Bulking it up: white beans or chicken for people who lift
Okay. This one comes up every single session, so I finally gave it its own lesson instead of just answering it three times a class.
Somebody always asks it a little sheepish, like they're worried it's a weird question. "Can I put more protein in this." Yeah. Obviously. Let's talk about how.
Heather teaches spin, and back when she was doing early classes plus later ones, she needed food that actually held her through the day, not just a bowl of noodles that burned off in an hour. That's how I started bulking up plain pasta with either a can of white beans or extra chicken, depending what's in the fridge. It's not a technique so much as a habit, but it's a genuinely useful one, so here's the whole thing.
Why this works better than just "adding protein"
If you just dump raw chicken or a can of beans into finished sauce at the end, you get either undercooked chicken or beans that taste like they were never invited. The trick is building the protein into the sauce while it cooks, so it picks up flavor instead of sitting on top of it.
White beans, the easy route
This is the one I do most nights, because it's basically zero extra work.
- Get a can of white beans — cannellini or great northern, doesn't matter much, whatever's cheaper that week. Drain them, rinse them.
- When your sauce is maybe two-thirds done — tomatoes in, simmering, tasted and adjusted — dump the beans in.
- Let them simmer with the sauce for the last ten minutes or so. They'll soften a little more and soak up whatever's in the pan. Garlic, salt, whatever you've got going.
- That's it. You've basically doubled the protein and added fiber and you did one extra step, which was opening a can.
Beans also thicken the sauce a little, which I like. If it gets too thick, splash in some of that pasta water you're already saving — you know the drill by now.
Chicken, the slightly-more-work route
- Cut boneless chicken thighs or breast into small pieces, roughly bite sized. Thighs stay juicier if you ask me, breast is fine too.
- Salt it. Real cooking caution here, not a lawyer thing: wash your hands and your cutting board after raw chicken, every time, before you touch anything else. Don't be the guy who cross-contaminates the salad because he was in a hurry.
- Brown the chicken in the pan first, before your garlic and tomatoes go in. You want some color on it, a few minutes a side, don't crowd the pan or it'll steam instead of brown.
- Pull it out, build your sauce in the same pan — garlic, tomatoes, all of it — then put the chicken back in to finish cooking through in the sauce for the last several minutes. Cut a piece open if you're not sure. No pink, juices run clear.
- Taste as you go, same as always. Chicken can eat up salt without you noticing, so check it near the end.
That's genuinely the whole method. Sauce first, protein built in, pasta timed to land last. Nothing new, just an extra ingredient wedged into the system we've already been using this whole course.
A quick honesty break
I want to admit something here because it's relevant. I tried making pasta completely from scratch exactly once. Flour everywhere, dough like wet cement, my hands a disaster, and I threw the whole batch in the trash and just opened a box instead. No shame in that at all.
I bring it up because people sometimes think bulking up a meal means it has to get more complicated too, like if you're adding protein you should also level up the pasta itself. You don't. Boxed pasta is genuinely great, I'll say it in every module if I have to, and pairing it with beans from a can or chicken from the store is not a downgrade from some fancier version. It's just dinner that holds you through a workout.
A note on portions
If you're cooking for someone who lifts or runs a lot, don't be shy with the protein. A whole can of beans per two people isn't too much. Same with chicken — I'll do a full breast or two thighs per person if I know they're hungry after a workout. This isn't a delicate restaurant portion situation, it's fuel.
Before next time
Next time you make your regular pasta and sauce, throw in a can of beans you already have in the pantry and see how it changes things. Costco runs are a good spot to stock up on a few cans so they're just sitting there ready when you need them.
~devin