1000 Calorie Protein Shake (5 Weight Gain Recipes)

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Getting 1000 calories into a single meal might seem like a daunting task, but blending your food together is actually a great way to consume a lot of calories without feeling too full.  

That’s why, below, I’ve put together my top 5 favorite 1000 calorie protein shakes.  

As a nutrition coach, I’ve used these recipes as part of my clients’ meal plans if they’re looking to bulk but also struggle with getting enough calories in each day.  

In this article, I will discuss:

  • Can you consume a 1000 calorie protein shake?
  • Who should be eating 1000 calorie protein shakes?
  • How to get 1000 calories in a protein shake? 5 Tips
  • 1000 calorie protein shakes: 5 Examples

Can You Consume a 1000 Calorie Protein Shake?

Although it is more common to spread your calories evenly throughout the day, there is no rule saying that you cannot consume large amounts of calories in your daily protein smoothie as long as you are within your daily calorie targets.

When it comes to maintaining your weight or reaching your optimal weight goal, the number of calories that you eat throughout the day is more important than how much you eat at one sitting.

With this in mind, whether you decide to eat larger meals less frequently in the day as opposed to small frequent meals, will come down to individual preference.

However, it is very important to keep in mind that if you require a rather low number of calories per day (i.e. 1400 calories or under), then consuming a 1000 calorie protein shake is not going to be the most ideal option for you.

If your calorie intake is low and you consume 1000 calories in your protein shake alone, then you are not going to have many calories left for any other meals during your day.

While you can still consume protein shakes on a lower calorie diet, you would be better off adding lower calorie ingredients as opposed to the smoothies outlined in this article.

Who Should be Eating 1000 Calorie Protein Smoothies?

While 1000 calorie protein shakes are not for everyone, there are certain individuals who would benefit greatly from consuming high calorie smoothies on a daily basis.

This will ultimately depend on factors such as your individual calorie requirements, along with how many meals your prefer to eat during the day, or what works best for your personal schedule.

Are You Someone Who Has A High Daily Caloric Intake?

A person who is most likely to benefit from consuming 1000 calorie protein shakes are those who require a high number of calories in order to maintain their weight.

High calorie shakes would also be appropriate for someone who is looking to gain weight and wants to achieve a calorie surplus.

For example, if a male bodybuilder is on a 4000 calorie meal plan, then this person could easily eat 4 meals a day consisting of 1000 calories (one of them being a high calorie shake) in order to meet their daily calorie goal.

In fact, this might be a more sensible way for the male bodybuilder to eat his meals, as opposed to trying to consume several small meals throughout the day.

If his schedule does not allow him to eat multiple times a day, then eating 3-4 high calorie meals (and shakes) will be a much better option.

Are You Someone Who Practices Intermittent Fasting?

Even if you don’t have a 4000 daily calorie requirement, consuming 1000 calorie protein shakes might be optimal for you if you prefer to eat only a few meals in the day, or if you practice intermittent fasting (a way of eating that requires you to eat all of your calories in a certain window of the day).

Note: If you want to read more about intermittent fasting and how it compares to other dieting protocols such as carb cycling, I recommend taking a look at this article: Carb Cycling vs Intermittent Fasting. 

Are You Someone Who Has A Hard Time Eating Enough Food?

Lastly, if you are trying to meet your daily calorie goal, but you have a hard time eating enough food, then utilizing high calorie smoothies is a great tool to help you reach your daily target.

Since you are blending all of the ingredients of a smoothie together, you are making the digestion process easier for your body, which is going to help you get more calories in without the added burden of digestion.

How to Get 1000 Calories in a Protein Shake

how to get 1000 calories in a protein shake

Below is a list of 5 different ways that you can utilize to help you get 1000 calories into your protein shake:

  • Choose a high-quality protein powder
  • Add healthy fats like nuts, seeds, and avocado to your shake
  • Use full fat dairy products
  • Add oats into your smoothie
  • Utilize oils like MCT and coconut oil in your smoothie

1. Choose a High-Quality Protein Powder

If you are trying to increase the calories in your shake, then using a high-quality protein powder is going to be one of the best ways to do that.

Since the typical whey protein powder contains around 120-135 calories per scoop, it is an easy and efficient way to add calories to your smoothie without much extra volume.

If you want to keep things even more simple, you can even utilize mass weight gainer protein powders that contain up to around 1250 calories per scoop!

These particular protein supplement contain a large amount of carbs (around 250 grams) and a lower amount of fat (roughly 5 grams).

You could easily hit 1000 calories by mixing a serving of this powder in water (Learn more about the differences between Weight Gainer vs Whey Protein).  

For the purposes of this article, I am going to focus on protein shake recipes that include traditional whey protein powders that contain around 130 calories per scoop, and filling the rest of the calories with whole foods.

A great option for a protein powder to add to your protein smoothie is this whey protein powder here since this particular brand utilizes whey from grass-fed and pasture raised cows, and contains no artificial sweeteners.

2. Add Healthy Fats like Nuts, Seeds, and Avocado to Your Shake

Adding high fat ingredients such as nuts, seeds, and avocado to your protein shake is going to significantly boost the calorie content of your meal.

Not only that, but these whole foods offer a ton of different valuable nutrients that are essential in a healthy diet.

For example, if you add 1 cup of frozen avocado chunks to your smoothie, this will add an extra 250 calories to your shake, along with nutrients such as Omega 3 Fatty acids, and vitamins C, E, K, and B6. Avocados also contain dietary fiber that is necessary for healthy digestion.

Utilizing nuts and seeds in your shake is not only a great way to boost your calorie intake, but it can help to create variety and different flavors in your smoothie as well.

You can either add nuts and seeds in their whole form (e.g. almonds, cashews, chia seeds, flaxseeds), or you can add nut and seed butters to your shake (e.g. almond butter, peanut butter, sunflower seed butter).

Adding just 3 Tbsp of raw almond butter will boost the calorie count of your protein shake by 300 calories.

3. Use Full Fat Dairy Products

If you are trying to add calories to your smoothie, then full fat dairy is going to be your best friend. Not only does high fat dairy contain more calories than its lower fat alternatives, but it provides a good amount of high-quality protein as well.

High fat dairy products such as full fat Greek yogurt and whole milk are great options for your protein shake. Since full fat Greek yogurt contains 220 calories per cup, and whole milk contains 150 calories per cup, these are better options than other typical liquids used in protein shakes such as low-calorie almond milk or water.

If you have a dairy allergy or intolerance, you could also try using full fat coconut milk and coconut cream in your smoothies. Full fat canned coconut milk is extremely calorie dense, containing around 550 calories in one cup.

4. Add Oats into your Smoothie

While it might seem weird to add a grain such as oatmeal to your smoothie, this is actually a great way to boost the calorie, fiber, and nutrient content of your protein shake.

Blending ½ cup of oats to your smoothie will add around 130 calories, 25 grams of carbs, 6 grams of protein and 2.5 grams of fat. Adding these oats to your protein shake will also add nutrients such as copper, iron, zinc, manganese and folate.

5. Utilize Oils like MCT and Coconut oil in your Smoothie

Last but certainly not least, adding healthy fats in the form of oils to your protein shake is a very easy way to boost the calorie content of your smoothie, without any added volume or fiber.

Adding a serving or two of MCT or coconut oil will help you get to your calorie target quickly.

For example, adding 2 Tbsp of MCT oil will add a whopping 240 calories to your protein shake. Not only that, MCT oil has also shown to be beneficial for fighting yeast and bacteria growth in the body.

Coconut oil is another great ingredient to add to your protein shake and contains roughly the same number of calories per serving as MCT oil. Coconut oil is a healthy saturated fat to include in your diet, and similar to MCT oil, can help to fight off bad bacteria in the gut.

1000 Calorie Protein Shake: 5 Examples

 My top 5 favorite 1000 calorie protein shake recipes are: 

1. Green Hulk Smoothie

green hulk smoothie

Although a green smoothie might not seem like a high calorie option at first glance, this particular smoothie has the nutrient benefits of greens like spinach, and high calorie ingredients such as whole milk, pecans, fruit and protein powder.

You can switch up the type of green that you decide to use in your green smoothie. I also highly recommend using frozen bananas in your smoothie for a creamier texture.

Ingredients and Calorie Count:

  • 2 scoops of Vanilla Whey protein powder-240 calories
  • 2 frozen bananas- 210 calories
  • 1 cup pineapple- 85 calories
  • 1 oz pecans- 196 calories
  • 1 ¾ cups whole milk- 255 calories
  • 3 cups of spinach- 21 calories

TOTAL: 1007 calories

2. Banana Cherry Chocolate Smoothie

banana cherry chocolate smoothie

Not only is the combination of banana, cherries, and chocolate absolutely delicious, but the ingredients in this smoothie will easily get you to your calorie target.

By using a chocolate flavored whey protein powder and peanut butter, you can achieve a decadent dessert flavor, without actually having to add any chocolate that is high in processed sugar. 

Adding in blended oats will also help to increase the fiber content of this protein shake.

Ingredients and Calorie Count:

  • 2 scoops Chocolate Whey Protein Powder- 240 calories
  • 1.5 frozen bananas- 160 calories
  • ½ cup frozen cherries- 40 calories
  • 2 Tbsp Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread– 190 calories
  • 1.5 cups whole milk- 220 calories
  • ½ cup oats calories- 150 calories

TOTAL: 1000 calories

3. Pina Colada Smoothie

pina colada smoothie

You can hit your calorie targets while sipping on a protein shake that tastes like you are on vacation at the beach. This protein shake includes ingredients like pineapple, banana, and coconut to help you achieve this flavor.

Specifically, coconut products are quite high in calories, therefore are great additions to your 1000 calorie smoothie.

Ingredients and Calorie Count:

  • 2 scoops of vanilla Whey protein powder- 240 calories
  • 2 frozen bananas- 210 calories
  • 1 ¼ cup pineapple- 100 calories
  • 1 cup canned coconut milk- 445 calories

TOTAL: 995 calories

4. Banana Berry MCT Smoothie

 banana berry mct smoothie

This smoothie is packed with a variety of different whole foods that provide a wide range of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, along with an impressive number of calories.

The combination of whey protein powder and Greek yogurt makes this a high protein smoothie that will keep you feeling full for hours. You also get a good amount of fiber from the fruit and oats which is beneficial for digestion.

This smoothie uses almond milk instead of dairy milk, which can be an option if you are decrease your dairy consumption.

Ingredients and Calorie Count:

  • 2 scoops of vanilla Whey protein powder- 240 calories
  • 1 frozen banana- 105 calories
  • 2 cups of frozen mixed berries- 100 calories
  • ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt- 110 calories
  • 1.5 cups almond milk- 60 calories
  • 2 Tbsp MCT oil- 240 calories
  • ½ cup oats- 150 calories

TOTAL: 1005 calories

5. Blueberry Almond Green Smoothie

blueberry almond green smoothie

Although the spinach in this smoothie will add to your daily green intake, the green pigment of this shake will likely be offset by the blueberries.

Wild blueberries are a fantastic fruit to add to your protein shake since they are very high in antioxidants which help to fight disease in the body.

The protein in this smoothie is primarily coming from the protein powder and the whole milk, which is also providing a significant number of calories.

While 3 cups of spinach might seem like a lot, it will not amount to much at all once it is all blended up, and you won’t even taste it. This is a great way to get the benefits from greens in your diet without having to eat them in a salad.

Ingredients and Calorie Count:

  • 2 scoops vanilla Whey protein powder- 240 calories
  • 1 ½ cups wild blueberries- 125 calories
  • 1.5 oz almonds- 246 calories
  • 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed- 40 calories
  • ½ cup oats- 150 calories
  • 1 cup whole milk- 150 calories
  • ½ cup full fat Greek yogurt- 65 calories

TOTAL: 1016 calories

Other Protein Smoothies To Check Out

Reference

Rial SA, Karelis AD, Bergeron KF, Mounier C. Gut Microbiota and Metabolic Health: The Potential Beneficial Effects of a Medium Chain Triglyceride Diet in Obese Individuals. Nutrients. 2016 May 12;8(5):281. doi: 10.3390/nu8050281. PMID: 27187452; PMCID: PMC4882694.

About The Author

Colby Roy

Colby Roy is a holistic health and nutrition coach. She is certified through Precision Nutrition and has a passion for all things nutrition and healing the body. More specifically, Colby likes to work with clients who want to optimize their gut health and energy levels.

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