How much protein do I need to build muscle?
1.6–2.2g per kilogram of bodyweight per day. For an 80kg lifter, roughly 128–176g.
High Protein Foods for Muscle Gain
Muscle gain needs three things: enough total protein, enough total calories, and progressive training. The food list below covers the first two.
Research converges on 1.6–2.2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day for building muscle; beyond that the returns flatten. Spread across four meals of 30–40g, that is straightforward.
Because you also need a calorie surplus, protein foods that come with calories — whole eggs, beef, salmon, whole milk, nut butters — are useful here in a way they are not during a cut.
Best foods for muscle gain
Protein and calories per 100g, from the Protein Hunter database.
| Food | Protein | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 🥤 Whey protein isolate | 90g | 400 |
| 🥛 Casein protein | 80g | 360 |
| 🐔 Chicken breast (cooked) | 31g | 179 |
| 🥩 Beef sirloin (cooked) | 29g | 196 |
| 🐟 Tuna (canned in water) | 29g | 131 |
| 🍔 Ground beef (lean, 95%) | 26g | 184 |
| 🐟 Salmon (cooked) | 25g | 250 |
| 🥜 Peanut butter | 25g | 588 |
| 🍢 Tempeh | 19g | 193 |
| 🥚 Whole egg | 13g | 155 |
| 🌾 Rolled oats (dry) | 13g | 389 |
| 🧀 Cottage cheese (low-fat) | 12g | 72 |
| 🥣 Greek yogurt (full fat) | 8.5g | 97 |
| 🥛 Whole milk | 3.4g | 61 |
Per 100g.
Getting the distribution right
- Four meals of 35g beats two meals of 70g for muscle protein synthesis.
- Include a protein source within a few hours of training — the exact minute matters much less than the daily total.
- Casein before bed (quark, cottage cheese, casein powder) gives a slow overnight amino acid release.
- If you are struggling to eat enough, calories are usually the limiting factor, not protein.
Turn this into dinner
Hunter Chef builds a recipe around the protein target you pick, with macros calculated from the real ingredients.
Open Hunter ChefCommon questions
Is 30g of protein per meal a hard limit?
No. The idea that only 30g can be used per meal is a myth — larger doses are still used, just more slowly. Even distribution is simply a slightly more efficient way to eat.
Do I need protein powder?
No, but it is a cheap and convenient way to close a 30–40g gap on busy days.
Keep reading
Protein CalculatorAdd up any meal in plain words.Protein database230+ foods with protein and calories.How much protein per daySet the target these foods feed into.What is Protein Hunter?
Protein Hunter is a protein and nutrition app with a database of 232 foods — from a leaf of kale to a wagyu steak — plus AI tools that answer protein questions, count a whole meal, build recipes to a macro target, and track what you actually eat.
- Search any food
- Count a full meal
- Recipes to your macros
- Scan a plate or label
Why it's different: the numbers are calculated from a fixed ingredient database rather than guessed, and when a target is not physically achievable the app says so instead of inventing a figure.
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