As Dublin’s best fruit delivery service our job is to deliver fresh fruit to Dublin’s offices as often as they need. Fruit is great for nutrition as it’s a fresh, healthy and natural source of carbohydrates, energy, sugar and other vitamins and minerals. We do also deliver milk to offices in Dublin (always an essential and always seems to run out, eh?) But if you’re wondering how to increase your protein intake or what are the vegan sources of protein, look no further.

Protein isn’t just chicken breasts, fish and lean turkey burgers, so it’s baffling when ‘fit fam’ people seem to eat the exact same thing for each meal, right? Variety is the spice of life and protein is actually found in a lot of ingredients that you might not have considered before. In fact, you already might be getting more protein than you thought when you think about vegan, animal-free protein options. There’s even protein in potatoes!

Vegan protein: Nuts

Cashews, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, peanuts, pistachios…. nuts are full of protein. This is part of the reason why nut butter is such a beneficial part of your nutrition (try our homemade peanut butter recipe here). Nuts are a great in-between meal snack, especially at work to keep hunger pangs at bay.

Vegan protein: Grains

Before you even put whey protein in your porridge to make ‘proats’, remember that oats contain protein naturally, in fact as much as 17g per 100g. Even more so if you make with full-fat or protein-enriched milk. Other grains like quinoa, buckwheat, brown/wild rice also contain protein naturally.

Vegan protein: Greens

Dark, leafy greens, to be precise. Why did you think Popeye gulped all that spinach to make his muscles grow? Spinach, cabbages, sprouts and kale along with lots of salad leaves have differing levels of protein in them. That salad that you’re having for lunch could be a real protein powerhouse if you top with a tahini dressing, a sprinkling of seeds and some walnuts or pecans for texture.

Vegan protein: Beans & Peas

Beans and pulses – even green garden peas – have impressive amounts of protein. Think of a veggie burger, there’s usually a combination of beans, pulses and often some root vegetables to give it bulk, roughage and lots of flavour. Chickpeas are one of the best examples of a high-protein bean, which makes hummus a great snack with some celery sticks or other raw vegetable sticks. Lentils are small but mighty, one of the highest protein-packed vegan ingredients you can include in your diet.

Vegan protein: soy

Tofu is notoriously tasteless but you can jazz it up by marinating it, grilling it and adding lots of herbs, oils and spices to it to make it sing. Think of tofu as a blank canvas that you can flavour in a million different ways. Other meat-free alternatives that can resemble meat include tempeh and seitan.

Vegan protein: seeds

You wouldn’t think it, but every sprinkle helps! A handful of seeds atop a dish or cooked into a recipe can bulk up the protein amounts. Try some added chia seeds, hemp seeds or flax seeds on anything from breakfast to dinner and you’ll be fuller and more satisfied.

To sum up, here’s a handy sources of vegan protein infographic to remember!