20 Bulking Snacks & Meals (High Calorie Foods for Extra Carbs, Calories & Protein)

Getting bigger is a dream that a majority of gym goers have. But, what exactly is the best way to get bigger? Of course, it is to follow a calorie surplus diet.

When you consume more calories than what your body needs for maintenance of body functions, the excess calories will convert to extra mass, muscles, and fat- which will make you bigger.

So, if you are looking for some high calorie meals for bulking, it looks like you have come to the right place. Because here, we will be discussing with you 20 great calorie dense foods that can literally help your bulking goals.

So, read along!

20 Bulking Snacks & Meals

Given below are some of the best high calorie snacks and meals that you can add to your diet chart right away. But before you go through them, keep in mind that this isn’t a list of the highest calorie foods, but a list of healthy high calorie foods that you can add to your diet chart.

Because, it’s crucial that you also get key nutrients rather than only consuming a lot of calories.

To help you understand this better, we will also provide charts for each meal or snack, giving you a clear picture of how much of key macronutrients each of them will give you!

Weight Gain Protein Shakes

If we were to mention some of the best healthy snacks for bulking that are easiest to prepare as well as highly nutritious, Weight gain protein shakes would definitely come in the top of the list.

Protein shakes, when added with proper ingredients, can give you all three key macro nutrients as well as certain micronutrients depending on what extra ingredients you add. So, it is one of the best snacks to bulk up without compromising on your life schedule or health.

Also, the amount of calories that you can gain from a protein shake can range from a little above 200 Kcals to all the way up to close to 1500 Kcals or even more.

Here, we are suggesting you make a protein shake made with Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass. Given below is a chart of macronutrients that you gain from this Weight Gainer.

Besides the Serious Mass, there are a plethora of weight gain protein shake options available. You can also consider making delicious protein shakes and smoothies by using bananas, milk, etc.

Beef Steak

Beef is one of the best high calorie foods for bulking as it provides protein and other macros in ample amounts. Of course, beef is not at all among the biggest calorie providers in this list of high calorie meals. But among different meat options like chicken or fish, beef comes with a fairly large amount of calories.

Now, speaking of beef steak, a regular serving of this food item can come with as much as 320 Calories and an impressive 36 grams of protein. Given below is the nutritional value of a regular serving of beef steak.

In addition to these macronutrients, beef steak is also a great source of iron and sodium. Speaking of which, taking frequent beef steaks for your meals can also boost your creatine level which can improve your workout performance.

So, beef is always a great choice for those who are looking to gain some muscles and body mass.

Subway Sandwich

No, we aren’t talking about dirty bulking here. Among all fast food chains, Subway has a unique reputation when it comes to the nutritional qualities of the food they serve. So, if you are looking for some good high calorie meals for bulking, Subway perhaps is where you should go.

Given below are the nutritional values of one of their high calorie meals- the Big beef Melt Subway!

816 calories and all major macronutrients is great amounts- there is no doubt that such a meal is what those looking to become big should eat. Subway is also a great choice for those who have busy life schedules but are neither interested in eating totally unhealthy fast foods.

Besides the beef melt sandwich, you can pick among dozens of bulking foods containing beef, chicken, veggies, etc.

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Hard Boiled Eggs

No list of gym diet plans is ever complete without eggs. Look at the diet plan followed by any great bodybuilder, and you would rarely miss eggs there.

There are different ways to prepare eggs. You can boil them (soft or hard boiled), make omelet or poached eggs, and the list may go on. But we are speaking about hard boiled eggs here since they are even better sources of protein, fat and other nutrients.

Given below is a breakdown of key macro nutrients that you get from 2 large hard boiled eggs:

In addition to these macros, hard boiled eggs also provide excellent amounts of micronutrients. 2 hard boiled eggs can provide more than 10% of your daily Vitamin A demand, 6.6% iron, 5% sodium, and other micros.

So, eggs are definitely among the best healthy bulking snacks that you can find and prepare easily.

Cottage Cheese

Cheese is yet another bulking snack that you can have regularly. It may not come with the highest amount of calories as compared to most other bulking snacks, but considering its low price and exceptional protein content, it actually deserves to be on our list.

Given below is the amount of macronutrients you can get from a cup, or 200 grams of cottage cheese.

Besides cottage cheese, there are a handful of varieties of cheese available in the market. You can also go for them, as some of them have even more calories than cottage cheese.

Combine cheese with your snack dish for better calorie intake!

Greek Yogurt

Greek yogurt is yet another milk product that is also one of the best snacks for bulking. And among yogurts, even among greek yogurts, different kinds offer entirely different levels of calories, protein, fat, etc.

So, you have to go through the energy chart and pick the one that comes with enough fat or calories. Given below is the calorie values of a high fat greek yogurt that you can easily find in your nearby grocery store:

That may not look like a lot of calories. But keep in mind that this is just a snack that can go well with other calorie dense foods like bread. You can always consider combining your greek yogurt with fruits or breads or something like that!

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Protein Bar

Unless you are a complete beginner in the world of working out, you would have heard a lot about protein bars. Keep in mind that an average human being needs somewhere around 100 grams of protein per day, or more!

One of the best ways to compensate for the lack of protein is by taking protein bars. In addition to protein, these bars also come with a high amount of calories, which can fuel your bulking goals.

Here is the Nutrition chart for a protein bar of around 53 grams.

In addition to these macros, protein bars also come with great amounts of other nutrients.

For instance, they can contribute to as much as 25% of your daily calcium intake, more than one fifth of your daily iron needs, and approximately one tenth of how much vitamin D you need a day.

Smoked Pork Tenderloin

Pork is a great meat choice if you are looking for extra protein and healthy fats. And, fillet smoked pork tenderloin is a delicious pork dish that you can enjoy with other side dishes like bread.

Given below is how much key macronutrient you will get from a 200g serve of pork tenderloin:

Keep in mind that you won’t be eating only pork tenderloin. Go for some high calorie side dishes like wheat bread (about which we will discuss later in this article) to make some lean bulk snacks.

Avocado Spread on Toast

There is no doubt that avocado is one of the most nutritious fruits on the planet. So, if you are looking for some good snacks for bulking, try avocado spread on toast!

Another advantage of toast with avocado spread is that it takes just two ingredients and a few minutes from your side to prepare it.

Given below is a nutrition chart for a serving of 4 or 5 Toasts with Avocado spread.

You might have noticed that this 45 Calorie food has just 2.5 grams of protein. Well, avocado is more famous for its abundance of healthy fats and major micronutrients.

In addition to these macros, avocado provides you with Vitamin A and sodium.

Sandwich Using Peanut Butter and Jam

Just like toast with avocado spread,  a bread sandwich using peanut butter and jam is also one of the best bulking snacks that can also save you time.

The making is quite simple; you take two pieces of bread, spread with peanut butter on one of them and with a fruit jam on the other one. It might take you a maximum of 5 minutes.

Here is how many macronutrients a serving of this sandwich can give you.

You can also try peanut alone sandwiches or jam alone ones. But why we discussed a mixed sandwich is that it can get you a bit more micronutrients. Comparatively, peanuts are usually healthier and jam may give more calories!

Brown Rice Cakes

Rice is one of the best sources of quality carbohydrates. While there is white rice as well as brown rice, we recommend you prefer brown rice as it comes with several extra benefits than the former.

Brown rice cakes are a great breakfast option if you are looking to bulk up. Given below is the nutritional chart for 100 grams of brown rice cake.

Keep in mind that these are nutritional values for 100 grams of the cake. If you eat more, you’ll get more calories. Also, try some side dishes to further bring up your calorie intake!

Whole Wheat Bread

If you are looking for some quality sources of carbs, you can’t afford to ignore wheat food items. One such wheat food is whole wheat bread.

It is an excellent source of carbs, along with decent availability of protein and micronutrients like calcium, potassium, and iron. Given below is how much macronutrients a 100 gram serving of whole wheat bread gives:

 You can add something else to whole wheat bread, like butter or omelet, to make it more flavorful as well as to increase your calorie intake.

Pancakes

Pancakes are yet another food item to ensure you get good amounts of carbs and other nutrients. Most bodybuilders, or those who are looking to gain mass, usually include pancakes in their diet chart, either as breakfast or as a snack.

Given below is the macronutrient breakdown of a 100g serving of pancakes:

Keep in mind that that was the macronutrient chart for a 100g serving of pancakes. If you take more, you will get proportionally high calories.

Another key benefit of pancakes is that you can combine them with a wide variety of food items, thus making it certainly one of those high calorie foods for bulking. You can consider adding omelet, banana or other fruits, and other dishes to shoot up your calorie intake.

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Lamb Curry Korma

What about adding a little bit of spice to your bulking food chart? Well, you can always go for foods like curry; and lamb curry korma is a great option in that case.

You can always add lamb korma curry with rice and have a spicy delicious meal.

Given below is how much macronutrients you can get from a cup serving of lamb korma.

800 Calories, and great amounts of key macros, isn’t that a great meal for bulking? What makes it even greater is that you will always be serving korma with rice or something else. So, your calorie intake will go up further!

Besides these macros, Lamb korma is also a great source of Vitamin D, Iron, Calcium, and potassium. All these definitely put korma among the best calorie dense foods for bulking!

Oatmeal

You might be expecting oatmeal among weight loss foods with lower calories. But the fact is that it can also be a part of your bulking diet chart.

Given below is how many macros you get from a cup of oatmeal weighing around 60 grams.

Who eats plane oatmeals, right? Well, you can always add something to flavor it. In fact, if you are looking to bulk up, we advise you to add something else with your oatmeal, like milk, fruits, nuts, or something else!

Pasta

Pasta is yet another high carb food that can fuel up your daily calorie intake. Among pasta, there are different kinds, like white pasta and brown pasta.

For better calorie intake and maintaining hunger, we recommend you take white pasta with sauce toppings. Given below is a chart of macros you get from a cup of white pasta with pesto sauce:

There is no rule that you should eat only pasta with pesto sauce. There are a number of varieties of sauces or other additionals that you can add with pasta; spinach is a classical example.

Try having pasta for your lunch or dinner, and never forget to add sauce, spinach, or other ingredients to maintain a high calorie intake. Why we mentioned white pasta instead of brown pasta is that the former can maintain your hunger to eat more!

French Toast

If you are looking to bulk up, you can make french toast a regular presence in your breakfast chart. It is an excellent source of carbs, fat and protein along with certain micronutrients.

Given below is how much macronutrients you can get from a usual serving of french toast.

 Besides these macros, french toast is also a good source of Vitamin A, calcium, and iron.

Furthermore, french toast is also a great breakfast option if you are a person with a tight schedule, as it takes less than five minutes to make it. You can also consume more than one toast at a time, thereby meeting your higher calorie goals quite easily!

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Dark Chocolate

If you are a complete newbie to the fitness world, seeing Dark chocolates in our list of good bulking snacks may come as a surprise. But the fact is that dark chocolate has several other benefits than its taste and ability to control stress and tension.

Given below is a nutrition chart for a 100 gram usual dark chocolate with around 80% cocoa.

Eating this much dark chocolate a day can also meet around half of your body’s daily iron demand and 12% of its daily potassium demand. But please note that considering the calorie intake, Dark chocolates may not give you enough protein.

So, you should try to add high protein foods if you include dark chocolate in your list of snacks for bulking.

Peanuts

How can we miss out on peanuts when we speak about some good bulking snacks, right? Peanuts is an excellent choice to add to your snacks to grab some good quantities of protein and healthy fats.

Given below is a breakdown of key macronutrients that you will get from 100 grams of peanut:

In addition to these macros, peanuts are also excellent sources of micros like sodium, magnesium, potassium, Vitamin E, etc. So, it can be a great addition to your diet chart.

Not only peanuts, but almost any kind of nuts can be an excellent snack for bulking. You can also consider having almonds, pecans, etc. why we listed peanuts here is that it is commonly available.

Banana

Last but never least, you always have bananas as your go-to high carb snack. Even if you are just starting out on your fitness journey, you might already know about the many benefits of eating bananas regularly.

Given below is how much macros you will get from just two medium bananas that weigh around 250 grams:

Even more than for its rich carbs, bananas are famous for some of the most important Micros they give in ample quantities. It is an excellent source of potassium contributing to almost one fourth of your daily demand, as well as one sixth of your daily Vitamin C demand.

The abundance of potassium makes bananas also good for your heart and overall energy levels. So, it will be great to eat some bananas for your pre or post workout meals.

Wrapping Up

That sums up our list of 20 high calorie foods for bulking, which you can consider adding to your meal plan. Also, we just stated 20 common food options and in fact, you can find several dozens of such meals which are similar to any one of these high calorie snacks and meals.

For instance, pork tenderloin isn’t the only variety of pork, you can also try ham, bacon or chops. Bananas aren’t the only calorie rich fruit but we also have apples and berries; The list goes for each meal or snack we mentioned here.

So, you don’t have to limit your bulking diet plan to the meals we discussed here. Instead, try their many varieties! 

Also, couple your calorie surplus diet with regular weight training to make muscle building even faster. Taking in a lot of calories and not working out, you’ll put yourself at risk!