By Damon Burton ’26
Recently there’s been a craze across the world of eating more protein. While most of these people definitely don’t need nearly as much protein as they eat (which is a topic for another time) protein is still certainly important, especially for those looking to lose weight or gain muscle. Protein is the fundamental building block of muscle; it’s impossible to have any significant, long-term muscle gain without eating enough protein. Protein also has the same calories per gram as carbohydrates, except it takes much more time and energy to digest, meaning that protein will keep you more satiated for the same amount of calories.
Many people try to hit their daily protein with yogurt bowls, processed drinks, beans, bars, or a “protein snack that tastes SO good you’ll forget how healthy it is” from a recipe on tiktok, but personally, my favourite source of protein is by far meat. Meats work well as both a standalone food with rice and as an ingredient in a larger dish like a curry, pasta, or stew.
The four proteins that I’ll be covering in this article are salmon, chicken breast, pork chops, and chicken thighs. The last major meat not included in this article is beef, which would be difficult to fully cover in the scope of this article as there’s so many popular cuts, grades, and types of beef whose nutritional value can vary wildly between them.
Firstly: Salmon. A 100g portion of farmed atlantic salmon has approximately 208 calories, 20.4 grams of protein, and 13.4 grams of fat. The protein content of salmon is solid, although it does have quite a bit of fat. This fat does make salmon a bit more calorie-rich than leaner proteins, however, it helps to “bulletproof” salmon, ensuring it remains flavourful even when overcooked, and is a healthier type of fat compared to others. Around ~2g of this fat is Omega 3 fatty acids, which for most people eating a western diet, is significantly better for you than the Omega 6’s found in high quantities in other foods. Salmon, like most other fish, should be cooked in a nonstick pan instead of a stainless steel pan if possible, as the meat is very delicate and can easily be torn apart while cooking in sticker pans. Salmon is pretty pricey compared to other proteins though, coming in at ~$4/100g for farmed salmon and ~$5.80/100g for wild salmon. However, wild salmon has much more Omega 3’s than farmed salmon, so if you can spare the extra money I would recommend sticking with the wild fish. My personal favorite way to cook salmon is just salt, pepper, and garlic powder (only salt on the skin side) into a nonstick pan with some olive oil until medium, then served with rice. I also enjoy frying some broccoli in the leftover oil once the salmon is taken out of the pan.
Next we have the bodybuilder’s best friend: Chicken breast. One of the cheaper proteins at about $2.30/100g (although you can often find it on sale for as low as $1.80), 100g of chicken breast contains only 165 calories, 3.57 grams of fat, and a whopping 31g of protein – over 50% more than salmon! Chicken breast is an incredibly lean protein, which is why many bodybuilders looking to cut down turn to chicken breast as their main source of sustenance for months at a time. With chicken breast, you can hit 150g of protein for about 800 calories, leaving you with plenty of room for whatever else you’d like to eat. However, many of them don’t exactly love chicken breast for this due to its bland taste. Since its fat content is so low, chicken breast tends to be dry and lacks flavour. You can remedy this by adding a little bit of butter – even with the extra calories from the butter, it’ll still probably have less than many other proteins, but I prefer to only eat chicken breast as an ingredient. For example, you can make a pan sauce with stock and the burned bits in the pan, or chop it up for a chicken curry or pasta. Governments recommend cooking chicken breast to an internal temperature of ~160-165 farenheit, however, there is evidence that you can achieve much juicer but still safe chicken breast by keeping it at an internal temperature of ~150 fahrenheit for ten minutes, although this is very difficult to manage. With these tricks, you can make one of the healthiest & cheapest foods you can eat taste pretty good too!
Pork chops are, in my opinion, one of if not the most underrated meat. Due to how easy it is for farmers to raise pigs, 100g of boneless pork loin chops can cost around $2.20/100g, although you can save money from buying chops with the bone in. There’s about 231 calories, 23.7g of protein, and 14.4g of fat. Overall, the fattiest and highest calorie protein we’ll be talking about today, however, this nutrition doesn’t tell the whole story. In pork chops, most of the fat tends to be in large clumps and sections around the muscle, meaning if you’re trying to lose wait you can simply cut those portions off, drastically reducing the calorie content of the meat. Pork chops are extremely versatile, but I like them best pan-fried until medium with a good sear, served alongside mashed potatoes with a nice pan sauce. Overall, very good calories and protein per dollar along with tasting amazing. There are many other cuts of pork that can serve different purposes – tenderloin is leaner, pork butt is extremely high-fat and rich making it optimal for flavour and bulking, etc., but the classic pork loin chop functions well as both a high-class dish as well as a quick cheap meal.
Finally, we have my personal favourite, chicken thighs. I’ll be writing an entire article about chicken and how to prepare it, but in short, chicken thighs are delicious, versatile, cheap, delicious, healthy, and delicious. A 100g portion of boneless skinless chicken thighs costs about $2.40 with 180 calories, 24.8g of protein, and 8.15g of fat. While the protein content is noticeably lower than the sky-high protein content of chicken breast, this loss in protein allows chicken breast to contain 5g more fat for only 20 more calories. As anyone who cooks can tell you, fat is flavour, and chicken thighs have that flavour. They’re practically bulletproof and amazing for novice chefs. They need to be heated to 160 fahrenheit to kill pathogens, however, they taste best when heated to around ~180 fahrenheit, at least for me. This higher heat helps to break down the connective tissue in them and get rid of that slimy texture, and the fat content keeps the chicken nice and moist at temperatures as high as 220 degrees fahrenheit, where chicken breast would be the texture of chalk. You can save money and end up with tastier meat by buying bone-in chicken thighs and removing the bones yourself while leaving the skins on. Since 2008, over 70 BILLION chickens have been killed – and if I’m being honest, there’s a decent chance about a quarter of them went straight to my plate as chicken thighs.