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Anabolic French Toast

Recipe · Bulking / Breakfast / High-protein

Anabolic French Toast

Thick, golden French toast soaked in a protein-rich custard — about 41 grams of protein and 520 honest calories. All the comfort of a weekend breakfast with the macros to match a building day. The breakfast that feels like a treat but works like a meal.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 50+ times

GoalBulk

Total time15 min

Servings1 plate

Protein / serving41 g

Calories / serving520 kcal

A stack of golden French toast topped with berries and a dusting of cinnamon, under cold light

French toast was a Sunday thing in my family long before I ever touched a barbell — my mother made it on cold Stockholm mornings, the pan spitting and the whole flat smelling of cinnamon. When I started taking training seriously I missed it, because the classic version is mostly white bread and butter and not a lot else. So I rebuilt it. More egg and a scoop of protein in the custard, good bread that holds its shape, and suddenly the breakfast I grew up with had 41 grams of protein in it. My mother would approve, I think.

The word “anabolic” gets thrown around a lot, and honestly all it means here is that the breakfast actually carries protein instead of just sugar. The custard is doing the work — eggs and whey soaking into the bread so every bite is rich and custardy in the middle, crisp and golden at the edges. About 520 calories of food that feels like a proper weekend treat but sits inside a sensible building day. No powders pretending to be a meal — this is real breakfast, just built smarter.

I make this on the mornings I want breakfast to feel like something, not just fuel. It takes fifteen minutes, it makes the kitchen smell wonderful, and it never feels like I’m eating “for my goals” — it just feels like a good plate of French toast. That contrast is the whole reason this site exists. Make it once on a slow morning and I think it’ll become your Sunday too. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a comforting, high-protein breakfast that flexes to your goal. The custard and bread stay the same; you move the toppings and the bread choice. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Thick bread, full custard, berries, a drizzle of maple syrup and a spoon of nut butter. Calorie-dense and properly satisfying — the weekend breakfast that still feeds the build.

On a cut

Lighten it

Use wholegrain bread, swap whole eggs for extra whites, skip the syrup and lean on berries and a little yoghurt. You keep the comfort and protein for far fewer calories. See the variations below.

On TRT

Steady fuel

Wholegrain bread, the full custard, berries and a sensible drizzle. Balanced carbs, protein and a little good fat to keep you full through the morning without overshooting the day.

Timing: a weekend breakfast at heart — slow morning, hot pan, no rush. It also makes a lovely post-training meal when you fancy something sweet and comforting that still lands your protein.

02Ingredients

Makes 1 plate — two thick slices. Doubling is easy; just cook in batches so the pan stays hot and the toast goes golden, not pale.

Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card

Thick bread day-old is best2 slices · ~90 g
Eggs2 large
Whey protein vanilla15 g · 1/2 scoop
Milk or plant milk60 ml · 1/4 cup
Cinnamon1 tsp
Vanilla extract1/2 tsp
Mixed berries to top80 g · 2.8 oz
Butter or oil to cook1 tsp · 5 g
Pinch of saltto taste

Swaps I actually use: for a cut, drop one yolk and add an extra white, use wholegrain bread, and skip the syrup. No whey? Use casein or a plant protein, or just leave it out and add an extra egg white — you’ll still clear 30g of protein. Day-old bread soaks better than fresh; if yours is soft, toast it lightly first so it doesn’t fall apart.

03Step by step

Make the custard

Whisk eggs, milk, protein, spice

In a wide, shallow dish, whisk the eggs, milk, protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla and a pinch of salt until completely smooth. Whisk the protein in properly — any lumps now will be lumps on your toast later.

Magnus says: a wide dish lets the bread lie flat and soak evenly. A deep bowl just makes a mess.

Eggs, milk, protein and cinnamon whisked into a smooth custard

Soak the bread

Let it drink the custard

Lay the bread in the custard and leave it 30 seconds a side, pressing gently so it soaks right through. You want it saturated but not collapsing — day-old bread handles this far better than fresh, soft slices.

Thick bread slices soaking in the protein custard

Heat the pan

Medium heat, a little fat

Melt the butter or oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Not too hot — protein in the custard browns faster than plain egg, so a gentle, steady heat gives you golden toast instead of a burnt outside and raw middle.

Magnus says: with protein in the mix, patience beats high heat every time. Low and slow to golden.

Butter melting in a non-stick pan over medium heat

Cook side one

Golden and set before you flip

Lay the soaked bread in the pan and cook two to three minutes until the underside is deep golden and the edges look set. Don’t rush the flip — moving it too early tears the custardy crust you’re after.

French toast cooking to golden on the first side

Flip & finish

Cook through on the second side

Flip and cook another two to three minutes until both sides are golden and the centre is cooked through, not wet. Press the middle gently — it should feel set, with a little custardy give but no raw squish.

French toast flipped and cooking golden on the second side

Plate & top

Stack it, pile on the berries

Stack the toast on a plate, pile the berries on top, dust with a little extra cinnamon and add a drizzle of syrup or a spoon of yoghurt if you like. Eat it hot, while the middle’s still soft. A proper weekend plate.

The finished stack of French toast topped with berries

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 1 plate, around 280g of finished toast with berries. Here’s what the full plate and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	520 kcal	186 kcal
Protein	41.0 g	14.6 g
Carbohydrate	48.0 g	17.1 g
— of which sugars	14.0 g	5.0 g
Fat	17.0 g	6.1 g
— of which saturates	5.5 g	2.0 g
Fibre	5.0 g	1.8 g
Sodium	~0.6 g	~0.21 g

Calorie density

186 kcal / 100g

Moderate, for a breakfast that eats like a treat. Filling without being heavy — easy to fit into a building day and still leave room for the rest of your meals.

Protein per 100 kcal

7.9 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. Genuinely strong for something this comforting — the egg-and-whey custard turns an ordinary breakfast into a real protein hit.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Vitamin B12~1.6 µg · 67% DV
Riboflavin (B2)~0.8 mg · 62% DV
Selenium~35 µg · 64% DV
Choline~290 mg · 53% DV
Calcium~200 mg · 15% DV
Vitamin C~12 mg · 13% DV

Macros are calculated from standard food-composition data and will shift a little with your exact ingredients and brands. Micronutrient figures are estimates against general adult Daily Values. Numbers are for guidance, not medical advice — see our Nutrition Disclaimer.

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One plate, three jobs. The custard-and-bread base holds; you move the bread, the eggs, and the toppings. Macros below are for a full serving (one plate built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

Three thick slices of brioche-style bread, full custard, berries, maple syrup and a spoon of peanut butter on top. Rich, calorie-dense, and a genuine joy to eat on a building day.

740Kcal

46G Protein

28G Fat

Cut

The lean version

Wholegrain bread, custard made with 1 egg plus 3 whites, no syrup, topped with berries and a spoon of fat-free yoghurt. Keeps the comfort and the protein, drops the calories right down.

360Kcal

38G Protein

7G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

Wholegrain bread, the full custard, berries and a light drizzle of syrup. Balanced carbs, protein and a little good fat to keep you full through the morning without tipping the day over.

480Kcal

41G Protein

14G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

French toast is a fresh-off-the-pan food at heart, but it does reheat far better than you’d expect — so a batch on a Sunday gives you a few easy breakfasts through the week.

Fridge

3 days

Cool the cooked toast fully, then box it flat. Keep the berries and toppings separate and add them fresh on the day you eat.

Freezer

2 months

Freeze cooked, cooled slices in a single layer, then bag. They reheat straight from frozen, which makes for a very quick weekday breakfast.

Reheat

5 min

The toaster or oven is best — it brings back the crisp edges. From frozen, a few minutes in the toaster or 8 in a hot oven does the job. Skip the microwave; it goes soggy.

My move: cook a batch of six on a Sunday, freeze them flat, and pop them in the toaster on busy mornings. Crisp outside, soft middle, full protein — and no whisking custard before you’ve had your coffee.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

No spam. Unsubscribe whenever. See what’s in the plan →

07Common questions

Why did my French toast burn on the outside but stay raw inside? +

Too high a heat. Protein in the custard browns faster than plain egg, so it catches before the middle cooks through. Drop to a steady medium, give each side two to three patient minutes, and you’ll get golden outsides with a set, custardy centre.

What bread works best? +

Thick, sturdy, slightly stale bread — a day-old sourdough, a thick wholegrain, or a brioche-style loaf for a bulk. Day-old bread soaks up the custard without falling apart. If yours is too fresh and soft, toast it lightly first to firm it up.

Can I leave the protein powder out? +

You can. Add an extra egg or two egg whites to the custard instead and you’ll still land around 30g of protein. The whey just bumps it higher and adds a little sweetness, but the recipe works fine without it.

How do I keep it lower in sugar? +

Skip the syrup and lean on berries and cinnamon for sweetness — they do more than you’d think. A spoon of plain yoghurt adds richness without the sugar hit, and using vanilla protein in the custard means the toast itself is already lightly sweet.

Can I make it dairy-free? +

Yes — use a plant milk in the custard, a plant protein, and cook in oil instead of butter. The texture’s almost identical. Top with berries and a dairy-free yoghurt and you’d never miss the dairy.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This breakfast lives inside a full week of meals.

This French toast is one breakfast in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

The 7-day bulking meal plan laid out as portioned meals under cold light

08Pairs well with

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

I’m Magnus — twenty years under the iron, from a cold gym in Stockholm to the classic-physique stage, and now mostly in my kitchen in a pink apron. I’ve cut for shows, bulked through winters, and I’ve been on TRT since I was thirty-five. I know what it takes to eat for the body you’re chasing, and I know it shouldn’t come with a side of shame.

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

Slim Diet Era shares recipes and general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietetic advice, and we do not provide guidance on obtaining or using any controlled substance. See our Medical Disclaimer and Nutrition Disclaimer.

June 28, 2026

Peanut-Butter Protein Oats

Recipe · Bulking / Breakfast / High-protein

Peanut-Butter Protein Oats

Creamy hot oats stirred through with peanut butter and protein — about 40 grams of protein and 640 honest calories. A warm, filling breakfast that gets real fuel into you fast on a building day. Five minutes, one pot, and you’re properly fed.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 80+ times

GoalBulk

Total time8 min

Servings1 bowl

Protein / serving40 g

Calories / serving640 kcal

A bowl of creamy peanut-butter protein oats topped with banana and a swirl of peanut butter, under cold light

For years I struggled to eat enough in the mornings during a build. I’d train fasted out of habit, then spend the rest of the day chasing calories I should have eaten at breakfast. Oats fixed that. A big warm bowl first thing, with peanut butter for the calories and a scoop of protein to push the numbers up, and suddenly I was 640 calories and 40 grams of protein into my day before I’d properly woken up. Everything else got easier from there.

This is the breakfast I make half-asleep, the kind you can stir together while the kettle’s still going. Oats give you slow, steady carbs that carry you to lunch without a crash; the peanut butter brings good fats and that rich, comforting flavour; the protein turns it from a snack into a meal that actually holds you. I top it with banana for the sweetness and a little potassium, but the base is the same every day — warm, creamy, and genuinely something I look forward to.

I’ll be honest, I cook this more than almost anything else on the site. It’s not clever and it’s not fancy. It’s just a sturdy, reliable bowl that gets real fuel into you when your appetite hasn’t woken up yet. On a bulk it’s a quiet workhorse; on any morning it’s a kind way to start the day. Make it once your way and you’ll have your morning sorted for good. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a warm, high-protein breakfast that flexes to your goal. The oats and protein stay the same; you move the peanut butter and the toppings. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default bowl

Full oats, a generous spoon of peanut butter, protein scoop, banana and a drizzle of honey. Calorie-dense, easy to eat first thing — exactly how I get the day off to a strong start on a build.

On a cut

Lighten it

Use powdered peanut butter, drop the oats a little, and lean on the protein and berries. You keep the warm, satisfying feel for far fewer calories. See the variations below.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate oat portion with the full protein and a sensible spoon of peanut butter. Balanced carbs, fats and protein to keep you full through the morning without overshooting the day.

Timing: a breakfast first and foremost — slow carbs to carry you to lunch and protein to start the day’s intake strong. It’s also a solid pre-training meal a couple of hours out, when you want fuel that won’t sit heavy.

02Ingredients

Makes 1 bowl. Easy to double — just give the pot a stir to stop the oats catching as they thicken.

Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card

Rolled oats60 g · 2/3 cup
Milk or plant milk250 ml · 1 cup
Whey protein vanilla30 g · 1 scoop
Peanut butter20 g · 1 tbsp
Banana, sliced1 small
Honey optional1 tsp · 7 g
Cinnamon1/2 tsp
Pinch of saltto taste

Swaps I actually use: for a cut, swap the spoonful of peanut butter for powdered peanut (PB2) — most of the flavour, a fraction of the fat. No whey? Casein gives a thicker, creamier bowl, or use a plant protein you like. Almond or skimmed milk both work; skimmed cuts a little fat, plant milk keeps it dairy-free. Berries instead of banana lower the sugar.

03Step by step

Start the oats

Oats, milk, salt into the pot

Tip the oats, milk and a pinch of salt into a small pot over medium heat. The salt isn’t optional — it’s what stops the oats tasting flat. Bring it to a gentle simmer, stirring now and then.

Magnus says: a pinch of salt makes oats taste like food instead of wallpaper paste. Always.

Oats and milk starting to simmer in a small pot

Cook them creamy

Simmer and stir to thicken

Let the oats simmer for three to four minutes, stirring often, until they’re thick and creamy. Add a splash more milk if they tighten up too much — you want soft and pourable, not stiff and gluey.

Oats thickening to a creamy texture in the pot

Cool slightly

Off the heat before the protein goes in

Take the pot off the heat and let it cool for a minute. This matters — stirring whey into bubbling-hot oats can make it clump or go grainy. A short rest keeps the texture smooth.

Magnus says: hot enough to eat, not hot enough to scramble the protein. Patience for sixty seconds.

The pot of oats resting off the heat for a minute

Stir in protein

Whey and cinnamon, beat it smooth

Add the protein powder and cinnamon and stir hard until it’s fully dissolved and silky. If it’s too thick now, loosen with a little more milk. You want a smooth, even bowl with no powdery pockets.

Protein powder and cinnamon stirred through the oats until smooth

Add the peanut butter

Swirl it through

Spoon in the peanut butter and stir most of it through, leaving a little to swirl on top. The warmth of the oats melts it into the bowl and pulls the whole thing together into something rich and comforting.

Peanut butter swirled through the protein oats

Top & eat

Banana, honey, the last swirl of PB

Tip into a bowl and top with sliced banana, the reserved peanut butter and a drizzle of honey if you like. Eat it warm, straight away, while it’s at its creamiest. A proper start to a building day.

The finished bowl of peanut-butter protein oats topped with banana

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 1 bowl, around 420g of finished oats with toppings. Here’s what the full bowl and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	640 kcal	152 kcal
Protein	40.0 g	9.5 g
Carbohydrate	72.0 g	17.1 g
— of which sugars	28.0 g	6.7 g
Fat	20.0 g	4.8 g
— of which saturates	5.0 g	1.2 g
Fibre	8.0 g	1.9 g
Sodium	~0.35 g	~0.08 g

Calorie density

152 kcal / 100g

Moderate, and easy to eat a lot of when your appetite’s slow. On a bulk that’s gold — real morning calories that go down without a fight.

Protein per 100 kcal

6.3 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. Strong for a breakfast carb bowl — the protein scoop does the heavy lifting and turns plain oats into a real meal.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Calcium~350 mg · 27% DV
Magnesium~140 mg · 33% DV
Potassium~900 mg · 19% DV
Phosphorus~450 mg · 64% DV
Vitamin B12~1.2 µg · 50% DV
Iron~3 mg · 17% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One bowl, three jobs. The oat-and-protein base holds; you move the peanut butter, the oats, and the toppings. Macros below are for a full serving (one bowl built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

80g oats, a heaped tablespoon of peanut butter, a full scoop of protein, banana and honey, with a handful of crushed nuts on top. Easy, calorie-dense morning fuel for a hard build.

820Kcal

44G Protein

30G Fat

Cut

The lean version

40g oats, powdered peanut (PB2) instead of the spoonful, full protein, skimmed milk and a handful of berries instead of banana. Warm and satisfying, far fewer calories, protein kept high.

340Kcal

38G Protein

6G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

60g oats, a sensible spoon of peanut butter, full protein and banana. Balanced carbs, fats and protein that keep you full through the morning without tipping the day over.

560Kcal

40G Protein

16G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

Hot oats are best fresh, but the dry mix preps beautifully and you can make the cooked bowl ahead if mornings are chaos. Here’s how I keep it quick all week.

Dry jars

Weeks

Portion oats, protein and cinnamon into jars ahead. In the morning just add milk and the peanut butter and cook — thirty seconds of prep saved every day.

Cooked, fridge

3 days

Cooked oats keep three days. They thicken as they sit, so loosen with a splash of milk when you reheat. Add fresh banana on the day.

Reheat

90 sec

Microwave with a splash of milk, stirring halfway. Or eat them cold like overnight oats — they’re surprisingly good that way once the protein’s stirred through.

My move is the dry jars — five of them lined up on a Sunday means breakfast is two minutes of work every weekday. On a bulk, having the morning calories sorted in advance is half the battle won.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

No spam. Unsubscribe whenever. See what’s in the plan →

07Common questions

Why did my protein go clumpy? +

You stirred it into oats that were too hot. Take the pot off the heat and let it cool for a minute before the whey goes in, then stir hard. If it’s still grainy, a splash of cold milk and a good beat usually smooths it out. Casein and plant proteins are more forgiving of heat if it keeps happening.

Can I make this in the microwave? +

Yes. Cook the oats and milk in a big bowl for two to three minutes, watching it doesn’t boil over, then let it cool a minute before stirring in the protein and peanut butter. Same result, one bowl, no pot to wash.

How do I lower the calories for a cut? +

Two easy moves: swap the spoon of peanut butter for powdered peanut, and drop the oats to 40g. Keep the full protein scoop and use berries instead of banana. That takes the bowl down to around 340 calories while keeping it warm and properly filling. See the Cut variation above.

Can I use steel-cut or instant oats? +

Both work with a tweak. Steel-cut take longer and want more liquid — lovely if you have the time. Instant oats cook in a flash but go softer; reduce the milk slightly so they don’t turn to soup. Rolled oats are my middle-ground default.

Is it fine to eat cold? +

Genuinely, yes — cook it the night before, stir the protein through once it’s cooled, and eat it cold from the fridge like overnight oats. It thickens beautifully and the peanut butter flavour deepens overnight. A good option for chaotic mornings.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This breakfast lives inside a full week of meals.

These oats are one breakfast in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

Mass-gainer overnight oats

45G Protein

720Calories

Anabolic French toast

41G Protein

520Calories

Sliced ribeye over a bowl of rice with steamed broccoli, plated under cold light

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

58G Protein

820Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

Loaded Beef Burrito Bowl

Recipe · Bulking / Beef / High-protein

Loaded Beef Burrito Bowl

Spiced beef, rice, beans, corn and all the good toppings in one loaded bowl — about 50 grams of protein and 780 honest calories. Everything you love about a burrito, built for your macros and easy to scale. Big flavour, big plate, no compromise.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 55+ times

GoalBulk

Total time30 min

Servings2 bowls

Protein / serving50 g

Calories / serving780 kcal

A loaded beef burrito bowl with rice, beans, corn, salsa and avocado, plated under cold light

There was a little burrito place near my old gym in Stockholm that I’d hit after a heavy session, back when I cared more about being full than being precise. I loved it, but I never quite knew what I was eating — and when I started competing seriously, the guesswork wouldn’t do. So I went home and learned to build the same thing in a bowl, where I could see every component and count it honestly. It scratched exactly the same itch, and now I knew the numbers cold. That’s been the story of my whole kitchen, really: take the food I love and make it answer to me.

This is comfort food that happens to be brilliantly suited to a bulk. Spiced beef for the protein, rice and beans and corn for the carbs and fibre, then the toppings that make it feel like a treat rather than fuel — salsa, a little cheese, a spoon of guac. About 50 grams of protein and 780 calories of food that genuinely excites me to eat. Nobody at the table would guess it was built around macros, which is exactly how I like it.

I make a big batch of the beef and let everyone build their own bowls — heavy on the toppings for the bulkers, lighter for whoever’s leaning out. It’s a generous, social plate, the kind that makes eating for a goal feel like dinner instead of a chore. Cook the beef once and you’ll have burrito bowls in your rotation for good. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a loaded, high-protein bowl that flexes to your goal. The spiced beef stays the same; you adjust the rice, the toppings, and the cut of beef. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Full rice, beans, corn, and all the toppings — cheese, salsa, guac. Calorie-dense and deeply satisfying, the bowl I build after a hard session when I want to refill and enjoy it.

On a cut

Lighten the load

Use 5% beef, drop the rice to a fist, skip the cheese, and lean on salsa and extra leaves. You keep all the flavour and protein for far fewer calories. See the variations below.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate rice scoop, lean beef, beans and a little avocado for good fats. Balanced protein, carbs and fibre that keep you full and satisfied without overshooting the day.

Timing: a brilliant post-training meal — protein, carbs and fibre all in one loaded bowl. It also preps and reheats well, so it’s a favourite of mine for a midday meal that doesn’t feel like sad desk food.

02Ingredients

Makes 2 bowls. The beef and the bowl base scale easily — this is a great one to batch for a build-your-own night.

Servings 2 · adjust on the live recipe card

Beef mince 10% fat350 g · 12 oz
Jasmine rice dry weight140 g · 5 oz
Black beans drained, tinned200 g · 7 oz
Sweetcorn120 g · 4.2 oz
Tomato salsa100 g · 3.5 oz
Grated cheese40 g · 1.4 oz
Avocado1/2
Taco seasoning cumin, paprika, chilli, oregano2 tbsp
Lime1
Salt & black pepperto taste

Swaps I actually use: drop to 5% beef and skip the cheese for a much leaner cut bowl — the salsa and lime carry plenty of flavour. No avocado? A spoon of plain Greek yoghurt cools it down and adds protein. Chicken mince or turkey mince swap straight in for the beef. Make your own seasoning from cumin, paprika, chilli and oregano to control the sodium.

03Step by step

Rice on

Start the rice first

Rinse the jasmine rice until the water clears, then cook it. It takes the longest, so get it going and let it steam covered while you cook the beef and prep the toppings. Stir a squeeze of lime through it at the end for a fresh lift.

Jasmine rice rinsed and cooking in a pot

Brown the beef

Sear it hard in a hot pan

Heat a wide pan over high. Add the beef, press it flat, and leave it a minute to brown before breaking it up. You want real colour on the meat — that’s where the deep, savoury flavour comes from.

Magnus says: don’t crowd it cold. Hot pan, leave it, then stir — grey mince is just steamed mince.

Season

Spice it, then loosen with water

Stir the taco seasoning through the browned beef, then add a splash of water and let it bubble for a minute or two so the spices bloom and coat every bit. Taste and adjust the salt — go easy if your seasoning’s already salty.

Taco seasoning stirred into the browned beef with a splash of water

Warm the beans & corn

A quick warm-through

Tip the drained beans and the corn into the pan with the beef, or warm them in a separate pan if it’s crowded. A couple of minutes is all they need — just hot through and glossy, not mushy.

Black beans and corn warming with the spiced beef

Prep toppings

Slice the avocado, grate the cheese

While everything warms, slice or mash the avocado with a squeeze of lime, grate the cheese, and get the salsa ready. Having the toppings prepped means you build the bowls hot and eat them straight away.

Sliced avocado, grated cheese and salsa prepped for the bowls

Build the bowls

Layer it up and load it on

Rice down first, then the spiced beef, beans and corn. Top with salsa, cheese and avocado, and finish with a final squeeze of lime and some fresh coriander if you have it. Build it generous and eat it warm.

Magnus says: a little of everything in each forkful is the whole point. Don’t be shy with the layers.

The finished loaded burrito bowl with all the toppings

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 2 bowls, around 940g of loaded food total. Here’s what one bowl (about 470g) and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	780 kcal	166 kcal
Protein	50.0 g	10.6 g
Carbohydrate	74.0 g	15.7 g
— of which sugars	7.0 g	1.5 g
Fat	28.0 g	6.0 g
— of which saturates	9.5 g	2.0 g
Fibre	11.0 g	2.3 g
Sodium	~0.9 g	~0.19 g

Calorie density

166 kcal / 100g

Moderate-high, carried by the beef and toppings. On a bulk that’s the point — real calories from a generous, satisfying bowl rather than an endless one.

Protein per 100 kcal

6.4 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. The toppings carry fat, so the density is moderate — but the absolute protein per bowl is strong, and the fibre keeps you full for hours.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Vitamin B12~3.5 µg · 146% DV
Zinc~8 mg · 73% DV
Iron~5 mg · 28% DV
Folate~140 µg · 35% DV
Vitamin C~20 mg · 22% DV
Magnesium~120 mg · 29% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One bowl, three jobs. The spiced beef base holds; you move the rice, the cheese, and the toppings. Macros below are for a full serving (one bowl built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

10% beef, 90g dry rice, full beans and corn, all the toppings plus a whole half-avocado and extra cheese. Big, loaded, calorie-dense — the burrito bowl turned all the way up.

920Kcal

53G Protein

40G Fat

Cut

The lean version

5% beef, rice down to a fist (40g dry), skip the cheese, swap avocado for a spoon of salsa and a pile of leaves. All the flavour, full protein, far fewer calories.

480Kcal

48G Protein

12G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

Lean beef, a moderate 60g dry rice, full beans, a little avocado for good fats and salsa to finish. Balanced protein, carbs and fibre that keep you full without overshooting.

650Kcal

49G Protein

22G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

The base of this bowl is a meal-prep dream — the spiced beef, rice, beans and corn all keep and reheat beautifully. I prep those ahead and add the fresh toppings the day I eat, so nothing goes sad in the fridge.

Fridge

4 days

Box the beef, rice, beans and corn together. Keep avocado, cheese and fresh salsa separate and add them when you eat, so they stay fresh.

Freezer

3 months

The cooked base freezes well as a complete meal. Cool fully, bag flat, and thaw overnight in the fridge. Don’t freeze the avocado or fresh toppings.

Reheat

3 min

Microwave the base covered with a splash of water over the rice. Then pile on the cold, fresh toppings — that hot-and-cold contrast is part of what makes it good.

For prep I box the warm base in portions and keep a little tub of toppings on the side. Two minutes to reheat, thirty seconds to load it up, and you’ve got a proper meal that beats anything from the freezer aisle.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

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07Common questions

Can I use chicken or turkey instead of beef? +

Easily. Chicken or turkey mince both take the taco seasoning well and come out leaner than beef. Just cook them through fully and don’t let them dry out — a splash of water and the salsa keep everything juicy. The protein stays high; the fat and calories drop a little.

How do I keep the sodium sensible? +

Make your own seasoning from cumin, paprika, chilli powder and oregano rather than a shop packet, rinse the tinned beans, and go easy on the cheese and shop salsa. You’ll barely notice the difference in flavour, and you’ll keep far more control over the salt.

Can I turn this into an actual burrito? +

Of course — wrap the same filling in a large tortilla. Just remember the wrap adds calories and carbs, so account for it. The bowl version is easier to count and lets you load more veg, which is why I usually go bowl over wrap.

What’s the best way to scale this for a group? +

Cook a big batch of the spiced beef and a big pot of rice, lay out all the toppings, and let everyone build their own. Bulkers go heavy on rice and cheese, anyone cutting leans on leaves and salsa — same base, everyone hits their own macros.

Can I make it dairy-free? +

Yes — drop the cheese and lean on avocado, salsa and lime for richness and flavour. A spoon of a dairy-free yoghurt works as the cooling element if you miss it. The bowl honestly holds up beautifully without the cheese.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This bowl lives inside a full week of meals.

This burrito bowl is one plate in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

Chicken thighs with rice and beans, plated under cold light

Chicken thighs, rice and beans

55G Protein

740Calories

A big bowl of seasoned lean beef over rice with vegetables, plated under cold light

High-volume beef and rice power bowls

62G Protein

780Calories

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

58G Protein

820Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

Salmon, Sweet Potato and Asparagus

Recipe · Bulking / Fish / High-protein

Salmon, Sweet Potato and Asparagus

A crisp-skinned salmon fillet with roasted sweet potato and charred asparagus — about 48 grams of protein and 690 honest calories. Clean fats, slow carbs, and the kind of plate that builds you up while feeling light. Bulking food that doesn’t sit like a brick.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 45+ times

GoalBulk

Total time35 min

Servings1 plate

Protein / serving48 g

Calories / serving690 kcal

A crisp-skinned salmon fillet with roasted sweet potato and charred asparagus, plated under cold light

Not every bulking meal has to be a wall of red meat and white rice. I learned that the hard way during one off-season where I ate so much beef and pasta that I felt heavy and sluggish for weeks — strong in the gym, but foggy and bloated the rest of the time. So I started rotating in plates like this one: salmon for the protein and the good fats, sweet potato for slow carbs that don’t leave you crashing, asparagus because it’s quick and it makes the plate feel like dinner rather than fuel. I felt human again within days.

The fats in salmon are doing real work here. They carry calories — which you want on a bulk — but they sit lighter than a fatty steak, and the omega-3s are good for you in a way I’m happy to put my name to. Roasted sweet potato gives you around 690 honest calories and a steady release of energy, and the asparagus adds colour, fibre and a little char that makes the whole thing taste like you tried. About 48 grams of protein, all from real food.

This is the plate I cook when I want to build but my appetite’s flagging — it’s substantial without being a slog to eat. I make it on a quiet evening, salmon skin crackling in the pan while the tray roasts, the kitchen smelling of garlic and char. It’s bulking food that respects your gut. Cook it once on a heavy week and you’ll keep coming back. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a clean, high-protein plate that flexes to your goal. The salmon and asparagus stay the same; you move the sweet potato and the oil. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Full sweet potato, salmon crisped in a little oil, asparagus charred with garlic. Calorie-dense from good fats and slow carbs, light on the gut — ideal when red meat’s starting to sit heavy.

On a cut

Lean it out

Halve the sweet potato, roast everything with just a teaspoon of oil, and double the asparagus. You keep the salmon’s protein and good fats for far fewer calories. See the variations below.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate sweet potato portion with the full salmon fillet and plenty of greens. Quality fats, slow carbs and lean protein — full, satisfied, and gentle on digestion for an evening meal.

Timing: this makes a lovely evening meal — the slow carbs and good fats keep you full overnight, and it’s light enough not to weigh you down before bed. It also works post-training when you want quality fuel without the heaviness of a big meat plate.

02Ingredients

Makes 1 plate. Scale every line in proportion to feed more — give the salmon room in the pan so the skin crisps rather than steams.

Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card

Salmon fillet skin on200 g · 7 oz
Sweet potato250 g · 8.8 oz
Asparagus150 g · 5.3 oz
Garlic, crushed2 cloves
Olive oil1 tbsp · 15 ml
Lemon1/2
Smoked paprika1/2 tsp
Sea saltto taste
Black pepperto taste

Swaps I actually use: for a cut, halve the sweet potato and roast with the bare minimum of oil — the salmon’s own fat does plenty. No asparagus? Tenderstem broccoli, green beans or courgette all char beautifully on the same tray. Want it bigger for a hard bulk? Add a second small sweet potato and finish the salmon with a spoon of pesto or tahini.

03Step by step

Prep the tray

Cube the sweet potato, oven on

Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Cut the sweet potato into even cubes, toss with half the oil, the paprika, salt and pepper, and spread on a tray. Even cubes roast evenly — a mix of big and small gives you some burnt, some raw.

Roast

Give the potato a head start

Roast the sweet potato for about 20 minutes, turning once. It needs longer than everything else, so get it going alone — the asparagus joins later so it doesn’t turn to mush before the potato’s soft.

Dry the salmon

Pat the skin bone-dry, season

While the potato roasts, pat the salmon skin completely dry with paper towel and season both sides. Dry skin is the whole secret to a crisp, crackling finish — any moisture and it steams and goes limp.

Magnus says: a wet salmon skin will never crisp. Dry it properly and you’re halfway to a great fillet.

A salmon fillet patted dry and seasoned, skin-side up

Add the asparagus

Greens onto the tray

Toss the asparagus with the crushed garlic and a little oil, then add it to the tray with the sweet potato for the last 8 to 10 minutes. You want it tender with a bit of char, not floppy.

Asparagus added to the roasting tray with the sweet potato

Crisp the salmon

Skin-side down, press it flat

Heat the rest of the oil in a pan over medium-high. Lay the salmon skin-side down and press gently with a spatula for ten seconds so the skin makes full contact. Leave it four to five minutes until crisp, then flip for a minute to finish.

Magnus says: pressing the fillet down stops the skin curling away from the pan. Hold it just long enough to set.

A salmon fillet crisping skin-side down in a pan

Plate

Build it, squeeze the lemon

Pile the sweet potato and asparagus onto a plate, lay the salmon on top skin-up so it stays crisp, and squeeze the lemon over the lot. A last pinch of salt and you’re done — substantial, light, and good for you.

The finished plate of crisp salmon with sweet potato and asparagus

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 1 plate, around 560g of cooked food total. Here’s what the full plate and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	690 kcal	123 kcal
Protein	48.0 g	8.6 g
Carbohydrate	52.0 g	9.3 g
— of which sugars	14.0 g	2.5 g
Fat	32.0 g	5.7 g
— of which saturates	6.0 g	1.1 g
Fibre	9.0 g	1.6 g
Sodium	~0.45 g	~0.08 g

Calorie density

123 kcal / 100g

Moderate, and that’s the appeal — you get bulking calories from quality fats without a plate that sits like a brick. Volume and fullness, not heaviness.

Protein per 100 kcal

7.0 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. The salmon’s fat carries calories, so the protein density is moderate — exactly right for a building plate that’s also good for you.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Vitamin A~1300 µg · 144% DV
Vitamin B12~5 µg · 208% DV
Selenium~45 µg · 82% DV
Vitamin D~12 µg · 60% DV
Potassium~1300 mg · 28% DV
Folate~120 µg · 30% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One plate, three jobs. The salmon and asparagus hold steady; you move the sweet potato and the added fat. Macros below are for a full serving (one plate built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

Full sweet potato plus a small extra one, salmon finished with a spoon of pesto, and a generous drizzle of olive oil over the asparagus. Clean, calorie-dense fuel that still sits light.

880Kcal

51G Protein

44G Fat

Cut

The lean version

Halve the sweet potato, roast everything with just a teaspoon of oil, double the asparagus, and lean on the salmon’s own fat. Big plate, quality protein and fats, far fewer calories.

480Kcal

46G Protein

24G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

A moderate sweet potato, the full salmon fillet, and plenty of charred greens with lemon. Quality fats, slow carbs and lean protein to keep you full and recovering without overshooting.

620Kcal

48G Protein

30G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

Salmon is happiest fresh, but the roasted veg preps brilliantly and cooked salmon keeps well for a couple of days. Here’s how I handle it without ending up with a dry, fishy fridge.

Fridge

2 days

Cooked salmon keeps two days, ideally boxed separately from the veg. Eat it cold over the roasted potato or warm it gently — don’t blast it.

Freezer

1 month

Roasted sweet potato freezes fine; I freeze cooked salmon only if I must. Thaw in the fridge and reheat low and slow to keep it from drying out.

Reheat

2 min

Warm salmon gently — a covered pan or a short, low microwave burst. Overheat it and it dries and toughens. Honestly, cold flaked salmon over warm potato is lovely.

My move for prep: batch-roast a big tray of sweet potato and asparagus, then cook the salmon fresh to order — it takes five minutes in a pan. That way the part that suffers from reheating is the part you don’t reheat.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

No spam. Unsubscribe whenever. See what’s in the plan →

07Common questions

How do I stop the salmon skin sticking? +

Three things: dry the skin thoroughly, get the pan and oil properly hot before the fillet goes in, and then leave it alone. Salmon releases itself from the pan when the skin is crisp — if it’s still stuck, it isn’t ready, so give it another minute before you try to move it.

Can I use frozen salmon? +

Yes, and it’s often cheaper. Thaw it fully in the fridge overnight, then pat it very dry — frozen-then-thawed fish holds extra water, so drying it well is even more important if you want crisp skin. The macros are the same.

Can I swap the sweet potato for regular potato? +

Absolutely. White or new potatoes roast the same way and the calories are similar. Sweet potato gives you more vitamin A and a slightly sweeter, slower carb, but use whatever you’ve got and enjoy your dinner.

How do I bump the calories for a hard bulk? +

Lean on the good fats: a spoon of pesto or tahini on the salmon, a heavier drizzle of olive oil on the veg, and a second small sweet potato. That carries the plate past 880 calories while keeping it real food and easy on the gut. See the Bulk variation above.

Is the salmon skin worth eating? +

When it’s properly crisp, it’s the best part — and it carries some of the good fats too. If you’d rather skip it, pull it off after cooking; the macros drop only a little. But cook it crisp once and I think you’ll be a convert.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This plate lives inside a full week of meals.

This salmon plate is one dinner in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

58G Protein

820Calories

Seared steak and roasted potatoes

52G Protein

760Calories

Chicken thighs, rice and beans

55G Protein

740Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

Chicken Thighs, Rice and Beans

Recipe · Bulking / Chicken / High-protein

Chicken Thighs, Rice and Beans

Juicy seasoned chicken thighs over rice with a scoop of beans — about 55 grams of protein and 740 honest calories. Cheap, filling, and forgiving, this is the bulking plate I make when the budget’s tight and the appetite isn’t. Real food that goes the distance.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 70+ times

GoalBulk

Total time40 min

Servings2 plates

Protein / serving55 g

Calories / serving740 kcal

Golden seasoned chicken thighs over rice with black beans, plated under cold light

When I was young and broke and lifting in a basement gym, this was the meal that built me. Chicken thighs were the cheapest cut going, rice came by the sack, and a tin of beans cost almost nothing — so I learned to make the three of them taste like a proper dinner. Twenty years later I still cook it most weeks, not because I have to, but because I genuinely love it. Some food earns a permanent place at your table, and this earned its place a long time ago.

Thighs get a bad rap from the breast-only crowd, and I think that’s a shame. They’re juicier, they forgive you if you walk away from the pan for a minute, and they carry seasoning beautifully. Yes, they’re a touch fattier than breast — which on a bulk is exactly what you want, honestly. Pair them with rice for the carbs and beans for the fibre and a little extra protein, and you’ve got around 55 grams of protein and 740 calories of food that actually fills you up and keeps you full.

This is comfort food with a job to do. I make it for myself after a heavy leg session, I make a double batch to box for the week, and I’ve fed it to friends who had no idea it was a “bulking” meal — they just thought it was good dinner. That’s the whole point. Cook it once and you’ll see why it’s stayed with me all these years. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a budget-friendly, high-protein plate that flexes to your goal. The thighs and beans stay the same; you move the rice scoop and the skin. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Full rice portion, skin-on thighs, a generous scoop of beans. Calorie-dense, protein-rich, and easy on the wallet. My go-to after a heavy session when I want to eat well and recover hard.

On a cut

Lean it out

Pull the skin off the thighs, drop the rice to a fist, and pile on a side of greens. You keep the juicy chicken and the beans for far fewer calories. See the variations below for numbers.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate rice scoop with skin-on thighs and the full bean portion. Balanced protein, carbs and fibre to keep you full and your digestion happy. A reliable main meal any day.

Timing: this is a brilliant post-training dinner — protein, carbs and fibre all in one bowl. It also packs and reheats better than almost any chicken dish I know, which makes it a meal-prep staple.

02Ingredients

Makes 2 plates. Scale every line in proportion to feed more — thighs hold their juiciness even in a big batch, so this is a friendly one to double.

Servings 2 · adjust on the live recipe card

Chicken thighs boneless450 g · 1 lb
Jasmine rice dry weight150 g · 5.3 oz
Black beans drained, tinned240 g · 8.5 oz
Onion, diced1 small
Garlic, grated3 cloves
Smoked paprika1.5 tsp
Ground cumin1 tsp
Olive oil1 tbsp · 15 ml
Lime to finish1
Salt & black pepperto taste

Swaps I actually use: pull the skin off the thighs and use less oil to lean the whole plate out for a cut. No black beans? Kidney beans, pinto, or chickpeas all work and keep that fibre and protein up. Want it bigger for a hard bulk? Leave the skin on and add an extra scoop of rice and a drizzle of olive oil over the beans.

03Step by step

Rice on

Get the rice cooking first

Rinse the jasmine rice until the water clears, then cook it the way you trust. It takes the longest, so start it now and let it steam covered while you cook the chicken and warm the beans.

Season the thighs

Dry, then rub with the spice

Pat the thighs properly dry, then rub them all over with the paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Dry skin is what gives you a golden, crisp finish; a wet thigh just steams in the pan.

Magnus says: get the spice right into the meat with your hands. It’s worth a minute and a bit of mess.

Chicken thighs rubbed with paprika and cumin on a board

Sear the chicken

Skin-side down, leave it alone

Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high. Lay the thighs skin-side down and leave them four to five minutes until deep golden, then flip and cook through — chicken should hit 74°C / 165°F. Lift them out to rest.

Magnus says: render the fat from the skin slowly. Rushing it leaves you flabby skin instead of crisp.

Chicken thighs searing skin-side down until golden in a wide pan

The beans

Soften the onion, warm the beans

In the same pan with the chicken fat, soften the diced onion for three minutes, then stir in the garlic for thirty seconds. Tip in the drained beans and a splash of water, season, and warm through until glossy.

Black beans warming with onion and garlic in the chicken pan

Rest the chicken

Let the thighs settle

Give the thighs a couple of minutes to rest while the beans finish — same rule as any meat, it keeps them juicy. Squeeze half the lime over the beans now and stir it through for a bright lift.

Cooked chicken thighs resting beside the pan of beans

Plate

Rice, beans, thighs, lime

Spoon rice into two plates, add the beans, and lay the thighs on top. A last squeeze of lime, a scatter of fresh coriander if you have it, and you’re done. Eat it warm and feel properly fed.

The finished plate of chicken thighs over rice and beans

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 2 plates, around 900g of cooked food total. Here’s what one plate (about 450g) and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	740 kcal	164 kcal
Protein	55.0 g	12.2 g
Carbohydrate	72.0 g	16.0 g
— of which sugars	3.5 g	0.8 g
Fat	22.0 g	4.9 g
— of which saturates	5.5 g	1.2 g
Fibre	9.0 g	2.0 g
Sodium	~0.6 g	~0.13 g

Calorie density

164 kcal / 100g

Moderate-high, carried by the thighs and rice. On a bulk that’s ideal — real calories from a sensible plate, with the beans adding fibre to keep things moving.

Protein per 100 kcal

7.4 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. A strong protein density for a high-carb bulking plate, helped by the beans chipping in alongside the chicken.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Selenium~35 µg · 64% DV
Folate~150 µg · 38% DV
Iron~4 mg · 22% DV
Zinc~4 mg · 36% DV
Vitamin B6~1 mg · 59% DV
Magnesium~110 mg · 26% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One plate, three jobs. The thighs and beans hold steady; you move the skin, the rice, and the oil. Macros below are for a full serving (one plate built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

Skin-on thighs, 90g dry rice, full beans with a drizzle of olive oil, and a spoon of guacamole on top. Cheap, calorie-dense, and genuinely satisfying — the budget bulker’s dream plate.

880Kcal

57G Protein

34G Fat

Cut

The lean version

Skin off the thighs, sear in a teaspoon of oil, drop the rice to a fist (40g dry) and add a big side of greens. Keep the full bean scoop for fibre and fullness. Lean numbers, same flavour.

470Kcal

52G Protein

11G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

Skin-on thighs, a moderate 60g dry rice, full beans, plenty of fresh veg and lime. Balanced protein, carbs and good fats to keep you full and recovering without overshooting the day.

640Kcal

54G Protein

20G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

This is one of the best meal-prep plates I know — thighs stay juicy on reheat where breast goes to cardboard, and the beans and rice only get better as they sit. I cook a double batch on a Sunday without thinking twice.

Fridge

4 days

Box the thighs, rice and beans together once fully cooled. The flavour deepens overnight, so day two is honestly better than day one.

Freezer

3 months

Freezes beautifully as a complete meal. Cool fully, bag or box flat, and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Reheat

3 min

Microwave covered with a splash of water over the rice. The thighs hold their moisture, so this reheats far better than most chicken meals.

For prep I box one plate per container — thighs on top, rice and beans below. Few proteins survive day four as well as thighs do, which is exactly why this one’s a staple in my fridge.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

No spam. Unsubscribe whenever. See what’s in the plan →

07Common questions

Can I use chicken breast instead of thighs? +

You can, and it’ll be leaner — the calories drop and the protein nudges up. Just watch the cooking: breast overcooks and dries out far faster than thigh, so pull it the moment it hits 74°C / 165°F. For a bulk I genuinely prefer thighs; they’re juicier and far more forgiving.

Are tinned beans fine, or should I cook dried? +

Tinned are completely fine and what I use most days — just drain and rinse them to wash off some of the sodium. Dried beans are cheaper if you cook them in batches, but for a weeknight plate, tinned saves you an hour with no real loss.

How do I make this for a hard bulk? +

Keep the skin on, push the rice up to 90g dry, drizzle olive oil over the beans, and add a spoon of guacamole or some avocado. That carries one plate past 880 calories while staying real food and easy on the budget. See the Bulk variation above.

Can I cook it all in one pan? +

The beans, yes — they go straight into the chicken pan to pick up all that rendered flavour. The rice needs its own pot. If you want a true one-pan version, cook the rice separately and just sear the chicken and warm the beans together.

What can I use instead of lime? +

Lemon works just as well — you only want that bright acid to cut through the richness at the end. A splash of vinegar in a pinch, or a dollop of plain yoghurt on the side, will do a similar job of lifting the plate.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This plate lives inside a full week of meals.

This chicken-and-beans plate is one dinner in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

Loaded beef burrito bowl

50G Protein

780Calories

High-volume beef and rice power bowls

62G Protein

780Calories

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

58G Protein

820Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

Ribeye, Rice and Broccoli

Recipe · Bulking / Beef / High-protein

Ribeye, Rice and Broccoli

A proper seared ribeye over a bed of rice with a heap of broccoli — about 58 grams of protein and 820 honest calories. The oldest, simplest bulking plate there is, done right. When you want one steak dinner that builds something, this is it.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 50+ times

GoalBulk

Total time25 min

Servings1 plate

Protein / serving58 g

Calories / serving820 kcal

Sliced seared ribeye over jasmine rice with steamed broccoli, plated under cold light

There’s a guy I used to lift with in Stockholm — old-school, been competing since before I had a single tattoo — and his answer to every nutrition question was the same three words: ribeye, rice, broccoli. I used to tease him for it. Then I spent one off-season actually eating it, two or three times a week, and I shut up. I put on the cleanest size of my life that winter, recovered like a kid, and looked forward to dinner every single night. Some things are simple because they work.

This is that plate, made with a little care. A ribeye seared hard so the fat renders and the crust forms, rested properly, then sliced over rice that soaks up the juices, with broccoli on the side for the fibre and the colour. About 58 grams of protein and 820 calories of real, satisfying food — no powders, no tricks, nothing you can’t pronounce. The ribeye carries the fat, the rice carries the carbs, and you do the work in the gym.

I cook this when I want dinner to feel like a reward without being a write-off. It’s the meal I make on a Friday after a heavy week, the one I’d happily put in front of anyone whether they lift or not. Learn to sear a steak properly and you’ll have this for life. No rush, no fuss — just stand at the pan, take your time, and I’ll talk you through it.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a high-calorie, high-protein plate that bends to your goal. The ribeye stays the star; you move the rice scoop and trim the cut. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Full rice portion, the ribeye seared in its own fat, broccoli on the side. Calorie-dense, protein-rich, deeply satisfying — exactly what you want on a building phase. My Friday-night standard.

On a cut

Trim it down

Swap the ribeye for a leaner sirloin, drop the rice to a fist, and double the broccoli. You keep the steak-dinner feel for far fewer calories. See the variations below for exact numbers.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate rice scoop with the full ribeye and a real pile of greens. Plenty of protein and good fats to keep you full and recovering, without tipping the day over. A solid main any time.

Timing: this is a post-training dinner at its best — protein and carbs to refill and rebuild after a hard session. It also makes a brilliant weekend lunch when you’ve got the time to stand and sear properly.

02Ingredients

Makes 1 plate. Doubling up? Sear the steaks one or two at a time so the pan stays screaming hot — a crowded pan steams the crust away.

Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card

Ribeye steak trimmed250 g · 8.8 oz
Jasmine rice dry weight80 g · 2.8 oz
Broccoli, in florets150 g · 5.3 oz
Garlic, crushed2 cloves
Olive oil to sear2 tsp · 10 ml
Butter to baste1 tsp · 5 g
Fresh thyme optional2 sprigs
Sea saltto taste
Black pepperto taste

Swaps I actually use: on a cut I’ll switch the ribeye for a 250g sirloin or rump — far less fat, same protein, same steak-dinner feeling. No butter in the house? Sear in oil alone; you lose a little richness but the macros get leaner. Broccoli not your thing? Tenderstem, green beans, or asparagus all sit perfectly next to a steak.

03Step by step

Rice on

Start the rice first

Rinse the jasmine rice and get it cooking — pan or rice cooker, your call. It takes the longest, so set it going and leave it covered to steam while you handle the steak. Warm rice waiting for the meat, not the other way round.

Temper the steak

Out of the fridge, dry it well

Take the ribeye out so it loses its fridge chill, then pat it bone-dry with paper towel and season both sides generously with salt and pepper. A dry, room-temperature steak sears far better than a cold, wet one.

Magnus says: moisture is the enemy of a crust. Dry the steak like you mean it.

A ribeye steak patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper

Sear hard

Get the pan smoking, then steak in

Heat the oil in a heavy pan until it just begins to shimmer and smoke. Lay the ribeye in away from you and leave it — don’t poke it — for two to three minutes until a deep brown crust forms, then flip.

Magnus says: if you move it too early, it tears the crust and sticks. Trust the pan and wait.

A ribeye searing in a hot heavy pan with a brown crust forming

Baste

Butter, garlic, thyme — spoon it over

Drop the heat to medium, add the butter, crushed garlic and thyme, and tilt the pan so the foaming butter pools. Spoon it over the steak for a minute or so. Cook to your liking — about 4 minutes total for a medium 250g ribeye.

Butter, garlic and thyme being spooned over the searing steak

Rest

Let it sit before you cut

Lift the steak onto a board and leave it to rest five minutes. This is not optional — cut it straight away and the juices run out onto the board instead of staying in the meat. Steam the broccoli for three to four minutes while it rests.

Magnus says: resting is the cheapest way to a better steak. Five minutes of patience, every time.

The seared ribeye resting on a wooden board

Plate

Slice against the grain, build the plate

Slice the ribeye across the grain into thick strips and lay it over the rice so the juices soak in. Broccoli alongside, a last pinch of salt, and a spoon of the pan butter drizzled over the top. Eat it warm.

The finished plate of sliced ribeye over rice with broccoli

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 1 plate, around 500g of cooked food total. Here’s what the full plate and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	820 kcal	164 kcal
Protein	58.0 g	11.6 g
Carbohydrate	65.0 g	13.0 g
— of which sugars	3.0 g	0.6 g
Fat	36.0 g	7.2 g
— of which saturates	15.0 g	3.0 g
Fibre	4.5 g	0.9 g
Sodium	~0.55 g	~0.11 g

Calorie density

164 kcal / 100g

Moderate-high, thanks to the ribeye’s fat. On a bulk that’s a gift — you hit big calories from a sensible plate instead of a barrel of food.

Protein per 100 kcal

7.1 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. Lower than a lean cut meal, which is expected with a fatty steak — but the absolute protein is high, and that’s what matters when you’re building.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Vitamin B12~5 µg · 208% DV
Zinc~11 mg · 100% DV
Vitamin C~85 mg · 94% DV
Selenium~38 µg · 69% DV
Iron~4.5 mg · 25% DV
Niacin (B3)~12 mg · 75% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One plate, three jobs. The steak does the heavy lifting; you adjust the cut, the rice, and the fat. Macros below are for a full serving (one plate built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

Full ribeye, 100g dry rice, and an extra knob of butter spooned over at the end. Maybe a soft-boiled egg on top for good measure. Calorie-dense, recovery-friendly, and an absolute pleasure to eat.

960Kcal

62G Protein

44G Fat

Cut

The lean version

Swap to a 250g sirloin or rump, sear in a teaspoon of oil with no butter, drop the rice to a fist (40g dry) and double the broccoli. Steak dinner feel, cut-friendly numbers.

480Kcal

56G Protein

12G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

Full ribeye, a moderate 60g dry rice, and a generous pile of greens with lemon. Good fats and high protein to keep you full and recovering, without overshooting the day.

730Kcal

57G Protein

32G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

Steak is best fresh off the pan, I’ll be honest — but it does prep, and the rice and broccoli prep brilliantly. Here’s how I handle the leftovers without ruining a good ribeye.

Fridge

3 days

Box the sliced steak separately from the rice. Cooked ribeye keeps three days; slice it after resting so it reheats fast and stays tender.

Freezer

2 months

Rice freezes perfectly. I freeze cooked steak only if I must — thaw in the fridge and reheat gently to avoid drying it out.

Reheat

2 min

Reheat steak fast and low — a quick warm in a pan, or 60–90 seconds in the microwave. Overheat it and it tightens. Or just slice it cold over a hot bowl of rice.

My honest advice: cook the steak fresh and batch-cook the rice and broccoli ahead. That way the part that suffers from reheating is the part you make to order, and the rest is done. Best of both.

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07Common questions

How do I know when the steak’s done without cutting it? +

A thermometer is the honest answer: about 54°C / 130°F for medium-rare, 60°C / 140°F for medium, pulled a few degrees early to allow for carryover during the rest. If you’ve no thermometer, the firm-but-springy feel of the meat comes with practice — but a cheap probe takes the guesswork out for good.

Can I make this leaner for a cut? +

Yes — swap the ribeye for a sirloin or rump, sear in a little oil instead of butter, cut the rice to a fist and load up the broccoli. You keep nearly all the protein and the steak-dinner feel while dropping the calories by a third or more. See the Cut variation above.

Do I really need to rest it? +

You really do, love. Resting lets the juices settle back into the muscle instead of flooding your board when you slice. Five minutes is plenty for a steak this size, and it’s the single easiest thing you can do to make it better.

Can I cook it from frozen? +

Better not. A frozen steak won’t sear properly and cooks unevenly. Thaw it overnight in the fridge, then bring it to room temperature and dry it well before searing. Worth the small bit of planning for a steak this good.

What if I don’t have a heavy pan? +

Use the heaviest pan you have and get it properly hot before the steak goes in — heat retention is what gives you the crust. A thin pan drops temperature the moment the cold meat lands. Cast iron is ideal, but a sturdy stainless pan will do the job fine.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This plate lives inside a full week of meals.

This ribeye plate is one dinner in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

High-volume beef and rice power bowls

62G Protein

780Calories

Seared steak and roasted potatoes

52G Protein

760Calories

Salmon fillet with sweet potato and asparagus, plated under cold light

Salmon, sweet potato and asparagus

48G Protein

690Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

High-Volume Beef and Rice Power Bowls

Recipe · Bulking / Beef / High-protein

High-Volume Beef and Rice Power Bowls

Lean beef, a proper mountain of rice, and a heap of veg in one big bowl — about 62 grams of protein and 780 honest calories. This is the bowl I build when I want to eat a lot, recover hard, and not feel like I’m forcing it. Easy to make, easier to eat.

By Magnus Olafsson Updated 28 June 2026 Tested 60+ times

GoalBulk

Total time30 min

Servings2 big bowls

Protein / serving62 g

Calories / serving780 kcal

A big bowl of seasoned lean beef over jasmine rice with steamed vegetables, plated under cold light

This bowl got me through my first proper off-season, the winter I finally accepted I was too small for the classic-physique class I wanted. I’d come off a long cut, I was tired of weighing every gram of broccoli, and I needed a meal I could make half-asleep that still put real food and real calories in front of me. So I started building these bowls: a pan of lean beef browned hard, a generous scoop of rice, and whatever veg was in the fridge piled on top. Big, warm, filling. The kind of plate you sit down to after a long session and feel genuinely looked after.

What I love about it is the honesty of the numbers. You get 62 grams of protein and a real load of carbs to refill the tank, all from food you can buy anywhere. No powders standing in for a meal, no sad little portion you have to talk yourself into. Just beef and rice doing what they’ve done for lifters for a hundred years, with enough veg to keep your gut happy through a high-calorie phase.

I eat this most when I’m building — post-training, when my body’s asking for fuel and I want to give it plenty. But I’ve also handed this recipe to friends who just want one good, balanced bowl that fills them up and keeps them full till morning. It does both. Cook it once, learn the rhythm of it, and you’ll have it in your back pocket forever. I’ve got you on this one.

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

This is a high-calorie, high-protein base that flexes to your goal. The beef and the seasoning stay the same; you change the size of the rice scoop and the splash of oil. Here’s how I steer it.

On a bulk

The default plate

Full rice portion, a teaspoon of oil in the pan, beef and veg piled high. Big, calorie-dense, easy to eat a lot of. My go-to post-training meal when I’m trying to put size on through the winter.

On a cut

Pull it back

Drop the rice to a fist, cook the beef dry, and double the veg. You keep all the protein and most of the satisfaction for far fewer calories. See the variations below for exact numbers.

On TRT

Steady fuel

A moderate rice scoop, lean beef, a real handful of veg. Balanced carbs and protein that keep you full and support recovery without overshooting. A solid main meal any day of the week.

Timing: this is a post-training bowl through and through — protein to recover, carbs to refill what you emptied. It also reheats beautifully, so I’ll happily eat it for a midday meal straight from a prep box.

02Ingredients

Makes 2 big bowls. Scale every line in proportion if you’re feeding more — the beef-to-rice ratio is what makes the macros work, so keep them moving together.

Servings 2 · adjust on the live recipe card

Lean beef mince 5% fat400 g · 14 oz
Jasmine rice dry weight150 g · 5.3 oz
Broccoli, in florets200 g · 7 oz
Red bell pepper, sliced1 medium
Garlic, grated3 cloves
Soy sauce low-sodium2 tbsp · 30 ml
Olive oil1 tbsp · 15 ml
Smoked paprika1 tsp
Black pepperto taste
Saltto taste (go light)

Swaps I actually use: if you’re chasing more size, step up to 10% beef and add another tablespoon of oil — easy extra calories without more bulk on your plate. Want it leaner for a cut? Use 5% beef, cook it dry, and skip the oil. No jasmine? Basmati, long-grain, or even white rice all work; the macros barely move. Swap the broccoli for green beans, courgette, or whatever’s in the drawer.

03Step by step

The rice

Get the rice going first

Rinse the jasmine rice until the water runs nearly clear, then cook it the way you trust — pan, rice cooker, whatever. It needs the longest, so start it before anything else and let it sit covered while you handle the beef.

Magnus says: rinsing washes off surface starch so the rice comes out fluffy, not gluey. Worth the extra minute.

Prep the veg

Cut everything before the pan gets hot

Break the broccoli into even florets and slice the pepper. Grate the garlic so it melts into the beef instead of leaving raw bites. Steam or boil the broccoli for three to four minutes so it stays bright and has a little bite left.

Broccoli florets and sliced red pepper prepped on a board

Brown the beef

Sear it hard, don’t stew it

Heat the oil in a wide pan over a high heat. Add the beef and press it flat — leave it alone for a minute so it browns rather than steams, then break it up. You want colour on the meat; that’s where the flavour lives.

Magnus says: a crowded, cold pan stews the mince grey. Hot pan, leave it be, then stir.

Lean beef mince browning in a hot wide pan

Season

Garlic, paprika, soy go in

Once the beef is browned through, drop the heat a touch and stir in the grated garlic and smoked paprika. Give it thirty seconds until it smells good, then pour in the soy sauce and let it bubble down so it coats every bit of the meat.

Garlic, paprika and soy sauce stirred into the browned beef

Bring it together

Fold the pepper through

Tip the sliced pepper into the pan and toss for a minute or two — you want it warmed and a little softened but still with snap. Taste, add black pepper and the lightest pinch of salt; the soy is already doing most of the seasoning work.

Sliced pepper tossed through the seasoned beef in the pan

Build the bowl

Rice down, beef and veg on top

Scoop the rice into two big bowls, pile the beef and pepper over it, and tuck the broccoli in alongside. A little extra splash of soy or a squeeze of lime over the top finishes it. Sit down and eat it warm.

Magnus says: stir the bottom of the pan into the rice — all that browned flavour is too good to leave behind.

The finished power bowl with beef and veg piled over rice

04The spec sheet

Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 2 big bowls, around 1040g of cooked food total. Here’s what one bowl (about 520g) and a flat 100g actually give you.

Macros — per serving & per 100g
Nutrient	Per serving	Per 100g
Energy	780 kcal	150 kcal
Protein	62.0 g	11.9 g
Carbohydrate	78.0 g	15.0 g
— of which sugars	5.5 g	1.1 g
Fat	20.0 g	3.8 g
— of which saturates	6.5 g	1.3 g
Fibre	5.5 g	1.1 g
Sodium	~0.85 g	~0.16 g

Calorie density

150 kcal / 100g

Moderate, and that’s deliberate. On a bulk you want food dense enough to hit big calories without a bowl the size of your head — the rice does that quietly.

Protein per 100 kcal

7.9 g / 100 kcal

A lifter’s metric. Lower than a cut meal, as it should be — you’re carrying carbs here for a reason — but still a serious protein hit in every bowl.

Key micros (per serving, approx.)

Vitamin C~130 mg · 144% DV
Zinc~10 mg · 91% DV
Vitamin B12~4.5 µg · 188% DV
Iron~5 mg · 28% DV
Selenium~30 µg · 55% DV
Vitamin B6~1.1 mg · 65% DV

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

One base, three jobs. The beef stays the same — you move the rice, the oil, and the veg. Macros below are for a full serving (one bowl built as described).

Bulk

Build it up

Full 75g dry rice per bowl, 10% beef, and an extra tablespoon of olive oil through the meat. Finish with a spoon of crushed peanuts for crunch and calories. Easy size, all real food.

950Kcal

64G Protein

32G Fat

Cut

The lean version

Drop the rice to a fist (about 40g dry), cook the 5% beef dry with no oil, and double the broccoli. You keep the full protein hit and the volume while the calories come right down.

520Kcal

60G Protein

9G Fat

TRT

Steady & balanced

A moderate 60g dry rice, lean beef with a teaspoon of oil, a real handful of veg. Balanced carbs and protein that keep you full and recovering without overshooting your day.

650Kcal

60G Protein

16G Fat

06Meal prep & storage

These bowls were made for a Sunday cook-up. I’ll brown a kilo of beef and cook a big pot of rice at once, then box them off for the week. The beef holds its flavour better than almost any prep protein I know.

Fridge

4 days

Box the rice and beef together once fully cooled. Keep the broccoli a touch underdone so it doesn’t go to mush when you reheat.

Freezer

3 months

Beef and rice freeze well together. Cool fully, bag flat, and thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.

Reheat

3 min

Microwave covered with a splash of water over the rice to bring back the steam. On the hob, a hot pan with a little water revives it nicely too.

For meal prep I box one full portion of beef and rice per container and keep the broccoli in a corner so it reheats evenly. Five minutes of cooking on a Sunday buys you a week of proper post-training food.

Free · the 7-day “Get Fed” plan

Want a whole week built around food like this?

Drop your email and I’ll send you my free 7-day plan — meals, macros already counted, grocery list written. No spam, no lectures.

No spam. Unsubscribe whenever. See what’s in the plan →

07Common questions

Can I use a leaner or fattier beef? +

Both work; just know the trade. 5% mince keeps the bowl leaner and is my pick for a cut or a balanced plate. 10% gives you more flavour and easy extra calories, which is handy when you’re bulking and trying to eat enough. The protein stays high either way — only the fat and total calories move.

How do I push this higher for a hard bulk? +

Add carbs and fat around the edges. Step the rice up to 90g dry, add a second tablespoon of oil, and finish with crushed peanuts or a drizzle of tahini. That’ll carry one bowl past 950 calories while keeping it real food. See the Bulk variation above for the numbers.

Can I swap the rice for something else? +

Of course. Basmati, long-grain, brown rice, even quinoa all slot straight in. Brown rice and quinoa add a little fibre and protein; the calories barely change. Use what you’ve got and what your gut likes.

Is this too much sodium with the soy sauce? +

It’s moderate, and I use low-sodium soy to keep it sensible. If you’re watching water before a shoot, cut the soy to one tablespoon and lean on garlic, paprika and a squeeze of lime instead. The flavour holds up fine.

Can I make it without a wide pan? +

Yes, but brown the beef in two batches so the pan stays hot — a crowded small pan steams the mince grey instead of searing it. Take your time, get colour on it, then combine. That browning is most of the flavour.

From my 7-day Bulk plan

This bowl lives inside a full week of meals.

This power bowl is one plate in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.

See the bulking meal plan →

08Pairs well with

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

58G Protein

820Calories

Chicken thighs, rice and beans

55G Protein

740Calories

Loaded beef burrito bowl

50G Protein

780Calories

Browse all recipes →

About the author

Magnus Olafsson

Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.

NPC Illinois NPC Classic Physique On TRT since 35 20 years training

June 28, 2026

Building Muscle After 50: The Complete Eating Guide

BlogMuscle After 5011 min read

Building Muscle After 50: The Complete Eating Guide

A cook’s guide to the calories, protein, and per-meal plates that build muscle after 50 — with an honest word on TRT.

Magnus Olafsson

Jul 14, 2026

I cook for men who train, and the ones who surprise people most are the ones past fifty. Building muscle after 50 isn’t a consolation prize or a “stay mobile” program. It’s the same job it was at thirty — put a load on the muscle, feed it enough protein, recover — done with a bit more care and a fair bit more food.

I’m Magnus. I’m 40, I competed back in Sweden, and I’ve been on TRT since I was 35, so I’m not going to pretend I don’t know what testosterone does for a man. But I’ll tell you the same thing I tell every big man in his fifties who leans over the counter and asks me if it’s too late: it isn’t, and the fix starts on your plate, not in a vial.

The men over 50 I lift near don’t lack effort. They lack food. They eat like they’re still trying to shrink from their forties, and then they wonder why the muscle won’t come. So let’s fix the eating. Calories, protein, how to lay out your meals, what a real week looks like, and an honest word on TRT at the end.

Yes, you can build muscle after 50

Let me kill the doubt first, because it’s the thing that keeps good men soft. Muscle building after 50 is not only possible, it’s well documented. In a pooled analysis of 49 resistance-training studies in adults aged 50 and older, older lifters put on an average of 1.1 kg of lean mass — real muscle, not water — and the higher-effort programs built more.^[1] That’s an average across ordinary people, many of them beginners, many well past sixty.

Your body at 55 still reads the same signals it did at 25. Lift something heavy enough to be hard, give it protein and rest, and it grows. What changes is the volume knob on how loudly your muscle hears that signal. Turn it up on purpose, and you’re back in business.

Magnus’s rule

Age doesn’t close the door on muscle. Under-eating does. Nearly every “I can’t build muscle anymore” I’ve heard turned out to be an “I’m not eating enough to” once we counted it.

What actually changes: anabolic resistance

Here’s the one piece of science worth understanding, and then we cook. As you age, your muscle gets a little deaf to protein. Researchers call it anabolic resistance: an older muscle needs a bigger dose of amino acids to kick off the same muscle-building response a younger muscle gets from a smaller one.^[2]

How much bigger? In a clean comparison of younger and older men, the younger group maxed out their per-meal muscle protein synthesis at about 0.24 g of protein per kg of bodyweight. The older men needed roughly 0.40 g/kg — about two-thirds more — to hit the same ceiling.^[3] Same plate, less result, unless you make the plate bigger.

Chart comparing protein per meal needed for building muscle after 50 versus younger men, 0.40 versus 0.24 grams per kilogram

A big part of that dose is leucine, the amino acid that flips the muscle-building switch. Older muscle wants more of it in one sitting to get going, which is why “a bit of protein spread thin all day” fails men past fifty.^[2] You want proper hits, not sprinkles. Good news: this is a kitchen problem, and kitchens are where I live.

Two more things worth knowing, then we cook. First, a lot of what looks like aging is really inactivity stacked on top of it — a muscle that hasn’t been asked to do much in a decade gets deaf faster. Second, the same lifting that builds the muscle also sharpens its ear for protein. Train the muscle and it listens better; the anabolic resistance eases the moment you start giving it a real reason to grow.^[2] Food and training aren’t two separate fixes. They’re the same fix from two sides.

Protein needs for men over 50

So how much? The old RDA — 0.8 g/kg/day — is a floor for a sedentary body to avoid deficiency, not a target for a man trying to grow. For older adults, an expert group (the PROT-AGE panel) put the healthy baseline at 1.0–1.2 g/kg/day, and higher for anyone who exercises.^[4] For men who train hard, the sports-nutrition consensus lands at 1.4–2.0 g/kg/day.^[5] The protein needs for men over 50 who lift sit at the top of that range, not the bottom.

Let me put it in real food for a 90 kg (198 lb) man, because grams-per-kilo means nothing over a stove.

Who you are	Protein target	For a 90 kg (198 lb) man
Sedentary, just avoiding deficiency (RDA)	0.8 g/kg/day	~72 g
Healthy older adult, not training^[4]	1.0–1.2 g/kg/day	90–108 g
Man over 50 who lifts^[5]	1.6–2.0 g/kg/day	145–180 g

If you weigh more, scale it up. If you’re carrying a lot of extra fat, base the math closer to your goal weight so you’re not chasing an unrealistic number. For most training men over fifty I’d point at roughly 1.8 g/kg and call it a day. That’s about 160 g for our 90 kg man, and it’s more than almost anyone eats by accident.

Kitchen math

160 g of protein sounds like a lot until you plate it: 4 eggs and a steak (~40 g), a chicken bowl (~45 g), a tub of cottage cheese or a shake (~30 g), a salmon fillet (~40 g). Four honest meals. That’s the whole trick.

Where that protein should come from

Not all protein hits the same. For an older muscle, the quality of each dose matters more than it did when you were young, because you’re leaning on it to punch through anabolic resistance. Animal proteins — meat, fish, eggs, dairy — carry the most leucine per gram and the fullest set of amino acids, so they do the heavy work with less on the plate. Roughly 35–40 g of a good animal protein gets you the ~2.5–3 g of leucine a meal wants.^[2]

I’m not telling you to eat meat at every meal, and plant proteins absolutely count — you just need a bit more of them and a wider mix to land the same leucine. Beans and rice, tofu, a scoop of whey stirred through oats: all fine. The point isn’t animal versus plant, it’s making each meal’s dose big enough and complete enough to matter. A slow-digesting protein at night helps too, which is why cottage cheese and casein have a place before bed for men over fifty holding onto muscle overnight.

Calories: eat enough to actually build

Protein is the building block. Calories are the permission slip. You cannot build much muscle in a real deficit, and the men who stay stuck are almost always eating too little across the day, not too much.

To grow, most men over 50 do well with a small surplus — a couple hundred calories over what holds your weight steady. Not a bulk, not a free-for-all. Enough that the scale drifts up slowly over months while the mirror and the barbell tell you it’s mostly muscle. If you’re also carrying weight you’d rather lose, you can hold calories at maintenance, push protein high, and let training recomposition do slow work. It’s slower, but it’s honest.

You don’t need a fancy calculator to find your maintenance. Take your bodyweight in pounds and multiply by about 14–15 if you’re fairly active — our 198-pound man lands somewhere near 2,800 calories to hold steady, so 3,000-ish to grow slowly. Treat that as a starting guess, not gospel. Eat it for two or three weeks, watch the scale and the mirror, and adjust by a couple hundred calories either way. Your body will correct the math faster than any app. What you don’t do is guess low and stay hungry — that’s the trap that keeps a fifty-year-old spinning his wheels.

The plates I build for this do double duty: high in protein, full of vegetables, real carbs around training, good fats for your joints and your bloodwork. A salmon and avocado plate is the shape of the whole idea — 40-odd grams of protein, fats that love your heart, and nothing you have to apologize for.

How to structure meals: the over-50 plate

Eating for muscle growth after 50 comes down to two habits: hit a real protein dose at each meal, and don’t leave big gaps. Because of anabolic resistance, you want a proper leucine hit per sitting — aim for 35–45 g of quality protein three or four times a day, spaced every few hours.^[2][5] That single change fixes most stalled older lifters I meet.

The over-50 plate diagram showing protein, slow carbs, vegetables and fat portions for building muscle after 50

Build every plate in this order and you won’t have to count much:

Protein first. A palm-and-a-half of steak, chicken, fish, or a good stack of eggs. This is the meal; everything else is a side.
Slow carbs around it. A cupped hand of rice, potatoes, or oats — more on training days, especially after you lift.
Two fists of vegetables. Volume, fiber, color. They keep you full so the eating stays comfortable.
A thumb of good fat. Olive oil, avocado, oily fish. Your joints and your cholesterol panel both thank you.

Breakfast is where most men over fifty leave protein on the table — toast and coffee, then nothing worth counting until noon. Fix that one meal first. Steak and eggs with spinach lands 40 grams before you’ve properly woken up, and the leucine from red meat and eggs is exactly the morning hit an older muscle wants.

What a week of eating looks like

Here’s a plain day for our 90 kg man, the kind of thing I’d set up for building muscle after 50 for men who’d rather cook four real meals than fuss with six. Repeat the shape across the week, swap the proteins so you don’t get bored, and lean the carbs toward your training days.

Meal	What’s on the plate	Protein
Breakfast	Steak and eggs with spinach	~40 g
Lunch	Mediterranean chicken bowl	~45 g
Snack	Cottage cheese, or a whey shake	~30 g
Dinner	Salmon and avocado plate	~40 g
Day total		~155 g

That’s four hits, each one big enough to matter, spaced across the day. No meal is a sprinkle. If you want the whole system laid out — the recipes, the swaps, the grocery list — my recipe kitchen is built for exactly this kind of eating.

Training is the ask; food is the answer

I’m a cook, not your coach, so I’ll keep this short. Food builds nothing on its own — it answers a demand that lifting makes. You need to put a real, progressive load on the muscle: work hard, add a little over time, and cover the big movements. The research that shows older men building muscle is resistance-training research; the men who gained the most simply trained harder.^[1]

Recovery matters more now than it did at thirty. You’ll want a day between hitting the same muscle, sleep you actually protect, and the protein spread across the day we already talked about. Train to make the ask, then eat to answer it. That’s the whole partnership.

The TRT question, honestly

I said I’d be straight with you, so here it is. I’ve been on testosterone since 35. I know what it does — appetite, recovery, how much work the muscle will take before it complains. I’m not going to sit here in a pink apron and tell you hormones don’t help, because they do, and pretending otherwise is how you lose a man’s trust.

When I first went on TRT, the thing that changed most wasn’t some overnight transformation — it was hunger, and how much better food worked. But I’d already spent years on stage in Sweden learning to eat with intent. The men I’ve watched waste that same edge were the ones who thought the prescription was the plan and let the eating go slack. It doesn’t work like that. Testosterone gives you a better engine. It doesn’t put fuel in the tank.

So do you need it to build muscle after 50? No. Food and training come first, always, and most men have a lot of room in both before hormones are even the question. Low testosterone is real and it can flatten a man, but that’s a conversation for a doctor and a blood test, not a gym decision and not something you’ll find guidance for from me. If you’re dragging, sleeping badly, and losing your drive, get proper bloodwork and talk to someone qualified. Then come back and let’s fix the eating either way, because the plate matters whether you’re on anything or not.

Magnus’s rule

Fix your food and your training for a solid year before you decide your hormones are the problem. If something still feels off, that’s a doctor and a blood panel — never a shortcut, never something I’d hand you.

You’ve got more time than the internet told you, big man. Start with the next meal — a real protein hit, sometime in the next few hours. If you want it done for you, my kitchen has the plates ready. I’ve got you.

Questions men actually ask

Can you really build muscle after 50?

Yes. Studies of resistance training in adults over 50 show real lean-mass gains — around 1.1 kg on average, more with harder training. Your muscle still responds to load and protein; you just need a bigger protein dose per meal than a younger man does.

How much protein do I need to build muscle after 50?

More than the old RDA of 0.8 g/kg. Aim for roughly 1.6–2.0 g/kg of bodyweight per day if you’re training — about 145–180 g for a 90 kg (198 lb) man — split into 35–45 g hits across three or four meals.

What should I eat to build muscle after 50?

Build each plate protein-first: steak, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy. Add slow carbs around training, two fists of vegetables, and a thumb of good fat. Front-load protein at breakfast, which is where most men over fifty fall short.

Is it too late to start lifting at 55?

No. Plenty of the men in the research were beginners in their fifties, sixties, even older, and still gained muscle. Start lighter, learn the movements, add load slowly, and eat enough protein to back it up.

What supplements should I take to build muscle after 50?

Food first, always. Whey or a protein powder is useful if you struggle to hit your protein — it’s just convenient food. Creatine is well studied and cheap. Beyond that, get a blood test and let real gaps guide you rather than a shelf of pills.

Do you need TRT to build muscle after 50?

No. Food and training come first, and most men have plenty of room in both before hormones enter the picture. If you have real symptoms — low energy, poor sleep, no drive — that’s a reason for bloodwork and a doctor, not a gym decision.

References

The honest fine print: I’m a cook and a lifter, not your doctor. Nothing here is medical advice, and nothing here tells you how to obtain or use any substance — that conversation belongs to you, your bloodwork, and a physician. Full details: Nutrition Disclaimer · Medical Disclaimer.

Written by

Magnus Olafsson

The cook behind Slim Diet Era. Former Swedish stage competitor (B&K Classic Body Show, Swedish Grand Prix), on TRT since 35, cooking high-protein food in Chicago for his husband, two kids, and you. He counts the macros so you don’t have to.

More about Magnus →

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June 26, 2026

Blog

Anabolic French Toast

Anabolic French Toast

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

The default plate

Lighten it

Steady fuel

02Ingredients

03Step by step

Whisk eggs, milk, protein, spice

Let it drink the custard

Medium heat, a little fat

Golden and set before you flip

Cook through on the second side

Stack it, pile on the berries

04The spec sheet

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

Build it up

The lean version

Steady & balanced

06Meal prep & storage

Want a whole week built around food like this?

07Common questions

This breakfast lives inside a full week of meals.

08Pairs well with

Peanut-butter protein oats

Mass-gainer overnight oats

Seared steak and roasted potatoes

Magnus Olafsson

Peanut-Butter Protein Oats

Peanut-Butter Protein Oats

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

The default bowl

Lighten it

Steady fuel

02Ingredients

03Step by step

Oats, milk, salt into the pot

Simmer and stir to thicken

Off the heat before the protein goes in

Whey and cinnamon, beat it smooth

Swirl it through

Banana, honey, the last swirl of PB

04The spec sheet

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

Build it up

The lean version

Steady & balanced

06Meal prep & storage

Want a whole week built around food like this?

07Common questions

This breakfast lives inside a full week of meals.

08Pairs well with

Mass-gainer overnight oats

Anabolic French toast

Ribeye, rice and broccoli

Magnus Olafsson

Loaded Beef Burrito Bowl

Loaded Beef Burrito Bowl

01Who it’s for & when to eat it

The default plate

Lighten the load

Steady fuel

02Ingredients

03Step by step

Start the rice first

Sear it hard in a hot pan

Spice it, then loosen with water

A quick warm-through

Slice the avocado, grate the cheese

Layer it up and load it on

04The spec sheet

05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations

Build it up

The lean version

Steady & balanced

06Meal prep & storage

Want a whole week built around food like this?

07Common questions

This bowl lives inside a full week of meals.