut it into eight. Don’t change the cut size next week. If you want more protein on the plate, high protein beans gives grams per cup for each kind.

Calsa builds a recipe from its ingredients, so you can enter the tray once and see the source behind each number.