GLP-1 recipes: 8 small, high-protein recipes for a small appetite

Short answer: a good GLP-1 recipe is small, soft and protein-first. A 2025 joint advisory from four US medical and nutrition societies suggests small, frequent meals, protein eaten first, and smoothies, cottage cheese and soups, which many people find easier than heavier food.^[1] Each of the eight recipes below carries 11 to 24 g of protein in one small serving.^[2]

Recipes are the practical end of a bigger question, what to eat when portions shrink, which our guide to what to eat when you're eating less covers in full. This page is the kitchen version: eight single-serving recipes, most of them no-cook or one-pan, built so the protein arrives before fullness does. Every number in the table comes from USDA FoodData Central, worked out from the exact amounts in each recipe. None of it is a diet plan, and none of it is tied to one medication: the same small-plate logic applies on Zepbound, Mounjaro, Wegovy, Ozempic or any other GLP-1.

What makes a recipe GLP-1-friendly?

Nothing official defines a "GLP-1 recipe". The prescribing labels set no food rules for the weekly injections; each says the dose can be taken with or without meals.^[3][4] What does exist is practical advice from the 2025 joint advisory on nutrition with GLP-1 therapy, and it points to four traits:^[1]

• Small and frequent. The advisory says small, frequent meals may work when hunger and interest in food are low, and suggests a small breakfast, then small meals every three to four hours with adequate fluids.
• Protein first. It notes that protein can be hard to reach when appetite is low, and suggests eating protein-rich foods first in a meal so they are more likely to get eaten.
• Low volume, high value. It names fish, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts and seeds, and their spreads such as peanut butter, as lower-volume, nutrient-dense protein foods.
• Soft, drinkable or spoonable. It describes smoothies and protein drinks made with fruit, vegetables and unsweetened milk or yogurt, cottage cheese, and soups as often more appealing than heavier foods such as red meat, cold cuts or hard cheese.

The same advisory lists fried and greasy food, sugar-sweetened drinks and refined grains among the things to keep small.^[1] The recipes below are built around that list rather than around any single ingredient. The longer version of what to go easy on is in foods to avoid on a GLP-1.

How much protein should a small meal carry?

It depends on your daily target and how many times you eat. The recommended allowance for adults is 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, and the joint advisory notes that higher targets of 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg have been proposed for adults on these medications. It also warns that intake should not fall below 0.4 to 0.5 g/kg, because that can lead to muscle loss.^[1]

For someone who weighs 70 kg (about 154 pounds), 0.8 g/kg is 56 g a day and 1.2 g/kg is 84 g. Spread over four small meals, that is roughly 14 to 21 g each. That arithmetic is why every recipe here lands between 11 and 24 g. Your own range is in how much protein to eat on a GLP-1, and the protein calculator works it out from your weight.

What do these eight recipes give you?

Recipe (one serving)	Protein	Calories	Water in the food	Fiber
Raspberry Greek yogurt smoothie	22 g	184	about 310 ml	4.0 g
Overnight oats with yogurt and chia	17 g	226	about 185 ml	5.5 g
Soft scrambled eggs with spinach and mozzarella	17 g	185	about 110 ml	0.7 g
Lemony salmon salad	24 g	133	about 85 ml	0 g
Cottage cheese, pineapple and hemp bowl	15 g	188	about 165 ml	1.5 g
Lentil and spinach soup	16 g	156	about 355 ml	8.5 g
Egg-drop broth	11 g	109	about 275 ml	0 g
Peanut butter banana milk	12 g	251	about 265 ml	2.3 g

Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) values for each ingredient at the amounts listed in the recipes, not from a lab test of the finished dish; brands vary.^[2] "Water in the food" is the water the ingredients themselves contain. It matters because roughly a fifth of the water most people take in normally comes from food, so eating less quietly means drinking less too.^[5] The smoothie, the soups and the milk drink carry the most.

What are easy high-protein GLP-1 breakfast recipes?

The advisory's "small breakfast" suggestion is the anchor here: a morning without food makes the rest of the day harder to fill.^[1] All three of these take five minutes or less.

Raspberry Greek yogurt smoothie (22 g protein)

• 6 oz (170 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup (122 g) 1% milk
• 1/2 cup (62 g) raspberries, fresh or frozen

Blend until smooth. Frozen berries make it thick enough to eat with a spoon. It is about one and a half cups, and it can be sipped over half an hour rather than finished at once. Any unsweetened milk works; dairy or soy milk keeps the protein up.

Overnight oats with yogurt and chia (17 g protein)

• 1/4 cup (20 g) quick or rolled oats, dry
• 1/2 cup (122 g) 1% milk
• 3 oz (85 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 10 g chia seeds

Stir together in a jar, cover and refrigerate overnight. It is soft by morning and needs no cooking. Add cinnamon or a few berries for flavor rather than syrup. At 5.5 g of fiber it is the most filling of the three, so on a low day, eat half and finish it later.

Soft scrambled eggs with spinach and mozzarella (17 g protein)

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup (30 g) raw baby spinach
• 1/2 oz (14 g) shredded part-skim mozzarella

Wilt the spinach in a nonstick pan, add the beaten eggs and stir over low heat. Add the cheese at the end. "Soft" is about texture, not doneness: the FDA's food-safety guidance is to cook eggs until the yolk and white are firm, and egg dishes to 160°F.^[6] Low heat and constant stirring keep small curds tender while they cook through.

What are small GLP-1 lunch and dinner recipes?

These three lean on the foods the advisory names directly: fish, cottage cheese and soup, plus lentils from its list of plant proteins to encourage.^[1]

Lemony salmon salad (24 g protein)

• 3 oz (85 g) canned pink salmon, drained
• about 1 oz (30 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• Lemon juice, dill and black pepper to taste

Mash everything together with a fork. Eat it from a small bowl, on cucumber slices or with a few crackers. It is the most protein for the fewest calories on this page: 24 g in about 130 calories. Canned light tuna works the same way with slightly less protein per ounce.^[2]

Cottage cheese, pineapple and hemp bowl (15 g protein)

• 1/2 cup (113 g) 2% cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup (82 g) pineapple chunks
• 1 tablespoon (10 g) hulled hemp seeds

No cooking at all. If sweet is wrong for the moment, swap the pineapple for chopped tomato and cucumber with black pepper. Cottage cheese carries some salt, about 350 mg in this bowl, which is worth knowing if you watch sodium.^[2]

Lentil and spinach soup (16 g protein)

• 1/2 cup (99 g) cooked lentils, home-cooked or canned and rinsed
• 1 cup (240 g) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup (30 g) raw baby spinach
• about 1 oz (30 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt to finish

Simmer the lentils in the broth for five minutes, add the spinach until it wilts, and blend if a smooth soup goes down more easily. Top with the yogurt. It brings the most fluid and the most fiber of any recipe here, so it is a good choice on a day you know you have been short of both. A big pot can be split into single servings and refrigerated; the food-safety basics are below.

What can you make when you can barely eat?

Some days a plate of anything is too much. The advisory suggests that if changing the food is not enough, an alarm or reminder to eat can help.^[1] These two are mostly liquid, so they also count toward the day's fluid.

Egg-drop broth (11 g protein)

• 1 cup (240 g) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon (5 g) grated parmesan

Bring the broth to a simmer and pour in the egg in a thin stream while stirring, so it sets into ribbons. Let it simmer until the egg is fully set, then add the cheese. Even reduced-sodium broth brings salt: this mug has about 715 mg of sodium, which can be welcome on a low-intake day and less so if you have been told to limit it.^[2]

Peanut butter banana milk (12 g protein)

• 1 cup (244 g) 1% milk
• 1 tablespoon (16 g) smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 medium banana (59 g)

Blend until smooth and drink it cold. At about 250 calories it is the most energy-dense recipe here, which is the point on a day when very little else is going in. Soy milk works too, at about 6 g of protein a cup against about 8 g for 1% dairy milk.^[2]

More ideas for those days are in what to eat on a GLP-1 when you're not hungry, and a full list of protein foods that need almost no chewing is in soft high-protein foods. If your stomach is unsettled today, start with what to eat on queasy days instead.

What does a day of these recipes add up to?

Four of them, eaten three to four hours apart, show how far small meals can go. The smoothie, the scrambled eggs, the salmon salad and the lentil soup together come to about 79 g of protein, 660 calories and roughly 860 ml of water from the food itself.^[2] That covers the 0.8 g/kg allowance for a 70 kg adult and approaches the 1.2 g/kg figure the advisory mentions.^[1]

It is also far too few calories to be a whole day for most adults, which is the trade-off of eating this way. Treat these as building blocks to add to, not a menu to stop at. The reference ranges for daily calories, and the levels below which the advisory warns nutrient gaps get likelier, are in how many calories to eat on a GLP-1. A full week laid out with protein and fiber counted is in the Zepbound diet plan. And the drinks around these meals matter as much as the food: the daily numbers are in how much water to drink on a GLP-1.

How do you make these recipes ahead safely?

Cooking once and eating small portions over several days is one of the easiest ways to keep food in the house when appetite is low. The FDA's basic rules apply:^[6]

• Refrigerate cooked food and perishables within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if it is above 90°F outside.
• Cook egg dishes to 160°F, and reheat leftovers and soups to 165°F.

Overnight oats, the salmon salad and the cottage cheese bowl are cold dishes, so keep them in the fridge until you eat them.

How do you adjust a recipe on a harder day?

• Halve it. Every recipe here can be split in two and eaten a few hours apart. The protein still adds up.
• Keep the fat low. The advisory explains that high-fat food slows stomach emptying further.^[1] On a rough day, use nonfat yogurt, skip the cheese and choose the broth or the smoothie.
• Go easy on fiber early on. The advisory suggests avoiding fatty or high-fiber foods during the first few days of treatment, then increasing fiber gradually.^[1] The lentil soup and the oats can wait a few days after a dose change.
• Sip between bites. A large glass with a meal fills a small stomach fast. Drink between meals instead.

If you cannot keep fluids down, or you go a day or more eating almost nothing, call your prescriber. The labels link dehydration from vomiting or diarrhea to kidney injury on these medications.^[3][4]

For transparency about why this page exists on our site: we make one product, Zornava Replenish, a lemon-lime daily hydration and nutrient powder. It contains no protein, it is not a meal and it is not part of any recipe above. It is not on sale yet; if you would like to hear when it is, the early-access list is open. The free guide on this page, Protein for Small Appetites, puts your protein range and the soft foods that carry it on one printable sheet.