Whether you are heading to the gym, fueling up for a competition, or recovering after a grueling workout, every athlete knows that proper nutrition is a major part of peak performance. But when you’re constantly on the go, it’s not always easy to fuel your goals.
The best healthy portable snacks for athletes achieve the right balance of macros to support your energy, muscle recovery, and overall wellness. But perhaps most importantly, these snacks need to fit into your busy schedule.
We’ve put together a list of the 19 best healthy portable snacks for athletes to help you play your best game. From high-protein meat chips to homemade energy balls and even fresh fruit, each of these snacks plays an important role in kickstarting your active lifestyle.
The Problem With Most Portable Snacks For Athletes
Here’s the issue with most portable snacks for athletes: They’re not actually healthy. Even the snacks marketed as “high protein” don’t always align with an athlete’s actual needs in each stage of training.
Many snacks with a “high protein” label are also high in fiber or chemical additives that can make them hard to digest before an intense workout. It’s also important to remember that you need different nutrients before, during, and after a workout. Targeting your snacks to what your body needs most is the best way to maximize performance.
Another challenge is convenience. Athletes need snacks that can survive the team bus or a gym bag and can travel well. Packaged snacks might seem like the obvious answer – but many of them are loaded with preservatives and unnecessary junk.
The solution isn’t ditching packaged snacks entirely. It’s choosing foods with real ingredients, less garbage, and meaningful nutrients.
What Are the Best Healthy Portable Snacks For Athletes?
The best healthy portable snacks for athletes depend on what stage of training you’re in: Are you preparing for a workout, refueling during exercise, or recovering from strenuous exertion. We’ve broken down our healthy portable snack picks into these three categories.
Pre-Workout Nutrition
Before your workout, focus on easily digestible carbohydrates to boost your energy. Some protein can also be helpful, as long as you have enough time to digest.
1. Skirt Steak Chips
Our Carnivore Snax Skirt Steak Chips are an awesome substitute for protein powder that brings major nutrition without additives or chemicals. These carnivore chips are one of our leaner cuts, with lower fat content that is perfect for a pre-workout fuel session. They are also low in fiber, making them easy to digest before your workout.
Carnivore Snax Skirt Steak Chips have just two ingredients: 100% grass-fed skirt steak and real salt. No junk to weigh you down during your workout. With 15 g of protein, you’ll have lasting energy for even the longest endurance competitions. The sodium from real salt is also a good source of electrolytes to help you stay hydrated and keep your muscles firing.
2. Banana With Nut Butter
Bananas provide easily digestible carbohydrates and potassium, while nut butter adds protein and healthy fats to the mix. However, look out for nut butters that have added preservatives or sugars, which can lead to bloating.
3. Dates or Dehydrated Fruit
Dried fruits (like dates, raisins, or apricots) provide a quick boost of carbohydrates in a convenient package that’s easy to carry and does not require refrigeration. Dried fruit is rich in simple sugars that enter the bloodstream quickly to provide fast energy.
4. Pickles
With low calories and high electrolytes, pickles are a great pre-workout snack when you don’t want to feel weighed down. They don’t provide energy on their own, but their brine is high in sodium, which keeps your muscles firing and helps you retain water for hydration.
5. Rice Cakes With Nut Butter
Rice cakes offer easily digestible carbohydrates for a quick burst of energy. Nut butter brings the healthy fat and protein, keeping those nutrients pumping through your body for long-lasting performance. Consider squeezable packets of nut butter to make this snack extra portable.
6. Other Fresh Fruit Options
Fresh fruit is high in natural sugars and carbohydrates, making it great for a quick burst of energy before an intense workout. Apples, pears, grapes, and oranges are all good options.
7. Greek Yogurt With Toppings
Greek yogurt provides high-quality protein, while toppings like granola, honey, or fruit provide carbohydrates to boost short-term energy.
Light Bites During Workouts or Games
During a workout, hydration and carbohydrates are the most important factors – especially if you are doing endurance workouts, these are some of the best snacks for runners.
1. Electrolyte Chews
Some sports chews combine carbohydrates with sodium, helping to replenish energy and help with hydration. Always check the label to ensure you have a natural product without suspicious additives or chemicals, though.
2. Energy Balls (DIY)
Energy balls can be a strong option for alternatives to protein bars, but homemade is always best. Many processed snacks for athletes contain additives and sugar substitutes or flavors that are unnatural and can cause digestive upset.
3. Homemade Trail Mix
Whip up a combination of dried fruit, nuts, seeds, and even a small amount of chocolate for a healthy, portable snack that will give you an energy boost when you need it most.
4. Dehydrated Fruit
Dehydrated or dried fruit – like mango, dates, apricots, or raisins – gives you simple carbohydrates that are relatively easy to digest. Opt for fruit with no added sugar to keep your diet clean and thoughtful.
5. Healthy Granola Bars
Granola bars can be risky due to lots of added preservatives and ingredients. That said, if you can find an option with a short ingredient list and natural components, these can be an easy burst of carbohydrates that is portable and simple to take on the go.
Post-Workout Recovery Snacks
After a workout, consuming high-quality protein in the first hour is essential. This helps you repair and rebuild muscle tissue, getting your body ready for whatever is next.
1. Any Carnivore Snax
Carnivore Snax meat chips are without a doubt the best recovery snacks for athletes, providing high-quality protein with simple ingredients and real impact. Our meat chips are high in protein without the junk and additives that come in many processed foods. Plus, they’re easy to transport and let’s not forget… insanely delicious!
2. Protein Shakes
A protein shake is an easy to transport option for refueling after a tough workout. However, many protein shakes have a lot of preservatives and other chemicals to keep them shelf-stable. They’re not always best for those trying to achieve a clean diet.
3. Boiled Eggs
Hard-boiled eggs are a strong source of protein and provide healthy fats as well. They do need to be refrigerated, however, so consider that when packing up your gym bag.
4. Tuna or Sardines
Canned tuna or sardines are easy to throw into your workout bag and provide a single-ingredient protein source that is great for a clean diet and a burst of post-workout nutrition. Once they’re opened, however, they don’t keep.
5. Trail Mix or Plain Nuts/Seeds
Nuts and seeds provide healthy fats, minerals, and some protein. They’re great for protein-rich snacking on the go, but high-performance athletes may want to munch on an additional source of protein to truly achieve peak post-workout nutrition.
6. Greek Yogurt With Toppings
Plain Greek yogurt is a good source of protein, with around 20 g of protein per cup of yogurt. Adding toppings like honey, granola, or fresh fruit adds additional carbs (and texture). The only drawback? Yogurt requires refrigeration, which isn’t always an option for athletes on the go.
7. Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese is rich in protein, offering about 25 grams per cup. Like yogurt, however, it requires refrigeration. It is a great option if you are enjoying a post-workout snack at home.
Building a Personalized Portable Snack Regimen
There’s no universal best high protein snacks that work for every athlete. Finding the option that suits your needs best will likely require some trial and error, determining what your body can handle before, during, and after intense training.
How Much Should You Eat?
The right portion of healthy portable snacks for athletes depends on your individual body composition and tolerance for food around your workout. Immediately before a workout, a smaller snack is usually better so that you don’t overwhelm your digestive system. After exercise, the general recommendation is 20 to 40 grams of protein to aid recovery.
Optimizing Macros For Different Windows
Serious athletes tailor their nutrition to different phases of their workout. Here’s the basic breakdown of what you should look for in each window of prolonged exercise.
- Pre-Workout: Carbs and modest protein for energy, avoiding high-fiber foods
- During: Simple carbs that are easy to digest, electrolytes for hydration
- Post-Workout: High-protein snacks to aid in muscle recovery
Hydration is Just as Important!
Even amazing nutrition cannot compensate for poor hydration. It’s important to drink water throughout the day, making sure to adjust your fluid intake for high temperatures and fluid loss due to sweating.
Consuming extra electrolytes or eating high-protein snacks that contain sodium can also help your body with water retention.
Whole Foods Are Always Superior to Processed Snacks
No matter what your training goals are, whole foods are always the better option when compared with processed snacks. It might be easy to throw a protein bar into your gym back, but the best healthy portable snacks for athletes have limited ingredients and avoid additives, preservatives, and other junk.
At Carnivore Snax, we make some of the best high-protein snacks around that are perfect for muscle recovery, performance, and bulking up. With just two ingredients, you can trust that our products are junk-free and perfect for elite athletes.
