20 High-Protein Vegetarian Crockpot Meals

A cup of cooked lentils has about 18 grams of protein, and all it asks from you is a pot and a few hours of being ignored.

For scale, the Daily Value for protein on a nutrition label is 50 grams. The beans, lentils and soy foods below bring substantial protein in the amounts listed.

One note before we start. Every number below is for the ingredient doing the heavy lifting, straight from USDA data, not for a bowl of the finished dish.

Here are 20 vegetarian crockpot meals that pull real protein while you do literally anything else.

1. Red Lentil Dal

Lentils are the reason slow cookers exist. They collapse into something creamy with zero effort from you, which is the whole point of the appliance.

A cup of cooked lentils has about 18 grams of protein. It also has about 16 grams of fiber against a Daily Value of 28 grams.

2. Three-Bean Chili

Kidney, black and pinto beans all land at about 15 grams of protein per cup. It’s basically a three-way tie, so pick your beans on vibes.

But dried red kidney beans need special care before they go in the slow cooker.

Raw red kidney beans contain a natural toxin, a lectin called phytohaemagglutinin. According to the FDA, as few as four or five raw beans can trigger symptoms, usually extreme nausea and vomiting within one to three hours.

And here’s the part nobody tells you. The FDA says not to cook them in a slow cooker at all, because “slow cookers don’t get hot enough to destroy the toxin in kidney beans.”

The fix is easy. Use canned kidney beans, which are already cooked. Or soak the dried ones for at least 5 hours, pour off the water and boil them in fresh water for at least 30 minutes before they go anywhere near the crockpot.

To be fair, the FDA says recovery is usually quick and that US reports are anecdotal. Still, that’s a rough way to spend chili night.

3. Chana Masala

Chickpeas are the bean you can forget about. They hold their shape for hours while softer beans turn to paste.

You get about 14.5 grams of protein per cup, sitting in a spiced tomato gravy that tastes like you tried much harder than you did.

4. Black Bean Soup

About 15 grams of protein per cup of black beans. Thick, dark, a little lime on top.

That’s it. That’s the whole item.

5. Split Pea Soup

Split peas are quietly stronger than the beans everybody talks about. At about 16 grams of protein per cup, they beat both black beans and chickpeas.

That smoky flavor people expect from this soup? Smoked paprika handles it just fine.

6. Tuscan White Bean and Kale Stew

White beans win the common-bean fight. At about 17 grams of protein per cup, they come in ahead of black, kidney and pinto.

Nobody brags about white beans, which is strange. Put them in a pot with kale, garlic and rosemary and they turn silky.

One heads-up if you’re starting from dried cannellini. The FDA notes white kidney beans carry about a third of the toxin red ones do, so the boil-first habit is sensible here too.

7. Lentil Sloppy Joes

Same lentil math as the dal, completely different dinner. Brown or green lentils keep enough bite to pile on a bun without sliding off it.

8. Butter Tofu

The word “firm” on a tofu package tells you almost nothing about protein.

Firm tofu runs anywhere from about 11 to 22 grams per half cup depending on the brand, so check the label. That’s nearly twice the protein in the same half-cup amount.

Buy the dense one, then let it soak in a creamy, spiced tomato sauce all afternoon.

9. Barbecue Pulled Tempeh

Tempeh is made from whole soybeans fermented into a firm cake.

It has about 20 grams of protein per 100 grams, or about 34 grams per cup. Shred it, drown it in barbecue sauce and put it on a bun.

10. Thai Green Curry with Edamame

Edamame has about 18 grams of protein per cup, which puts a bag of frozen green soybeans level with lentils.

Toss it in near the end so it stays bright green and doesn’t go army-colored on you.

11. Slow-Baked Soybeans

This is the one that surprises people. A cup of cooked mature soybeans has about 31 grams of protein, roughly double what ordinary beans manage.

So why does nobody cook them? Honestly, I think it’s because they’ve never been told what to do with them.

Give them the baked-beans treatment. Tomato, molasses, a little mustard, a long slow day in the pot. You end up with the same sticky, sweet, tangy comfort food, built on the bean with twice the protein.

12. West African-Style Peanut Stew

Two protein sources in one pot. Peanut butter brings about 7 grams per two tablespoons, and it’s going on top of chickpeas at about 14.5 grams per cup.

Add sweet potato, tomato and ginger, and you’ve got a rich, thick stew that eats like a hug.

13. Quinoa and Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

Quinoa has the best PR team in the grain aisle. A cup of it cooked has only about 8 grams of protein, about half of what the same cup of black beans has.

So in this casserole, the beans are doing the work. The quinoa is in the group project, and it did show up, but let’s be honest about who wrote the paper.

14. Seitan and Mushroom Stew

The densest protein source in this article is made from wheat. Yes, wheat.

The vital wheat gluten that seitan is made from is about 75% protein by weight in its dry form. Finished seitan has water in it and varies a lot by brand, so read the package. It holds up beautifully in a dark, savory mushroom gravy.

15. Smoky Black-Eyed Pea Stew

Black-eyed peas come in at about 13 grams of protein per cup. Smoked paprika, greens, a pile of rice. Done.

16. Pinto Beans for Burrito Bowls

Cook once, eat all week. A big pot of pintos, at about 15 grams of protein per cup, is Monday through Thursday’s lunch sorted.

17. Moong Dal Khichdi

Rice and mung beans cooked down together until they’re soft and spoonable. It’s the comfort pot.

Mung beans have about 14 grams of protein per cup, and khichdi is the meal you want on a day when chewing feels like a lot.

18. Egg and Cottage Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Breakfast gets a turn in the slow cooker too.

Lowfat cottage cheese has about 23.5 grams of protein per cup, and each large egg adds about 6 grams more. It’s vegetarian, not vegan, and it beats cereal by a mile.

19. Spinach and Ricotta Lasagna

Yes, lasagna works in a slow cooker. No, that’s not a typo.

Part-skim ricotta has about 14 grams of protein per half cup, and you’re layering it with spinach and mozzarella.

20. Ful Medames (Slow-Cooked Fava Beans)

Beans for breakfast sounds wrong until you remember how many people already do it.

Ful medames is a slow-cooked fava bean dish eaten across the Middle East and North Africa, commonly in the morning. Fava beans have about 13 grams of protein per cup.

The Bottom Line

People act like getting protein as a vegetarian takes a spreadsheet and a supplement budget. It turns out the hardest part is remembering to plug the thing in.

Well, that and boiling your kidney beans first.