How to Find the Best High Calorie Protein Powder

📌 Overview and Key Takeaways

This is a Certified Nutrition Coach’s guide on how to find the best high calorie protein powder.

Discover how to easily and safely meet your daily protein needs.

Last Updated Jul 21, 2026

Author and Medical Reviewer

Jack, CNC

Jack is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Nutrition Coach.

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Disclaimer: This communication is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice.

High Calorie Protein Powder

Which Protein Powders are High Calorie?

A calorie is the unit of energy in food.

And some foods have more calories per gram than others.

A 1 kg watermelon, for instance, has fewer than 400 calories, whereas 1 kg of Swiss cheese has more than 4,000.

Understanding what calories are, and knowing how many are in the foods you eat is an important part of building a healthy diet and managing your body weight.

Note that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not define the term “high calorie.”

In medical literature, however, foods with a calorie density greater than 225 calories per 100 grams (2.25 calories per gram) are considered high-calorie (Nutrients, 2020).

Accordingly, a 30 gram serving of protein powder with over 70 calories can be considered a high calorie protein powder.

This does not make much sense though, because the vast majority of protein powders contain far more than 2.25 calories per gram.

I’m therefore going to suggest that a protein powder with over 4.3 calories per gram be considered high calorie.

Based on typical nutritional profiles and calorie density distributions, a protein powder with at least 4.3 calories per gram lands in the top 25% of protein powders in terms of calorie density,

• Standard protein powders: ~3.3–4.3 cal/g (90-129 calories per 30 gram serving)
• High-calorie protein powder powders: > 4.3 cal/g (129+ calories per 30 gram serving)

Keep in mind that products with over 5 calories per gram might actually be mass gainers or Meal Replacements.

Protein powders, generally speaking, are intended to be high in protein and low in everything else, including calories.

The reason why most protein powders contain fewer than 4.3 calories per gram is that they are made with protein concentrates or isolates, which have been stripped of the fats, carbs, fiber, etc.

It follows that the protein powders with the most calories per gram are either made with whole food protein sources, or contain high calorie added ingredients.

Our Chocolate Vegan Almond Protein Powder, for example, contains 170 calories per 39 gram serving, which comes out to 4.4 calories per gram.

It is relatively high in calories because, unlike most protein powders, it is made from whole almonds.

Why Should I Use High Calorie Protein Powder?

A high calorie diet is often used to help people gain weight.

And although protein powders are often championed as a weight loss food, they can also help with weight gain.

This is because adding protein powder, especially high calorie protein powder, to your diet is one of the easiest ways to eat more calories.

Gaining weight is all about maintaining a calorie surplus (consuming more calories than you burn), and it takes an extra 3,500 calories to gain a pound.

To gain weight at a safe rate (0.5 pound per week) you need to consume an extra 1,750 calories each week, or an extra 250 calories every day.

Protein powder can help you consume these extra calories.

What Is the Best High Calorie Protein Powder?

If you are eating a balanced diet, the type of protein powder you use does matter (from a nutritional standpoint).

That is, in the long-term, the benefits of egg, pea, and whey protein powder are essentially identical for someone who already gets protein from a variety of sources

Ingredients do matter, however.

Many protein powders contain ingredients that can cause painful side effects and even long-term health problems.

Among these ingredients are food additives, dairy-based proteins, and protein concentrates and isolates.

🚫 Avoid Food Additives

Regularly eating emulsifiers, thickeners, and other additives can not only upset your stomach, but also alter the composition of your gut microbiome (North Clin Istanb, 2019).

This can lead to gut dysbiosis, or an imbalance in gut microbiota, which contributes to chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and even certain cancers (Microorganisms, 2022; Curr Gastroenterol Rep, 2019).

Keep in mind that your gut does more than just help you digest food; it also plays a role in immunity, metabolism, and other important physiological functions.

⚠️ Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein shakes and powders:

• acacia fiber
• acacia gum
• acesulfame potassium
• artificial flavors
• ascorbic acid
• aspartame
• calcium carbonate
• carrageenan
• cellulose gum
• dextrin
• dicalcium phosphate
• dipotassium phosphate
• erythritol
• gellan gum
• guar gum
• gum arabic
• inulin
• locust bean gum
• maltitol
• maltodextrin
• mono- and diglycerides
• ‘natural’ flavors
• rice bran extract
• rice dextrin
• rice hulls
• rosemary extract
• silica
• silicon dioxide
• sodium alginate
• soluble corn fiber
• sorbitol
• soy lecithin
• sucralose
• sunflower lecithin
• tocopherols
• tricalcium phosphate
• xanthan gum
• xylitol
• zinc oxide

As a rule of thumb, if you cannot find it in nature or make it at home, it is probably a food additive.

🚫 Avoid Dairy-Based Proteins

Dairy-based proteins like whey and casein, although not an issue for everyone, can cause digestive issues.

This is usually because they contain lactose, a sugar many individuals with sensitive stomachs cannot fully digest.

But you might be sensitive to dairy-based proteins even if you are not lactose intolerant.

This is particularly true for casein protein, which forms a gel-like substance in your stomach that slows down digestion.

🚫 Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

You might also want to avoid ultra-processed protein concentrates and isolates.

Most protein shakes and powders are made from one or both of these ultra-processed protein sources, which have been mechanically and/or chemically stripped of everything but the protein.

This includes the enzymes, fiber, and other natural digestive aids that help your gut break them down.

You therefore do not digest them in the same way that you do whole foods, which could affect your gut health.

Studies show that regularly eating protein concentrates and isolates might disrupt your gut microbiome and cause the formation of toxic byproducts in your gut (Nutrients, 2018; Mol Nutr Food Res, 2024).

You should thus look for protein shakes and powders made from whole food protein sources like egg whites and almonds, which are easier to digest and absorb.

Order Samples to see for yourself.

Sources

1. Nutrients (Nutrients). Energy Density of New Food Products Targeted to Children. 2020.
2. Northern Clinics of Istanbul (North Clin Istanb). Food additives and microbiota. 2019.
3. Microorganisms (Microorganisms). Gut Microbiota Dysbiosis: Triggers, Consequences, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Options. 2022.
4. Current Gastroenterology Reports (Curr Gastroenterol Rep). Intestinal Dysbiosis and Inflammation in Parkinson’s Disease. 2019.
5. Nutrients (Nutrients). Effect of a Protein Supplement on the Gut Microbiota of Endurance Athletes: A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Pilot Study. 2018.
6. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (Mol Nutr Food Res). In Vitro Fermentation of Animal and Plant Protein Isolates by the Human Gut Microbiota Under High and Low Carbohydrate Conditions. 2024.

Editorial Guidelines

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This article was written by a Certified Nutrition Coach and reviewed by a Registered Dietitian. We rely on peer-reviewed research and trusted medical sources, and regularly update our content to ensure accuracy and clarity.