High Protein Tuna Rice Bowl

Quick answer: This is the protein-maximized rice bowl in the collection — about 35 grams of protein and 405 calories per serving, ready in about 20 minutes. The trick is folding a little cottage cheese into the warm rice itself, not just the tuna — it adds protein without announcing itself. Serves 4. Sodium runs moderate, about 495 mg per serving.

Where Tuna and Rice Bowl keeps things simple, this one is built specifically to push the protein number higher — using canned tuna rather than fresh, so it stays quick and pantry-friendly while still landing close to the fresh-tuna bowls’ numbers.

Why This Recipe Has About 35 Grams of Protein

Five cans of tuna across the batch, plus cottage cheese stirred into the rice while it’s still warm — that’s the protein hack this recipe is built around.

A Note on Sodium

About 495 mg per serving, roughly 22% of the WHO’s 2,300 mg daily limit.

• Canned tuna: ~344 mg
• Cottage cheese: ~105 mg
• Everything else: ~46 mg

What helps: cutting the soy sauce to a light drizzle rather than a full tablespoon makes the biggest difference here beyond the tuna itself.

What You Need

Makes 4 servings

• 5 cans (5 oz / 142 g each) light tuna in water, drained (about 550 g drained total)
• ½ cup (120 g) 4% cottage cheese
• 4 cups cooked rice (480 g), still warm
• 1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 cucumber, diced
• Sesame seeds, to serve

How to Make It

1. Cook the rice, or reheat if premade.
2. Fold the cottage cheese into the warm rice while it’s still hot — it softens slightly and disappears into the grains.
3. Season the tuna with soy sauce and sesame oil.
4. Assemble: rice on the bottom, tuna on top, avocado and cucumber alongside.
5. Finish with sesame seeds.

Tips

The rice needs to be genuinely warm, not just cooked earlier and cooled, for the cottage cheese to fold in smoothly rather than sitting as separate curds.

Don’t over-season the tuna. The cottage cheese already adds a mild tang; too much soy sauce competes with it.

Substitutions

Cottage cheese: Greek yogurt works, with a slightly different texture in the rice. Rice: works the same with brown rice.

Storage

Tuna and rice keep 2 days refrigerated, separately from the avocado.

PFadmin

High Protein Tuna Rice Bowl

A protein-maximized tuna rice bowl with cottage cheese folded into the rice. About 35g protein per serving.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese-inspired

Calories: 405

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 550 g 5 cans, 5 oz each light tuna in water, drained
• 120 g ½ cup 4% cottage cheese
• 480 g 4 cups cooked rice, warm
• 1 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 avocado sliced
• 1 cucumber diced
• Sesame seeds to serve

Method

 

1. Cook or reheat the rice.
2. Fold the cottage cheese into the warm rice.
3. Season the tuna with soy sauce and sesame oil.
4. Assemble with avocado and cucumber.
5. Top with sesame seeds.

Notes

• A light hand with the soy sauce keeps the sodium in check.
• Store tuna and rice separately from avocado.

Nutrition

Per serving (recipe makes 4):

Verified against the Tuna nutrition workbook, calculated ingredient-by-ingredient from USDA FoodData Central reference values.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the rice taste like cottage cheese?

Barely — folded in while warm, it mostly just adds a subtle richness rather than a distinct flavor.

How is this different from Tuna and Rice Bowl?

That recipe is the simpler, classic version. This one specifically maximizes protein using the cottage-cheese-in-rice technique.

Can I use brown rice?

Yes, it works the same way.

Can I meal prep this?

Yes — store the tuna-rice mixture separately from the avocado and assemble fresh.

More High Protein Tuna Recipes

Part of the 🍚 Tuna Rice Bowls collection, alongside Tuna and Rice Bowl and Tuna Rice Bowl.

Made this? Leave a rating and a comment below.