6 High-Protein Low-Calorie Dinners Under 500 Calories

Grilled lemon and herb chicken with minted yogurt: 60g of protein for 350 calories, which is the best ratio of anything on this list by a clear margin.

The yogurt is doing two jobs, working as a marinade that keeps the breast from drying out and then as the sauce on the plate. Marinate it for as long as you reasonably can, because this is a dish with very little hiding its flavours, so the marinade matters more than usual. Lemon, garlic and coriander seed are the whole seasoning, and they are enough.

Sea bass fillets braised in a gochujang, soy and ginger sauce, landing at 45g of protein for 350 calories. Fish is where high protein low calorie cooking gets easy, and this is the most interesting version of that.

Gochujang brings heat, salt and a deep fermented sweetness all at once, so the sauce tastes slow-cooked after about ten minutes. Add the fillets late and keep the heat gentle, because sea bass goes from just done to overdone quickly. Spoon the sauce over rather than turning the fish, so the fillets stay in one piece.

Chicken and red lentils cooked in one pot with curry powder and green beans, finished with pumpkin seeds. The chicken and lentils together reach 45g of protein for 450 calories.

Stacking two protein sources in one dish is the simplest way to get a number this high without a vast portion of meat, and the lentils also thicken everything into something properly substantial. Red lentils collapse completely, which is what you want here rather than holding their shape. The pumpkin seeds on top are not decoration, they are the only crunch in the bowl.

Five-spice duck breast with stir-fried cucumber: 42g of protein for 410 calories, which surprises people, because duck has a reputation for being rich.

Most of the fat sits in the skin, so scoring it and rendering it slowly in a dry pan gets you crisp skin while a good deal of the fat leaves. Start the duck skin-side down in a cold pan and bring the heat up gradually. Stir-fried cucumber sounds odd and is excellent, staying crisp and soaking up the five-spice. This is the one on the list that eats like a restaurant dish.

Seared tuna steak over a tomato and chickpea medley, 42g of protein for 450 calories and on the table in thirty minutes. The chickpeas add protein and make it a full meal rather than fish on a plate.

Tuna steak wants a very hot pan and very little time. Sear it hard and leave the middle pink, because cooked through it turns dry and chalky and there is no rescuing it. The chickpeas and tomatoes should be warm rather than hot, somewhere between a salad and a stew, which is what keeps this feeling light.

Spiced pork loin grilled and served with a cucumber yogurt salad: 40g of protein for 450 calories. Pork loin is one of the leanest cuts going and gets unfairly overlooked in favour of chicken.

Cumin and mild curry powder give it a crust that chicken would struggle to carry, and the cool yogurt salad underneath is what balances it. Rest the pork for five minutes before slicing or the juices end up on the board instead of in the meat. Iceberg is the right lettuce here precisely because it is watery and crunchy and does not wilt.